News – Page 2 – North Barrow Churches

Zoom Coffee, Lent Groups and Ash Wednesday

February 14, 2021 by North Barrow Churches

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

Icy St James

February 13, 2021 by North Barrow Churches

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

Lent Lookahead

February 2, 2021 by North Barrow Churches

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

Candlemas (2 Feb)

February 2, 2021 by North Barrow Churches

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

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.

Prayer for the Nation (throughout Feb)

February 2, 2021February 2, 2021 by North Barrow Churches

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.

Services Update (from Sunday 17th January)

January 24, 2021January 17, 2021 by North Barrow Churches

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

Young Bell Ringers Achievement

January 8, 2021 by North Barrow Churches

CONGRATULATIONS! to three of our young ringers at St James, Barrow-in-Furness, and St Mary’s Dalton-in-Furness.

We are very proud to announce that Cameron Pollock, Jayden Milby, and Iwan Cotgreave have each been awarded the Lancashire Association Certificate of Proficiency for bell ringing, by exceeding the qualification standard for ringing ‘method’ change ringing (Plain Bob, Grandsire, and Stedman), conducting 2 courses of Plain Bob Minor, and successfully ringing one full peal (3 hours) or two quarter peals (50 minutes each).

I commend the dedication, ability, persistence, and skill of these young ringers who are bright and exciting prospects for the exercise in the future wherever their path takes them. They get on well together and motivate one another, and add a great dynamic to our practices.

It is worth noting that all three represented the Lancashire Association as part of the Lancashire Lads and Lasses (LLL) team that entered the Ringing World National Youth Contest in 2019 (Cameron and Jayden competed, Iwan was reserve). They achieved an incredible 6th place out of 18 teams in the rounds and call changes category (9th overall from 24 teams).

It is also worth noting that Cameron has now successfully completed 8 quarter peals in under 3 years; Iwan completed his 3 quarters in 9 months; and Jayden completed 3 quarter peals in just over 3 months period, including successfully organising and conducting a quarter peal (first as conductor) involving LLL ringers with average age under 15.

They have also been pivotal in our ability to ring for Sunday service and other special services over the last few years.

Regrettably Covid-19 intervened and interrupted learning practise Little Bob, Kent and Oxford, and prevented further quarter peals and a full peal during the summer of 2020, although Jayden has been learning Yorkshire, Cambridge and Bristol Surprise Major at home on his computer during lockdown/covid restrictions.

We look forward to resumption of ringing post-covid with the promise of fresh progress we can make.