Please click on the link below to watch an aerial video of the church and listen to our bells.
Drone photography courtesy of https://www.upaerial.co.uk
Welcome, and thank you for visiting our website.
Ourchurch is situated in the picturesque village of Lemsford, close to Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City and opposite Brocket Hall.
We warmly welcome all visitors to our church and we would love you to come to one of our services or events. We hope that you find what you are looking for in these pages, but if you have any questions and would like to speak to someone about the church, please do contact one of the team members listed in the Who's Who and Contacts page.
We look forward to seeing you.
WHAT'S ON AT ST JOHN'S IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS AT A GLANCE
Thursday 12th December
9am - School Collective Worship*
10am - Morning Prayer
Saturday 14th December
4pm - Carols in the Pub at the Crooked Chimney
Everyone Welcome, sing along, or just listen
Sunday 15th December
8am - BCP Holy Communion
11am - Holy Communion
4pm - ‘All Together’ - Carols by Candlelight*
Tuesday 17th December
9:45am for 10am Advent Course Continues at St Michaels - last week
see below for details
Wednesday 18th December
The funeral of Pat Lewis
see above for details
Thursday 19th December
9am - School Collective Worship*
10am - Morning Prayer
Saturday 21st December
11am - Quiet Christmas at St Michaels.
A gentle, warm, reflective service for
anyone who wants to mark Christmas, without all the loud jolliness.
Followed by refreshments and a chance to chat.
Sunday 22nd December
8am - BCP Holy Communion
11am - Lessons and Carols
Christmas Eve - Tuesday 24th December
3pm - Crib Service*
11pm - Midnight Mass
Christmas Day - Wednesday 25th December
8am - BCP Holy Communion
11am - All Together Communion*
* Children are welcome at all our services, but these
services and events are especially suitable for families and children
(as well as people of all other ages!)
Readings for Advent 3
First Reading: Philippians 4:4-7 - to read click here(opens in new window or new tab)
Gospel: Luke 3:7-18 - to read click here(opens in new window or new tab)
CAR PARKING
Because
car parking at the church is becoming difficult, we are opening
up the school playground on Sunday mornings for everyone to use. The
playground is at the back of the school, and is large enough to
accommodate about 30 cars. Please do use this area to park in, but take
extra care when exiting into the street as cars do tend to speed up and
down the hill.
14th DECEMBER - 4 pm CAROLS IN THE CROOKED CHIMNEY
Come along and belt out your favourite Christmas carols with a glass of something lovely in hand. It
would be great if lots of us could join in with taking the church out
into the community and sharing the good news of Christmas!
15th DECEMBER - 4 pm ALL-TOGETHER CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT
Not
long now until this wonder-filled retelling of the Christmas story,
with well known carols and short readings, all by the magic of
candlelight.
This service offers the perfect start to Christmas for all ages. Followed by festive refreshments.
______________________________
THE FUNERAL OF PAT LEWIS - 18th DECEMBER AT 11.30 am
Rev Kathryn says:
"The funeral of our good friend Pat will be held on Wednesday 18th December 2024:
11:30 St Johns Church,
1:15 Harwood Park
There will be an opportunity to continue to share our many memories of Pat after the service at Tewinbury Farm.
Please do keep Carole, Paul and Andrew in your prayers."
2024 ADVENT COURSE - TUESDAYS AT 10 am - ST MICHAEL'S CHURCH, BIRCHWOOD AL10 0PS STARTING 26th NOVEMBER
This Advent, why not join a ‘Travelling light’ journey over four weeks.
Together, we’ll walk alongside biblical travellers, reflecting on their stories and imagining conversations with them.
As we journey toward Christmas, we’ll discover insights that lift our
spirits, guide our steps, and perhaps even challenge us to change
direction.
Most importantly, as we move together towards the light of Christ, we’ll
discover more of that light and find new ways to share it with others.
What to Expect:
9:45 am
Refreshments
10:00 am
- Bible readings and thoughtful reflections
- Engaging discussion and prayer
- Music, videos, and meaningful takeaways for the week ahead
…and much more!
CARD DELIVERIES
A huge thanks go out to Jo for hosting the delivery of the Christmas Cards in the Garden village last Sunday and, of course, to everyone who posted the cards and shared the good news of our Christmas services.
DECEMBER / JANUARY PARISH MAGAZINE
The new December/January Parish Magazine is out and you can download it by clicking here. I'd like to thank everyone who contributed, this time supplying content a week earlier than usual.
As usual there are lots of great articles and photos. As well as our
usual leader columns by Rev Kathryn, Michelle Boylan, Jo Brooks and Andy
Chapman, there is also our full Christmas program of events and also
look out for the photo of Freddie Frinton!
COULD YOU BE A ST JOHN'S SCHOOL FOUNDATION GOVERNOR?
St John’s school currently has vacancies for up to three Foundation
Governors. Foundation Governors are nominated by the PCC, represent the
Church of England on the Board, and help ensure that the Christian ethos
of the school is maintained.
Please pray and think about whether you - or someone you know - would
make a great governor. They don’t need to be a member of St John’s
church, but would need to be able to fulfil the role description above.
As a governor myself, I promise you that it’s an extremely rewarding
(and often fun) role, and is manageable alongside other
responsibilities.
Please contact me if you’re interested.
Rev Kathryn
FOOD BANK
The New Zion Christian Fellowship Food Bank, which is where I take all our food donations to, always express their sincere gratitude to St John's Church and school for our support week after week. After our Harvest Festival services this year, I took them the vast amount of food that so many people had donated, and I have just received a letter of thanks from the organiser which I would like to share with you. Here it is.
On
behalf of all who help run the Food Bank at New Zion Christian Fellowship, I
want to say a huge thank you to you and all at St. Johns Lemsford for all the
Harvest Festival items which we received from you a few weeks ago.
Food
Bank has now been running for about 15 years, and is certainly having an impact
in the community.Some of our customers tell me that it makes a real difference
to their lives. We do not give them a week’s worth of food, but it certainly
enhances what they are able to buy for themselves.
So,
what you do for us is a real blessing. As a team, we are so grateful for your
part in helping us to feed the poor.
Yours
Sincerely,
Ian Matthews
Please do keep donating food each week if you can, no matter how small, because the contribution made by St John's church and school makes a real difference to the poor.
Many thanks
Nigel
Please sign up for a spot in the Cleaning Rota
Still slots to fill!
"The Cleaning Rota" did not run during Covid and instead the
Churchwardens Jenny and Nigel cleaned and disinfected per Covid best
practice, but now it's time to ask for your help with getting the rota
started again.
Jenny will be contacting people who have previously taken a turn with
cleaning. More volunteers are needed to help us. All the materials
you'll need are provided. All that we need is your time!
Let's spread this load between us all!! Please contact Jenny if you would like to take a turn with cleaning.
You can choose a date that suits you!
The violence in Israel and Gaza
A message from the Archbishop of Canterbury & the Archbishop of York
“We are grieved and deeply concerned at the violence in Israel and Gaza,
and we unequivocally condemn the attacks by Hamas. We pray for those
who are mourning, those who are injured, and all those fearing for their
safety. We pray for restraint on all sides, and renewed efforts towards
a just peace for all. The way forward must be for both sides to build
confidence in a secure future through which Israel and its people can
live in security within its internationally recognised borders, and
Palestinians have their own state and live in their lands in security,
and with peace and justice.”
Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury & Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York
We continue to think of Ukraine:
Update - John Blanch emailed me to say that the "Taste it Polish Restaurant" in Hatfield is no longer taking donations of clothing for Ukraine. However this doe snot stop our efforts.
Bishop Alan says we can pray, and practically we also have an option to donate to the Red Cross Appeal which I again repeat here:
To see their appeal details, please copy and paste this link into your browser: https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/ukraine-crisis-appeal.
You may donate any amount you wish, and your cash will go towards
helping people who are being affected by the crisis, by supplying them
with food, water, first aid, medicines, warm clothes and shelter.
Donations may be made direct to the Red Cross appeal, or alternatively,
you may care to donate using the QR code below. The QR code will also
be displayed in church.
Church Giving. We are now passing the offerings plate at services.I
know that many of us are happiest giving cash rather than scanning QR
codes or tapping payment cards or smartphones, so this is good news
indeed.
But,
if you like the QR Code, you can point your Smartphone’s camera or QR
app at it, and it will let you give, or from your PC/Mac you can just
click this link: https://givealittle.co/campaigns/10cd954f-25f7-46d9-8813-634634729bfa.
You can also give via the new (easy to use) card payment device –
both at the back of the church - these donations go to St Johns funds.
We are planning to make the QR Codes easily accessible from the pews
too.
Friendship Teas - every second Tuesday of the month at 2:30pm in the Annexe! The next one is this Tuesday 13th February 2023 at 2:30pm
HOME INSURANCE
If you need to take out, or renew, a home insurance policy, please think of using Ecclesiastical Insurance as they will donate £130 to the church through their Trust 130 Promotion. All you need to do is to say that the donation is to go to St John's Church, Lemsford. Find out more at www.ecclesiastical.com/trust130 or call their team on 0800 783 0130 and quote Trust 130.
2024 PCC meeting dates
15th January at 7.15pm
13th February at 7.15pm
16th April at 7.15pm
30th April via Zoom 7.30pm
APCM - 12th May at 12 noon
4th June at 7.15pm
22th July ay 7.15pm
7th September at 7.15pm
26th November at 7.15pm
PLEASE CAN YOU HELP
WE COULD REALLY DO WITH YOUR FINANCIAL HELP IN THIS DIFFICULT TIME.
PLEASE CONSIDER GIVING IF YOU CAN TO SUPPORT OUR CHURCH AND OUR WORK IN THE COMMUNITY.
ALTERNATIVELY
WE CAN NOW RECEIVE DONATIONS VIA TEXT MESSAGE BY TEXTING THE WORD
LEMSFORD FOLLOWED BY A SPACE AND THEN AN AMOUNT OF YOUR DONATION, TO
70085. FOR EXAMPLE, TO GIVE £5 TYPE LEMSFORD 5, TO GIVE £10 TYPE
LEMSFORD 10. THEN SIMPLY SEND YOUR TEXT TO 70085. TEXTS WILL COST YOUR
DONATION AMOUNT PLUS ONE STANDARD RATE MESSAGE.
MANY THANKS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IMPORTANT REQUEST TO REGULAR GIVERS FROM THE FINANCE COMMITTEE
If regular givers would prefer to make their payments by bank transfer, the bank details of the church are:
HSBC Bank. Sort Code: 40-46-08 A/C No: 51431609
Many thanks
Choir practice every Sunday at 9.30 am
Bell ringing practice every Monday evening at 7.30 pm
To email us either click the button below or go to the Who's who and Contacts page and click on the person you would like to contact. Alternatively please use the form at the bottom of the Who's who and Contacts page.