Littlebourne Benefice

Prebendary Gillean writes:  I am sorry to have to announce that my time as your Interim Priest In Charge is coming to an end. My last Sunday with you will be on January 23rd.   You may remember that in February 2020 I was licensed for a six-months term of service; alas, Covid lockdown followed almost immediately, so the ministry I have been able to offer you has been far less than I would have liked.  A second six months was subsequently added to that, and then another full year – but I have greatly outlived what is supposed to be a limited short-term ministry, and our Bishop has decided that the time has come for me to say farewell. We will hold a single united Benefice service on January 23rd, when Linda and I will be able to thank you all for the welcome and friendship you have offered us in our time with you. Church and village As you may know, our monthly ‘Church and Village’ ceased publication during the Lockdown. Very sadly we also lost its retiring editor, Tony Harris, who had done such a wonderful job for so long on behalf of us all in both church and village.  You can download the January issue here.

JANUARY CHURCH SERVICES

Download this week’s prayers and notices here.

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Sunday 9th January (Epiphany Sunday)

9.30am    Ickham, Holy Communion.

11.00am  Littlebourne, Parish Communion.

11.00am  Wingham, Morning Worship.

6.00pm    Stodmarsh, Evening Prayer.

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Sunday 16th January (Second Sunday of Epiphany)

9.30am    Wickhambreaux, Holy Communion.

11.00am  Littlebourne, Family Praise.

11.00am  Wingham, Holy Communion.

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Sunday 23rd January (Sunday in Christian Aid Week)

10.30am  Littlebourne, Benefice Communion of the Patronal Festival and Farewell to Prebendary Gillean and Linda.

No other services this day.

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Sunday 30th January (Candlemas Sunday)

9.30am    Wickhambreaux, Holy Communion.

11.00am  Littlebourne, Holy Communion.

11.00am  Wingham, Holy Communion.

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Prebendary Gillean Craig writes

I am sorry to have to announce that my time as your Interim Priest In Charge is coming to an end.    I only have a couple more months with you, and there will be a special Benefice service at 10.30am on January 23rd  at Littlebourne, when will combine St Vincent’s Patronal Festival with the opportunity for Linda and me to thank you all for the welcome and friendship you have offered us.     It will be followed by a Bring And Share Reception at the school hall across the road from the church. 

[all offers please to mike.gallagher79@yahoo.co.uk or 01227 722476]

You may remember that in February 2020 I was licenced for a 6 months term of service;  alas, Covid lockdown followed almost immediately, so the ministry I have been able to offer you has been far, far less than I would have liked.  Subsequently, a second 6 months was added to that, and then another full year – but I have greatly outlived what is supposed to be a limited short-term ministry and our Bishop has decided that the time has come for me to say farewell.   On January 23 we will hold a single united Benefice service, when– look out for more details on that.

This has been the most extraordinary and unlooked-for privilege for me.   After 41 years of ministry in London, mainly in city centre parishes ranging from the most deprived to the most wealthy and privileged, it never occurred to me that retirement to Whitstable would be followed almost immediately by the offer to minister to five rural parishes.  I have no-one to blame but (a) myself, for I did tell the Bishop that I was in the market for a little gentle retirement service ….  and (b) Almighty God, who in such matters has an inscrutable sense of humour ……  

Linda and I want to thank you for the welcome you have given us, and your forbearance to me, a DFL full of highfalutin’ townee ways and airs.   It’s been an absolute joy to immerse myself in the real heart of the Church of England, and of England itself – communities with keen identity and character, long history and still a sense of genuine linkage to the land, the production of crops and food, and nature itself, set in the loveliest country in our islands.   I say farewell with the strongest confidence in your future potential, now united (as far as the Church of England is concerned) in a single benefice, three parishes, and five churches:  all distinct, all with particular unique strengths, all with varied and confident residents.   Three thriving schools and - best of all – is it seven excellent pubs?   This is not terminal decline:  our new grouping, a far stronger unit, drawing on wider and richer resources, can play its part in forging a new pattern of English rural life, cherishing all the traditional best of our history and (thinking here, to give one example, of how social media helped us greatly to extend our care of neighbours during lockdown) incorporating all that is really worthwhile in the new possibilities that contemporary life offer us.

Throughout January and February we will look forward to the next stage of our journey in our One benefice, Three Parishes and Five Churches, seeking to discern the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we travel on in Christ.

Prebendary Gillean Craig

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Canterbury Cathedral

Daily worship
The following services are broadcast on the Cathedral's Home Page and YouTube channel.

• Morning Prayer: by 10.30am each day
  
• Evening Reflection: paused until 12th April
  
• Choral Evensong: Live stream at 5.30pm each day
  
• Sunday Eucharist: Live stream at 10.30am
  

• To receive notifications when new videos are available, please subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Cathedral website:  https://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/

Church of England website:  https://www.churchofengland.org/

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