Grapevine: News from the Parish

Our vision is to be church at the heart of our community

27th January 2021

Dear Friends,

" Jesus said "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved ... I have come that they may have life, and have it in its fulness."

(John 10: 9-10))

Hello everyone! We hope you’ve managed to have a good week and that you and your loved ones are safe and well.

So, what has been happening in the world this week? There have been anti-lockdown riots in the Netherlands; France is considering a third lockdown; Brazil is facing another wave of infection, with families of Covid-19 patients in one city being told to provide their own oxygen. By the time you read this, our UK death toll from Covid-19 will almost certainly be above 100,000. All of this makes for very depressing news but emphasizes the need for all of us to remain vigilant in protecting ourselves and others from this awful virus.

As bad as this seems though, many in our community have had at least one vaccination, and we can be thankful that we live in a peaceful, well governed country, so please do not lose heart.

It’s hard facing this alone, so if you need prayer or other help, please see the phone numbers below.

You will notice that Hugh is no longer contactable. That’s because he is being furloughed for 3 months from 1st February to 30th April, but John and Steve will still be available. If you need us, please call.

With our love and prayers
from the Parish Ministry Team

GOSPEL READING FOR THE WEEK
Matthew 4 :18-23 - Jesus calls his first disciples

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.

‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’

At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and illness among the people.’

Thought for the Week

Jesus came to bring good news - good news for everyone! The good news of freedom from sin, sickness, death, injustice, exploitation, poverty, violence and everything else that mars God’s desire of complete and perfect life for all Creation. But news by its nature, needs to spread from person to person, and so in this reading we find Jesus choosing his first disciples. They will be the people he teaches his ‘good news’ so that they can teach others, who will teach others, and so on. Who would you have chosen to spread the most important news the world has known?

In Jesus’s day, Jewish children were expected to learn the Bible by heart. The harder they found it, the sooner they dropped out of school and went to work, so that only those boys who could learn by heart and intelligently discuss the Jewish Scriptures remained at ‘school’. If these best of the best students wanted to progress further, they had to find a Rabbi who would agree to take them on as his disciple. The Rabbi would then question the boy about the Scriptures and he had to prove to the Rabbi that he had what it took to be his disciple. Only the best of the best of the best were chosen to be the disciples of Rabbis.

You would think Jesus would also want the best, smartest scholars to be his disciples and to entrust with spreading his good news - but no! Here is Jesus the Rabbi (teacher) walking by Lake Galilee and choosing Peter, Andrew, James and John to be his disciples. The fact that they are fishermen means they weren’t the best students. They weren’t good enough to continue learning. They weren’t the best of the best. That is one of the most amazing things about Jesus. He chooses everyone to be his disciple. With Jesus, there is no best or worst – he loves us all the same. That’s because Jesus doesn’t look at who we are - he looks at who we can be. He knows what we have been, he knows what we are, but he also knows what we can become. Jesus knows everything about us. He knows the worst about us - but believes the best!
And when we say to Jesus, ‘Can I be your disciple?’, he doesn’t test us to see if we can make the grade, but lovingly accepts us and says, ‘Come, follow me’.

Prayers for the Week
In your prayers this week, please include the following:

For the lonely and the anxious.
For children, parents & teachers coping with online learning.
For our health services as they continue to administer the Covid-19 vaccine and manage other health needs.
For God's healing on all those in pain and suffering. Also, for those grieving the loss of loved ones.
For wisdom for our Government.
For poor nations of the world, that COVID-19 vaccines will be made available to them at a fair price and quickly

Helpful Telephone Numbers

The Parish
Revd John Cook, Vicar - 0118 940 2202
Revd Steve Turville, Curate - 0118 901 6720
Lucy and Rosalyn in the Parish Office* - 0118 940 2300
(* Open Wednesday & Thursday: 10am - 1pm during February.
Answerphone monitored regularly outside office hours)

Diocese of Oxford Sunday Service - 01865 920930
Dial 01865 920930 and once connected, dial 0 for the full version of the service, or dial 1 for a short version. Standard call rates apply.
There will be a brief silence before the service starts.

Church of England DAILY HOPE - 0800 804 8044
The phoneline – available 24 hours a day – has been set up particularly for
those unable to join online church services.

One Front Door: Citizens Advice
0300 330 1189 (Wokingham Residents) 0300 330 1189 (RBWM Residents)
Are you needing more support during this pandemic? One Front Door is here to help you; from collecting prescriptions and connecting you with someone to talk to; to delivering food and other essentials.
For residents of Windsor and Maidenhead, please call and leave a message. An advisor will call you back within 2 working days.