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Sunday 5th January                                                                     Christmas 2

Welcome to our weekly newsletter
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Happy New Year!

We give thanks for wonderful celebrations and for all who came and all who prepared our churches for them.

May we continue to celebrate God With Us. We have this new light to live by, and dwell in. Let us ask God into our New Year plans: our hopes and fears, and pray for us to share that light and good news in our villages and our lives.
The Collects, the prayers for the week
Almighty God,
in the birth of your Son
you have poured on us the new light of your incarnate Word,
and shown us the fullness of your love:
help us to walk in his light and dwell in his love
that we may know the fullness of his joy;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
God our Father,
in love you sent your Son
that the world may have life:
lead us to seek him among the outcast
and to find him in those in need,
for Jesus Christ’s sake.
Readings for this Sunday: Ephesians 1: 3-14, Ps. 72 and John 1: 1-18.
Family Services: Isaiah 43. 1-7 and Luke 3. 15-17, 21-22.


This Sunday:
8:00am        BCP Holy Communion at St Thomas’
                    St Thomas’ parish breakfast between the two services
9:30am        Family service at St Thomas’
11:15am      Holy Communion at St Mary’s
11:15am      Family service at St Andrew’s
4:00pm        Choral evensong at St Thomas’
This Sunday, 5th January, Parish Breakfast at St Thomas’
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Come along for croissants and coffee on this first Sunday of the month from 8.45-9.15am.
This is a wonderful way to integrate our different church members of all ages and stages.
Thank you to Henry & Elizabeth for providing this.

Heal the Gap colour
Heal the Gap Bereavement Café
Our Bereavement Café is a new initiative that is following on from our Bereavement Course. Grief is a natural response to a loss, and it affects everyone differently. By being able to offer a comfortable environment to discuss and share your experience of
grief with others without fear of judgement and scrutiny, regardless of how long ago your loss occurred, we felt this was a very important part of our community to be able to offer this to anyone within our benefice.
From January onwards, we will be offering a monthly meet up in the Canterbury Room for some peer-to-peer support, with the opportunity of meeting others from our villages, who are going through similar situations.  This can also offer some friendship, advice and hope.   We also will be offering tea, coffee and refreshments.  
The aims of this group, is to demystify the topic of grief and remove its status as a taboo subject and to equip everyone with the self-assurance necessary to engage in a meaningful conversation with those grappling with loss, focusing primarily on active listening.  These sessions will be managed by trained group bereavement facilitators.  The dates and times are:
  Sunday 19th January
  Sunday 16th February
  Sunday 16th March
  Sunday 13th April
  Sunday 18th May
  Sunday 15th June
These sessions are from 3pm - 4pm.  More dates will be given later in the New Year for July onwards. We look forward to seeing you there.   Melissa Walker
Start your day listening to God and praying together. Why not join in one day? We listen to the Bible and pray for our world and church members in turn.
Monday: 8.30am Goring,     Tuesday and Thursday: 8.30am Streatley.
Friday: 9am Goring.

This week we are asked to pray: 

  • We give thanks for our Christmas Services and all who attended them.
  • For preparations for our Bereavement café.
  • For our individual reflections on a year past and a year ahead.
  • For our PCCs as they meet this and next week.
Diary for the week
Tuesday 7th January
2:00pm        Funeral of Jean Allsopp at St Mary’s 

Wednesday 8th January
10:30am      BCP Holy Communion at St Thomas’
                     followed by coffee in the Canterbury Room
The readings will be Isa. 60. 1-6, Ps 72. 10-15 and Matt. 2. 1-12.
7:30pm        St Thomas’ PCC meeting in the Bellême Room


Thursday 9th January
10:00am      Advent groups meet up in the Canterbury Room
2:00pm        Funeral of Norman Edwards at St Thomas’


Sunday 12th January
8:00am        BCP Holy Communion at St Mary’s
9:30am        Holy Communion at St Thomas’
11:15am      Family service at St Mary’s
11:15am      BCP Holy Communion at St Andrew’s
5:00pm        Discoverers

Prayers for the week
Thank you to Mike for this week’s prayers based on David Adam’s ‘Traces of Glory’.

Blessed be you, O God and Father of our Lord Jesus Chris; you have blessed us in Christ our Lord. God of love, you have come among us, to renew us, refresh us and restore us. In you we are redeemed and forgiven. Keep us ever aware of your love and the radiance of your goodness; through Christ who descended to lift us up and who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.

Lord, give to your faithful people wisdom and gentleness in all their dealings – that the Church may proclaim the joy of the Gospel; that it may bring your strength and hope to all in need; that it may revel your glory in our midst. We pray for Ben Phillips and the Ministers of our Benefice.
O Lord Jesus Christ, by the light of your presence,
Fill us with your glory.

Lord, you are the beginning and source of all things. Teach us to have respect towards your creation. We pray for all who are involved in caring for our planet; for ecologists, conservationists, for farmers, and for all who seek to supply us with our needs. And we pray for all who are hurt and harmed by storms, floods and other crises of climate change.
O Lord Jesus Christ, by the light of your presence,
Fill us with your glory.

Eternal Light, shine in our hearts. Deliver us and our loved ones from all that is bad. Be known in or homes, that we may be seen to be your people. We pray for homes where there are difficulties. Where there is a lack of love or a lack of trust; for all who are alone.
O Lord Jesus Christ, by the light of your presence,
Fill us with your glory.

God of Peace, we pray that in this New Year there will be real progress in resolving the conflicts in the Middle East, in Ukraine and around the world.
O Lord Jesus Christ, by the light of your presence,
Fill us with your glory.

Eternal Goodness, guide and direct all who have gone astray. We pray for all involved with drugs or vice, for those who walk in darkness, the doubting and despairing, that all may come to behold your glory and know that they are loved. We pray for the sick and homebound known to us.
O Lord Jesus Christ, by the light of your presence,
Fill us with your glory.

Eternal God, you are the giver of life which is eternal. You will not let your beloved people be lost or destroyed. We pray for our friends and loved ones who are now in your kingdom.
O Lord Jesus Christ, by the light of your presence,
Fill us with your glory.

And as we come to the Epiphany of your Son, our Lord Jesus, O Holy Father, who gave guidance to the Wise Men until they bowed in worship before our Saviour, lead us to an awareness of your presence and how to bow in adoration before Christ our Lord who is alive with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever.
O Lord Jesus Christ, by the light of your presence,
Fill us with your glory.

Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Daily readings for the week beginning 6th January
Monday am: Ps 132 Jer. 31. 7-14 John 1. 29-34 pm: Ps 98 John 2. 1-11
Tuesday am: Ps 99 Isa. 63. 7-end 1 John ch. 3 pm: Ps 118 Matt. 20. 1-16
Wednesday am: Ps 46 Isa. ch. 64 1 John 4. 7-end pm: Ps 145 Matt. 20. 17-28
Thursday am: Ps 148 Isa. 65. 1-16 1 John 5. 1-12 pm: Ps 67 Matt. 20. 29-end
Friday am: Ps 149 Isa. 65. 17-end 1 John 5. 13-end pm: Ps 29 Matt. 23. 1-12
Saturday am: Ps 150 Isa. 66. 1-11 2 John pm: Ps 93 Matt. 23. 13-28
Please send any notices or articles for the next news sheet by noon on Thursdays to vicarofgsandss@yahoo.com.
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The Benefice of Goring and Streatley with South Stoke
The Vicarage
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