The Easter festival anthem proved a popular choice and those attending the Ely Choirs Festival on 20th May enjoyed the occasion. Two special items were also sung at Parish Eucharist with Holy Baptism on the Day of Pentecost (Whit Sunday). We now begin preparations for the autumn.
Keith Lofts
When it is complete, Common Worship will be less a single book than a small library, but a collection of some of the principal services that will be used in churches up and down the country from the beginning of next year will be published, also under the title Common Worship, in the late autumn. This main volume will be printed in black and red on specially made cream paper, have a black hardback binding and will run to 896 pages.
Although in the four churches of the benefice, we will continue to use individual service leaflets at our Sunday services, parishioners may like to purchase a copy of the Common Worship main volume for their private use.
The standard retail price will be £15 but the publishers are making a special pre-publication offer of £10 per copy if orders are placed in multiples of 20 by the end of July. If anyone would like a copy of Common Worship at £10, they should let the Vicar know as he will be making up a bulk order. (There will also be various presentation and desk editions but no discounts have been offered on these.) Note that this main volume will not include the Sunday Bible readings which have already been published as the Revised Common Lectionary.
The texts for marriages, funerals, wholeness and healing services, confirmation and most of the baptism services are not included in the Common Worship main volume and are being published in a further 432-page book under the title Pastoral Services, price £25. Further titles in the Common Worship collection will be published over the next few years.
All this is in addition to the collections made in benefice churches earlier in the year for the Christian Aid Mozambique Appeal. These raised £187.20 at All Saints, Lolworth; £74.80 at St Andrews, Swavesey, and £112.00 at St Marys, Fen Drayton, a total of £374.00. Again, thank you to all concerned - sadly the need is always with us.
The churches can now recover any income tax that has been paid by donors on any sum that the give. No longer is there a £250 minimum contribution - no longer does the donor have to fill in a form to go with every donation. The donor just needs to sign a declaration once and all donations made after 6th April 2000 can be included - even weekly church collections.
Of course, theres a catch. Its simply that church treasurers will have to be able to show that a given donation or collection came from a particular tax payer. But this simply means that donors will have to use numbered envelopes or contributions be made by cheque or direct debit.
In churches where there is already an envelope scheme little change will be needed - except to try to recruit new members to the scheme. Other churches will have to get an envelope scheme going.
As part of the changes, Covenants will be phased out as they now offer no advantage over the new arrangements. Existing covenants will run their course, but no new ones can be entered into. Church treasurers have full details.
But remember, through all the upheaval and for all the additional work for sidespersons and treasurers, this is fundamentally good news for church finances!
Would those who are considering offering themselves as a candidate for confirmation please have a word with the Vicar who will be starting confirmation preparation classes in the autumn. It is hoped to have sessions both for adult candidates and for young people. Younger candidates should be aged at least eleven years on the date of the Confirmation Service.
There are now 30 collecting box holders in Swavesey Parish which shows a very encouraging increase of 25% on last year. Thank you to everyone who has contributed in any way to supporting the Society.
If anyone would like a collecting box and to help the Childrens Society even more, please contact me on 01954 231484.
Dorothy Gilbert
It is always a good time to check out the claims of Jesus Christ on our lives - the year 2000 included. Daniel is an excellent speaker who makes a lively and compelling case for taking Christian faith seriously.