Northwich Church - circuit events

Down on the farm

At the end of July James Eaton hosted a weekend of Circuit events at his farm at Plumley.

On Saturday the fun began at 6pm with various stalls - and games for the children. This was followed by a most enjoyable Concert given by Mereside Brass with strawberries and cream served at the interval.Proceeds were for the Kenya Project.

Our team of ministers

On Sunday afternoon people gathered for a faith tea which was followed at 6pm by a Circuit Service. The service was conducted by all of our ministers, who each took a section and chose a hymn which had particular significance for them.

A Bit of a Do: saying farewell to Rev Graham Wassell.

It was nothing so ordinary as a Leaving Service at Trinity Church Winsford, although devotions brought the celebration of Graham's ministry to a moving close. Graham finished with a blessing he had written specially for the occasion.

First we had tributes to Graham for the wonderful leadership he has given over 6 years. Graham also led tributes to Rev Brian Chantler who is taking his second retirement 10 years after beginning his first - nine of which have been spent in significant service in the circuit. The two were presented with gifts, with flowers for Graham's wife Jean.

Pilgrim Day: exploring our faith. Deepening our understanding of God's love.

On Saturday 10 July our Pilgrim Day was held at Hartford Church. About 60 people from around the Circuit were there, and found it a most rewarding time.

We had a choice of 2 workshops from 4 and with 2 sessions for each workshop, everyone was happily accommodated.

Rev Peter Barber with some members of the Personal Spirituality group

Personal Spirituality

Rev Peter Barber our District Chair led this session. He encouraged us to create a rhythm that works with our day and which would increase our awareness of God, ourselves, others and the world.

First we should find a place conducive to prayer, however small, where we can be quiet. He suggested that any time of day which suits us is OK. God will always be delighted when we seek his company.

We began by centering to become aware we are in God's presence. Peter gave us some practical tips for achieving this. He followed by suggestions for prayers and a variety of published outlines to help us with longer times of prayer

Peter advised developing attentiveness through the day by use of this verse from Psalm 67
"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us"
This can be used before potentially stressful situations throughout the day.

He told us of the benefits of ending the day with God, perhaps quite briefly, by reviewing the day with Him.

Two useful websites are http://www.pray-as-you-go.org
and http://revpebwalkingtheword.blogspot.com
which is his own blog.

A Prayer Walk with Graham Wassell

Graham began by saying that Prayer Walking is about walking and talking with God.

We began in the hall by praising God and asking for a keen sense of God's presence. Then we read Ephesions 1:16-21 and 1 Timothy 2:1-6.

Before we went out we were told we would pray for and about the local world as we found it. We should ask God to open our eyes to what he wanted us to notice and pray about. Generally we should do this unobtrusively in groups of 2 or 3, but there would be places where we could gather and pray together out loud. We were not to forget it was about listening to god as well.

We divided into 2 groups going in different directions and set out to walk for about 45 minutes, just around the church. As our group left the church a fire engine was parked nearby, which prompted us to pray for all the emergency services, who often face danger for the sake of others.

Walking along the road in 2s and 3s we discussed issues affecting family life - economic problems, job prospects - while also noting the natural beauty we saw around us - flowers in the gardens, a robin on the fence. And whenever we found a quiet space where we could withdraw from the traffic's noise, we put our thoughts into prayers.

Shelagh Lawson

Graham Wassell walks the Circuit

As a special farewell effort, Rev Graham Wassell ( who leaves us to take up a new appointment in September) undertook a walk of all the 23 churches in the circuit, which he completed in just two days on the 17 and 18 June.

Graham was accompanied on the walk by his wife Jean and a number of people from the churches, some walking just part of the journey with him.

Graham was sponsored for his effort, with most of the sponsorship going to the individual churches, except for 10% which went to Cancer Research.

Rousing hymns backed by the band

Their explanations of why these hymns had come to have special meaning for them showed a fascinating diversity of experience. Though the underlying message was always the centrality of Jesus in their lives.

Members of the band accompanied our singing, here was a great buzz of good fellowship and the weather was kind. What more could we ask?

Members of Mereside Brass Band

Next we had a wealth of entertainment, including musical items from the choir and some old time music hall style songs led by two elegant ladies in Edwardian dress - with audience participation. There followed a monologue, a dialect farewell and a laugh out loud version of Cinderella, with Rev Brian Chantler as a fetching Ugly Sister in a red feather boa.

The choir ended the entertainment with the customised "A dedicated follower of Wednesday," in a nod to Graham's support of the Sheffield football team.

After this everyone had worked up a thirst and an appetite and were not disappointed when they saw the magnificent spread which had been prepared in the Sunday School room.

Faith and Work

David Syson the District Training Officer took this session.

David began the session with the thought provoking statement, 'How much of our Faith is connected to our daily living?'

Our praying needs to reflect more into the aspects of everyday life - of everyday people.
We need to be aware of when 'others' need support
Statistics prove that there can be a hierarchy to our praying. An example was given of a Sunday School teacher who is aware of prayers being said for her as she leads Sunday School, but is more aware that prayers are not said for her when she is her full time profession of a teacher.
The power of our 'Christian Pilgrims' is needed more than every due to the current economic climate and the forecast of redundancies and cut backs.
Leading in some circumstances to a questionable work life balance and in some circumstances may contribute to the feeling of low self-worth
You need to be comfortable with yourself before you can help others.
Our actions and deeds in our daily living should show that we are caring, trusting and have empathy with others
This could/may lead to questions being asked of our Faith You should be prepared if your Faith is questioned .

I felt that the session confirmed the old saying 'You don't pull off your religion when you take off your Sunday clothes'

This also led quite well into the following session led by Peter Barber looking into how we create time for prayer in our daily lives.

Avril Bastin

A synagogue official, Ruth Pickles, a crippled woman and Jesus

Creative and Interactive Bible Study

Ruth Pickles, Secretary of Synod and Vice-President elect of Conference led us in a dramatisation of Luke13:10-17, Jesus healing the crippled woman.

Ruth first read it in the usual fashion, then asked how we could give it more impact. A dramatised reading was the answer.

She then gave out minimal 'costumes' to the characters. But we had forgotten someone - Satan! No costume for him, but someone reluctantly volunteered for the part . Ruth reported that in the previous session one of our senior local preachers had made an excellent Satan!

.Following the spirited enactment of the passage, groups then 'became' the characters and tried to answer questions put to them. People became very involved and the exercise proved to be very thought-provoking. We were still debating the passage enthusiastically when it was time to end the session.