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Parish Notices: 6 February 2022

Our current COVID precautions

To reduce the risk of spreading Coronavirus we continue to recommend that you wear a face covering if you can. Communion is once again available as both bread and wine, although if you wish to receive only the bread this is your choice and is still considered to be full communion by the Church of England.

We suggest that you continue to take precautions such as taking regular rapid lateral flow tests, keeping your distance, and being respectful of the wishes of others. You’ll still need to sanitise your hands as you enter the building, and avoid handshakes during the Peace.

If you have any symptoms of COVID-19, remember that you must self-isolate and get a PCR test. As always, we will continue to stream all our services live on our website and YouTube channel, as well as make them available to listen to later by phone or podcast.

Leeds Lent Prayer Diary

A resource for bringing people together in prayer for the City of Leeds during Lent, providing Christians with a daily focus to pray for current needs. Each day of the diary features a different project working to bring positive change to the city of Leeds through mission, social action, education, arts, and more. Entries are written by the projects themselves and provide an update on their work along with specific prayer requests.

Choral Evensong sung by the Girls’ Choir of Bradford Cathedral

Today at 4.30 pm

The liturgy of Evensong is taken from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. It is renowned for the beauty and richness of its language including Myles Coverdale’s translation of the psalms. The service includes hymns, readings, a sermon and prayers. The choristers sing the Psalm, the Magnificat, the Nunc Dimittis and an Anthem.

This week we’re thrilled to welcome the Girls’ Choir of Bradford Cathedral, who will be singing the service. Please note the earlier than usual start time of 4.30 pm.

Thank God It’s Friday

This Friday 11 February at 6.30 pm

A space away from the working week, a chance to unwind and meet with other people. The bar’s open and you’re welcome to bring some food to cook yourself or order a takeaway. Come and join us for as little or as long as you like.

Messy Church

Sunday 13 February at 4.00 pm

Worship for all ages – starting with cake and a drink, some activities around this week’s theme, and finishing up with a short, informal act of worship in the church.

Continue reading “Parish Notices: 6 February 2022”

Parish Notices: 30 January 2022

Our current COVID precautions

To reduce the risk of spreading Coronavirus we continue to recommend that you wear a face covering if you can. Communion is once again available as both bread and wine, although if you wish to receive only the bread this is your choice and is still considered to be full communion by the Church of England.

We suggest that you continue to take precautions such as taking regular rapid lateral flow tests, keeping your distance, and being respectful of the wishes of others. You’ll still need to sanitise your hands as you enter the building, and avoid handshakes during the Peace.

If you have any symptoms of COVID-19, remember that you must self-isolate and get a PCR test. As always, we will continue to stream all our services live on our website and YouTube channel, as well as make them available to listen to later by phone or podcast.

The Rhythm of Life

Continues this Thursday 3 February at 7.30 pm

As Christians, we believe Jesus should be at the heart of our rhythms of life, whatever our circumstances. This will have a far-reaching impact on our own wellbeing and the good of others – on our loving, living and learning. This course involves individual commitments, accessing resources and mutual support. Feel free to join us for any session – you don’t need to have attended previous ones.

Sung Eucharist for Candlemas

This Wednesday 2 February at 10.00 am

All are welcome to join us as we mark the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.

Following this service, there will be tea and coffee available in the church.

Choral Evensong sung by the Girls’ Choir of Bradford Cathedral

This Sunday 6 February at 4.30 pm

The liturgy of Evensong is taken from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. It is renowned for the beauty and richness of its language including Myles Coverdale’s translation of the psalms. The service includes hymns, readings, a sermon and prayers. The choristers sing the Psalm, the Magnificat, the Nunc Dimittis and an Anthem.

This week we’re thrilled to welcome the Girls’ Choir of Bradford Cathedral, who will be singing the service. Please note the earlier than usual start time of 4.30 pm.

Continue reading “Parish Notices: 30 January 2022”

Parish Notices: 23 January 2022

Our current COVID precautions

To help reduce the risk of spreading Coronavirus you must wear a face covering at all times when in the church or Community Centre, except when receiving communion, eating or drinking, unless you are medically exempt.

We suggest that you continue to take precautions such as taking regular rapid lateral flow tests, keeping your distance, and being respectful of the wishes of others. You’ll still need to sanitise your hands as you enter the building, and avoid handshakes during the Peace.

If you have any symptoms of COVID-19, remember that you must self-isolate and get a PCR test. As always, we will continue to stream all our services live on our website and YouTube channel, as well as make them available to listen to later by phone or podcast.

As always, we are keeping a close watch on things such as infection rates, as well as guidance from the Government, NHS, and the Church of England, and we may make other changes to our safety measures in the future.

The Rhythm of Life

Continues this Thursday 27 January at 7.30 pm
St Mary’s Church, Whitkirk

As Christians, we believe Jesus should be at the heart of our rhythms of life, whatever our circumstances. This will have a far-reaching impact on our own wellbeing and the good of others – on our loving, living and learning. This course involves individual commitments, accessing resources and mutual support. Feel free to join us for any session – you don’t need to have attended previous ones.

Eucharist for Candlemas

Wednesday 2 February at 10.00 am

All are welcome to join us as we mark the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.

Following this service, there will be tea and coffee available in the church.

Choral Evensong sung by the Girls’ Choir of Bradford Cathedral

Sunday 6 February at 4.30 pm

The liturgy of Evensong is taken from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. It is renowned for the beauty and richness of its language including Myles Coverdale’s translation of the psalms. The service includes hymns, readings, a sermon and prayers. The choristers sing the Psalm, the Magnificat, the Nunc Dimittis and an Anthem.

Please note the earlier than usual start time of 4.30 pm.

Continue reading “Parish Notices: 23 January 2022”

Parish Notices: 16 January 2022

Our current COVID precautions

To help reduce the risk of spreading Coronavirus you must wear a face covering at all times when in the church or Community Centre, except when receiving communion, eating or drinking, unless you are medically exempt.

We suggest that you continue to take precautions such as taking regular rapid lateral flow tests, keeping your distance, and being respectful of the wishes of others. You’ll still need to sanitise your hands as you enter the building, and avoid handshakes during the Peace.

If you have any symptoms of COVID-19, remember that you must self-isolate and get a PCR test. As always, we will continue to stream all our services live on our website and YouTube channel, as well as make them available to listen to later by phone or podcast.

As always, we are keeping a close watch on things such as infection rates, as well as guidance from the Government, NHS, and the Church of England, and we may make other changes to our safety measures in the future.

The Rhythm of Life

Starting this Thursday 20 January at 7.30 pm
St Mary’s Church, Whitkirk

Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.

Matthew 11:28-30

During the Covid 19 crisis, we’ve had to adjust to very different rhythms of life. As Christians, we believe Jesus should be at the heart of our rhythms of life, whatever our circumstances. This will have a far-reaching impact on our own wellbeing and the good of others – on our loving, living and learning. That’s why you’re invited to join the diocesan ‘Rhythm of Life’ venture. This will involve individual commitments, accessing resources and mutual support.

Read Matthew’s letter from our Landmark magazine, inviting you to join us.

Continue reading “Parish Notices: 16 January 2022”

Parish Notices: 9 January 2022

Our current COVID precautions

To help reduce the risk of spreading Coronavirus you must wear a face covering at all times when in the church or Community Centre, except when receiving communion, eating or drinking, unless you are medically exempt.

We suggest that you continue to take precautions such as taking regular rapid lateral flow tests, keeping your distance, and being respectful of the wishes of others. You’ll still need to sanitise your hands as you enter the building, and avoid handshakes during the Peace.

If you have any symptoms of COVID-19, remember that you must self-isolate and get a PCR test. As always, we will continue to stream all our services live on our website and YouTube channel, as well as make them available to listen to later by phone or podcast.

As always, we are keeping a close watch on things such as infection rates, as well as guidance from the Government, NHS, and the Church of England, and we may make other changes to our safety measures in the future.

The Rhythm of Life

Starting January 20 at 7.30 pm

Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.

Matthew 11:28-30

During the Covid 19 crisis, we’ve had to adjust to very different rhythms of life. As Christians, we believe Jesus should be at the heart of our rhythms of life, whatever our circumstances. This will have a far-reaching impact on our own wellbeing and the good of others – on our loving, living and learning. That’s why you’re invited to join the diocesan ‘Rhythm of Life’ venture. This will involve individual commitments, accessing resources and mutual support.

A prayer for our new churchwarden

We give you thanks and praise O God
for your call on our lives
and how through that call the life of your church here at St. Mary’s
is a blessing to us all.
Today we pray for those called to the office of churchwardens,
we give thanks for Melvin and how he has served you faithfully and cheerily
and rejoice that your servant Elaine is now to serve alongside him
we pray your blessing on them both
that in and through this office
they might love and serve you with their particular gifts.
Strengthen them in their calling
uphold them if ever they are wearied
and encourage each one of us to support them in whatever way we can
for together we work for the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Continue reading “Parish Notices: 9 January 2022”

Parish Notices: 2 January 2022

Changes to our COVID precautions

To help reduce the risk of spreading Coronavirus you must wear a face covering at all times when in the church or Community Centre, except when receiving communion, eating or drinking, unless you are medically exempt.

We suggest that you continue to take precautions such as taking regular rapid lateral flow tests, keeping your distance, and being respectful of the wishes of others. You’ll still need to sanitise your hands as you enter the building, and avoid handshakes during the Peace.

If you have any symptoms of COVID-19, remember that you must self-isolate and get a PCR test. As always, we will continue to stream all our services live on our website and YouTube channel, as well as make them available to listen to later by phone or podcast.

As always, we are keeping a close watch on things such as infection rates, as well as guidance from the Government, NHS, and the Church of England, and we may make other changes to our safety measures in the future.

Catch up on our Christmas services

If you missed any of our Christmas services you can catch up with our Christmas playlist on YouTube.

The Rhythm of Life

Starting January 20 at 7.30 pm

Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.

Matthew 11:28-30

During the Covid 19 crisis, we’ve had to adjust to very different rhythms of life. As Christians, we believe Jesus should be at the heart of our rhythms of life, whatever our circumstances. This will have a far-reaching impact on our own wellbeing and the good of others – on our loving, living and learning. That’s why you’re invited to join the diocesan ‘Rhythm of Life’ venture. This will involve individual commitments, accessing resources and mutual support.

Coming up at Whitkirk Community Centre

Country Dancing

We are hoping to re-start this popular country dance class in January.  It will be held on 1st and 3rd Monday in the month, from 1.30 pm until 3.30 pm. Come along and give it a try for a good afternoon out among friendly faces – no experience needed!

Please contact Dorothy Howe on 0113 264 2569 for further information and to let her know if you are interested.

Continue reading “Parish Notices: 2 January 2022”

Reintroducing the Common Cup

Matthew talks about reintroducing the Common Cup to our worship at St Mary’s

From Advent Sunday (Sunday 28 November) we’ll be reintroducing the Common Cup at Whitkirk. This means that if you want to you’ll be able to take communion in both kinds – both bread and wine – as part of taking communion during our services.

If you’d like to take communion in both kinds, we’d appreciate it if you could mention this to one of our stewards so that we can consecrate the right amount. Don’t worry if you forget, this is just to help us get a better idea of numbers.

If you’d still rather take communion in one kind only, you can continue to do so and this is still considered by the Church of England to be taking communion in full. All you need to do is take the bread as you usually would, and then return to your seat.

You are free to start or stop taking communion in both kinds whenever you want. As with all changes to our worship during the pandemic, we’re keeping a close eye on things like infection rates as we make our decisions, and we may make further changes in the future.

An update from your PCC: November 2021

The Parochial Church Council meets regularly throughout the year to discuss and make decisions on all kinds of issues relating to the Church at Whitkirk.

We think it’s essential that the parish know what their PCC is talking about, which is why we’ll be sharing these updates after each meeting. We won’t go into the nitty-gritty details of what we discussed but will give you an overview and a summary of decisions. This is a summary of the meeting held on 16 November.

  • We decided to reintroduce the Common Cup from Advent Sunday, with it being made clear that people do not have to take part if they do not feel comfortable.
    • This decision has been temporarily paused due to the latest infection rates and emergence of a new variant of concern.
  • We made some updates to the contract for maintaining the Church’s grounds, increasing fees in line with inflation and clarifying how often we review things.
  • We agreed to invest in some new secured equipment storage.
  • The Church’s finance team gave us an update on our income and expenditure, along with some estimates and targets for the year ahead.
  • Updated text for our new Environmental Policy was proposed and approved, and this policy has been adopted by the PCC.
  • We heard an update from our safeguarding officer about adopting the latest version of our Safeguarding Policy, and on some updated training which PCC members must complete.
  • We looked at an updated structure for the PCC and its various subgroups, and continued to work towards a revised structure following the upheaval of the pandemic.
  • We discussed upcoming events and courses.
  • A note of thanks was discussed and agreed on for West Yorkshire Police for their assistance with road closures for this year’s Act of Remembrance.
  • Thanks were passed on to members of the PCC and congregation who have donated items towards the Christmas “Not Just A Coffee Morning” raffle and stalls.

If you have any comments, or if you’d like to raise an issue for the PCC or one of its committees to discuss, then please let us know!