Benefice of Goring and Streatley with South Stoke : Sunday 9th February 2025

Sunday 9th February 4 before Lent

Welcome to our weekly newsletter

Whom shall I send?

Simon Peter is changed by an encounter with Jesus. If we are open and allow him, he will change us and equip us for new adventures.
May we be willing to follow and join in.

The Collect, the prayer for the week
O God,
you know us to be set
in the midst of so many and great dangers,
that by reason of the frailty of our nature
we cannot always stand upright:
grant to us such strength and protection
as may support us in all dangers
and carry us through all temptations;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Readings for this Sunday: 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11, Ps. 138 and Luke 5.1-11. Family service: 1 Cor. 13: 1-13 and Luke 4: 21-30.

This Sunday:
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

Electoral Roll 2025
Each Parish Church must prepare an entirely new electoral roll this year so everyone needs to complete a fresh form, please. As St Andrew’s have their APCM at the beginning of April, the congregation there need to return their forms to the box in church or Sine by March 13th.
Copies of the form are available in St Andrew’s or may be downloaded by clicking here. Completed forms can also be e-mailed to Sine via the church office (officeofgsandss@yahoo.com).
Forms and deadlines for St Thomas’ and St Mary’s will follow later as their APCMs are in May.

Real Easter Eggs
Once again Real Easter Eggs are not being sold by supermarkets so the only way to obtain one is to order directly. The eggs are Fairtrade, palm oil and plastic free and many come with a 24 page Easter story/activity book. There are sign up sheets in our churches or please contact the church office to order. The makers have asked us to order early so we will be placing an order on 17th February.

The price of chocolate has unfortunately increased from £2,500 to £10,000 a tonne this year (adverse weather across West Africa, caused by the 2023 El Nino weather phenomenon, resulted in poor harvests in both Ghana and Ivory Coast) meaning the cost of the eggs has also gone up: £6.20 milk; £6.90 dark; £6.50 fun pack egg box. Please see https://meaningfulchocolate.co.uk/collections/real-easter-egg for more information.

Heal the Gap Bereavement Café
Our Bereavement Cafe has its second session next Sunday, February 16th, at 3pm in the Canterbury Room.
The aims of this group are 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. The sessions are managed by trained group bereavement facilitators.
The group is open to anyone, regardless of how long ago your loss occurred, and you will be welcome whether or not you came in January.
We hope to offer some friendship, advice and hope as well as tea, coffee and refreshments. We look forward to seeing you there. Melissa

Review of Spanish Fantasia for Guitar and Piano in St Mary’s

The weather must be bad in-between our concert afternoons too but I would like to start by once again thanking our magnificent and enthusiastic audience who turned out in such large numbers in a rain storm that was supposed to have already finished before the concert began.

Gary Jordan (guitar) and Seth Williams (piano) gave us a virtuoso performance of some extremely technically difficult Spanish classical music in a church lit by twinkling candles and tea lights. There were two shorter pieces by the current composer Erik Marchelie, Nuits Andalouses, throbbing with the sounds of a Spanish night in Andalusia, and Linares, a very vivid musical description of a Spanish village. We also had two longer Fantasias, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Opus 145, written for composer and guitarist Andres Segovia and his then wife Paquita Madriguera, pianist, to play together but sadly they had divorced before he completed the piece. This was a Fantasia in two movements, Andantino and Vivacissimo, which was a very successful experiment by Tedesco in combining the two instruments which he felt did not naturally go well together. Then the final piece in the concert was Rodrigo’s Fantasia para un Gentilhombre, written at Segovia’s request. Parts of this piece are very recognizable from soundtracks that require a Spanish sounding background. It is a Fantasia in six parts, originally written for guitar and orchestra and requiring great skill and energy to play it in the two part version. Each piece is based on dances and it is a toe tapping Spanish piece with all the warmth and sunshine of Spain. The final movement, Canario, which is a tribute to the Canary islands, even has a bird call embedded in it and the third movement includes drum beats and fanfares. All the pictures and sounds represented in the movements were depicted with great skill by our two performers. We might not have been any warmer by the end but we were full of Spanish Sunshine when we had to return to a dark rainy afternoon.
Finally a very big thank you to everyone who provided tea and cakes for us all after the performance. We are very grateful to all the volunteers who work so hard to provide this delicious food and social time after our concerts. The tea and cakes are provided by the Friends of St Mary’s (FoSM) and any profits go to FoSM. Stella

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:

For Melissa who will be a street pastor in Reading on Saturday night.
For those waiting to give birth.
For those in our prisons, for the staff and all who can help make it a time of reform as well as punishment.
For victims of crime.
For prisoners/hostages returning home in Israel.
For residents of the West Bank and citizens in Gaza returning to their homes…

Diary for the week

Wednesday 12th February
10:30am    Little Lights at St Mary’s
10:30am    BCP Holy Communion at St Thomas’
The readings will be Genesis 2. 4b-9, 15-17, Ps 104. 11-12, 29-32 and Mark 7. 14-23.

Friday 14th February
10:30am    Funeral of Vivienne McCracken at St Mary’s

Sunday 16th February
8:00am      BCP Holy Communion at St Thomas’
9:30am      Good News service at St Thomas’
11:15am    BCP Holy Communion at St Mary’s
11:15am    Good News service at St Andrew’s
3:00pm      Bereavement café in the Canterbury Room

Prayers for the week from "Roots on the Web"
Compassionate God we bring to you in our prayers those whose calling sends them to places of danger.
We remember those in our emergency services and those around the world who are first at traffic accidents, at plane crashes and crime scenes.
We pray for those responding to the shootings in Orebro in Sweden, for the injured and bereaved.
O Hear us: Lord be with them

We pray for all who search for those missing at sea or on mountains or under rubble, for those who fight fires, for all who witness and deal with catastrophic injuries and loss of life.
O Hear us: Lord be with them

We pray for those whose calling sends them to places of desperation:
For aid workers and medics working where there is hunger and starvation. Especially we remember the people of Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Gaza and all those living in refugee camps around the world.
And for journalists and reporters on the front line.
O Hear us: Lord be with them

We pray for those in the armed forces of their nation, for veterans struggling to adapt to civilian life, and for all with PTSD.
O Hear us: Lord be with them

We pray for those whose calling is to remain in their local communities to serve together, worship together and to be people of faith, hope and integrity.
We pray for those exploring a vocation in your Church, for those whose responsibility it is to discern vocations, and for those called to shape the future of your Church.
O Hear us: Lord be with them

We pray for young people who face decisions about careers and study choices.
O Hear us: Lord be with them

We pray for those who feel overwhelmed by the enormity of their calling.
Those whose love of their work is slowly slipping away.
Those whose energy has run out.
Those who feel they have no gifts that can be used.
O Hear us: Lord be with them

We pray for those whose work has sent them to places where they are unhappy, exploited or a long way from family.
O Hear us: Lord be with them

We pray for one another and those we know who are low on confidence and for those who feel they have lost their role in life and their sense of purpose, through age or illness or a change of circumstances.
Lord be with them and us today and everyday
In Jesus' name.
Amen.

Daily readings for the week beginning 10th February

Monday am:	Ps 30	Joel 1. 1-14	John 15. 1-11	pm: Ps 28	1 Tim. 1. 1-17
Tuesday am:	Ps 36	Joel 1. 15-end	John 15. 12-17	pm: Ps 33	1 Tim. 1.18-2.end
Wednesday am:	Ps 34	Joel 2. 1-17	John 15. 18-end	pm: Ps 119. 33-56	1 Tim. 3
Thursday am:	Ps 37	Joel 2. 18-27	John 16.1-15	pm: Ps 40	1 Tim. 4
Friday am:	Ps 31	Joel 2. 28-end	John 16. 16-22	pm: Ps 35	1 Tim. 5. 1-16
Saturday am:	Ps 42	Joel 3. 1-3, 9-end	John 16. 23-end	pm: Ps 46	1 Tim. 5. 17-end

Please send any notices or articles for the next news sheet by noon on Thursdays to vicarofgsandss@yahoo.com.

The Benefice of Goring and Streatley with South Stoke

The Vicarage

Manor Road

Goring, Berkshire RG8 9DR

United Kingdom