Green Sheet – 25th April 2021

Cheshire South Circuit – Audlem Mission Area

www.audlemmethodistchurch.org.uk

(Minister: Rev Robin Fox. Tel: 01270 812820 email: minister@audlemmethodistchurch.org.uk)
Newsletter for Audlem, Hankelow & Hatherton Methodist Churches
For the week commencing 25th April 2021

At Audlem Methodist Church – there will be a service in church each Sunday at11.30am. Robin will lead this week's service

• The preachers for following Sundays will be announced in due course.
• Numbers are limited to accommodate social distancing so booking a place is essential.
• Please book your place by midday on Fridays
• To book, contact Fran Hughes either by email to moose_t@btinternet.com or phone 01270 812038.

Please note:
Masks are to be worn in the church at all times. Sanitisers will be used.
There will be no hymn singing.
After the service (duration approx 40mins) people must leave – no coffee/chat.
Social distancing maintained throughout.
The zoom service will still be available commencing at 10-30am.

Dear friends,

This Sunday – the 4th Sunday of Easter is often referred to as "Good Shepherd Sunday" because the Gospel reading is the passage from John 10 where Jesus says "I am the Good Shepherd" and the psalm for the day is the very beautiful and much-loved Psalm 23.
Over the centuries, many composers have sought to set it to music, often with very fine results, but surely the most well-known of all its musical settings is to the tune Crimond.

Whilst the words of the hymn as we know them today go back to 1650, it came as quite a surprise to me to learn that the marriage of the words and the tune is relatively recent, they only first appeared together in the Scottish Psalter of 1929, the tune having been written c1911 There they stayed, fairly well hidden for another 18 years until a young woman requested the hymn for her wedding, sang it to the organist of her local parish church, and its popularity spread from there. True, the young woman was the then Princess Elizabeth preparing to marry Philip Mountbatten, and the local parish church was Westminster Abbey, but all the same, it caught on and has been sung at countless weddings, funerals and many other occasions since.

There's something about the image of the shepherd and the sheep which we find comforting. Not that it's an easy life. In an area such as this with rural communities and farms on our doorstep, it's an image that's easy to relate to, yet even in more urban areas, the imagery is still a popular one. Yet it's not just about taking comfort in the imagery. Jesus goes on to say "I have other sheep, not of this fold", and ideally, that should rekindle our zeal for mission, to continue to reach out to those not yet in the fold. That might not always make us feel comfortable, but the Christian life is about afflicting the comfortable as much as comforting the afflicted.

As we hear these familiar words again this weekend, may both the comfort of the words and the missionary zeal they should give us be ours.

With love in Jesus, Robin

Message from Rev. Alison Fulford:
On Thursday 13th May at 7.30pm there will be a special Ascension Day service held by zoom and using the usual log in details.
We will be following the nation project called 'Thy Kingdom Come' in the week or so that follows. This is a special season to focus on and encourage prayer. I have put some wonderful resources for this in the back of St James and St Chads. This includes a prayer journal and a family adventure prayer map. If you are not attending church and would like one please do ask a friend who you know goes, or email to audwybdod@gmail.com and we'll see if we can get one dropped off for you!
Congratulations to Margaret and Peter Lockwood on recently reaching their Diamond Wedding Anniversary, which we hope they will be able to celebrate with family before too much longer.

Please find below the details for Rev Jennifer Matthews leaving service today,
along with the required Zoom link. Service of Celebration for the ministry of the Rev Jennifer Matthews. After 8 years' service in the Circuit, this year we say goodbye to the Rev Jennifer. This service will be held on Zoom, at 4.30pm on Sunday afternoon 25th April. Some of the worship will be led by musicians from Crewe by Farndon, and the preacher will be the Superintendent, Rev Rob Hilton.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81699460035?pwd=ZE1DdUlFU2dsSTdiSlpJTmJGODBuZz09
Meeting ID: 816 9946 0035
Passcode: 870345

The next newsletter will be Sunday 9 May.
Please send any items for the newsletter to Janet Furber email: r.furber@btinternet.com or telephone 01270 811598 by 5pm on Fridays.

The Methodist Church free phone service for news and prayer.
The news option looks around the Connection at what's happening and the prayer line is a prayer from particular Methodists.
Listen to a prayer: 0808 281 2514
Listen to news: 0808 281 2478 Content is updated weekly on Thursday evening.

Now we can be out and about again ...
Now we can be out and about again ...
I once had a really long tennis match against an Estate Agent. Every time the umpire called 'let', he dashed off with some keys.

I was annoyed to find that my brand new golf shoes had a hole in one.

I must resist the urge to frolic in the fields with those adorable baby lambs. I worry I might have a gambolling addiction.

I would like to know how many eggs have been laid by birds in local hedgerows, but I could only give a nestimate.

I can't identify the fascinating range of spiders in my garden. I'll see what help is on the Web.

I try to look after my health.
The dentist told me I needed braces. I wasn't too keen but I must admit my trousers don't slip now.

I've been awake almost all night trying to remember if I have amnesia or insomnia.
I finally fell asleep reading some old magazines. In the morning I woke up with back issues.

A Son's Letter
Dear Mother,
Excuse the writing but I had an accident: burnt my fingers in boiling water. All my own fault, I should have felt the water before I put my fingers in it.
We had a row with the electric light company. It ended in a draw – we got no light, they got no money.
The cat had 4 kittens in my hat. I put them in a box in case they grew up round-shouldered.
We bought one of those new-fangled things called a bathroom. On one side is a long thing like what we used to feed the pigs in. We jump in it and wash all over. Next to it is a small one called a sink. In the corner is the best gadget of all: you put one foot in, wash it, then pull the chain and fresh water comes for the other foot. It had two covers but we had no use for those in the bathroom, so I use one as a bread board. The other has a hole in it so we framed Grandfather's picture with it.
They also sent a big roll of writing paper with it. This is what I am using now.
Your loving son,
... (Found on an Irish tea towel)