Latest News

The meeting for election of churchwardens and the Annual Parochial Church Meeting will be held, via Zoom, on Tuesday 22nd June at 8pm. Papers will be available in the churches soon or can be downloaded here.

Susy will be ordained priest at 3pm on Sunday June 27^th. Normally we would take a coach load of people to support Susy and celebrate with her but with social distancing still in force she can only invite a very few people to be with her in in person. The service will be livestreamed and you can support her from your own home. But we have also had the idea of some people gathering in St Mary’s Kidlington to join the livestream and watch together. This might feel more friendly and more of a shared occasion.  Now that we have our new wifi in the church we can do this sort of thing. If social distancing is still in force you will need to book but there is plenty of room, just click here. Thank you to Scott Cheeseman for volunteering to do the technology for this.

We will let you know the livestream link as soon as we have it.

Susy’s first Mass will be the following Wednesday 30^th June at 11am in St Mary’s and the preacher will be The Rev’d Lucy Winkett. So do put the date in your diary and come and support her if you can; booking as usual.

Bishop Steven will be holding a service of Confirmation in St Mary’s Kidlington at 6pm on Tuesday 25th May. Please pray for the candidates: Scott Cheeseman, Denise Dempsey, Sophia Gardam, and Tyson Newell. The service will be livestreamed, so you can join with Facebook as usual.

As usual for Pentecost we will be joining with all the Churches Together in Kidlington for a joint service at 10.30am. So there will be no Anglican online service at 10am. The CTK service will be livestreamed by Kidlington Baptist Church on YouTube, which you can find using this link. There will be an “in-person” service of Holy Communion at 3pm in St Mary’s Kidlington on that day; as usual you will have to book here.

Wanted – Part Time Children and Family Worker

Are you interested in being part of the relaunch of Kidlington Community Hub?  Do you have a passion for working with children and families?

Kidlington Community Hub at St Johns is looking for a Part time Children and Family Worker to support open access Children’s Services to the residents of Kidlington and surrounding areas.

We are looking for a person with a ‘can do’ attitude to lead stay and play sessions, co-ordinate and support volunteers and work in partnership with other agencies.

For more details and an application form just click here.

PRINCE PHILIP, DUKE OF EDINBURGH

10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021

We are deeply saddened by the death of His Royal Highness Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh and offer our sincerest condolences to the Royal Family.

A PRAYER ON THE DEATH OF HRH THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH
God of our lives,
 we give thanks for the life of Prince Philip,
 for his love of our country,
 and for his devotion to duty.
 We entrust him now to your love and mercy,
 through our Redeemer Jesus Christ. Amen.

You can find more on the diocesan website and on the royal website, both of which offer an online book of condolence.

A short reflection from Christ Church Cathedral is available here and you might like to know of the following services which will be live-streamed:

• Evensong from Christ Church at 6pm on Friday 9th (also to be broadcast on BBC Radio Oxford) see YouTube link
• Requiem in Remembrance of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh at 1.05pm on Saturday 10th, see YouTube link

Our usual online services are continuing after Easter but we will also be holding some “in-person” services. Every week there will be a service of Holy Communion at St Mary’s Kidlington on Wednesday morning at 11am. We will also celebrate Holy Communion on Sunday afternoons at 3pm at one of our churches, starting with St Mary’s Kidlington on 11th April and St Mary’s Hampton Poyle on 18th April. As usual, it is necessary to book for all the services, just see here. We will be monitoring booking numbers and extra services will be introduced as seems appropriate.

The one difference between now and former times is that congregations are now allowed to sing if they are outside. So if you do book in to a service please be prepared to be invited to sing a hymn outdoors at the end, or indeed in warmer weather to be outdoors for other parts of the service, if appropriate, at the leader’s discretion. This feels like something to celebrate as the first hint of being able to open up a little more. If, however, you don’t want to be involved in singing please feel free just to slip away. There is no compulsion.

All the extra services for this special season are now listed in the Calendar. We are delighted that this includes a number in-person as well as some extra online . To ensure the safety of everyone attending in-person services numbers are restricted and it is essential that you book a place in advance – just go to the Booking page.

Most services will be an appropriate adaptation of familiar services from previous years. But you might be wondering what the “Garden of Gethsemane Service” is – so here’s more information: This is a reflective service inside St Mary’s which will focus on Jesus’s time in the garden of Gethsemane. We will listen to Scripture, reflect and pray, and listen to some music/singing. A chance to be with Jesus in his suffering, and to pray for all those who suffer in different ways. The service will last no more than an hour and those who wish are welcome to stay for as little or as much as the Vigil as they would like to.

The World Day of Prayer is an annual event that we share with brothers and sisters in ‘Churches Together in Kidlington’. This year the service will be on Zoom on Friday 5^th March at 7:30pm (contact us for Zoom login details if you don’t already have them).  It has been prepared by the Christian women of Vanuatu with the theme “Build on a strong Foundation”.  You can download a basic service sheet here (unfortunately the only version available omits the words of the songs).

As usual, there is a spot in the service for making an offering, but of course this has to be done differently this year. Donations go to help the work of World Day of Prayer in England, Wales & Northern Ireland and projects run by Christian charities around the world. If you wish to donate you can do so:

• by text: send message to 70085 using the phrase 2021WDP and then adding the amount you wish to donate i.e. 2021WDP 5 (to donate £5)
• online: go to www.wwdp.org.uk and click on Donate; put KIDL3501 where it says Church attended
• by cheque: made out to WDP and with KIDL3501 on the back; post to World Day of Prayer, Commercial Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2RR

You have an option of bringing a stone or pebble to the service.

On Shrove Tuesday 2021 we made parish history with our zoom Pancake Party. Hosted by Susy, quiz devised by Lesley Heffer, and with tech support by Andy, this was a phenomenal success and sheer good fun. And thanks to Felicity for gathering together some pictures and poems from the event, just see here.