Click on the pics below to view the photos in the gallery.

Click here to view the video and read the report!

After cooking up some ashes at the beginning of the day (See Impressions from St. Petes) a long day ensued.

‘Say One for Me, Vicar’ had a reasonable response but was not as successful as envisioned. We received 50 or so prayers and the Huddersfield Examiner recorded the event.

The weather cut down on foot fall because the rain at times was horizontal and the wind constant. The prayer lilies as they opened were driven ashore to one end of the pool and beyond.

(Note to self – consider going inside next year – may be the ‘Kingsgate’ or ‘Packhorse’ shopping centres.)

Still the massive church doors were open, the sign clear and the uptake realistic for the venue and weather. Perhaps this ‘Say One for Me! Might be deployed at the Spring Fayre.

At the 12.35pm Holy Communion with Imposition of Ashes – 50+ gathered and as usual a fair number wandered in and out as the service commenced. This regular worship – timed to coincide with those taking a lunch break at 12.30pm – was a ‘special’ – hymns, organ and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Pie Jesu’. Leaving St Peter’s I wonder how many kept their ash crosses on display? More importantly how many committed to an observance of a Holy Lent in some way? (See Ash Wednesday Sermon)

The evening service had the same format as lunch time but with full music and choir. A broader experience then, with two anthems and a sung setting, gave a somewhat fuller and expansive atmosphere –more space for contemplation.

The first was a copy of ‘Memory Lane’ from the Huddersfield Examiner and showed the side chapel screen being erected. Having trouble finding the link on the web, your attention is drawn to the notice board level with the hymn books in church where the cutting is displayed.

The second offering is a photograph of the Parish Church in times long gone. It must be pre-war, as the railings around the church are clearly visible. From the cobbles, and deposits thereon, it looks like a horse drawn vehicle era. Other people have pointed out the lamps outside the west door.

Any other comments may be posted.

Coffee Morning Plus                                                       Saturday 18^th February

Tomorrow there is another Coffee Morning Plus at Huddersfield Parish Church from 10am-2pm. What is the “plus” I hear you cry – it’s a wombel get it one-bell! It is a mock up weighted bell simulator linked to a computer and hence the sound is made, a real bell ringing. You can be in a band of up to twelve and try and fit your bell into the right place.

The proper tower will be ringing sometime during the morning when enough ringers appear!

So – come for coffee; come for the wombel; come for a ring; come for a look.

Over the Lenten period there will be a number of articles in the ‘Impressions from St. Pete’s’ blog. Including in the next few weeks – ‘thought from a travelling priest’ .

There will also be regular updates on events and services during Lent and onward into Holy Week and Easter – so keep logged on and aware of the worship opportunities on offer.

Let’s not forget the parish magazine which is being produced ‘as we speak’ and will arrive soon.

Finally look on the sermon page for Anna’s sermon from the Sunday past. Relevant and inspiring!

Huddersfield Parish Church takes their lead from the Bishop of Wakefield in the call to ‘Say one for me Vicar..!’

Rev’d Canon Simon Moor would tell you : “You’d be surprised how many times a week someone stops a parish priest in the street or calls to them:

“Say one for me…! ”.

Well the Bishop of Wakefield and now St Peter’s has taken this to heart. This Ash Wednesday people are being given the opportunity to have their prayers offered by leaving a prayer outside St Peter’s Church Huddersfield.

‘Prayer Lilies’ – folded squares of paper, on to which words of prayer have been written, will be placed in a large tray filled with water. After a few seconds the fold open and the prayer is revealed and ‘offered’. Each message will be prayed again during that week.

This is a simple way to reach out to people and we are linking in with a national
Church House initiative for Ash Wednesday, inspired by the Bishop of Worcester collecting prayers in a job centre last year.  Indeed, on Ash Wednesday the Bishop of Wakefield Stephen Platten will be in the Ridings Shopping Centre Wakefield, where it is expected to match hundreds of prayers left in the first week of Lent in 2011.

“It is quite astonishing and sometimes very moving,” says the Rev’d Canon Simon Moor: “Of those ‘Say one for me Vicar… some are very simple and some more complex. – most stirring and heart felt.”

The Prayer station will be outside St. Peter’s Church on Ash Wednesday 22nd February between the hours of 11.30am and 1.30pm

First of all during the week the clergy were meeting in the Vicarage study for a morning chained to the desk. They started with morning prayer, but with no Common Worship books at hand turned to the computer. Simon brought up multi-windows with the service, psalm and readings on separate displays; workable but Jurassic in its application. The thoroughly modern curate directs the Vicar to a page that does it all for you.

A simple e mail and the Parish WordPress Whizz makes the connections on our web site and you too can now have the morning, evening and night office at the touch of a button.

Just click on the tab which says: Daily Worship

These offices are used daily by the clergy – why not join them – if not in body perhaps in spirit?

Secondly a thought provoking use of modern forms of communication is to be found on the tab marked: Media

There is also a post on Impressions From St.Pete’s concerning the media clip.

What’s to do in Lent?

In our Lent Course this year we are going to look at the Theme of Hospitality, in shared groups with our friends in the Methodist Mission.

We are not looking to provide black and white answers to how we should respond to the Bibles call on hospitality, and there is a wonderful variety of text to guide and inform us. The material includes, video clips, music, practical exercises, questions, stories, texts, discussions, responses and actions – and a chance for fun! And coffee of course!

When?

Mondays             10.45am – 12.15pm     (Mon Prayers 12.30pm optional)

Wednesdays      10.45am – 12.15pm    (Wed Holy Communion 12.35pm optional)

The groups will both be running the same material, and we could suggest that everyone sticks with their own community for the discussions. Or – are we willing to move out of our own places of familiarity and accept each other’s hospitality? Giving and receiving practically and in learning enriches us all. The groups don’t have to be static, so even if you settle for one of these days regularly and need to change for one week or more, then you can, without missing anything.

Evening Housegroups will continue:

Tuesdays                      Gledholt House Groups (see Stephen Day)

Thursdays                   St. Peter’s House Groups (see Simon Moor)

Why?

Hospitality is part of the important presence of both churches in our town.

The Mission provides social care and the way in which it offers a place of safety to the communities of Huddersfield. Such an ethos is a rallying point for Christian with the social gospel at their heart. A growing number of people are coming to help in the environment of the Methodist Mission. Hospitality of the Mission and those who serve there make hospitality an important theme to delve into over the Lenten period.

St Peter’s has our Sunday and Wednesday services that are welcoming and open. We have our Saturday ‘Hosting’ and the ability to enter into some simple hospitality moments. Our biggest congregation though is the hundreds of individuals that come through the doors each week. Those seeking silence, those seeking the holy, those seeking warmth, those seeking a place to pray, those seeking a listening ear….. Our basic hospitality is that the doors are open and the space within St. Peter’s is available.

We already offer so much. What more can we learn about this key theme of faith, and be richer in ourselves and in what we do?

How?

There is a sheet at the back of St. Peter’s to indicate numbers and to help arrange evening groups – their times and venue.

The set times on a Monday and Wednesday mean that missing a date can mean that someone can organise themselves to be elsewhere in any given week. You may even decide just to take the resources home and go through the course on your own or indeed invite someone to join you!

We will try to ponder on the possibilities, the potential and the outworking of hospitality as a practice towards ourselves, neighbours and those we have yet to meet.

You’re Welcome!