Our Vision is to be a friendly, caring church, serving the local community and wider world through our faith in Jesus Christ.

April Advance The version here is available to be read online

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This is the regular publication containing news of events and our church life. You could help by sending content to advance@stjohnsurcipswich.org.uk

Revd Adam Earle and Revd David Rees Look after St John’s and 5 other URC Churches: Castle Hill, Felixstowe, Saxmundham, Leiston LEP and, most recently, Hadleigh They work closely together so if you need to contact a minister, either one of them would be willing to hear from you and offer help as necessary. David’s email: revdrees@gmail.com phone: 01473 402721 Adam’s email: revaje@outlook.com phone: 01473 411316

which also has a Link to Download Advance

This is a link to the quarterly magazine of Ipswich and East Connect

06 April

13 April

Pause for Prayer 10:25 Palm Sunday Worship Led by William Glasse

18 April 10:30 AM

Good Friday Service at St John’s CoE Cauldwell Hall Rd

20 April

Easter Sunday Worship & Communion Led by Peter Dawson

27 April

Eco Church Hybrid Service

04 May

Sunday Worship & Communion Led by Rev Adam Earle

Services at St John’ s These ar e at 10:45 normally

Sunday Worship & Communion Led by Allison Smith

Services

10.45 am on Sundays Worship for All

at which you will find a warm welcome

Services last about 55 minutes. Our Worship Leaders include Ministers, such as our own Ipswich and East Minister Rev David Rees and Adam Earle, plus some excellent lay preachers, also including our own two lay preachers, Sara Pells and Peter Dawson. We use a large screen to pr oject elements of the service including the hymns.

Minister’s Letter

Our Communion Service is held on the first

Sunday in the Month

All age ‘Celebration Services’ are held with inputs from Rainbows, Brownies and Pre-School when circumstances permit.

Psalms for All Seasons

Like many folk of faith, I love a Psalm. The Psalms seem to address such a wide variety of human experience. They range from exuberant joy and praise, to the depths of despair and suffering. We find praise, anger and seemingly unanswered questions. Sometimes we may be shocked by what we read, such as in the oft omitted concluding verses of Psalm 137 (take a look) when the writer’s anger spills out in thoughts of revenge and vindication. The shortest, Psalm 117 , with just two verses, is a marvel of a concise expression of the heart. The longest, Psalm 119 , with one hundred and seventy-six verses, works meticulously through the themes of the Law in exploring God’s ways. It is broken into 22 sections, each of similar length and each beginning with a letter of the Hebrew Alphabet, in order. Imagine having to learn that one off by heart! I wonder just how well we know the psalms. We certainly have favourites that we could possibly recite from memory (or at least the metrical hymn version). But there are some which are more demanding, even troubling. Often these stem from the most troubled and trying of times and include questioning, despair and crying out to God. Here, in the heart of Lent, a time of waiting, preparation and longing, as we look ahead to the events of Holy Week and Easter, we have time to stop and reflect. Looking at the world around, the growing troubles and sense of hopelessness we can certainly join in the words of the psalmists, whether from our own experience or through empathy with others, for example: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice!” (Psalm 130:1) “My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long?” (Psalm 6:3) “Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1) Why not take an opportunity to dig deeper into the psalms and explore some of the less “cheerful” ones, in the light of the world today and then pray, pray with all your heart for the world, the nation, the community and the church. Offer up the cries of despair, ask the difficult questions, seek God’s in it all. Then, as with so many of these Psalms, conclude with praise. Praise acknowledges the wonder and faithfulness of God and, even though from our perspective we may not understand, we can trust that God is continuing to work his purposes out and therefore we have hope and do not need to fear. Revd Adam Earle

Room Hire

Below are the main rooms availab le followed by an interactive guide on hiring space at St John’s. The Booking Forms below the pictures of the spaces offer two ways to start the process of Booking. What is different between the methods can be seen in the interactive guide. The Main Hall Upstairs

This is used for Pre-school every weekday during term-time. Also by Brownies and Rainbows on Thursdays. Other than the Sanctuary, it is the largest space in the building and has kitchen fa ci lities just off the hall. Room 1 This is a regulary used space, including use as a Polling Station! It is easy to mak e all sorts of furnitur e arrangements. It is also straight off the main lobby so ma kes for easy access.

Rooms 4 and 5 A useful space, with a divider, so it can be made cosy or more open. It is used as a double room by the AA Group on a Wednesday evening regularly throughout the year. There is flexi bility in the setting of the furniture.

The Sanctuary The sanctuary is also very flexibl e in layout, but as the chairs are m ore substantial, re-arrangements r equire much more work. Ther e is a loop sound system and a projection screen. The organ console se en in the picture to the left is moveable. The organ pipes can be seen above the congregation seating ar ea in the picture below.

Last, but not least, are the supporting areas. There are toi lets on both floors including baby changing and disabled facilities on the gr ound floor. There is a small lift in the entrance lobby for people to get to and from the upper floor. Finally, each flo or has kit chen facilities. The pictures are of the downstairs kithen. There are toilets on both levels with a disabled facility on the ground floor.

Below is a brief guide to hiring a room in St John’s.

Download Roombooking PDF

Booking Rooms at St John's URC Ipswich

Initial Considerations When? Day? Time? Looking at the Church Diary will give you an indication of any availabilty Click here . How long needed for Booking Including : Setting Up, Clearing Up What Space Do You Really Need What Sized Space? How Many People? How Many Tables? How Many Chairs? Do You Need Kitchen Facilities? £ COST: Price on Application Please note that it will vary with the frequency of use and, in colder parts of the year, the heating requirements.

Car Parking This is really difficult so assume it is NOT AVAILABLE Conditions of Booking Summary No Smoking, No Exit Blocking Restrictions on Alcohol You Must

Take all precautions on safety Have Public Liability Insurance - See Conditions Document for Guidance on Public Liability Insurance requirements. Comply with all Laws On: • Health and Safety • Safe-Guarding of vulnerable adults and children • Food Hygiene • Entertainment Licences

• Disability • Equality • Clean and Tidy Up after the event with everything returned to its original place!

Complete Booking Enquiry Form There are 2 ways of doing this 1 Complete the enquiry Typeform on special page Click Here The simplest and most secure way

2 Download a form and complete it and return to: roombooking@stjohnsurcipswich.org.uk Simple and you can work on it when you have time and can check information. The form is a fillable PDF but you may need to print it still if your PDF reader is not able to cope with it.

Download this Guide

Conditions PDF