February - Portslade United Reformed Church

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THE OUTLOOK
Portslade United Reformed Church Magazine
Part of the Hove and Portslade Pastorate
February 2016
Issue No. 759
Price 25p
2 February Outlook
Dear Friends,
Your Name Here
Did you hear that?...There it is again, just listen, quieten your mind and
just listen... Is that God calling? Calling you to work for him? No.... Are you
sure!?
In this coming season of Lent the normal thing to do is to try and give
something up, but my challenge to you is to start something up, change
your life that way. “What do I do?” I hear you ask, well that is the beauty
of our faith in God, it will be decided for us, all we have to do is listen and
pray. Our lives will be transformed, just like Jesus was in front of Peter,
James and John, as given to us by the words of Luke 9, verse 28 to 30:
“About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, James & John with
him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of
lightening.”
I know we won’t be divine in nature but we will still be seen as children of
God but most importantly seen in our community as a loving and caring
entity.
So as we enter this time of change, not only be ready to listen to the voice
that’s calling you but be ready to reply “Here I am, ready to do your will. I
may be a little scared but I know with your help and guidance I can do it”
Richard
Outlook February 3
7th February - Transfiguration
Exodus 34: 29-35, Psalm 99, 2 Corinthians 3: 12-4:2,
Luke 9: 28-36 (37-43).
10th February - Ash Wednesday
Joel 2: 1-2, 12-17 or Isaiah 58: 1-12, Psalm 51: 1-17, 2
Corinthians 5: 20b-6:10, Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21.
14th February - Lent 1
Deuteronomy 26: 1-11, Psalm 91: 1-2, 9-16, Romans 10: 8b-13, Luke 4: 1-13.
21st February - Lent 2
Genesis 15: 1-12, 17-18, Psalm 27, Philippians 3: 17-4: 1, Luke 13: 31-35
28th February - Lent 3
Isaiah 55: 1-9, Psalm 63: 1-8, 1 Corinthians 10: 1-13, Luke 13: 1-9
Saturday
12th March @
6.30pm
Following the success of our concert last September we have arranged another evening of music from the shows.
Our chosen charity for the concert is the Purple People Kitchen.
They run the food bank and homeless drop-in centre at Portslade
Town Hall, right on our doorstep, on a Friday and are part of the
Food Share charity in Sussex.
We hope you will consider coming along and sharing the evening
with us
4 February Outlook
Sunday
Give thanks that our new minister will soon be with us.
Pray that her ministry will be both happy and rewarding for all concerned.
Monday
Pray for those who are experiencing illness this winter.
May they may soon be restored to full health. Pray also
for a satisfactory resolution of the doctors dispute.
Tuesday
Pray for the teachers and children of Mile Oak Primary
school and the residents and staff of Saxon Court.
Wednesday
Thursday
Pray for all Christians especially when differing views
cause conflict.
Ask for God’s blessing on the local community and our
outreach to them remembering particularly those who
have recently moved into our area.
Friday
Pray for those suffering from war and terrorism in
many areas of the world. Pray for the aid workers who
Saturday
Pray that the commitments made at the recent climate
change conference will be met.
Is there any area of general concern you would like included in future Prayer Diaries? If so, please contact Pauline May on 381930
Thanks you all once again for your efforts, the box is full once
more! Therefore I think for February it would be good perhaps to
have a collection of toiletries, I have noticed that lots of the shops
have shower gels and body lotions on offer (Men' as well as ladies!)
so together with shampoo and conditioners, soaps and talcum
powder (adults as well as babies!) we should be able to collect
quite a bit for a small outlay. And don't forget shaving lotion etc
for men. We don't want them to get scruffy do we!
I know these things will be appreciated but if they are not within
your reach, anything you can manage will be fine. Thanks again
Outlook February 5
for your wonderful ongoing support.
Take Care, God Bless x
Mary.
We will once again be putting together and
distributing small Easter gifts to the community. So the following dates are for your diary,
phone, calendar, post it or what ever you use
to make notes of important dates. If you are
able to help please let Clare know as soon as
possible - by helping we mean either putting
a sweet into a clear bag, tying ribbon around
the finished bag or actually distributing them
the the local ‘not yet friends’.
So, the dates are:
To make them: Saturday 5th March, during the coffee morning (meet at
9:30am)
To distribute them: Saturday 19th March, also during the coffee morning.
Thank you in advance for whatever help you can offer Clare.
Congratulations and thank you to Mary and Simon Wigdor, who celebrated their Ruby wedding anniversary on Sunday 10th January
and provided the flowers for the church on that day.
The flowers on 4th February will be in memory of Charlie and Dora
Reeves, given by their daughter Margaret Briant.
Despite some generous donations, the flower fund is dwindling. So
if you like to see fresh flowers in the church every week, perhaps
you would consider making a small donation to keep the fund
afloat.
Lin Burgess
6 February Outlook
We give a warm welcome to our new Minister Rev Sue
Chapman and her husband, Colin this month. They are
now settling into the manse. Over the coming months we
look forward to learning more about each other and discovering what God has planned for our mission together.
We give thanks for her calling to the pastorate and may
God bless them both.
Pauline has been suffering with her back problems recently and is finding it difficult to get out and about. We pray for healing for her.
A message from Lilian:
‘On behalf of Diane I would like to thank all friends for the good wishes and cards
sent to her. She sends her love to all at Portslade’.
As you will be aware Diane is now living in Littlehampton and we continue to
hold her and her family in our prayers.
Please hold Simon Wigdor in your prayers and of course Mary, as she continues
to look after him following his operation.
Please continue to hold the following folk in your prayers
Easton Walls, the family of Enid Flint, Julie Davis (Emily’s granny), Simon and
Joseph, Jenny Kent (one of our GB leaders), Eve Trimble, Joan Glanville, Bill Stone
and Audrey Coles. May God’s love surround them all.
-
to Alan and Ruth as they continue to play the organ and keyboard for our
Sunday Worship
-
to all those who came along a helped with the cleaning day
to those who kindly arranged for the entrance of the church to be
painted giving it a fresh look ( Hope you have noticed this as you arrive! )
Please have any contribution to the March Outlook to me by Sunday 28th
February.
Thank you.
Richard
Outlook February 7
On the 31st March I will be completing a 20
mile (approx) walk, from Littlehampton to
Brighton, in aid of Fareshare Sussex.
Fareshare Sussex is a charity project with the
joint aims of alleviating food poverty, reducing food waste and supports many other
charities, chlidrens centres, lunch clucbs,
homeless hostels and food banks across Sussex, including the Purple People
Kitchen here in Portslade.
The work they do enables over 70 community organisations to provide thousands of meals and saves around 460 tonnes of edible food from going to waste
each year.
Just £1 enables them to distribute up to £7 worth of food, £10 provides 62 meals
saving 26kg from going to waste, £50 pays for a volunteer to gain accredited
food hygiene training.
If you feel you would like to sponsor me then there are 3 ways you can do it:
Ÿ Fill out the your donation on the sponsor form that is in the Vestry;
Ÿ Text “RPKM82” followed by your donation, eg “RPKM82 £5” to 70070*
Ÿ Visit my Just Giving page at: www.justgiving.com/RichardDPackham.
Thank you in advance.
Richard
Its that time again when Sainsburys start issuing their
vouchers for schools and clubs and once again our
Boys’ and Girls’ Brigades are collecting them.
So if you shop at Sainsburys and you spend over
£10, then please do say ‘YES’ if you are asked if you
would like the voucher.
Thank you for your support.
8 February Outlook
25th Brighton Company
We have had a new Anchor Boy join us in the last few weeks,
Harry who seems to be settling in well with the other boys.
We have had an exciting few weeks looking at wildlife during
our sessions. We have made bookmarks, bird feeders and
some edible healthy animal food – a ladybird and a mouse snack! We are looking forward to sharing with Jenny, one of
the GB leaders this coming week as she
celebrates her 21st Birthday. Happy
Birthday Jenny!
The Company Section boys are trying to
put together a podcast at the moment for their badgework. It is proving to
be an interesting time as they need
to listen to each other and show patience with each other.
Please continue to remember the
work of the company in your
prayers.
Jayne, Richard and John
Saturday 28th February
We encourage you to come along for 10am
to have a tea or coffee before we get down
to our discussions
The Meeting starts at 10:30am.
Outlook February 9
Sunday 14th February at 3.30pm
This year we will be holding the Valentine Afternoon
Tea on Sunday 14th as we will all hopefully be at the
Induction of Sue on Saturday 13th.
Why not bring a friend or neighbour, a member of
your family or a colleague and share an hour with them while sharing a
light afternoon tea. We will be holding the tea in the church this year.
There will be a small donation of £2 per person to cover costs and any surplus will go to the Acorn Fund for Outreach.
We hope you will join us, please let Clare and Jayne know if you plan on
attending.
Jayne and Clare
It is becoming apparent that the need for more people to welcome
folk into our Church on a Sunday morning is becoming necessary,
you don’t need any special skills apart from having a warm and
welcoming smile and be able to direct those who haven’t been to
our Church before as to where they should go.
So, if you feel you are able to do this then please speak to Clare as
soon as possible.
Thank you.
As we approach the beginning of Lent I
wanted to share a suggestion from the Bible
Reading Fellowship with you that can be followed daily, but for copyright reasons I cannot include it here, so if you would like to
know more please speak to me.
10 February Outlook
I hope you will consider taking part in a day of prayer which
falls half way through Lent. There will be two rooms available
for prayer with simulating resources and I am hoping Books
Alive will provide a small book stall for the weekend.
Jayne
Day of Prayer
Saturday 5th March
10am – 6pm
Please sign up for an hour slot.
SUNDAYS
10:15am – 11:30am
Regular service with Children’s
Sunday Club (except the 3rd
Sunday of the month)
Monday
10am - 10:30am
3:30pm
Pop in for Prayer
Story Zone (Term Time)
Tuesday (alternate)
2:30pm
Tuesday Fellowship
6:30pm
Book Club (every 4th)
“Harmony” Community Choir
Thursday
5:45pm – 7pm
6:30pm – 8pm
Girls’ Brigade Explorers
Juniors, Seniors and Brigaders
Thursday
5:45pm – 7pm
6:30pm – 8pm
Boys’ Brigade Anchors
Boys’ Brigade Juniors
Saturday
10:00 am - 10:30am
10:00am – 12pm
Prayer Group meeting in 52
Come to the hall for tea or coffee
and chat
Wednesday
Outlook February 11
The Elders look forward to welcoming you, your family and friends to the
worship planned here at Portslade.
Sunday 7th
10:15am
10:30am
Sunday Club
Worship led by Rev Peter MacIntosh
Tuesday 10th
2:30pm
Fellowship - The Reading Station with
Mary Wigdor
Saturday 13th
2:00pm
Induction of Rev Sue Chapman to the
Hove and Portslade Pastorate, at
Central URC
Sunday 14th
10:15am
10:30am
3.30pm
Sunday Club
Worship led by Rev Sue Chapman
Valentine Afternoon Tea in the Church
Sunday 21st
10:30am
We will be worshipping with our friends
at Hounsom
Tuesday 23rd
2:30pm
Fellowship - ‘Aloe Vera’ with Laura
Topping
Sunday 28th
10:15am
10:30am
Sunday Club
Worship led by Simon & Ruth from City
Coast
Saturday 5th
10am - 6pm Day of Prayer
10am
Preparing Easter Gifts
Sunday 6th
10:30am
Mothering Sunday, worship led by
our Minister Rev Sue Chapman
Saturday 12th
6:30pm
Harmony Spring Concert supporting
The Purple People Kitchen
Sunday 13th
10:15am
10:30am
Sunday Club
Worship led Rev Sue Chapman
Saturday 19th
9:30am
Delivering Easter Gifts