St Peter's Yaxley

…reaching out in love and faith

Together We Are A Community

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The term community gets used a lot these days but what do we actually mean by community?

In the Bible, God encourages us to take care of one another; through this we ensure a thriving community. Therefore, the idea of community comes from a sense of responsibility that we have for each other.

The community of Yaxley, along with the surrounding villages, have shown overwhelming care for each other through the support of the Yaxley Foodbank over the past year. A staggering 7145kg of food was donated between September 2017 and August 2018. We’ve also recently celebrated the Harvest Festival, where we’ve had fantastic support from the school communities in and around Yaxley.

The donations we receive help many people and families, and we would like to say a big thank you for your generosity in supporting local people in need. We would also like to thank everyone who signpost to Foodbank and all those who volunteer their time to help and be a friend to those in need. It takes a team, a community, to ensure the success of the project.

Without our sense of responsibility to one another, great community projects such as the Community Fridge and the Winter Night Shelter, and St. Peter’s projects like Yaxley Foodbank and Community Sunday, would not succeed. It is through the help and kindness of each other that we are able to improve situations for those less fortunate, and ensure our communities thrive.

Thank you again for your continued support for your community.

If you would like more information on the Yaxley Foodbank, or other community areas God has called St. Peter’s to invest in, please visit www.saintpeters.co.uk/community

Follow St. Peter’s Church on Facebook and Instagram to see updates on the Foodbank’s shopping list.

God Bless

Laura

 

Parish Communications Officer

07939 449255, lauraashley@saintpeters.co.uk

 

 

Together Let’s Build A Community

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This year saw my first experience of Community Sunday and I’m proud to have been part of it.

Arriving in church it was great to see so many adults and children, all in their ‘work clothes’, chatting about what the day may have in store. Some people had even researched how to correctly perform their assigned jobs, now that’s dedication (and also leads me to wonder what we did before Google and You Tube!). Before heading out to our jobs we joined in prayer for everyone involved in the day and also for those who were unable to help.

Armed with a bucket and paintbrush, our team headed out together in search of the fence that needed freshening up. The homeowner was20180513_123739 very grateful to have us there; she clearly took a lot of pride in her garden with various pots of blooming flowers and plants. Painting was something she was no longer able to do, so I was honoured to be able to do this for her. The first task was getting into the paint! Those containers are rather tricky to master but after a blood blister and paint splatter, we were in (who knew that first paint splatter would be the first of many)! Throughout the day we received visitors with gifts of bacon sandwiches and paintbrushes which were greatly received, the tips of how to paint were not, but did provide us with some giggles.

Upon admiring our finished fence, we felt we had more to give. We discussed what else we could do and with permission from the householder, we expanded our brief and painted another two fences. Still not happy that our work was complete and with a bucket of paint left, we once again spoke to the householder who agreed we could also paint her shed! When we left the garden, it was totally transformed and we had one very happy homeowner; it felt fantastic! The day had been a great way to get to know those in my team, and what better way than spilling paint on one another; a good ice breaker if ever you need one! The team worked in very different ways, we had the ‘slap it on the fence’ approach, the ‘fine detailer’, the ‘master shed painter’ and the ‘tidy upper’. We complimented one another perfectly. This was my first experience of painting a fence and despite being paranoid about spilling the paint all over this lovely lady’s garden, I thoroughly enjoyed it due to the company of my team.

20180513_133117The expanding of our brief meant we were the last ones to return to St. Peter’s and so unfortunately, we missed all the other teams returning. It did mean that we got to eat the leftover sandwiches and cakes and we were still served a well earnt cuppa. I also missed the Barbeque, due to family illness. I would have loved to hear all the stories from the day and will definitely be there next year.

I’d like to say thank you to Andy for organising the day; a great deal of time and preparation goes into this event, before, during and after. This day helps many people in different ways; help with jobs that people cannot carry out alone, company for those who may not see anyone at weekends, the church family get a chance to know one another a little better and who knows, for the people we meet and those they tell about us, this day may play a small part in their journey to exploring their faith and ultimately finding Jesus!

It shouldn’t go without saying a big thank you to everyone who took part; whether that be physically on the day, or by making referrals, providing food, taking photos or supplying tools and encouragement. We had 62 volunteers on the day; 39 adults and 10 children out on jobs and 11 support staff. Together we helped build a community, something we should all feel very proud of.

If you have any photos or experiences of Community Sunday you would like to share, please get in touch with me.

God Bless.
Laura Ashley (PCO) 07939 449255, lauraashley@saintpeters.co.uk

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

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It’s a somewhat bitter sweet column to write this month because as of September my family and I will be leaving Yaxley.

We’re heading to the town of Portishead, near Bristol, where I’ll be taking up a new role as Vicar of the church there. We are excited for this new stage of our journey, but are equally sad to be moving away as we’ve loved our time here and have made some great friends along the way.

In Portishead, I’m going to be part of a team, but will have a particular focus on working beyond the walls of the church and getting stuck into the life of the town. One the great joys of my time in Yaxley has been becoming a part of the village, getting to know so many wonderful people and seeing how the church can play a positive role in the life of the community. I’ve learned so much here that I’ll be taking into this new setting.

I’ll be leaving Yaxley with loads of great memories. These include being slightly embarrassed as I won at bingo during a visit to the Welcome Club; being even more embarrassed when I forgot the words halfway through saying the Lord’s Prayer; and of course the Beer and Carols event at the Three Horseshoes last Christmas – even if I was left with a Guinness induced headache the following day! By the way, if anyone is concerned, don’t worry as I am assured that it will go ahead again this year.

I’d like to express my thanks to all who have made us feel so welcome here. We will really miss Yaxley, but it will stay firmly in our hearts and prayers.

On another note, I’d also like to remind you that we are now taking bookings for our annual Holiday Club which is open to primary school-aged children. This runs in the mornings from 9.45am to 12.30pm in the last week of the school holidays from Tuesday August 29th to Friday September 1st 2017. There will be games, crafts, “stage-time” and much more around the theme of Christian Values. Further details and a registration form are available here. I’m gutted to miss it as I know how much fun it has been in previous years!

 

As always, please remember you are all welcome at any of our services at St. Peter’s – details are here or give me a call.

With my prayers.

Mark Fuller (Pioneer Minister) 07766 310509; markfuller@saintpeters.co.uk

Read this article in the Yaxley Gazette.

Cultivating life at the heart of community

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I was recently watching an umpteenth re-run of Father Ted, the politically incorrect comedy about the life of two priests.

I should perhaps note that there is no similarity between what is depicted there and life here at the Vicarage! Anyway, in this episode the two main characters, Ted and Dougal, are on board a plane and about to take off. Ted who doesn’t like flying says, “If God had intended people to fly he would have built airports nearer to the cities!” Obviously, this is a satirical comment about how remote some airports are from the cities they serve.

I’ve heard it argued that God is remote – “somewhere up there” and isn’t near the people, but has left us alone to our own devices. That simply isn’t true. It’s one of the key reasons why Jesus came to live on earth, to walk with us and to show us that God was anything but remote.

I often wish that St. Peter’s was in the middle of Yaxley rather than on the edge. I’ve wondered about the difference it might make if the church were physically right in the middle of the community it serves. Obviously, I can’t move the church building, but I’m really pleased that there are two occasions in May when we can bring the church into the centre of our community.

Firstly, I’m delighted that we will again be holding our 11.00am service on May 14th at the Yaxley Festival. I’m looking forward to meeting many of you over the Festival weekend. Please do join us for our open air service. The following Sunday, May 21st, we are holding our Community Sunday again. Instead of meeting in church for a service we will be doing various projects around Yaxley to support those who need assistance.

May I invite you to come to St. Peter’s on Saturday May 6th from 10.00am for Green Day, our annual plant sale. I am also pleased to say that St. Peter’s is now open through the summer on weekday mornings from 10.30am to 12.30pm. Please do come along for some quiet time in God’s presence, or to admire the architecture – or for any other reason. Lastly, a reminder that you are all of course always welcome to attend any of our services – details on our website.

As this year progresses I pray that we would all know that God is not remote, but that He is right in the middle of our lives, our cities, towns and villages.

With my prayers,

Jon Randall (Vicar) 01733 240339; vicar@saintpeters.co.uk

Read this article in the Yaxley Gazette.

Love your neighbour, build our community

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When I said in a recent interview that Yaxley was a close-knit community I was challenged by someone (not the interviewer) to support this comment.

I thought I would record here just two of the things which came to my mind in support of what I had said.

Firstly, just before Christmas we gave out hampers from the Food Bank to 29 families. These hampers had a combined weight of 1,138kg – all of which was donated by the local community. I am aware that some of this was donated from people living outside Yaxley. Thank you to everyone who so generously donated in order to enable us to support these families in Yaxley and the surrounding area.

Secondly, there have been three recent and tragic deaths in Yaxley where the costs of the funeral have been largely or wholly covered by “crowd-funding”. What amazing generosity has been displayed by both those who knew the families and those with no connection at all – other than wanting to reach out to a local family in distress. In addition, I know that an enormous amount has been done in and by the local community to support the bereaved families.

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was he responded by encouraging us to love God with all our heart, body, mind and strength and to love our neighbour as ourselves. Jesus’ response is the focus of our sermons  series throughout February and into March. Whether you have a Christian faith or not, and wherever you live, my prayer is that we would all love our neighbour as ourselves and continue to build our local communities. Through this may we come to know the real love of God.

It would also be wrong of me to let the month of February pass without mentioning Valentine’s Day. My congratulations to all those of you who have recently got engaged and who will do so on February 14th. If you would like to get married at St. Peter’s I would love to hear from you. Please contact me as soon as you can – we already have around 25 weddings booked for this year and 12 for 2018.

With my continuing prayers,

Jon Randall (Vicar) 01733 240339; vicar@saintpeters.co.uk

Read this article in the Yaxley Gazette.