Current online services – Feb 2021

During the current national lockdown, we have decided to stop congregational worship, although it is allowed by the government guidelines.  There will continue to be an online service every Sunday, filmed at either St Peter’s in   Stanley, or at St Paul’s in Alverthorpe.  The decision on congregational worship will be reviewed in mid-February.  For our online services please see: 

· Facebook: St Peter’s Church, Stanley, Wakefield

As well as the Sunday morning services, we are broadcasting  morning and evening prayer sessions several times a week on our Facebook page.  Please visit our Facebook page to watch these services at the times shown below.  Once broadcast, the services can be watched as many times as you wish.

Monday 9am  Morning prayer
Tuesday 9pm  Compline evening service
Wednesday 9am  Morning prayer
Wednesday 9pm  Compline evening service
Thursday 9pm  Compline evening service
Friday 9pm  Compline evening service

Letter for February 2021

It seems to me that many people were hoping that when 2020 ended and 2021 began that things would begin to change for the better.  This was reinforced by the pre-Christmas news that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine had been approved closely followed by the Oxford/AstraZeneca one.  The end was in sight, or was it?  Just when we though that we had turned the corner, a new variant of Covid-19 had been discovered on our own doorstep and we could see ourselves   heading back down into another lockdown and here we are.

In today’s world, pandemics are thankfully very rare.  Most of us in our lifetime have not seen the likes of Covid-19 even though there have been a few in the last 100 years, but all have been mild by      comparison. We have got used to having the freedom to do mostly whatever we want to do, and we take travel between continents for granted.  The easier travel gets for us, the easier it gets for the virus.

Plagues, wars and disease have been central to our way of life for thousands of years, but we don’t usually get wrapped up in them      personally.  Covid-19 has been different because it has affected everyone, everywhere in the world.  The reason why we have passed through those times is because of HOPE.  This is a gift that God gave us in   creating us in his image, and faith is the path to HOPE:

Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

Romans 5:1 “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

However we may be affected by the virus; however inconvenient it may be, we will win through.  God’s love for us will always triumph.  Yes, there is pain and loss for many, but God waits at the end to embrace us in his love and asks us through faith to live in hope for a better future.

Revd David Teece
St Peters Church, Stanley and St Paul’s, Alverthorpe.

Remembrance Sunday 2020

This year our remembrance service will be a little different due to the COVID restrictions.

To ensure we can maintain a COVID secure building we have to severely limit numbers to our Sunday morning services. We are therefore are planning the following for Remembrance Sunday.

10am at the Church will be our usual Sunday morning service, this is usually full to our COVID capacity.

We therefore ask that those wishing to take part in the act of remembrance go direct to the war memorial for 11am, where we shall meet outside for a short remembrance service.

Please remember that although outside you will need to social distance from people outside of your household.

Groups on in October 2020

Stanley Community SingersEvery Monday, 1pm-2pm

The Stanley Community singers have restarted after a very lengthy break, and although we aren’t singing together yet, we are enjoying doing some fun musical games, activities and quizzes. 

The group meets every Monday (term-time only) at St Peter’s Church, 1pm—2pm, cost per session = £2.50

We aren’t serving refreshments afterwards, but the church café is open beforehand for delicious lunches e.g. hot meal, sandwiches, soup etc.

St Peter’s Senior Citizens’ Lunch Club – Every Tuesday, 11am—1pm 

Arrive from 11am-1pm and enjoy tea or coffee and a chat, followed by the activity of the day e.g. crafts, talks, films, games, quizzes, reminiscing.

We are taking lots of precautions to keep everyone safe, including extra cleaning and hygiene measures.

Lunch served from about 12:15pm: a freshly cooked hot meal followed by dessert, for just £5 per person.

Ideal for anyone wanting a bit of companionship and     something to do!  Please come and join our friendly group.

Knit and Natter, Sew and Chatter! – Every Thursday, 2pm-4pm

Enjoy a cuppa, company and a ‘crafty’ afternoon!

Please come and join this established group of ladies as they knit, sew, compare ideas and patterns, learn new crafty skills, and share conversation, refreshments and friendship. Just turn up: you will be very warmly welcomed

Precautions are being taken to keep everyone safe; come along and give it a try!

Letter for October 2020

I wonder how many of our readers remember the closing moments of the world cup final in 1966 when Kenneth Wolstenholme who was commenting for BBC TV uttered the immortal words: “they think it is all over….we’ll it is now” as Geoff Hurst scored England’s fourth goal to beat the mighty West Germany. A few seconds later England won the world cup four goals to two, Bobby Moore lifted the trophy, the country celebrated, and the rest is history, so to speak.

Well, as autumn begins to take hold and the nights draw in, there’s one thing we can say about the COVID pandemic, and that is as much as we would like it to be, it is far from over. In the past few weeks we are witnessing a rising number of positive cases and sadly more deaths as a result of this devastating and terrible virus. We are into the second wave of the pandemic and as we navigate as a country through various local lockdown measures the situation appears more complicated than in March. The pressure and challenges of living    together and looking out for each other seems to get more involved and added to this a sense of tiredness it is hard to know where to turn for hope and stability.  But we must continue to encourage one another and bear one another’s burdens.

In Matthew’s gospel, chapter 11, verses 28 to the end, Jesus talks about rest for the weary with these words….

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

In this passage, Jesus invites the weary and the burdened to find rest for their soul by being yoked with him. In Jesus’ day the yoke was a wooden collar that ran across the shoulders of a pair of oxen and enabled them to jointly pull enormous weights.  Jesus invites each one of us to be yoked with him in love so that he will gladly share our lives and offer us comfort and support in our present situation.

As we move deeper into autumn, why not think about inviting Jesus to share your burdens and weariness – you may be pleasantly   surprised to experience his love and presence in the most unexpected places and times.

Take care, stay safe and God Bless, Rev Glenn Coggins,

Vicar of  the United Benefice of Stanley, Outwood and Wrenthorpe and Alverthorpe.

Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) – Sun 11th Oct

Straight after the harvest service on Sunday 11th October, we will be holding our APCM, more commonly known as an Annual  General Meeting (AGM).  The AGM was originally scheduled to take place back in April, but had to be delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

This meeting will review what happened in 2019, which seems rather a long time ago now!  The church finances from 2019 will be presented, and members will be elected to the Parochial church council (PCC) and officers elected.  There will also be a discussion about our plans and hopes for the future.  If you want to learn more about the church’s  ministry, where the money comes from and how it’s spent, and what the various church officers do, then come along and find out! 

The next AGM (to discuss the events and finances of 2020) will be taking place in only 6 months time, in March or April 2021, assuming that the world will have returned to a bit more normality by then! No doubt we will reviewing how the coronavirus pandemic has affected us at St Peter’s church.