Parish Church

Rev. Martin Wood, The Rectory,  Church Lane, Cheriton Bishop, EX6 6HY

e-mail: revwood163@gmail.com  Tel.  01647 24119 (Tuesday to Sunday)                 

Churchwardens

Mrs Stella Wilson – 01647 61115

Mrs Jean Wise – 01647 61101 (Family History Enquiries jeanw@wptsm.plus.com)

Methodist Church

Rev. Alison Richardson,   The Manse, 1 Chapel Downs Road, Crediton, EX17 2EB

e-mail: india.alison@gmail.com Tel. 01363 777308

Church Stewards

Mr Steve Wollacott – 01647 61843

Mrs Janet Adams – 01647 61249

Mrs Diane Best – 01647 61740          

Mr Pete Privett (Booking Sec) – 01647 61384

What is Fat Tuesday?

The month of February sees the return of Ash Wednesday on 17^th February, the beginning of Lent in the church’s year. We will come back to Lent later. I wanted to focus first on Shrove Tuesday, 16^th February, better known as pancake day to many people. There is great excitement over cooking pancakes and trying to flip them in the frying pan. There are so many different toppings for the pancakes that have become people’s favourites. This humble dish has become quite exotic! It has its origins in using up the rich food like butter, eggs and sugar before the start of Lent. A reminder from the past, over four hundred years ago, not to waste food but use it carefully. I discovered a new twist on Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, which means Fat Tuesday in French. I have always associated Mardi Gras with carnivals and festivals. I picture people on the street dancing in amazing costumes in a carnival procession. I have discovered that the carnival season starts after Epiphany, the beginning of January and the season ends on Mardi Gras. It is the culmination of the carnival season, the last day before the beginning of Lent. It has become a time for people to have fun and enjoy themselves. It takes celebrating the end of the Christmas season to a new level! I had not made the connection to Shrove Tuesday and getting ready for Lent.

Lent is almost the complete opposite of what we have talked about for Pancake Day and Mardi Gras. It is a more serious and sombre time. Historically people fasted, usually having a simple diet like bread and water. This is the reason why people needed to eat up food on the day before Lent. The idea of fasting is further developed by people giving something up for Lent like chocolate, alcohol and takeaway food, which we call self-denial. There is a sense that if we are able to exercise self-control, these things are not addictions that control us. We are reminded of Jesus fasting for forty days in the desert. There are other things to try to do this Lent. We are encouraged to prepare for Easter by saying sorry and putting things right; by prayer for what is difficult, helping those in need around us and by reading our bibles. I would encourage us all to try and get realigned with God and use this time of getting ready to adjust our lives into God’s way. Focusing on reading our bibles, the Lent course might help you do this. I have decided to do this via Zoom to ensure we can meet whatever the restrictions may be. I was going to restart and finish the course from last Year, looking at the Pilgrim Course, The Lord’s Prayer.

 Rev. Martin Wood

No Services for February in Tedburn St Mary

We are stopping services during this lockdown – it is the safest way to ensure that we do not risk infection and it reinforces the ‘stay at home’ message.

During the colder months of January and February the Parish Church will remain closed everyday – this saves our keyholders hurting themselves on icy and dark paths at this time of year.

Can we support you with prayer?

As Christians we have experienced how powerful it is when we pray for each other.  We’d love to help share more of God’s grace within our community.  If you would like someone to pray for you or with you in strictest confidence, about any issue, please let us know.  A group of Christians in the village are able to support you in a variety of ways; through email: prayer.tedburn@outlook.com, by phone or text on 07772 436516, or through a private message to our church Facebook page- search for The Church in Tedburn.

Tedburn Church Kitchen

Homemade, oven ready meals, presented in a disposable container and given by people in our community, stored in the church freezer until needed.

The church provides containers and storage, and the food is donated by many brilliant local cooks.

These meals are to be given to anyone who might have trouble cooking, for any reason.  Although we’ve been doing this since 2017, the last few weeks have been much busier than usual.

Do you, or anyone you know, need this support?  Bear it in mind if you are in a difficult situation.

Or could you cook or deliver for us occasionally? We’d love to hear from you. Contact Helen Fry on 07772 436516 or helen.fry@live.co.uk, or join our Facebook group (search: Tedburn Kitchen) or Whatsapp (contact phone number above).

Thank you so much to all our brilliant cooks and delivery people!

Facebook Page: The Church in Tedburn

Our churches now have a joint facebook page called ‘The Church in Tedburn’.  You can ‘like’ the page by searching for that name and you will find information about our events or you can ask for prayers or a pastoral phone call.  If anyone has any event or anything else they would like shared on the page, please do let me know or message the page, and I will do it.  I think anyone can post to the page themselves too, and I hope it can help to build more of an online community of Christians in and around the village.  Please do let me know if you have any suggestions for it.

Open The Book

At the moment our Open the Book assembly team is unable to visit Tedburn Primary School, as we usually do, to present bible stories in assembly.  However, thanks to the wonders of an iPad and the internet, we have been able to record 5-minute story readings and send them in to the school.  The whole school doesn’t gather all together for assembly for the moment, but they still hold assemblies in their individual classrooms, so we can offer these stories to support teachers in this.

We are so pleased that a partial lockdown won’t stop us from being able to share the bible with children at the school. 🙂

In fact, this could be a great time to join our team!  Bible Society provides the full script of a 5-minute story, with introduction and a prayer at the end, and we can either come and film you (socially distanced in your own home or garden), or if you feel confident to, you could film yourself at a time to suit you, and send it to us.

If you’d like to chat more about it (no pressure!), feel free to give Helen a ring on 07772 436516, or email helen.fry@live.co.uk.

We offer friendship and prayer via the telephone for anyone and everyone

Contact Martin Wood (01647 24119) or Alison Richardson (01363 777308) for Pastoral support and prayer with a minister, OR contact Helen Fry on 07772 436516, Helen has a list of about 12 people from the community who have offered to be a phone ‘visitor’, through a request made via prayer.tedburn@outlook.com or by phone, so she can put a volunteer in contact with a lonely person.

Don’t forget you don’t have to live alone to feel lonely, please get in touch we are all here for one another. – People have been amazing in coming forward to offer this help.

Lent Course 2021 The Lord’s Prayer

Date & Time	Theme
Wed. 17th or Thur. 18th February 7.00pm	Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name
Wed. 24th or Thur. 25th February 7.00pm	Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven
Wed. 3rd or Thur. 4th March 7.00pm	Give us today our daily bread
Wed. 17th or Thur. 18th March 7.00pm	Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil
Wed. 24th or Thur. 25th March 7.00pm	For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever.