The Ross Parishes: Ross-on-Wye, Walford & Brampton Abbotts
Inspiring faith, hope and love in each generation.
All seats have gone for the 4 pm Carol Service at St Mary’s. We have decided to repeat the service at 6 pm. Booking is on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/copy-of-carols-by-candlelight-1800-tickets-131705650145
The 4 pm service will be live streamed on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/StMarysRoss/live/
Good King Wenceslas went out through the heavy snow with his page to take a box of food to a poor labourer in the bitterly cold winter woods in the tenth century – and we still sing about him today! We can all give the gift of kindness to others in the run up to this Christmas. Who needs your care?
Listen:
Pray
Pray that God will help you to be kind this Christmas season.
Lord, endow us with discernment so that we might recognize the seeds of harshness in our lives. Help us to overcome this harshness with the heart of compassion, seeing then your presence in all human beings. Amen (by Henri Nouwen)
Chat
Have a chat with someone: When has someone been especially kind to you this year?
Do
Bake some Christmas cookies for your neighbour as an act of kindness.
We’ve published the events for Advent and Christmas. More is happening in the Ross Parishes than ever before at Christmas. Booking is required for all of the more popular events and seats are nearly gone for the carol service in particular.
Details and booking at https://rossparishes.uk/christmas
Watch:
Pray
Pray for eyes to see the little joys of Christmas this year, like snow and Christmas decorations and childlike excitement.
Chat
Have a chat with someone: What is a memory you have of snow?
Do
Design your own snowman and put him in the window for all to enjoy.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; God has been gracious to you. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of God. Luke 1: 26-35
Listen
Watch
Pray
Give thanks for Mary’s courage when she found she was expecting a child
Lord, your mother, Mary, and her “yes” to God’s request is central to the Advent mystery. Help us to become her children and yours, so we may be enveloped in the confidence of being truly loved and cared for by you both. Make it possible for us to say our “yes” to your invitations, no matter how reluctantly we may do so. Amen
Chat
Have a chat with someone:
What parts have you played in nativity plays? Which did you enjoy most? Which did you find hardest? Which was most fun?
Do
Do something good this week that you know will take a bit of courage
Listen:
Pray
Pray
Pray that we will make a way for Jesus the prince of peace to come into our lives and world this Christmas
We welcome you, small child of Bethlehem, whose coming we await with quiet attention. Shield us from the shouts, the screams, the empty promises of the season, and encourage us to turn our hopes to your coming. We know that the promise is hidden in the stable in Bethlehem and rooted in the offspring of Jesse; let us look for our salvation there. Amen.
Watch:
Do
Smile as you pass people in the street – even if they can only see the smile in
your eyes
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5)
Watch:
Pray
Pray for people longing for light in the darkness or pray the prayer below
‘Lord, our Saving Light who came to set us free, shine upon us in your glory. May your light provide illumination for us so that we recognize all those who need our help, however much, however little. Keep us from straying into the works of darkness, wipe away our tears, and grant us your light and blessings. Amen’ (by Henri Nouwen)
Chat
Have a chat with someone: What are you hoping for the world in 2021?
Do
Ring a friend or relation you haven’t spoken to lately who would love to hear from you?
Sunday 29th November marks the first day in the church’s year and the start of our Advent journey which leads us to Christmas. From 1st December, you will find Advent Calendar doors around the town and here online. Check out each door as it opens.
Thank you, Oak House Nursery School, for providing us with our first advent window and singing for us.
Blessed are you, sovereign Lord, God of our ancestors:
to you be praise and glory for ever.
You called the patriarchs to live by the light of faith
and to journey in the hope of your promised fulfilment.
May we be obedient to your call and be ready and watchful to receive your Christ, a lamp to our feet and a light to our path;
for you are our light and our salvation.
Blessed be God for ever. Amen
This morning’s virtual coffee morning is in full swing on Zoom. It continues until 12 noon and it’s the virtual place to be seen in Ross!
Join with this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82346692719
Come and join us in real life from 3.30 using the event rite link to book your places or pick up a bag and join us on line as we celebrate Advent and Christingle together.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/messy-church-st-marys-tickets-130324577319
Here’s this week’s story from the Toast team. It’s for all young people, of all ages, everywhere. Enjoy it! Oh, and get your hat ready!
While we are in Lockdown our toddler group, Toast, is still unable to meet in person.
The toast makers started a story-time for our young toast eaters to bring a bit of fun to this gloomy season and to keep in touch until we can see one another again.
This week Anne reads A Walk in The Woods. “Are you sitting comfortably …”
Enjoy!
If you enjoyed that there are more on the Toast page of our website.
Join us on Sunday from St Mary’s for a part live, part prerecorded service for a somewhat unusual Remembrance Tide. The service will be live on our Facebook page (https://facebook.com/stmarysross/live) at 11.05 on Sunday 8th November.
If you’re in Walford, a prerecorded service is already on our website (https://rossparishes.uk/digital-services).
As we enter the second lockdown this year Sean is resuming his pastoral messages. Here is the latest.
St Mary’s is open during the lockdown for private prayer and services will continue to be live streamed. All are assured of our prayers at this time.
In 1637, some 315 people died of plague here in Ross-on-Wye. A stone cross was erected in their memory in the corner of St Mary’s churchyard. It is hard for us in 2020 to imagine what life was like in 1637, but no doubt the people then were trying to carry out their daily tasks despite the horror of the sickness around them. And just as it is for us today, facing the threat of infection from Covid 19, communities affected would have been isolated in an attempt to prevent the spread of the disease.
Government restrictions imposed on us in recent months have controlled travel and limited the number of people who are able to attend a funeral, so the friends and families of those who have died – whether of Covid 19 or some other cause – have not always been able to come and say their final farewells in the way they would have wanted. This has made it harder for us as a parish, and as a ministry team, to support the bereaved as we would normally do.
Traditionally, November has been the month when we remember those we have loved but see no longer. Our annual All Souls Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving will be held on Sunday 1st November at 6pm, and all are welcome to attend either in person (please let us know if you intend to come).
In addition, we have decided, in association with the Town Council, to try to provide some other way for people to remember those who have died. We are inviting anyone who would like to mark the loss of someone they knew who has died during this year to place a small stone or pebble, marked if they would like with the name or initials of the person they are remembering, on the stone steps at the base of the Plague Cross during the period from 26th October to 11th November. The first stone will be placed there by the Mayor on Monday 26th October. Each day during this period, a member of the Ross Parishes Ministry Team will spend a short time at the cross in prayer. After 11th November, the stones will be moved near to the crosses in the Garden of Remembrance in the churchyard. We hope that this small symbolic act of remembrance will be a comfort to people in their time of grief.
After several years of work, St Mary’s Church in Ross is celebrating the completion of major works to the building. The re-ordering of the church has included the addition of toilets and a kitchen area, a soundproof children’s room, the removal of the Victorian pews and new oak flooring, transforming the interior into a beautiful light open space. Another major phase has been completed this week – new glass entrance doors and the elimination of the steps allowing wheelchairs easy access through the north porch.
Alongside this work, the Friends of St Mary’s, in partnership with Ross-on-Wye Town Council, has funded the renewal of the church floodlights so that our iconic spire will again be seen as a beacon at night.
A special service of choral evensong will take place on Sunday 25th October at 6.00 pm to give thanks for the work and rededicate the north porch. The service will begin outside, when the floodlights will be switched on and move through the new porch into the church.
If you’d like to come and join in the celebration please join us in the churchyard at 6 pm for the switch-on of the lights. We’ll move quickly into church.
Places are limited in church please book a seat here.
Will things get better? Will things get worse? We have no answers, but we can be grateful that we have survived so far.
Please join us for our harvest weekend events.
10am – 5pm The church will be open with prayers hourly and displays representing groups from around the community. Come say a prayer, light a candle, or spend some time thanking God during this harvest season.
7pm – Virtual Harvest Supper
Prepare a meal at home that reminds you of harvest and then join us on Zoom to eat and drink together as we give thanks for good health and prosperity.
9:30 St. Mary’s Harvest Eucharist
A harvest service packed with favourite harvest hymns. Join us in church or watch online at rossparishes.uk/digital-services
6:00 – Choral Evensong
This will be the fist service our choir has sung live since March. Come and join us for this conclusion to our harvest celebration.
Harvest nowadays is not just about flowers, fruit and vegetables though there will be plenty of those in church. We want to celebrate all the fruits of the labour in the workplace: manufacturing, retailing, insuring, advising, training and volunteering. Please help us to display this by lending us something to put on show; or take a photograph of your establishment so that our visitors can see that Ross-on-Wye is very much surviving, is “open for business” and is thankful.
This Sunday Walford is celebrating their Harvest Festival at 11 am while in Ross there is the usual live streamed Eucharist at 9.30. Come along to church or watch live on Facebook.
At noon, Tiffany our curate will be ordained Deacon in Hereford Cathedral. You can’t attend in person but the service will be live streamed on the Diocesan Facebook page and we’ll be screening it live in St Mary’s at 12 should you want to come along and feel a bit more a part of the service. Or if you prefer something a bit quieter there’s an 8 am said service at St Mary’s.
The Ross Parishes: Ross-on-Wye, Walford & Brampton Abbotts 