Author: Margaret Day

Yes, it is almost summer time and thankfully we will be able to enjoy it more with friends and family this year. Coming Soon are:

CTK Joint Pentecost Service, followed by Picnic – Sunday 5th June 10.30am, St Mary’s Kidlington – join us as we celebrate Pentecost with our fellow Christians from the village. The service will be in person but can also be accessed online via our Facebook Live page. If coming in person please also bring your hampers, as after the service you’re invited to stay for fellowship and picnic in St Mary’s church garden – provided the weather holds up! 

Parish Fete – Saturday 25th June, 12.30pm – 4pm, in and around St Mary’s Kidlington – this will be a great afternoon of friendship and fun. It includes a new “Lego (R) Masters Challenge” at 1pm and the now famous Dog Show at 2pm. For all the details, just click here.

Open Gardens Weekend – Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd July, 2pm – 6pm, in Kidlington (including Station Fields Allotments) and Hampton Poyle – your opportunity to visit a wide variety of beautiful gardens in our villages. One ticket gives admission to all open gardens on both days. There will also be places to stop for tea, chat, toilets, rest….. click here for more information.

The annual meeting for the parish will be held at 8pm on Wednesday 4th May, in St Mary’s Refectory. This is the time when we review the Report and Accounts for 2021, elect churchwardens and PCC members (our official trustees) as well as members of other groups. Do come along to hear about what has happened and plans for the future. Further details and papers are available here.

I will be doing the Christian Aid challenge of walking and running 300,000 steps for Christian Aid this month. As we are supporting Ukrainian guests in so many ways this is just one way of making sure we don’t forget the many and deep needs across the world for the basics of life. We no longer do the Christian Aid house-to-house collection so if you would like to contribute or find out more about the challenge please visit my justgiving page at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/felicity-scroggie.

Felicity

PARISH LUNCHES are back! Meeting 12.00 noon at Moorside Place on the last Wednesday of each month, starting on April 27th. Why not join us for good, reasonably-priced food and the chance to catch up and make new friends? Please contact Anne Handsley via the Parish Office to make your booking.

From the beginning of April we are trying out a new way of sharing our regular news, as the weekly parish emails were sometimes getting rather long and confusing. All up-to-date news is now included in a newsletter format which will still be emailed out, but is also available to download here – or you can just click on the big blue button “Newsletter” on the Welcome page.

We are now updating the church Electoral Roll in readiness for our Annual Meetings which will be held on Wednesday 4th May 2022. Sunday 10th April will be the last day on which you can apply to join the Electoral Roll (you do not need to re-apply if you are already on it). For further explanation and details of the meetings just click here.

As well as our usual services at 8am and 10am we will have a special Passion Sunday service of Music and Readings at 5.30pm in St Mary’s Kidlington

This is a Passiontide service of worship and contemplation, led by the choir and choristers. It will include the choir’s first performance of the double choir festival anthem “Lo, the full, final sacrifice” by Gerald Finzi, along with “Thou knowest, Lord” – Purcell, “Crucifixus” – Lotti, “Ave verum corpus” – Elgar, and congregational singing.

A candle burns on the high altar in St Mary’s Kidlington for the people of Ukraine and for justice and peace in our world. There is a prayer station with space to light your own candle, write your own prayer and take away a small cross. Please join the nation in prayer in whichever way is right for you.

God of peace and justice,
we pray for the people of Ukraine today.
We pray for peace and the laying down of weapons. 
We pray for all those who fear for tomorrow,
that your Spirit of comfort would draw near to them. 
We pray for those with power over war or peace,
for wisdom, discernment and compassion
to guide their decisions.
Above all, we pray for all your precious children, 
at-risk and in fear, that you would hold and protect them.
We pray in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Amen.

Whilst we will continue to offer our support in prayer, we are also now looking at practical ways of offering help. Further information can be found in our special section Support for Ukraine.

The Diocesan website has further thoughts on a Christian response to the war, see https://oxford.anglican.org/make-a-difference-in-ukraine.php

On Wednesday 2nd March there will be said services of Holy Communion with ashing at 11am at St Mary’s Kidlington and St John’s.  At 8pm in St Mary’s Kidlington we will have a sung service with ashing, short sermon, and the full choir and choristers singing Allegri’s Miserere and Byrd’s 4-part mass. This service will be livestreamed for those unable to attend in person.

Thanks to everyone who supported our February Tea Talk – it felt so good to be gathered together for a social event again. David Meara gave a fascinating talk and we enjoyed that and the following tea and cake.

We will be holding another Tea Talk on Sunday 13th March, when Joanna Foster, CBE, will talk on “Work-Life Balance; myth or reality?” Do join us