News

Hall Grange are offering PRE-BOOKED guided tours of the Wilderness project on Saturday 3^rd April and Monday 5^th April at 10am and midday.

Please book through The Hall Grange Wilderness Project website

The link from last week’s notes: https://testing.stjohnsshirley.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Mark-Week-4.pdf

The link to The Synoptic Gospel Parallels with John’s Gospel for those who are interested is: Synoptic Gospel Parallels – Synoptic Gospels Comparison

Whether you will be on the live stream or in church for Palm Sunday, if you want a palm cross you will need to make one! Last year we followed a diagram which wasn’t entirely successful for all. This year, we have a video to follow. We’re looking forward to seeing your creations. The video link is: https://testing.stjohnsshirley.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Make-your-own-Palm-Cross-out-of-paper.mp4

Hello, as you all know we are desperately short of funds so we have now found a way you can support us through Amazon. The really good news is this is at NO cost to you. You can shop for the same Amazon items at the same prices as the normal Amazon website except you shop through https://smile.amazon.co.uk, every time you shop this way St Johns will get a .5% donation direct from Amazon.

If, like me, you use the amazon mobile app you can still continue to use that and still support us. The instructions are here Amazon.co.uk: AmazonSmile Mobile App Instructions

The past year has been difficult for all choirs and musicians and as much as our choir miss singing together in church, technology has enabled us to explore different ways of continuing to make music and support our worship here at St John’s. We all know music is good for our wellbeing so, as well as producing our normal recordings of sacred music for our services, we have engaged in a new project, a collaboration with Essex based Harmonie Concert Band whose Musical Director Roy is an old friend of choir member Janet.

Here’s our recording of ‘Over the Rainbow’ which we would like to dedicate as a thank you to all our front line workers who are helping us through this pandemic. Our second collaboration with the band will be part of our Easter Day Service which will be live streamed. We are very grateful to the all the band and choir members and particularly to David Adlington who produced and edited this, for giving so much of their time to make this collaboration possible.

From 28th March (Palm Sunday) we will be open again for public worship on Sundays at 8am, 9am and 10am.

Numbers will still be restricted, so please book using the links below. You can book Sundays in advance.

8am no booking required

9am https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/117384053865

10am https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/118742813953

Our Creativity Group are busy making Flowers of Hope to decorate outside our church for Easter. If you would like to sponsor a flower, you can click here to make a donation via our website quoting Flower of Hope. We are also looking for volunteers to help make them, you don’t have to be an expert! We have created well over 100 so far and as you can see, they can be as simple as a felt daisy so it is ideal for our young people to do as well as adults. If you would like to make some flowers, please complete the form below and we will be in contact with you.

As we transition from winter to spring, flowers are a sign of Hope and for Christians the Easter Story is a sign of Hope; the death of Jesus was a dark and grief-filled moment, but it wasn’t the end of the story. We celebrate his resurrection and remember that Hope triumphs. Amidst all the fears, challenges and heartache for so many in the last year, there have been glimpses of real Hope – resurgence of neighbourliness, the discovery of new or renewed hobbies, the recognition of the true value of family and friends. We Hope you might like to sponsor and dedicate a Flower of Hope to someone, help make some flowers or share your story of Hope with us.

Here’s some more photos of some of the flowers we have made so far.