St Peter's Yaxley

…reaching out in love and faith

Exciting Announcements

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We are pleased to announce that the Reverend Sarah Hare will be our new vicar, here at St. Peter’s Church, Yaxley. We are delighted that Sarah is coming to SPC and we look forward to her ministry.


Sarah is currently a Team Vicar to 14 churches in the Wenlock Team; within the Diocese of Hereford.
We invite everyone to attend Sarah’s licensing on the evening of Tuesday 3rd September, which will mark the start of an exciting new chapter for SPC.


We are also pleased to announce that Becky Dyball, currently Assistant Curate at Ramsey and Upwood, is to be Priest-in-Charge of Sawtry, Glatton and Holme with Conington. At the time of writing a date is still to be arranged for her licensing.


Please remember Sarah & Becky in your prayers as they embark on a new journey in their lives.


God Bless,
Laura

Laura Ashley, St. Peter’s Parish Communications Officer
07939 449255, lauraashley@saintpeters.co.uk

The Freedom in Forgiveness

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A recent trip to Rwanda reminded me of the huge power there is in forgiveness.

It is now 25 years since the Rwandan genocide when almost 1 million people were brutally killed in 100 days. The country has moved forward massively since those days as much work was done, and continues to be done, in terms of forgiveness and reconciliation. Families of victims and perpetrators now live side by side, not always without tension and conflict, but there are many amazing stories of forgiveness.

A group from St. Peter’s Church went to Rwanda in 2014 and participated in building a house for one of the widows of the genocide. Remarkably, the land for the house was donated by a neighbour whose family had been killed by the widow’s husband.  How hard that must have been? There are many other examples of forgiveness we could quote but we all know how incredibly hard it is when it becomes personal to us.

There is however, such a release and freedom in being able to forgive and to receive forgiveness.  It is a very healing process and it restores relationships. We all need forgiveness because we all ‘mess up’. The beauty of Easter is that it reminds us that Jesus Christ freely offers us forgiveness, no matter what we have done. The cruel, barbaric death by crucifixion of an innocent man, the Son of God, means He took the punishment for all the wrong that we have done so that we can be set free and our relationship with God can be restored.

The wonderful thing is that the story does not end there and at Easter we celebrate the most significant event in human history, Jesus Christ rising from the dead. Forgiveness liberates us, the Resurrection gives us hope.

We would love for you to join us at St Peter’s this Easter.

Holy Week Meditations: Monday 15th to Wednesday 17th April, 7.30pm Bring & Share Reflective Family Meal: Thursday 18th April, 7.00pm (please book in advance)

Good Friday:      11am All Age Service & 2pm Hour at the Cross

Easter Sunday: 9am Traditional Holy Communion Service & 11am Morning Worship with Holy Communion

God Bless,

Seeing the opportunity, not the obstacle

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When this issue lands on your doorstep it’s likely we’ll be approaching, or have just started, Lent.

Lent begins on 6th March; Ash Wednesday. Most people enjoy tucking into their pancakes on Shrove Tuesday but how many of us think about why we celebrate this day, and then go on to participate in Lent?

Lent marks the lead up to Easter. So, what are we really doing when we take part in Lent? As Christians participating in Lent, we are replicating the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert, resisting temptation. It is a time of reflection and preparation.

Traditionally, Lent was a time to give something up, however, in recent years it has been recognised that Lent can be a time to give. Jesus lived a life characterised by His generosity and love, He noticed people’s needs, He gave his time, and ultimately, He gave his life and changed the World.

Campaigns such as #40acts, 40 generous acts in 40 days, recognise that through generosity, we can begin to change lives, in the same way Jesus did! Generosity happens when we see the opportunity not the obstacle, let’s seize these opportunities and see our community thrive further; let’s live the lives Jesus wanted for us.

Lent is concluded in the final week before Easter; Holy Week. At SPC we will be marking this week with four evenings of Meditations led by our Home Groups, taking place Monday to Thursday, from 7.30pm. On Good Friday, we have time for reflection at 11am & 2pm services and our Easter Sunday celebrations will be taking place at our 9am & 11am Holy Communion services. At our 11am service we will be inviting the young people whom have been preparing to receive Holy Communion, to take their first communion with us.

Everyone is invited to all our services and events, to come along and experience the love of Jesus.

God Bless,

Laura

Laura Ashley, St. Peter’s Parish Communications Officer

07939 449255, lauraashley@saintpeters.co.uk

Fostering & Adoption Support

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You may have seen in our social media recently the statistics around children in care in the UK. This year 40,000 children will be taken into care, that’s twice the amount that can be seated into the 02 arena! In Cambridgeshire there are currently over 700 children awaiting loving homes.


Due to the circumstances around the need for adoption and fostering, many adoptive & foster parents face major challenges with children who have multiple difficulties, such as special educational needs, attachment disorders and insecurities. Therefore, parents can become physically and mentally exhausted; which is why a group of people from St. Peter’s Church are getting together to discuss ways in which we, as a community, can support these families who are doing something amazing. We will be guided by the charity, Home for Good, who’s core aim is to find a home for every child who needs one, but we also need help from the community.


We are holding an initial meeting in September at SPC, to discuss ideas of what the support will look like and our hope and prayer is that this will also be guided by others in our community who want to be involved. If you are an adoptive or foster parent, please do come along and talk with us about how we can help support you. If, like many of us involved in this initiative, you’re not an adoptive or foster parent but it is on your heart – come along and chat, share ideas or just listen. Everyone has gifts to offer and we would like to use these gifts to provide the best support that we can for families in our community who are working hard to provide for children who otherwise would not have a loving family.


We look forward to meeting you in September! Look out for the meeting date on our social media and on the Yaxley Gazette Facebook page and if you express an interest with us, we will ensure to inform you of the meeting details, once confirmed.

If in the meantime you’d like to hear from the charity who will be assisting us, you can listen to their talk from their visit in June, by clicking here. 

Yaxley Foodbank

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Firstly, we would like to thank all those local people who so generously support the food bank. Without your regular donations, we wouldn’t be able to continue to help vulnerable families in our community.

This year, we have been busier than ever, having already given out over 2 metric tonnes of food from our base at St. Peters Church. This has meant that with the busy summer holiday period fast approaching our stocks of food items are significantly lower than usual for the time of year. During the school summer holidays, when school meals are not available, we provide weekly food parcels to a number of families struggling to make ends meet. This means we give out a large amount of food during this period.

We would like to make an appeal to the folk of Yaxley and the surrounding villages. Would you consider placing a few items in one of the collecting baskets around the locality?

We are particularly short of the following items:
Tinned meat and fish
Tinned vegetables
Tinned potatoes
Tinned fruit
Long life milk
Long life custard
Tinned rice pudding

Our baskets are in the following locations:
Yaxley Co-op
Yaxley Lakeside Surgery
William de Yaxley School
Fourfields School
Yaxley Infants School
Farcet Primary School
Austin Hall
St Peters Church
St Mary Magdalene Church Stilton

Thanking you all again for your continuing support.
St. Peter’s Church

For all enquiries, please call or email Laura 

Project Update

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This month feels like a good opportunity to update everyone on the planned building works at St. Peter’s Church.

As many of you will be aware the church is planning to include an extra room upstairs, with a servery below. This work will provide additional space in the church and a servery area much more suited to the community’s needs. It will also allow for the addition of two more toilets. If you would like to view the plans, they are currently on display at the back of the church.

At the time of writing, we have received approval for the structural works and have gone out to tender. We are awaiting quotes from five companies which are due back in early February. Following this we will seek ecclesiastical approval from the Diocese and then we can begin to look at dates for the work to commence. Building works will not affect any weddings currently booked into the church.

Talking of weddings, we’d like to wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day and congratulate any couples who have recently got engaged. This month always carries a big focus on love which can stir up a variety of emotions for people; we encourage you to celebrate this day as a reminder of God’s great love for us and ‘Let all that you do, be done with love’ 1 Corinthians 16:14.

If you’ve been thinking of coming along to church recently, we’d like to invite you to one of our services. On Sundays we have services at 9am, 11am and 7pm*; there’s something for everyone, come along, just as you are, and someone will be there to welcome you.
You can find details of all our services, groups and events on our website and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates.

God Bless,
St. Peter’s Church

lauraashley@saintpeters.co.uk
07939 449255

*Evening services take place on the 1st & 3rd Sunday of the month (3rd Sunday of the month is currently a film night)

Try something new in 2019

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Happy New Year!

It’s that time of year where we are thinking about our new year resolutions; maybe giving up smoking, drinking, chocolate or shopping. These things all focus on giving up something but we can also focus on becoming part of something and in turn helping others.

St. Peter’s Church in partnership with Deafblind Enablement run a monthly informal group, named Impaired Senses, for anyone with sensory loss, which we would like to invite you to. There’s two ways to take part and join in the fun:

If you, or anyone you know is finding it harder to see or hear and would like to join a friendly group for games, raffle, fellowship and refreshments, then please come along and meet us.
Alternatively, you could become a volunteer and join the team from St. Peter’s who provide this community group for the village and surrounding area.

The group takes place, as follows:
Where: St B’s Hall, Main Street, Yaxley, PE7 3LZ
When: 3rd Saturday of the month, 2-4pm
Cost: Nothing but a smile

Our next meeting is Saturday 19th January 2019.

We would love to meet more people and with enough volunteers we are able to assist in transport needs, just let us know your requirements. We even have a summer trip to the seaside for fish and chips! For more information on the group please contact Debbie on 01733 686969 or email debbie@deafblindenablement.co.uk

In addition to this group, we work in partnership with Cambs Deaf Church to provide a Signed Service on the 4th Sunday of the month. We are blessed to have two people attend who sign, and can offer both BSL and SSE. Our next Signed Service is Sunday 27th January 2019, at 11am.

May the year ahead hold many blessings for you.
God Bless

Are you being called to lead and grow our ministry?

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The Bishop of Ely seeks to make an appointment for the post of Vicar to serve in the parish of Yaxley, Cambridgeshire.

Yaxley is a single church parish, with an all-age congregation, in one of the largest villages in the country. With a population of over 10,000, close to the A1 and next to Peterborough, it retains a village community feel, with all the schools, amenities and activities one would hope for.

We are seeking a vicar who is ready for the challenge of developing a fresh approach to our vision.

In particular, we would like our new vicar to:

  • Be energetic and youthful-minded
  • Be Spirit-filled
  • Interact imaginatively and creatively with children
  • Engage in modern worship
  • Have a pastoral heart
  • Have strength of character
  • Engage with people on a personal level
  • Have leadership and organisational skills
  • Be willing and keen to take on new initiatives
  • Have a good sense of humour

What can we offer?

  • A loving and welcoming church family
  • Spiritual and prayerful support
  • An active and supportive PCC led by two experienced churchwardens
  • A proactive and passionate parish communications officer
  • Three retired clergy, a pastoral authorised lay minister (ALM) and occasional preachers
  • Two Youth ALMs in training
  • Volunteer baptism and wedding administrators
  • A host of skilled volunteers involved in all aspects of church life
  • A beautiful heated Grade 1 listed building that we are continuing to adapt to meet the needs of a modern, growing, worshipping community

To enquire, please contact the Archdeacon of Huntingdon and Wisbech, Hugh McCurdy:
e. archdeacon.handw@elydiocese.org
t. 01353 652709 or 01353 658404

Click here to download a copy of our Parish Profile.

The Light in the Darkness

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Christmas! One of the first indications we are nearing the big day is the appearance of lights. Fairy lights on trees, lights outside houses, candles in windows, shopping centre lights. Perhaps this all helps to brighten the darkest time of year in Europe.

When we walk into a room, we can’t do anything until we turn on a light. For many this time of year can be difficult. Turning on a light reminds them of relatives or friends no longer present, reminds them that their circumstances are poor, money is tight and the future looks bleak, it reminds them of their loneliness. We are told that loneliness is one of the greatest public health challenges of our time. Dark days may lead to depression which artificial light makes no difference to.

The wonderful thing about Jesus Christ is that His coming into the world brings light and hope. How is that? God has shown up. In an unexpected place; a country under military occupation where there was poverty and oppression, through unexpected people; an awkward family situation with Mary and Joseph unmarried, a difficult start; to become refugees as they fled to Egypt because of a tyrannical king. Why did God do this? Simply because He thought we were worth it. What other king would give up His throne in order to show Himself to us in human form, would be prepared to be vulnerable and experience life with all its difficulties in order to be with us, would offer us a relationship with Him so that we might not be alone and would give us life and hope?

Jesus IS “Immanuel” which means God with us. He IS “The LIGHT in the darkness” John 1:5. Christmas is not just a “once upon a time” story. No, it is Jesus breaking into the world to save us! “Christ the Saviour is born!”

We would love for you to join us at St. Peter’s this Christmas to celebrate the birth of Christ our Saviour. With a range of events and services we hope that you will find community, peace and love amongst our church family, and in Jesus Christ.

God Bless,

#followthestar