FOR YOUR PRAYERS THIS WEEK

Please pray for those who are sick including Brian Clarke, Raymond Blackwell, Colin Johnson, Brenda Linney, Zoe Grist, Linda Hurl and Don Mason. Please pray for the families and friends of those who have died recently, including Marlene Francis. We also remember Kenneth Baker and Jeremy Whales, whose year’s mind falls at this time.

Please continue to pray for fundraising efforts aimed at reducing our deficit.

FRIDAYS AT SIX—WEDDING AND BAPTISM ENQUIRIES

If you wish to enquire about or book a wedding or a baptism, please come to St Mary’s Parish Office on the first floor of the Parish Centre, New Street, Charl-ton Kings, GL53 8JJ on any Friday evening between 6:00 and 6:30pm in order to meet the Vicar and complete the preliminary paperwork.

CONTACTS:

Parish Office 01242 224883, parishoffice@stmarysck.org.uk Please leave a message and we will respond as soon as possible

Vicar Revd Graham Bowkett 01242 253402 vicar@stmarysck.org.uk (Day off—Tuesday)

Curate Revd Adrian Beere 07788 725331 curate@stmarysck.org.uk (Day off—Friday)

Items for inclusion in the Notices need to be sent to the Parish Office (email preferred) by Wednesday each week

Church Wardens churchwarden@stmarysck.org.uk Jean Huckett , 01242 300415 Colin Revell, 01242 285757

Verger and Sacristan Derrick Walker 01242 525742 sacristan@stmarysck.org.uk

Pastoral Team Lead Alison Talbot

Pastoral Team contact Alison, Heather, Jenny and Lynne 07774 093375 pastoral@stmarysck.org.uk

Director of Music Neil Fortin 01242 513475 music@stmarysck.org.uk

TODAY’S SERVICES

8:00am HOLY COMMUNION (CW ORDER 2) Readings: Isaiah 2:1-5, Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:36-44 10:00am All Age Worship & Communion

6:30pm Advent Carols by Candlelight Choir music Matin Responsory – Palestrina Come thou redeemer of the earth Hark, what a sound - Fletcher How lovely are the messengers -

Mendelssohn O Thou, the central orb – Wood Magnificat—Sumsion in A Away in a manger-trad. Normandy

tune Congregational hymns: 29, 608, 26, 34, 32, 31 (please follow the order of service to see where these fit in!)

Welcome to our services today. We hope that you will find warmth and friendship in this place and God’s blessing and peace as we worship.

At our Communion services, everyone is invited to come forward to receive bread and wine or a blessing (please bring your service sheet or this notice sheet with you if you’d like a blessing). If you need a gluten free wafer, please tell a Welcomer before the service. There are toys etc. for young children at the back of church. In term time during the 10am service, all children are welcome to join Junior Church which meets in the vestry. Tea and Coffee are served after the 10am service here in Church. Please join in this post-service fellowship and take the opportunity to make some new friends.

Sunday 1st December

First Sunday in Advent

COLLECT AT COMMUNION Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility; that on the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen POST-COMMUNION PRAYER O Lord our God, make us watchful and keep us faithful as we await the coming of your Son our Lord; that, when he shall appear, he may not find us sleeping in sin, but active in his service and joyful in his praise; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

St Mary’s Church, Charlton Kings

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Morning & Evening Prayer are said on weekdays at 9am and 5:30pm in church

Monday 2 December 2:30pm Mothers’ Union afternoon group Parish Centre Tuesday 3 December 9:15am Mothers’ Union corporate communion Church 7:30 Ringing practice Belfry Wednesday 4 December 8:50am Open the Book CK Infants' School 10:30-11:30 Funeral of the late Marlene Francis RIP Cheltenham Cemetery 12:00 noon Open the Book CK Junior School

Thursday 5 December 10:15am Little Fishes service and coffee/chat Church/Parish Centre 11:00am Holy Communion (CW Order 2) Church 12:00 noon Open the Book Glenfall School

Friday 6 December 9.30am Church flowers Church 2:00pm Happy Circle Parish Centre 6:00pm Wedding and Baptism Booking Parish Centre 7pm Choir practice Church Saturday 7 December 3:00-4:00pm Sing, Good Company, Glad and True! Church Sunday 8 December—Advent 2 8:00am Holy Communion CW Order 2 Church 10:00am Parish Communion Church 4:00pm Christingle Service Church 6:30pm Evensong Church

FOODBANK REQUEST FOR NEXT SUNDAY: Urgently needed this week — Fruit juice, coffee; Tinned meat—both for hot meals e.g. stews/Bolognese etc. and cold e.g. tinned ham. Thank you to all who contribute to these weekly collections for the Foodbank.

NEWS AND FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Charlton Kings Christmas Event Can you help on the St Mary’s stall in the precinct on Friday 6 December 3-6pm when the lights are turned on? A sign up sheet is at the back of church. We welcome any items for sale at the event or the previous Sunday (contact Anne Grinter on 260575). Following the Christmas event, a team from St Mary’s is going to litter pick in the precinct on Saturday 7th December 10am – 12 noon. Some litter pickers available but if you have your own please bring them. Meet by the parish council office door (opposite the Co-op.) Please contact Lynne Glover (07778 267063 or lynneglover51@gmail.com). Five people have already signed up, but there’s plenty of room for more (or if you can’t make it but could provide cake for refreshments that would be great as well). Memorial Candles Please sign the list at the back of church if you would like to sponsor a Memorial Candle in memory of a loved one this Christmas. The candles will be lit for the first time at the carol service on 22 December. A donation of £2.00 per candle, placed in the wall-mounted alms box, to cover costs would be most welcome. Charlton Kings Community Players: Let Us Be Merry! 2019: 'A Christmas Celebration' will be held at 7:45pm on Friday 6 December 2019 at Sacred Hearts Hall, featuring a pot-pourri of Christmas songs, sketches, poems, readings and community carols. This is

always a highly enjoyable evening raising significant sums for various charitable causes. A date for your diary! Tickets are £5 each and are available on the door. The Good Company Singers present an atmospheric afternoon of songs, reading and carols in St Mary’s Church, on Saturday, 7th December at 3:-00pm. Admission free—donations, please, for the church heating fund. Church Diaries New style church diaries are now available at the back of church, price remains at 50p each. Volunteer Carol Singers needed to join a group from St Mary’s to sing carols at the Hilton Doubletree Hotel on Christmas Eve at 5:30pm. If interested in joining this group, please contact Alison Talbot or Erika Fletcher. Election hustings, 5 December —come and hear the candidates for election as Cheltenham’s MP speak at St Philip and St James, Grafton Road, GL50 2DL. Doors open at 7pm, hustings begin at 7.30pm ‘Aid to the Church in Need and Cheltenham Welcomes Refugees’ charities hold a concert, Monday 2 December, 7pm, St Gregory’s. Two of our local school choirs from All Saints Academy and St Edward’s Prep School are singing in support of the wonderful professional Tenors Unlimited ‘Rat Pack of Opera’. £15 adult ticket, and £7 for under 16s.