Author Archive | clairehoness

Our services from 1st February until the week before Easter are set out below. Information about Holy Week and Easter 2024 coming soon!

2022 was a great year around the benefice…  Among many other events we took part in the town Festival of Ice and Fire, the Food Festival, Barlick in Wonderland, Barlick Beach and the Morris Dancing Festival.  Rev’d Claire was ordained priest and Louise was licensed as a Reader.  We celebrated Christmas and Easter, Rogation and Harvest and Remembrance.

Barlick in Wonderland took place around the town on 25th March 2022.  At Ghyll church teas and cakes were served, there was a chance to try bell-ringing, and history leaflets and a history quiz were available.

In 2022 we have been running Messy Church sessions in church and in our Church School.  In these we have been thinking about some of the things that Jesus said he was… the light of the world, the good shepherd, the true vine, the bread of life…  We celebrated all the work that the children have done in these sessions at our all-age service on 3rd July.  We hope to run more Messy Church sessions from September.  Watch this space for more details.

We had a wonderful Right Royal Day Out at St Mary’s celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

Here are some photos of Rev’d Claire’s ordination as priest and her first Eucharist at Holy Trinity.  Thank you to everyone who came to support her on these special occasions.

See below for details of all our main services until the end of March.  More details of special services for Lent and Easter to follow soon…

If you want to find out more about what our services are like, click here.

Christmas is not a time of joy and tinsel for everyone. Many people struggle with loss, loneliness or other difficulties at this time of year. We will mark this on Friday with a short, reflective, supportive service. All are welcome. Please tell anyone you know who might find this helpful. Friday 17th December 6pm at Holy Trinity Church, Barnoldswick.

All our Christmas services and activities are listed here.

Overview of all services and activities

Christingle

Messy Christmas

Carol Services

Christmas weekend

Help planning a funeral…

When someone you love has died, it can be hard to know where to turn.  We can help with funeral services in church, at the crematorium or by the graveside.  Talk to your Funeral Director for more information, or contact the Vicar.  Her contact details can be found here.

For more information about Church of England funerals, click here.

We would love to help you celebrate your wedding…

If you are considering a church wedding, would like to make a booking, or are just interested in finding out more, please contact the Vicar.  Her contact details can be found here.

To find out more about weddings in the Church of England, click here.

We would be delighted to welcome your baby into the Church family…

If you are interested in booking a Baptism (sometimes also called a Christening), please contact the Vicar.  Her contact details can be found here.

To find out more about Baptisms in the Church of England, click here.

If you’re not sure if a Christening is for you, it’s also possible to arrange a service of Thanksgiving for the Birth of a Child.  This involves less commitment than a Baptism and is a shorter service… and you can always opt for a full Christening later. Find out more by clicking here.

Did you know…?  While many people choose to have a Christening as a way of welcoming a new baby, it is possible to be baptised at any age.  Contact us if you’d like to find out more.

Are you curious about what to expect if you come to one of our services?  We’ll try to explain what happens below, but we’d love you to come along and find out for yourself…

Holy Communion:

Most of our Sunday morning services (as well as our regular Thursday morning services at Holy Trinity) are services of Holy Communion.  At this service we remember Jesus’ last meal with his friends as we celebrate the fact that we are part of a Christian ‘family’ or ‘community’.

After a welcome, we begin by remembering the ways in which we all often fail to live the kind of lives we’d hope to live and by saying sorry for these.  (We do this communally.  Don’t worry, you will never be asked to speak individually or about yourself…)  We are reminded that God loves us unconditionally and that we are forgiven for anything we may have done wrong.

We then listen to readings from the Bible and a sermon which usually explains how one or more of the readings relates to our lives here and now.  There are some prayers, and then we turn to those around us and offer them a sign of peace (in non-Covid times, we might shake hands or say ‘Peace be with you’).  By doing this, we show emphasise that sense of being part of one community, with no animosity between us, before we approach Jesus’s table.

In the next part of the service, we remember Jesus’s last meal with his friends.  The priest takes and blesses bread and wine and offers them to those who are gathered.  (Currently, we are only receiving the bread because of Covid restrictions.)  Anyone who is baptised in any Christian denomination is welcome to receive communion with us.  Alternatively, keep your hands by your sides when you come up for communion and the priest will give you a blessing instead.  If you do not feel ready to come up for communion you can simply stay in your seat.  No-one will ask you to do anything you are not comfortable with.

After a prayer of thanks for what we have received, there is a final blessing, and then we share a cup of tea or coffee together.

In non-Covid times, our Sunday services are punctuated with hymns which we sing together.  The Thursday morning service is a spoken service only.  Currently, we are not singing at Holy Trinity, but there is music played through the sound system.  At St Mary’s and St Michael’s we have returned to singing some hymns.

The All-Age Holy Communion service, which takes place at Holy Trinity on the first Sunday of every month, is similar to the above, but is designed to be accessible to people of all ages and may be more interactive.

Some of our services do not involve communion.  These services involve hymns, Bible readings, a sermon, and prayers.  At St Mary-le-Ghyll the service of Morning Prayer uses traditional language, while the Service of the Word at St Michael’s Bracewell uses contemporary language.

Details of services in November are as follows:

All are very welcome at any of our services.

We commemorated Baby Loss Awareness Week 2021 on 15th October, creating our own Wave of Light at Holy Trinity.

Would you like to find out more about the Bible?  What does it all mean?  How should we approach it?  How do all the books hang together?  Is it still relevant today?

We are running an 8-week course starting in the first week of February which sets out to answer just those questions and more.

To find out more, click here or email arnolds68@btopenworld.com.

Our fundraiser for Macmillan nurses raised over £1300.  Huge thanks to all involved, including the local businesses and individuals who donated prizes, food and money.  We are so proud to be part of this generous community!

We hope you enjoy the pictures from the event below.

Read this week’s pew sheet for prayers and readings for the week, as well as information about what’s happening around the Benefice.

Benefice Magazine: Summer 2021

We hope you enjoy reading the latest issue of the Benefice Magazine.  Its editor, Pat Sagar, is always looking for new ideas for articles and contributions for future issues.  Contact her on patsagar@tiscali.co.uk.

The beautiful Coach House at Ghyll Church is open for teas, coffees and cake on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays,  10.30-3.30.  All very welcome.  Come and visit this beautiful twelfth-century church situated on the Pendle Way, and stop for a cup of tea or coffee and a slice of cake.