About Us
We are now part of the Rossendale Team of nine parishes forming a Mission Community within the Bury and Rossendale Deanery
St Mary's remains Biblically orthodox in its Christian faith (as defined in the '39 Articles of Faith and the historic formularies of the Church of England). Jesus is Lord of every area of our shared and private lives.
We're all on a journey of repentance and transformation, it would be great to share with you on the same journey
Our Vision
Our vision is:
"To reveal Jesus as we love God and serve others in the power of His Spirit."
Our Purpose
To enjoy fellowship as we worship in Spirit and Truth, grow in discipleship, develop in ministry and deploy in mission
Prayer Request Form
Please submit your prayer requests by completing the box below and clicking Send Prayer Request
Notices
Renew
Monday 11th March 2024
WHAT'S ON
Morning Services
Sunday 11:00AM
Sunday school for children during part of the service
Family Service
1st Sunday of month
Suitable for the whole family to join in or with Sunday school for children
Holy Communion
2nd and 4th Sunday of month
Sunday school for children during part of the service
Morning Prayer
3rd Sunday of month
Tiddlers
Mondays 1pm to 2:30pm
For babies and pre-school-age children (during term-time).
Restarts Monday January 22nd 2024, then every Monday
Mothers' Union
3rd Monday of month 7:30pm
Group for anyone, ladies or men who are interested in the cultivation of family life
Soup and a Sandwich
2nd Wednesday of month 12:00pm to 1:30pm
Free soup and a sandwich lunch, open to everyone
House Groups/Bible Study
We currently have two groups, please contact church for more details
On-line Service
Church Services
All service Readings and Prayers will be posted here and on our Facebook page. We are keeping this under regular review. Please take care and stay safe.
Prayers
24th March 2024 by Steve
Steve’s Prayers 24.3.24
Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning for your Son Jesus and the eternal sacrifice he made for us all.
We hold up before you all those who are suffering in their situations.
For the people of Sudan where one of the ‘worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory is playing out amid international inattention and inaction.
There has been fighting for over a year between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
More than 18 million Sudanese are facing acute food insecurity – 10 million more than at this time last year – while 730,000 Sudanese children are believed to be suffering from severe malnutrition.
Heavenly Father, we pray for international intervention, for food aid to be sent and for health organisations who are mobilising. We pray for a ceasefire to be implemented so innocent men woman and children can access help urgently.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.
We pray for the current peace efforts of the US envoy Antony Blinken, for the complex deal he is trying to negotiate across the Arab states and Israel.
Father, we pray all rulers and those in authority will seek a peace deal and allow Humanitarian relief into Gaza.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.
As we focus our thoughts closer to home, we pray for our economy and particularly all those who are still struggling financially. We pray for the hopeless that there will be hope, we pray for the hungry that there will be food, and we pray for the jobless that they will find work.
Lord God, help us to help those in need where we can, even in the smallest ways, as Jesus said 'Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these, My brothers, you have done it to Me”
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.
We pray for those who are grieving, who are ill or recovering, Heavenly Father we lift up to you those who we know and love and those who are close to us.
Lord God, we ask that you will be close, that your tangible presence will be felt during difficult times.
We take a moment to lift up before you those in our thought this morning.
We give thanks for this church family, for those who provide care and support, for those who serve us. Lord God, Heavenly Father, we ask you will help us to grow as a church, to reach out to our community and provide a safe place where people can grow, be loved, and supported.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.
I would like to conclude with a collection of short prayer this morning for the eternal sacrifice we remember on this Palm Sunday.
Blessed are you, Heavenly Father, for in Jesus you came to rule in our lives, not as a king, but as a humble servant. Enter into our lives today with your spirit, that we may greet you with shouts of praise.
God most high, gracious, and glorious, blessed is the one who comes in your name. Lead us on the road to the cross. May we follow with faithfulness and joy, shouting hosanna in the highest heaven.
Our God in heaven, how humbly you enter our world to reign: through Jesus, on a dusty road, riding a donkey. Help us to pave the way for your eternal Kingdom with our prayers and praise, with our actions, service, and love, until the very stones cry out at the coming of your new creation.
Lord Jesus, how great is your love that you went down to the depths for us: into suffering, sin, and shame, into darkness, despair, and death. We trust in you, O Lord – we trust in you alone.
Heavenly Father, when Jesus cried and breathed his last you tore away the ancient curtain between heaven and earth, life, and death. As we turn to face the cross, show us Jesus, in all his suffering and glory, so that we may believe and have eternal life.
Amen
Worship Songs/Service
Todays sermon from julie
24th March 2024
The Bible is the Word of God. It is a book that we live by. It tells God’s story and it tells the story of God’s people, both as a group and individually. It tells the story of Prophets, of Kings, of Jesus, of priests, of disciples, of ordinary people. And all these stories are woven into, and are part of, God’s story. The Bible is God’s story and the story of God’s people and how the two are told together to become the same story.
But as we read that story, it becomes obvious that often (too often) the two stories separate and go their own ways as the people of God choose to write their own story rather than following God’s story. There are two stories going on in this morning’s gospel reading: there is God’s story which we can see in Jesus and the people’s story which we can see in the crowd. The two stories are very similar, they are very close, but they are different.
The crowd is greeting a king: waving palm branches, laying their cloaks in the road, cheering and shouting: “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
So far so good, the people’s story is following God’s story at this point. Jesus IS the king, riding in to claim his kingdom. The difference though, lies in the understanding of “king”. The stories separate in that understanding. The crowd see an earthly king, one who will restore the fortunes of Israel with might and a public display of power. God sees a heavenly king, one who brings salvation and restoration but in a totally unexpected way through humiliation and death.
Jesus chose to follow God’s version of the story but the crowd chose to follow their version of the story rather than God’s. Jesus too could have chosen to follow his own version of his story, he was the one living the story and he could have chosen to be the king that the people wanted, he could have chosen not to go to the cross (it was always his choice) but he didn’t, he chose to stay true to God’s story. He chose to do what was asked of him and as a result God’s story of salvation and restoration reached its climax.
We all have a story too and each one of us, like Jesus, has a choice to make: we can choose to follow God’s version of our story, as Jesus did, or we can choose to follow our version of our story, as the crowd did.
God is the master writer and all stories come from him. He knows all our stories.
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. (Psalm 139)
God knows all our stories because he wrote them. But God wrote them with the possibility of choice within those stories; we can choose how our stories go, we can make the decisions that affect our lives. We can choose to be part of God’s story or we can choose to go our own way. We can choose to live our version of our story or we can choose to live God’s version of our story.
Each choice we make within our story, to follow God’s way or to follow our way matters because in choosing God’s version we are being obedient and we honour God, but in choosing our version we are being disobedient and we are dishonouring God.
Thinking about the Easter story, today, on Palm Sunday, about to enter Holy Week leading to Good Friday, we can look at it another way. Jesus died on the cross so that we could be forgiven for our sins: the wrong things that we do, the wrong choices that we make, our disobedience. Choosing our version of our story over God’s version. Jesus died for us because we are sinners. Our wrongdoing, our sin, our disobedience nailed Jesus to the cross.
Each time that we make a decision on how to act we make a decision whether to be obedient or disobedient, to honour God or to dishonour him. Each time we decide to do the right thing and obey God we crown Jesus, he is king in our lives and we honour him. Each time we decide to do the wrong thing and be disobedient to God we crucify Jesus, we add another nail to the cross and we hurt God.
We often crown Jesus in our lives. Whenever we show love, whenever we put someone else before ourselves, when we put Jesus way before our way, when we do and say the right thing, then we crown Jesus. But we have to face up to the fact that sometimes we don’t crown Jesus, sometimes we crucify him: each time we do not do the loving thing, each time we put ourselves before others, each time we put ourselves before Jesus, each time we do and say the wrong thing we crucify Jesus. We add another nail. Each time we have the opportunity to act or speak we face a choice. We can do what God wants or we can do what we want. We can crown Jesus or we can crucify him.
It is not easy to choose to follow God’s story, it can be costly and hard to do. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the crowd, in today’s culture, and join in the shouts of “crucify him”. Sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing when current thinking is against you. And we all battle sin every day; we are broken human beings – even the best of us.
This is Paul speaking in Romans 7: 14-20: “For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.”
Like Paul we want to do the right thing but we don’t; we are fallen human beings who want to obey God but who frequently trip up.
The good news of course is that Jesus made the right choice – he chose to follow God’s story and so he came to live among us and to die for us. And Jesus death on the cross redeemed us and our bad choices. Both Friday and Sunday are coming: on Friday Jesus died on the cross but on Sunday Jesus rose from the dead. We are saved by his work on the cross. If we truly repent, by grace we are forgiven.
This is Paul again, in Romans 6: “What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
We may be forgiven, we may have new life but we still have a choice.
The crowd made a choice. On that first Palm Sunday the crowd wanted to crown Jesus King. Here was their Messiah coming to claim his kingdom. They were, as far as they knew, being obedient to God, following his story. They were acclaiming his Messiah. They chose to crown him King
On Good Friday, the crowd wanted to crucify Jesus. They were being disobedient to God, not recognising his Messiah, not recognising how God works. That disobedience led to the crucifixion of Jesus. They chose to crucify him.
Jesus made a choice. He chose to be obedient to God and to follow his story. He chose to go to the cross, so that we could be forgiven when we are disobedient. He chose to take the nails and forgo the crown so that we could forgo the nails and receive the crown.
We too have a choice to make – not for just for ourselves but for Jesus. Do we choose to crown him or to nail him to the cross? Hail him as king or crucify him?
We each hold in our hands a crown and a nail and each time we make a choice whether to obey God’s will, to live in his story, or not we either crown Jesus or we nail him to the cross.
When you have to make a choice, think about the crown and the nail and ask yourself “am I going to crown Jesus or crucify him?” That is not to make you feel guilty or bad; it’s to help you to make the right choice. Jesus loves you; he died on the cross for you, whatever choice you make nothing changes that. He made his choice to help you make your choice. The crown is a symbol of Jesus rule in your life; the nail is a symbol of his love for you. He chose the nail so that you could choose the crown. So will you choose to crown him or crucify him? Will you choose the crown or the nail? Amen
Communion Reflection
This is a short Communion Reflection that you can join at any time. There is a quiet period within it that you can pause if you want a longer period of reflection
Safe Guarding Policy
At St Mary’s, Rawtenstall we work hard to maintain a safe environment for all. We are committed to implementing the House of Bishops’ safeguarding policies and good practice guidance.
If you have any concerns or enquiries regarding safeguarding, please contact our safeguarding officer.
- Parish Safeguarding Officer: Vicky Rhodes
- Phone: 01254 389589
A hard copy of the ‘Manchester Diocese Safeguarding Handbook’ and the ‘Church of England – Parish Safeguarding Handbook’ are available for inspection in the vestry at St Mary’s.
The Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser is Abbey Clephane-Wilson, she can be contacted at
- Email: safeguarding@manchester.anglican.org
- Phone: 0161 828 1465
- Mobile: 07384 460958
Out of Hours Support
The Diocese of Manchester partners with thirtyone:eight and you can access their Safeguarding Helpline if the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser is unavailable. Thirtyone:eight can be contacted on 0303 003 1111.
This also includes any safeguarding queries outside of office hours on weekdays and weekends. An Information Sharing Agreement between the two organisations will allow the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser to receive a copy of the advice thirtyone:eight may offer the caller.
In the case of an emergency
If you have immediate concerns about the safety of someone, please contact the police and your local authority Children or Adults Service. Lancashire County Council on 0300 123 6720 or outside of working hours 0300 123 6722
Helplines
NSPCC Child Protection Helpline: 0808 800 5000 (lines free and open 24 hours).
- Child-line: 0800 1111 (lines free and open 24 hours).
- Parent Line: 0808 800 2222
- National Domestic Violence Helpline: 0808 2000 247 (lines free and open 24 hours).
- Samaritans Helpline: 116 123 (open 24 hours).
- Action on Elder Abuse Helpline: 080 8808 8141 (freephone Monday to Friday 9-5pm)
Facts
Some interesting facts about St Mary's Rawtenstall
Year Opened
Average Congregation
Downstairs Capacity
Electoral Roll (2020)
Activities
- All
- Adults
- Scouts
- Guides
Mothers Union
3rd Monday, 7:30pm
Rainbows
Monday, 5:30pm
Ladies Fellowship
Alt. Wednesday, 2:00pm
Beavers
Wednesday, 6:15pm
Brownies
Monday, 6:30pm
Mens Breakfast
1st Saturday, 8:15am
Cubs
Tuesday, 7:00pm
Scouts
Thursday, 7:30pm
Guides
Monday, 7:30pm
Team
Meet the team of people at St Mary's who keep the building functioning, but the real church is not the building but the people who use the building.
Revd Samuel Hameem
Team Vicar in the Rossendale TeamRevd Samuel Hameem
Julie Barratt
Associate MinisterJulie Barratt
Pete Terry
Church WardenPete Terry
Jean Lang
Church WardenJean Lang
Nick and Suzanne
Childrens WorkSuzanne & Nick
Contact Us
Please contact us if you need any further information, or clarification of services/times. We will try and get back to you as soon as possible.