No. 118 October 2022
This month our special focus is on St Mary’s Twyford, St Nicholas Hurst and St James Ruscombe:
Associate Priests: Rev Helen Charlton, Rev Graham Theobald, Rev David West
URC Minister: Rev Gordon Connell
Authorised Preachers: Lucy Bowley, Hans Gutmann, Gabi Gutmann, Richard Saberton-Coe.
Youth Worker: Connor Heath
St Nicholas: Wardens – Sue Payne, Jenny Beasley-Smith
PCC Lay-vice chair – Lynn Jeggo
Secretary – Rebecca Vaughan, Treasurer – Julia Kernow
St James: Warden – John Porter
St Mary’s: Wardens – Simon Farrar, Lucy Bowley
PCC Lay vice-chair – Lucy Bowley,
Secretary – Hope Lawrence, Treasurer – Keith Hay
URC Secretary: Linda Jackson
LEP Secretary: Alan Gwynn
Please pray for:
- The process of appointing a new vicar, that we will discern God’s will, as we move forward as a Benefice and LEP.
- Ruscombe and Twyford’s Local ecumenical partnership with Twyford United reformed Church.
- Our authorised preachers and clergy helping us to continue to run services in all three Anglican churches during the vacancy and the additional workload that this involves.
- The Benefice & LEP away day on Saturday October 1st and weekend away in March 2023, that we grow spiritually closer to God and pastorally to each other.
- The separate PCC’s of Ruscombe and Twyford and Hurst and that we will all find a way to work effectively together as we go forward.
- The recruitment of a new Children and Family’s Worker.
- Youth worker Connor and our youth, children and toddlers’ groups and ongoing liaison with local church schools.
In the Deanery, please pray for:
- Crowthorne, as Laura Wheatley Downs, is Inducted and Collated in a service on the 13 October. For Laura and her family as they settle in to Crowthorne, get to know people and begin her ministry in the Parish.
- St Sebastian Wokngham Without, St Mary the Virgin Winnersh and St Catherine Bearwood still in vacancy and those continuing to take additional responsibility.
- All those in our communities struggling to make ends meet as prices rise all around them and wise use of the resources of our Hardship Funds.
- Our Food Banks and those who use them.
In this country, please pray for:
- Our government so recently appointed and struggling to make wise decisions, in the face of the increase in the cost of living and the energy crisis that they will work together for the good of all the people in the country: finding ways to support those in real financial difficulty.
In the wider world, please pray for:
- World leaders that they will have the wisdom to make just decisions which respect the earth and all that live in it especially those who are poorest and most vulnerable.
- The people of Pakistan and the 33 million people affected by the recent floods and the surge in dengue fever, malaria and severe gastric infections praying for them, all medical staff and aid workers.
O Lord,
in the goodness of your constant love,
be with the people of Pakistan
as they face devastating floods.
Forgive us, O Lord,
for our part in the climate crisis,
and inspire us all to play our part
in protecting the earth, our common home.
So that together we may build a world
that reflects your glory,
where hope drives out despair
and all things are made new.
Adapted from a CAFOD prayer