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GIFT AID ENVELOPES are available in all our churches for use when     cash is put on the collection plate - provided the donor fills in

their name and address and is a tax payer.  This increases your donation by 25%.

FOOD BANK: A big Thank You from the team at the Food Bank. The "Team" consists of just two wonderful people, Liisa and Gareth,

who have taken over the responsibility for resourcing and distributing the food. This has left Frances and her team at The Narthex

free to concentrate on their original aims of helping the local homeless, victims of domestic violence, Mums-to- be and others in

need. Both Teams work closely together which is why you will see an appeal for tinned potatoes alongside an appeal for duvets!

We try to support them both. Thank you for the duvets this week; they will be on beds by next Wednesday. This week's appeals are

for tinned fruit and a lightweight buggy suitable for a Mum to use on buses.   David Paice.

ASH WEDNESDAY, the start of Lent, is on Wednesday 22nd of February.  The Eucharist will be celebrated at St James Church at

7.30pm on that day and, as usual, we shall receive the imposition of ashes as an outward and visible sign of our desire to turn

again to Christ and put behind us our sins which come between us and discipleship to him. 

Each subsequent Wednesdays during Lent I shall hold a refresher course on the Faith to any adults who wish to join me at the

Rectory between 8.0 and 9.0pm.  Anyone wishing to be Confirmed by the Bishop of Birmingham on Easter Day will be most

welcome to attend this course also.

COFFEE MORNING AND BRIC-A-BRAC SALE The Friends of St. James are now collecting items for sale at the coffee morning and

bric-a-brac sale on Saturday 18^th February. Items may be left at the Parish Office on weekday mornings. Please come along and

support us on the day from 10.30-12.30am in Church House, bringing any cakes for sale on the day. Looking forward to seeing you

there!

SING-ALONG-A  ‘MAMA MIA’ at St James School, Halifax Road, Shirley, 7pm on March 10th 2012.  Bring your own drinks, glasses

and nibbles.  Tickets £5.00 available from the Parish Office or telephone 744 6777 or 744 6298.   You are never too old so please

support this event.

MOTHERS’ UNION Wave of Prayer Friday, 10^th February 2- 4pm in Church House.  ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS are now due. Payment

to be sent direct to the Treasurer, Susan Knight or via The Parish Office or a Committee member.

LUNCHEON AT ST. PATRICK'S - Saturday 11th February 12.30pm in St. Patrick's Church meeting room. Tickets costing £7.00 are

available from Jean Brown 01564 702367 or Susan Knight 0121-744 6298

CANDLELIT SUPPER The Friends are now selling tickets for this event and they are available from the Parish Office costing £11.50

each. The supper is on Saturday 3^rd March at 7.30pm in Church House and there will be a bar available.

The February Parish magazines are now in all the District Churches, price 50p. The cost of each edition will remain at 50pence

throughout 2012 or £5.50 for a yearly subscription.  Articles for the March edition of the magazine are due by February 12th to the

parish office or Barbara Philp. The editor apologises for the incorrect letters grid on this month Wordsearch page, please

contact the editor for a correct copy.

PREMATURE BABY KNITTING - Thank you to all who are continuing to knit premature baby garments. Up to date eleven very large

boxes of knitted premature baby items have been delivered to Heartlands Hospital and gratefully received. Your generosity in not

only knitting but providing the wool as well is very much appreciated. This is still an ongoing project as knitted garments for

premature babies are always needed in our local hospitals. Knitting patterns can be obtained from Susan Knight on 0121-744

6298 or from the Parish Office.

Collectors Wanted For the Great Daffodil Appeal - Marie Curie in Solihull are asking for volunteers to collect during the appeal in

March at local venues. For more information please contact the Fundraising Office, Monday to Friday 9.00am-5.00pm on 0121-254

7844

Saturday March 24th 7.30 CBSO Centre. Birmingham Bach Choir will be singing Brahms's German Requiem, Faure's Cantique

de Jean Racine and motets by Duruffle. (This is not an orchestral concert- Brahms wrote a piano duet accompaniment for the

Requiem.) Tickets £15 £13 concessions. This is wonderful music especially in the approach to Easter. Tickets from the CBSO

centre 345 0491 of TH/TH box office 780 3333 or via Kate Crocker.

WANTED:  PLASTIC MILK BOTTLE CAPS A local school are recycling the caps to raise funds for a wheelchair. Please bring them to

the Parish Office any weekday between 9am and 1pm.  Thank you.

WANTED:  SLEEPING BAGS  If you have an unwanted sleeping bag and are willing to donate it to a homeless person please bring it

to the parish office any weekday between 9am -1pm.

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PRAYERS & READINGS

FOR

THIRD SUNDAY BEFORE LENT

COLLECT OF THE DAY (8am)

Almighty God, who alone can bring order to the unruly wills and passions of sinful humanity: give your people grace so to love what

you command and to desire what you promise, that, among the many changes of this world, our hearts may surely there be fixed

where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy

Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

COLLECT OF THE DAY

Eternal God, whose Son went among the crowds and brought healing with his touch: help us to show his love, in your Church as

we gather together, and by our lives as they are transformed into the image of Christ our Lord.

First Reading            Isaiah 40.21-end

Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the

foundations of the earth?  It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out

the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth

as nothing.  Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them,

and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.  To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the

Holy One.  Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all

by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.  Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My

way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?  Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is

the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.  He

gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.

Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Second Reading   1 Corinthains 9.16-23

If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the

gospel!  For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission.  What then is my

reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the

gospel.  For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them.  To the Jews I

became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the

law) so that I might win those under the law.  To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from

God's law but am under Christ's law) so that I might win those outside the law.  To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the

weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.  I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may

share in its blessings.

GOSPEL READING            Mark 1.29-39

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.  Now Simon's mother-

in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.  He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the

fever left her, and she began to serve them.  That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with

demons.  And the whole city was gathered around the door.  And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out

many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.  In the morning, while it was still very dark,

he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.  And Simon and his companions hunted for him.  When they found

him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you."  He answered, "Let us go on to the neighbouring towns, so that I may

proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."  And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in

their synagogues and casting out demons.

POST-COMMUNION SENTENCE 

Merciful Father, who gave Jesus Christ to be for us the bread of life, that those who come to him should never hunger: draw us to

the Lord in faith and love, that we may eat and drink with him at his table in the kingdom, where he is alive and reigns, now and for

ever.

 

PLEASE  PRAY FOR THE SICK

From St. James: Mark Johnson, Jeanne Fletcher, Paul Rees,  Emma Tweedie, Julie Inman, Colin Bennetts, Stephen Taylor,  Jack

Walsh,  Keith Richards, Pamela Wilson, Jean, Gordon Webb, Kris Clarke, Glen,  Ryan Bedford, Joss Egginton, Ken Walker,

Cathryn, Janet Camps, Mary Bethell,  Jean Bryant,   Elsie White, Pat Cooke, Lucy Garwood, Colin Guppy, Iona Atkins, Ann, Samuel

Seaton, Rosemary Stevens, Pat, Jean Challands, Olive Thompson, Matthew Davison, Denise Jordan, Patricia Andrew, Zachery

Davison, Nick, Hannah Tonks, Rachel Edkins, Russell Burton, Brian Chapman, Dorothy Davis, Steven Hales, Jean Elkin, Isabella

Brown, Keith, Mary Hunt, Chris Goldthorpe, Philippa Goldthorpe, Amanda, Michael Foulger, Frankie Johns, Barbara Wright, Carole

Phillips, Father Fred, Brenda Holland, David, Nicholas Ball, Charlotte Dargie

From St. John's Olga Cave, Brian Prophet, Ron Wheeler

From St. Patrick's:  Tony Irwing, Dot Dunstan-Ford, Lin Marran

From Christ the King:  Nesta Cawdell, Leslie White, Mary Sadler

 

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE DEAD

Francis Bridges, Thomas Wright, Harry Bunn

 

YEARS MIND

Joan Kesterton, Fred Wright, Edna Careless, Rev Kenneth Atkinson, George Toney, Ronald Jervis, Robert Skevington, Walter Docker, Eleanor Parkes, Olga Gale