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Dates for your Diary 2023:
Sunday 19 March Mothering Sunday
Saturday 25 March Lady Day
Sunday 9 April Easter Day
Saturday 6 May Coronation of King Charles III
Monday 22 May 10am Trustee and Officers meeting by Zoom
Saturday 24 June 10.30am-3pm Summer Council and Members’ Day with packed lunch followed by a Celebration Service. Speaker Kathryn Anderson MU Provincial President for Canterbury, at Horncastle Methodist Church
Wednesday 9 August Mary Sumner Day
Monday 11 September 10am Trustee and Officers meeting by Zoom
Friday 22 September MU Provincial Gathering, York
9-13 October Prisons Week of Prayer
Thursday 12 October Autumn Retreat - Location tba
Wednesday 18 October Slavery Day
Friday 3 November 10 for 10.30am Winter Council & Celebration Eucharist at Washingborough (Note new date)
16-18 November Wave of Prayer
25 November - 10 December Days of Activism against Gender Violence and Global Day Walk(?)
Wednesday 13 December 3pm Carol Service by Zoom
A Spring letter from your Diocesan President: Hello! With some Spring flowers to see and enjoy, I hope you are feeling the uplift of this time of year. Resurrection time, after a long and cold winter. Mothers' Union news in the Diocese is encouraging. Lots going on and I hope you feel part of it. Diocesan Membera are invited to join in with Branch and Cluster meetings. It has been so lovely to meet up with friends again in our local communities and churches and also across the Diocese.
I hope you may be able to join us for our Summer Council and AGM in Horncastle on Saturday 24 June from 10am. After brief essential matters on the Agenda, Kathryn Anderson, who is our Provicial President, will address us. Kathryn is a lovely person, very enthusiastic about Mothers' Union, and I am sure you will enjoy meeting her. Please bring your own packed lunch. Teas and coffees available in the usual MU way!!
I am pleased to announce that our November Winter Council will be held at the Methodist Church in Washingborough - more about that later!
Soon it will be Mothering Sunday and Lady Day and I know you are planning wonderful events in your churches, branches and clusters. Then Lent and Easter followed by the Coronation of Charles III. Lots to look forward to. Enjoy! And please let us know through the newsletter and Summer Council what is happening in your part of the world. Encourage us, inspire us, and share the fellowship!
My husband has been ill over the winter, but hopefully he will be back with us all soon and join me in visiting branches and clusters. I am delighted to be invited and look forward so much to being with you. Please invite me if you haven't already. I don't mind about numbers!! And I am getting used to driving myself around this beautiful county.
Richard's illness has made me realise how difficult it is to live alone. If you are on your own, please be assured of a warm welcome in your church and local branch, and may you feel the spiritual umbrella of love and prayer over you constantly, as I have done.
May God bless you. With love, Sylvia Rice-Oxley
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Contacts
Diocesan Administrator: Elizabeth Page: ldmu1100@gmail.com
Diocesan Chaplain: The Revd Carolyn Bailey: lincolnmuchaplain@gmail.com
Diocesan Faith Co-ordinator: Kate Brown: kabstg@btinternet.com
Diocesan Members: Jenni Honisett: dandjhonisett@btinternet.com
Diocesan Fellowship and Reimagining MU: Sue Kerridge: kerridge.sue@gmail.com
MULive: Mary Brown: m.brown2345@yahoo.com
Safeguarding: Christine Jackson: christinejackson1@btinternet.com
Diocesan AFIA Representative: Vacant
MSH Website and Data: Cathie Whenman: cathie.whenman@hotmail.com
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New Lincoln Diocese Facebook Page
Hi Everyone
I’m Carolyn and I have the honour of being the MU Chaplain for the Diocese! How did that happen? I just wanted to say hello and to share some thoughts with you.
I know that Sylvia Rice Oxley our President has a vision for the next triennium but I wanted you to know that I have a vision too, that we will have a higher profile and will become more visible in our communities, in the Diocese and in our churches.
We are blessed in having the support of Bishop Nicholas and we have so many branches doing great work in our communities, we have our website and our newsletters, so now I am adding the Facebook page. If you use FB please pop on to our page and like it, let’s spread the news of what we get up to, it is a great way to see what we are all up to and if you are a Diocesan member it will help you to feel a part of the community..
If you would like to post but not sure what to do send your news and photos to me at lincolnmuchaplain@gmail.com and I will post for you.
Let’s get going and spread the joy!
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A NEW DIOCESAN PRESIDENT FOR LINCOLN DIOCESE
The Bishop of Grantham commissioned our new Diocesan President, Trustees and Postholders at a wonderful service in St Peter at Gowts Church in Lincoln.
We had the Diocesan Banner there and our hymns were accompanied by our new MUzic group. Bishop Nicholas encouraged our membership and showed he was proud and inspired by all MU does in the diocese and worldwide.
We begin a new Triennium with great joy and hope of spreading the Good News of Christ through our work and prayers, work of MU in our branches, clusters and amongst our growing number of Diocesan Members.
Our new Diocesan President is The Revd Sylvia Rice-Oxley who is a retired priest. Along with her husband Richard, also a retired priest, she hopes to encourage the work of MU in the diocese and build up membership. One of her aims is to inform and aid clergy and lay ministers in the work and value of MU, with the guidance of our Diocesan Chaplain, Revd Carolyn Bailey. Sylvia also hopes to visit branches and clusters as well as meeting with Diocesan Members.
We are grateful for the great work which Elizabeth Page did during the last 6 years as Diocesan President. Elizabeth is continuing to support Lincoln Diocese as Administrator, for which we are very thankful.
Everyone is welcome to join us in our activities and we welcome suggestions of new ministry and ways of doing and being MU in our beloved Diocese. (See bottom of page for photos of the event.)
We are organised geographically into 12 clusters overlapping deaneries. Each cluster has between two-six branches; the cluster leader often also being a trustee who feeds information back from meetings to members.
Clusters generally organise programmes for Lady Day, Mary Sumner Day and other special events.
Branches generally meet monthly for worship, sharing information and fellowship. They keep in touch with the indoor members in their parishes. The Indoor Members Prayer Circle (IMPC) coordinator keeps in touch with all IMPC members sending cards for Christmas, Easter and birthdays along with letters from the worldwide president or our diocesan chaplain or president.
Diocesan members can be part of a diocesan fellowship group or individual members who join through the diocesan office with a diocesan members coordinator keeping them in touch with Mothers' Union activities. Diocesan members are invited to join branches nearby, when they can, or diocesan activities.
To get involved, contact our Diocesan President to become a diocesan member. Following recent changes, all members will be receiving the prayer book, which has information about our wonderful global Christian organization and prayers for our members worldwide. In addition, there will be an exciting new publication as part of membership subscription which will be posted to members of the Britain and Ireland zones directly twice a year with information of the many activities, work and life skills which are making a huge difference to our 4 million members worldwide.
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