St Paul's Church and Centre: December 2011

Tuesday 27 December 2011

Notices 18th to 25th December 2011

notices

SUNDAY Fourth Sunday in Advent	18^th	8.00 am 10.00 am 2 – 4 pm 6.00 pm	Holy Communion Holy Communion with Zimbabwe DVD – we will see a 12 minute film of the work of The Senior Citizen Service, the organisation which Dave has just taken over leading. Sheila will be with us to say a bit about the work. Sheila returns to Zimbabwe a few days later. Seekers in The Upper Hall Carol Singing at Bishops’ House. Children must be accompanied by an adult Carols by Candlelight - For adults & older children - with Carfield Community Choir, followed by mulled wine and refreshments. Focus Service resumes 8^th January 2012
MONDAY	19^th	7.00 pm	No Rainbows or Zumba - both resume 9^th January 2012 Focus Fellowship in The Old Vestry – last this year, resumes 9^th January
TUESDAY	20^th	10.00 am 2.30 pm 6.30 pm	Holy Communion in The Meeting Place. T.L.C. – “Tea & Love for our Community” in The Meeting Place Guides resumes 10^th January CAROL SINGING at Overdale Care Home and locally. The Worship Group and Friends invite you to bring some festive cheer to both the residents of Overdale and our neighbours here in Norton Lees. Please meet at church at 6.30 pm
WEDNESDAY	21^st	10.30 am 8.00 pm	No “Peekaboo” this morning – resumes Wednesday 4^th January Care4You meeting in The Old Vestry (Vanda Hopwood) No Yoga with Yolande or W.I. tonight – both resume 4^th January Tai Chi with Gary in The Upper Hall
THURSDAY	22^nd	10.00 am 6.30 pm	Weight Watchers in The Upper Hall Chairobics - No meeting this afternoon or Thurs 29^th - resumes 5^th January Weight Watchers in The Upper Hall (N.B. no meetings on Thurs 29^th Dec only) No Music Listening Group this evening – resumes 12^th January
SATURDAY Christmas Eve	24^th	6.00 pm 11.30 pm	Family Carols - Our ever popular short carol service for younger children, families and everyone else who can find a seat! A Midnight Holy Communion Service for Christmas Eve - a quiet service as Christmas Day begins
SUNDAY Christmas Day	25^th	10.00 am	Family Communion for Christmas morning Please note: Our New Year’s Eve service will be on Saturday 31^st December at 8.00 pm There will be No 8.00 am Holy Communion on Sunday 1^st January. At 10 am on 1^st January there will be a service of Holy Communion in The Meeting Place when we will reaffirm our Baptismal Vows as we begin the New Year together.

notices

THANK YOU I have a break from chemo over Christmas so my appetite is better - just as well as our family at St. Paul's have been delivering meals and home baking to us.... casseroles, pies, stew, crumble.... Thank you for meeting our needs. We feel very blessed and humble. We wish you all the joy and peace of the season. (1 John 3 v 16 and 18 ). Enid (and Andy).

CONGRATULATIONS! You will be delighted to hear that Becky and Doug's baby arrived safely on Tuesday (13/12/11 - a wonderful date of birth to have). George Edward was born at 3.10 am weighing 6 lb 7 oz and may well be home from Tuesday afternoon. All the family are well and Doug has had a wonderful birthday present!

CHRISTMAS SERVICES AT ST PAUL’S This year we decided not to give out the Churches Together Christmas Cards but have advertised in Active8 instead – so make sure that your friends have seen the advert. It is a shame that we have had to stop the Churches Together Christmas Card. I thought it said a lot that our different churches could promote our Christmas Services in that way. The problem was that each church was finding it harder to distribute the cards so we decided to try a different way this year.

REMINDER - QUESTIONNAIRES Thank you to those who filled the blue questionnaires. Those we have had back have been very useful, but I think we have had less than 20 returned from nearly 70 that were given out. If you still have a questionnaire, please be sure to let me have it back by the end of December. The Strategy Group meet in January to look at the results and will take suggestions to the PCC in due course.

REMINDER - 2012 DIARY For heating purposes, billing etc., could all groups who hold their meetings at St Paul’s please give their 2012 meeting dates in writing (or by email) to Joan or John, or hand a note in at the office. It will also be helpful if you could let us know which dates you will not be meeting during the festive season. Thanks

DIOCESAN EVENT An eight week course on Tuesday evenings, called Foundations of Faith, is starting on 17^th January at St Mary’s Bramall Lane. It will look at ‘Using the Bible’, ‘The History of the Church’, ‘Worship’ and ‘Ethics’. Please see Murray for more information.

TLC - TEA & LOVE FOR OUR COMMUNITY We are here on Tuesdays in the MP from 2.30 pm to 3.30 pm. We can offer a lift if needed - contact Liz on 2557965 Please tell others about us even if you don’t need us!

ENID’S HOME GROUP The meeting on 28^th December is cancelled. Meetings restart on 11^th January; as before, they will be every 2^nd & 4^th Wednesday.

EPIPHANY MESSY CHURCH will be on Saturday 7^th January from 10.00 am to 12.30 pm on, and don’t forget to put our Valentine’s Messy Church in your diary too! It’s on Saturday 11^th February, also at 10.00 am. There will be art and craft activities, a short worship time and a light lunch. For more info, ring 2551945 or see Ann, Pete or Jana. We hope to see you there!

NEXT M.U. MEETING will be on January 11^th. There will be a Committee Meeting and also a visiting speaker. New members always welcome – please see Jacqui.

COMMUNITY NEWS Please see our notice board at the bottom of the stairs, and the black folder in church, for more information

The South Community Assembly is hosting a ‘Cabinet in the Community’ session on Thursday 5^th January at 6.00 pm at Newfield Tenant’s Hall, Gleadless Rd.
Activity Sheffield - Holiday Activities and multi-sports camps
Activities at Newfield School for young people aged 8-16 Cheerleading, Street Dance, Blastoff Academy, Basketball, Multi-sports & 5-a-side football
Safer Neighbourhoods newsletter for December from Inspector Ian Stubbs

Mike’s Ministry:

Sun 18^th – St Paul’s 8.00 am Holy Communion

& Southey Elim Carol Service

Tues 20^th – St Paul’s 10.00 am H.C.

Prayer Focus:

Edris, Sheila, Pete’s Dad, Peter, Barbara, Hazel, Robert, Sadie, Michael, Doug, Roger, Peter & Wendy, Murray & family, Enid and Andy, during Enid’s chemotherapy.

From Murray

I have now taken part in three Carol Services, so I feel well into Christmas! The service we held at St Paul’s for the area Scout Groups last week was excellent. I was helped in leading it by Maureen Food who is the Cub Leader at St Paul’s Scout Group and a Reader at St Mary’s Bramall Lane – she hit just the right note and the children really enjoyed the experience.

I know Lent seems a long way away yet, but after Christmas it will be on us very quickly! I was thinking of offering to lead a Questions! Questions! series on Wednesday evenings in the Meeting Place. Bishop Steven is urging us to run these sort of things as often as possible so I thought it would be good to share in it together so that we can encourage others to join in other Questions! Questions! series. I know some of you will have done it before, but it may be good to do it again with different people. I always get a lot out of leading the series and think we should be able to fit most of it into five weeks – let me know what you think!

Wednesday 7 December 2011

Notices 11th to 18th December 2011

SUNDAY Third Sunday in Advent	11^th	8.00 am 10.00 am 1.30 pm 6 for 7 pm	Holy Communion Christingle Family Worship (No Seekers this week) Children’s Birthday Party in The Upper Hall (1.30 - 4.30 pm) Focus Service in the Nave & MP – last service this year, resumes 8^th Jan 2012
MONDAY	12^th	6.00 pm 7.00 pm 7.30 pm	Rainbows in The Upper Hall – Last meeting of 2011, resumes 9^th Jan 2012 Focus Fellowship in The Old Vestry Zumba in The Upper Hall. Details from Amy 078 502 777 31 or 0114 2584799
TUESDAY	13^th	10.00 am 2.30 pm 2.30 pm 6.30 pm 7.30 pm 7.30 pm	Holy Communion in The Meeting Place. Barbara will lead the third session of this year’s Advent Course, including Coffee and Fellowship T.L.C. – “Tea & Love for our Community” in The Meeting Place M.U. Advent Service at St Oswald’s, Bannerdale Road Meersbrook Bank School Carol Service in church (to arrive at 6.00 pm) (Please note: No Brownies, Guides or Local History this evening) Derbyshire Lane Home Group (Advent) in The Old Vestry Jenny & Dilesh’s Home Group
WEDNESDAY	14^th	9.00 am 10.00 am 10.30 am 6.00 pm 7.30 pm 7.30 pm 8.00 pm 7.30 pm	Prayers in The Old Vestry “Peekaboo” Christmas Party in The Nave and Meeting Place – last this year Care4You meeting in The Old Vestry (Vanda Hopwood) NO M.U. Meeting – see Tues 13^th Dec Yoga with Yolande in The Upper Hall – last this year W.I.’s Christmas Party in The Old Vestry - last meeting of 2011 Provisional – Baptism Preparation in The Meeting Place Tai Chi with Gary in The Upper Hall Enid and Andy’s Home Group
THURSDAY	15^th	10.00 am 3.00 pm 6.30 pm 7.30 pm	Weight Watchers in The Upper Hall St Paul’s Chairobics in The Meeting Place. Come and give it a try! Weight Watchers in The Upper Hall (N.B. no meetings on Thurs 29^th Dec only) Gail’s Prayer Group meeting in The Old Vestry
FRIDAY	16^th	12.30 pm 7.30 pm	CATHEDRAL ARCHER PROJECT Join us at Sheffield Cathedral for our annual Carol Service. As usual, there will be an opportunity to bring donations and gifts for the clients and there will be a space at the front of the Cathedral for you to leave them. Worship Group Rehearsal in The Meeting Place
SATURDAY	17^th	1-3.00 pm	Bishops’ House – Seasonal Music from The Beekeepers. Free – all children must be accompanied by an adult. Also Carol Singing on Sunday 18^th from 2 - 4 pm
SUNDAY Fourth Sunday in Advent	18^th	8.00 am 10.00 am 6.00 pm	Holy Communion Holy Communion with Zimbabwe DVD & Seekers in The Upper Hall Carols by Candlelight

ZIMBABWE DVD Next Sunday at 10 am we will see a 12 minute film of the work of Senior Citizen Service the organisation which Dave Gill has just taken over leading, Sheila will with us to answer any questions we might have. Sheila returns to Zimbabwe a few days later.

CHRISTMAS SERVICES & EVENTS 2011

Tues 13^th Dec – Meersbrook Bank School Carol Service at 6.30 pm in church (No Brownies or Guides, & DLG now in OV. Please also note: The planned rehearsal for Monday is now cancelled.)

Sun 18^th Dec - Carols by Candlelight at 6.00 pm

For adults & older children - with Carfield Community Choir. Followed by mulled wine and refreshments.

Sat 24^th Dec - Christmas Eve Family Carol Service 6.00 pm. Our ever popular short carol service for younger children, families and everyone else who can find a seat!

Sat 24^th - Christmas Eve Midnight Communion 11.30 pm A quiet service as Christmas Day begins.

Sun 25^th - Christmas Day - Family Communion 10 am

2012 DIARY For heating purposes, billing etc., could all groups who hold their meetings at St Paul’s please give their 2012 meeting dates in writing (or by email) to Joan or John, or hand a note in at the office. It will also be helpful if you could let us know which dates you will not be meeting during the festive season. Thank you

CHRISTMAS CARDS are now in church and also catalogues for 3 charities. All profits to church projects.

POPPY APPEAL This year we raised £26.43 for the British Legion.

FRUIT, JAM & CHUTNEY SALES now total £153.94 for the Fabric Fund. Thank you everyone!

ENID’S HOME GROUP The meeting on 28^th December is cancelled. Meetings restart on 11^th January; as before, they will be every 2^nd & 4^th Wednesday.

SHEFFIELD BACH SOCIETY is delighted to announce a special event for Christmas - ‘Come Sing Messiah!’ in Dore Parish Church on Mon 19^th Dec with seasonal refreshments. Please see poster in MP.

Mike’s Ministry:

Sun 11^th – St Paul’s 10.00 am FW (Christingle)

Tues 20^th – Handsworth Christian School

Fri 16^th – Lacewood Primary

Sun 18^th – St Paul’s 8.00 am Holy Communion

& 10.00 am Family Communion

& Southey Elim Carol Service

Prayer Focus:

Edris, Sheila, Pete’s Dad, Peter, Barbara, Hazel, Robert, Sadie, Michael, Doug, Roger, Peter & Wendy, Murray & family, Enid and Andy, during Enid’s chemotherapy.

From Murray

Christmas is coming! The weather has turned cold and it all suddenly seems very close! I have my first Carol Service this evening (as I write) so it is all about to begin for me!!

We have just one week left to invite our friends to the evening Carol Service next Sunday – it is such a great service, so don’t miss it! It starts at 6.00 pm, we have the candles alight around the windowsills and after the service we will enjoy Christmassy refreshments and mulled wine as usual.

This year we decided not to give out the Churches Together Christmas Cards but have advertised in Active8 instead – so make sure that your friends have seen the advert. The layout department at the magazine used the colour scheme from our church website which Jana looks after for us. So if people look at our website they will see the connection with our advert.

It is a shame that we have had to stop the Churches Together Christmas Card, I thought it said a lot that our different churches could promote our Christmas Services in that way. The problem was that each church was finding it harder to distribute the cards so we decided to try a different way this year.

Thank you to those who filled the blue questionnaires. Those we have had back have been very useful, but I think we have had less than 20 returned from nearly 70 that were given out. If you still have a questionnaire, please be sure to let me have it back by the end of December. The Strategy Group meet in January to look at the results and will take suggestions to the PCC in due course.

Finally, someone has asked about how much was given at our Gift Day. As Peter is away I do not have up to date figures but a few weeks ago at the PCC meeting the total was over £1,500 which is fantastic – with some more still to come in at that point. I am again humbled by the generosity of members of St Paul’s when the Gift Day was organised in such a hurry.