At last there are signs of hope. Many will now have received their first vaccine and locally infection rates are much lower then when we decided to close for Public Worship.

After consultation with the PCC we are reopening this Sunday, Mothering Sunday, 14th March and unless advised, will continue to be open. St. Francis will open this coming Thursday, 18th March, Some will be ready to return but others will still be wary, and that’s fine. Looking at the Government Road map I will be able to visit for Home Communions from 17th May.

I will send out details for Holy Week nearer the time along with Palm Crosses, but the plan is to stream a service for Maundy Thursday, open St. James for Good Friday and celebrate Easter at St. Francis on Saturday evening and St. James at the normal time on Easter Day.

Restrictions still apply with social distancing and face masks, no congregational singing and choir limited to three! I don’t foresee that we will be able to sing until restrictions end, but hopefully I will be proved wrong.

Looking ahead, weddings only slowly increase numbers allowed – at present still 6, and afternoon baptisms can restart with a maximum of 30 from 17th May. If any of you have family or neighbours asking about weddings and Baptisms please pass this information on.

News around town is that Revd. Robin Ham is now priest-in-charge of St. Pauls as well as minister in charge of Grace Church. Jonathan Elvey has been licensed as a reader based at St. Mary, Walney. We are still stretched with the interregnum at Walney and Barrow Island, and Fr. Carl is still unwell and unable to minister across the South Barrow team.

In this are the materials for the Vision Refresh Lent Course.

Keep safe

Fr. Jack.

A single bell at St James will toll 100 times on Saturday 27th February in honour of Captain Sir Tom Moore and to mark the day of his funeral.

Shortly after 12 Noon on 27/02/2021

St James bell to toll 100 times in memory of Captain Sir Tom Moore

The funeral for Captain Sir Tome Moore will be a private family service, so there have been calls from Bishops and the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers, for churches across the county to mark the occasion by tolling a bell 100 times on Saturday, 27 February suggesting a time of around 12 noon.

Immediately after the clock chime and Angelus at noon, the tenor (heaviest bell) will be rung up, and then after 2 minutes silence, the tenor bell will be tolled 100 times in memory of Captain Sir Tom Moore, who is held in such esteem and affection across the world.

Captain Sir Tom Moore’s fundraising, kindness and words of optimism have touched many of us. We hope this small act of tolling a bell can remind anyone that hears the bell, of this lovely gentleman, his fundraising, pride and care for the NHS; his wish to combat loneliness; and his positive outlook and hope for the country and everyone beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.

May he rest in peace, and his family and friends find comfort in the love from so many people.

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Note: The ringing of a single bell has been approved by Fr Jack Knill-Jones and will be conducted observing appropriate Covid measures for hands-face-space when accessing the tower.

Owen Osmotherley, a regular bellringer at St James from neighbouring Dalton St Mary’s has sent a copy of a line drawing he completed in 2020

Talented, and looks impressive enough to compete with Alfred Wainwright’s picture on Alfred Wainwright page. Click on the image above to see full size to appreciate the detail.

Sadly we can’t get together for our usual Pancake Party – and I’m sure that you are all going to miss the quiz that I used to set!

I’d hate for you to miss out so I’ve produced a word quiz for you.

As it’s just before Lent and we’re all celebrating Collop Monday, Pancake Tuesday and Ash Wednesday then the answers to the definitions below all contain either the letters COL, PAN or ASH.

No prizes and I’ll give out the answers next week. And if you enjoy the quiz then let me know and I’ll come up with another one.

Stay Safe,

Shelagh

1.	Not black & white	(6)
2.	Similar to a marrow or pumpkin	(6)
3.	To walk in a confident, relaxed, hip-swinging manner	(6)
4.	The study of bells	(11)
5.	A small woodwind instrument	(7)
6.	Dark, milk & white	(9)
7.	Gun Dog	(7)
8.	Tube that launches small projectiles by blowing	(10)
9.	A chronic sleep disorder	(10)
10.	Buttons, zips, needles, thread & ribbons etc	(12)
11.	To make larger	(6)
12.	A person or pet with whom you spend a lot of time together	(9)
13.	Clean with water	(4)
14.	An English county	(12)
15.	African Lily	(10)
16.	Shy	(7)
17.	Women’s loose trousers fitting tightly at the ankle	(10)
18.	Young Horse	(4)
19.	Mechanical linkage for scaling drawings up or down	(10)
20.	A confused or badly organised mixture	(8)

Dear All,

Zoom coffee is as usual (see below for details).

Ash Wednesday

We will be streaming a Service for Ash Wednesday onto Facebook this Wednesday at 7.30pm which as usual will be available from then on. A service sheet is available on the church webpage.

Lent Groups

Lent study groups: The Mission Community will be running two weekly Zoom ‘Lent Gatherings’ across the Mission Community which look at the Vision Refresh. These will run on Tuesday afternoons and Wednesday evenings.

We’d love people to sign-up in advance to these so that we can plan for numbers and break-out rooms. The sessions will be a mix of ‘altogether time’ (interviews, presentations, sung worship/prayers) and ‘Break out rooms’ for Bible-study.

The themes for the first three weeks are : God for All (Introduction), Speak Boldly and Follow Daily.

Bishop Emma has now published notes for the Bible-study groups, which we’ll use, but you may like to take a look: https://www.godforall.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Vision-Refresh-Lent-Group-Materials.pdf

The signup is through this link and this will be how people receive the Zoom links too.

https://forms.gle/gedCBtmLAFomEvef8

Sunday Zoom coffee and chat – from 12 noon

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/73169539003?pwd=RlFmQ21KanNibVJUQzNmZDBIZkJDQT09

Meeting ID: 731 6953 9003
Passcode: 8tbsn5

Fr. Jack

The moisture that is trapped in the bricks of the tower and buttresses freezes in the bitterly cold temperatures today, revealing the weakest points in the pointing and weather proofing.

Click either image to enlarge in a new window/tab

Looking ahead to Lent, I have attached the flyer for the Barrow Mission Community Lent course as we join with the diocese in following Bishop Emma’s course looking at the themes of Vision Refresh.

Fr. Jack

Service for Candlemas will be live streamed on our Facebook page tonight (2nd February 2021) at 7.30pm.

Service sheet is attached: Candlemas Service Sheet

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Candlemas brings to a close the season of Epiphany which recognizes Jesus to be the Son of God. The word ‘epiphany’ means ‘manifestation’ or ‘appearance’, and the Feast of the Epiphany marks the recognition of the newborn Jesus by the world. Later, the Church remembers the Baptism of Christ by John, when a voice from heaven declares Jesus to be God’s beloved Son. Finally, on 2 February, the season of Epiphany ends with the Feast of the Presentation. Jesus is brought to the Temple by his parents according to the law of Israel. There, he is recognized by Simeon, who declares him to be ‘a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of God’s people Israel.’ The traditional service for this feast includes a procession of candles, and so it is often known as Candlemas.

In the week that the number of COVID- related deaths in the UK exceeded 100,000, so both Archbishops are inviting everyone to call on God in Prayer for the Nation.

Starting on 1 February you are invited to set aside time every evening to pray, particularly at 6pm each day. 

The Archbishops issued this renewed call to prayer outlined in their most recent letter to clergy, released earlier this week. 
 
There will be a rolling seven day of themes for prayers, as follows:

• Sunday – Family, friends and loved ones
• Monday – Schools and colleges, children and young people 
• Tuesday – Elderly, isolated and vulnerable 
• Wednesday – Businesses, the workplace and economic wellbeing
• Thursday – The NHS and other key workers
• Friday – National and local governments 
• Saturday – All who are grieving and all suffering with physical and mental ill-health.

Prayer resources, including new weekly prayers, daily biddings, family prayers and a prayer booklet (downloadable as a PDF) are all available by clicking here, whilst a range of video reflections from senior church leaders on YouTube praying for specific daily themes and also general ‘prayers for the nation can be viewed by clicking here.

Dear All,

We will be live streaming to the St. James Facebook page at 10.30 each Sunday until local infection rates fall to a point where it is safe to meet together again. As always the service can be watched at any time.

The Zoom coffee and catch up will follow at 12 noon on the following link:

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/73169539003?pwd=RlFmQ21KanNibVJUQzNmZDBIZkJDQT09

Meeting ID: 731 6953 9003

Passcode: 8tbsn5

While we are continuing with the Wednesday morning Eucharist, numbers are deliberately being kept to a maximum of six. If you are not a regular then please contact me on 343013 if you would like to be included. Should we grow over the limit of six then I will be happy to offer additional services on a Monday or Friday.

What ever you do keep safe and keep smiling!

Fr. Jack