October 2015

50p

The

FOUR BUILDINGS, ONE PARISH, ONE CHURCH

Parish of Tamworth

A Christian Response to the Refugee Crisis

Responding with compassion to more refugees to be granted asylum strangers in need is core to the in our nation, and to walk alongside Christian faith. The Hebrew Scriptures them after they arrive. Through refugee are the narrative saga of a refugee sponsorship, volunteering with private people. Jesus himself became a refugee resettlement agencies, and providing when he fled with his parents as a practical support as they navigate a toddler to escape genocide under new environment, we can put the Herod. The New Testament is full of gospel into action. Imagine what would the stories of early Christians who happen if churches across the country were forced to flee from one place to were willing to house refugees, drive another to escape violence. them to doctor’s appointments, show Numerous times in Mosaic Law and them around the grocery store, tutor in the words of the prophets, Israel them in English, help them register is commanded, “love the alien as their children in school, and become yourself, for you were aliens in the land the extended family network they of Egypt” (Leviticus 19:34). Jesus then need. Imagine what would happen if builds on this longstanding tradition by we recognized Jesus in these strangers declaring in Matthew 25 that whenever from a war-torn land, and we banded we welcome the stranger, caring for together as a community to welcome her in her hunger, thirst, sickness, him into our homes and our lives. Taken from HuffPost posted22/9/15 and poverty, we are welcoming Jesus find it inside... himself. He also makes clear that when The Vicar writes we fail to respond to those needs (or Parish Away Day even to notice them in front of us), we A Tale of Two Fonts are turning our backs on the very God Occasional Offices we claim to follow. Resurrection: 1 Corinthians 15 In the midst of the worst refugee The Bookshop crisis since World War II, those of Parish Diary us Christ followers who live in a Elizabeth Wilson peaceful and prosperous country have Church pages a responsibility both to advocate for vol 60 no. 10

Parish details email: [email protected] website: www.stedithas.org.uk Tamworth, St Editha’s Vicar Revd Alan Gordon 66776 Reader Mr A Newbold Sacristan Mrs V Pearson 54671 Church Office 29 Church Street B79 7BX 68339 Bookshop Manager Mrs J Harrison 52598 Churchwardens Mrs G Wilkinson 282200 Mrs D Perry 283275 Organist/choirmaster Mr K Edwards 01213780633 Altar Guild Secretary Mrs D Mobbs 281908 Bellringers captain Mr A Else 53163 Tamworth (St Editha’s) Brownies Hayley Menzies 07960654323 Tamworth (St Editha’s) Rainbows Hazel Engley 07804120737 PCC Chairman Mr N Bradley Secretary Mrs G Wilkinson 68339 DCC Treasurer Ms B Brookman PCC Treasurer Mr J Cotterill Hopwas, St Chad’s Minister Revd Mike Le Worthy Reader Mrs S Rose Churchwardens Mr D Johnson 68262 Mr R Warburton 01543262780 DCC Secretary Mrs D Batchelor Treasurer Mr R Jones 68874 Organist Mrs A Rickard Verger/caretaker Mr R Phipps 313596 Church hall bookings Mr J Jackson 63999 Kettlebrook, St Andrew’s Churchwardens Mrs J Beadle 703073 Mrs V Attwood 703027 DCC Minute Secretary Mrs A Cox Treasurer Mr B Insull Organist Mrs R Bridge Verger Mr G Siddles Leyfields and Coton Green, St Francis’ Minister Revd Vic Van Den Bergh 65926 Lay Pastoral Minister Mrs S Burgon Lay Pioneer Minister Mrs W Van Den Bergh Churchwardens Mr C Grant, Mr G Higgs DCC Secretary Mrs T Peace Treasurer Mrs C Higgs 2

FOUR BUILDINGS, ONE PARISH, ONE CHURCH

The Vicar writes...

October – autumn – the seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness. But why is this month called October? Octo comes from the Latin meaning eight, and this month is the tenth month. It will come as little surprise that we have the Romans to thank for this, in particular, one Julius Caesar. The Roman year originally started in March, which meant the eighth month was October. However their calendar was a luner one, made up of 12 months with 29 or 30 days, with each starting on the first day of the new moon. This gave a year of 355 days, just over 10 days short of the full year of 365 and a ‘bit’ days, which is based on the length of time it takes the earth to orbit the sun (the solar year). Julius decided to reform the calendar (something you can do if you’re an emperor!) with months of 29, 30 and 31 days giving a total of 365 and a ‘bit’ days, and moved

the beginning of the year back to January, which meant that October became the tenth month. This is known as the Julian calendar, and apart from one or two refinements, particularly to take account of the ‘bit’ of about a quarter day, is the basis of the calendar we have today, even down to the divisions of the months. Although today, the western world uses the Gregorian calendar – but that’s another story that also involves October. The upshot of this reform was that the month called October remained where it was in relation to the solar year, in autumn – at least in the northern hemisphere. Autumn marks the end of summer, the time when the nights draw in, the clocks go back, trees begin to lose their leaves, temperatures fall, heating is turned on and winter clothes are looked out. A time when we can celebrate the loving care of the Creator in the

harvest festival not only for the fruitfulness of the earth, but also for the productiveness of human creativity and enterprise that yields the products and services that we consume, and so often take for granted in our modern service-based economy. Yet calendars are merely schemes that we construct to mark the passage of time, something which humans have been doing for millennia. The reality is that as day follows day, month follows month, and year follows year, we are dependant on the God who ensures the cycle of the seasons. The loving God who creates and sustains, and who has made himself known to us in Jesus. who invites us to respond to his love by joining with creation in thankfulness and praise, both during this season and throughout the year. 3

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FOUR BUILDINGS, ONE PARISH, ONE CHURCH

St Andrew’s ✠ St Chad’s ✠ St Editha’s ✠ St Francis

Parish Away Day Saturday 10th October 10am - 4pm Tamworth Community Fire Station, Belgrave

Four buildings, one parish, one church; but what are we here for? What unites us, even as each of our communities is so very different? On what can we work together? 5

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FOUR BUILDINGS, ONE PARISH, ONE CHURCH

A Tale of Two Fonts

A good number of people come into St Editha’s, perhaps to a service, to light a candle, or to pray for a loved one in peaceful surroundings. Many more families come with their children to be baptised at the font at the west end of the nave. However, how many know that this is the second font to be placed in the church? The present font dates from 1853 and was carved in Caen stone from Normandy in northern France. it was designed by the much renowned Sir Gilbert Scott, being octagonal in shape and highly ornamented with moulding of Biblical carving of the ‘Lamb of God’ and the ‘Dove of Peace’ and decorated with foliage. it was a gift of the children of the Parish and placed in this position as was the custom, close to the main door of the church. However, many opposed it being there. a ‘certain gentleman who claimed freehold in the church, supported by one of the wardens, gave instructions for a builder to remove it and rebuild it in the chancel’ This was strongly opposed by the vicar, the Revd Edward

Harston, but it was removed by a builder ‘working through the midsummer’s night, and when the verger opened the church the following morning, there stood the font within the communion rails.’ Unbelievable but true, though it was soon removed and placed back to its present position! What happened to the old font? It is thought to date from 1250 and, though refaced, is still lovely in its simplicity. This was also on the move as the magazine of 1882 says: ‘the ancient font which formally stood in the north aisle, when it was removed into the south transept, and then into the north transept. Hopefully it will now remain undisturbed for many centuries’. Unfortunately, it didn’t, as it was next moved to St George’s Chapel and when restoration work started - was taken to pieces, stored for more than 15 years and is now resurrected just at the entrance to the Comberford Chapel. So, in fact, we have a church with two fonts, each with different stories to tell over the centuries in the life of St Editha’s Stan Parry Church historian 7

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FOUR BUILDINGS, ONE PARISH, ONE CHURCH

Occasional Offices Please pray for those for whom services have been said around the Parish recently: Baptisms Ivy May Newsome Percy Leigh Wilkes Bailey Jay Henry Aucote Codie James Yates Weddings Nathan Andrew Smith and Marie Autumn Joan Smith. Harvey Layton Bowstead and Sally Marie Pauline Carver Luke Paul Mason and Lauren Charlotte Butler

RIP Raymond Billingham Cyril George Hodson Brian Cyril Harvey Elisabeth Katherine Broomfield Paula Morgan Arthur Howard Roe Hazel Marion Hambridge Leonard Rogers Arthur James Davis Keith Stephen Simpkin Enid Dorothy Handley

William Leslie Bartlett and Paige Alexandra Geary

The sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is the law. But let us give thanks to God! He gives us the victory because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done. 1 Corinthians 15:56-57

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The Importance of Resurrection: 1 cor 15 1 Corinthians 15:1-7 contains what Paul describes as the very early tradition that was common to all Christians. Paul knew, of course, that at lease some among the Corinthians had contact with Peter, and other apostles had been to Corinth too (1 Cor. 1:12); he therefore was not in a position to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, even had he wanted to do that. This very early tradition includes the burial of Jesus and therefore, by implication, the empty tomb, so important in first-century discussion, although this clearly was not something Paul felt a need to stress. In the world of a first century Pharisee, to say that someone had been buried and then raised days later was to say that the tomb was empty. To put it another way, for Paul to have said “Jesus was buried and raised, leaving an empty tomb behind him” would have been as much a tautology as it would be for us to say “I walked down the road on my feet.” Perhaps the most important thing about 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 is, what Paul (and the early tradition that he appears to be quoting) understood the resurrection to mean. It was not a matter of the opening up of a new religious experience. Nor was it a 10

proof of survival, of life after death. It meant that the scriptures had been fulfilled: in other words, that the promised new age had broken into the midst of the present age, that the kingdom of God had dawned upon a surprised and unready world. The resurrection of Jesus was the decisive eschatological event. “According to the scripture” meant that the entire biblical narrative had at last reached its climax, its appointed and Godordained goal, in these astonishing events. The resurrection, then, revealed that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the one to whom the scriptures pointed. Accompanying this was the immediate sense that in the cross, the climax of the scriptural narrative, Israel’s exile had at last been undone; this meant, of course, that Israel’s sins had at last been dealt with in the Messiah’s death. The Messiah “died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3). The repetition of “in accordance with the scriptures” a verse later, this time applied to the resurrection, indicates that this, too, is to be seen as the fulfillment of the scriptural story. In context, this must mean that the resurrection was seen as the

FOUR BUILDINGS, ONE PARISH, ONE CHURCH

beginning of the new age, the great Return, the time of blessing that had at last dawned after the darkness of the present evil age. 1 Corinthians 15:20-26: Here Paul argues, on the basis of Jesus’ resurrection, that the coming of the new age is a two-stage affair: the Messiah first and then finally the resurrection of all those who belong to the Messiah. We should note that the Messiah is not here understood to be a soul, a spirit, or an angel. He is not in an intermediate state, awaiting a time when he will finally be raised from the dead. He is already risen. He is already, as a bodily human being, exalted into the presence of God. He is already ruling the world, nor simply in some divine capacity but precisely as a human being. Jesus has not been simply translated from an earthly, human existence into a divine one, nor is he now an angelic being or a spirit. He is, according to Paul, the truly human being. Most important, he is the agent of the sovereign rule of the one true God. l Cor. 15:50-54: Here Paul states clearly and emphatically his belief in a body that is to be changed, not abandoned. The present physicality—in all its transience, its

decay, and its subjection to weakness, sickness, and death—is not to go on forever, that is what Paul means by saying “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” The term “flesh” (sarx) is seldom if ever for Paul a merely neutral description of physicality; almost always it carries some hint both of the corruptibility and of the rebelliousness of present human existence. What is required for God’s future state of affairs is what we might call a “noncorruptible physicality”: the dead will be raised “imperishable” and we—that is, those who are left alive until the great day—will be “changed” (1 Cor. 15:52). As the parallel with 2 Corinthians 5 makes clear, Paul envisions the present physical body “putting on” the new body as a new mode of physicality over and above what we presently know. It is not the mere resuscitation of a corpse, coming back into the same mode of physicality it had before, but equally and emphatically it is not disembodiment. And if this is what Paul believes about the resurrection body of Christians, we may assume that this was his view of the resurrection of Jesus as well.

(Extract from an essay originally published in Sewanee Theological Review 41.2, 1998. by NT Wright.)

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The Real Advent Calendar 2015

The Meaningful Chocolate Company is hoping to fund a baby clinic in Kenya and support overseas farmers by donating £15,000 from sales of its 2015 Real Advent Calendar. However, it is not just the charitable donation that makes The Real Advent Calendar unique. It includes a 32-page Christmas story-activity booklet designed to be used every day in Advent. The booklet has all the traditional nativity characters and gives more detail about the Christmas story. The calendar also comes with 24 Fairtrade Belgian chocolates and a line of the Christmas story behind each of the foiled windows. David Marshall, from The Meaningful Chocolate Company, said: ‘By buying this advent calendar people can share the Christmas story throughout December. This is really important as we know that detailed knowledge of the Christmas story is very low amongst children and parents.’

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TV presenter, Diane Louise Jordan

‘Not only is the calendar educational and made from Fairtrade chocolate but it’s a great opportunity to raise funds to help equip and support The Funzi and Bodo Trust baby clinic. The clinic is doing an amazing job by making sure people who are sick receive treatment and also offering new educational opportunities.”

How to buy

The Real Advent Calendar costs £3.99. Churches, schools and groups can buy direct from The Meaningful Chocolate Company by visiting the special website at www.realadvent.co.uk and take advantage of a free delivery offer. Retailers stocking include larger Tesco stores, Traidcraft, Eden.co.uk, Shared Earth, CLC Bookshops and a number of cathedrals. Details at www.realadvent.co.uk

FOUR BUILDINGS, ONE PARISH, ONE CHURCH

St Editha’s bookshop and Fairtrade Outlet Show You Care The new catalogue from Traidcraft is now out and by the time you read this we should have a selection of their new products in store. As always we will be happy to order any product that we don’t stock so please feel free to pick up a catalogue and browse the full range. This autumn Traidcraft are promoting their “Show You Care” campaign. This is about remembering why their work is important and supporting the producers whose lives are being transformed through fairtrade. Traidcraft is a Christian trade and charitable organisation. Their work is not just about selling fairtrade products but about sourcing the best products and changing the lives of

those who produce them. They work with small-scale producers, who may not produce the volume required by bigger businesses, not just to encourage a product for export but also to enhance their lives more widely. For example Kenyan tea growers are taught to diversify; they grow vegetables and keep bees so they their diets are more nutritious and they have products to trade. Traidcraft also pioneer new and innovative products that can be traded fairly. Last year they launched the first ever fairtrade palm oil, which can be found in their excellent cleaning products range “Clean and Fair” and also in some of their baked products and chocolate spread. At present they are working on sourcing

rice from Myanmar and fair trade wax. Something you can do is spread the word via social media. Have a photo taken with the “Show You Care” heart and post it on Facebook with the hashtag Show You Care. Come into St Editha’s shop to take your ‘selfie’ with the heart! We will also be handing out stickers to help you show your support. Jessica Harrison Shop Manager

 

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Parish Diary* Monday 28th September

Tuesday 29th

9.15am Prayers (St Ch)

Wednesday 30th

10.15am Communion (St Ed’s)

7.30pm Mission Shaped Intro

5th

12th

6th

9.15am Prayers (St Ch) 12-2pm Lite Bite (St A)

13th

9.15am Prayers (St Ch)

3.30pm Little Fish (St Ch)

19th

7th

10.15am Communion (St Ed’s)

7.30pm Mission Shaped Intro

14th

10.15am Communion (St Ed’s)

7.30pm Mission Shaped Intro

20th

9.15am Prayers (St Ch)

21st

10.15am Communion (St Ed’s) 2 - 4pm Tea’n’Talk (St Ch

church hall) 7.30pm Mission Shaped Intro

26th

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27th

9.15am Prayers (St Ch)

28th

10.15am Communion (St Ed’s)

FOUR BUILDINGS, ONE PARISH, ONE CHURCH

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1st October

2nd

3rd

8th

9th

10th

15th

16th

17th

22nd

23rd

24th

29th

30th

31st

9.30am Communion (St F)

9.30am Communion (St F)

9.30am Communion (St F)

9.30am Communion (St F)

9.30am Communion (St F)

*for Sunday services, see back page 15

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FOUR BUILDINGS, ONE PARISH, ONE CHURCH

Mission-Shaped Introduction

Exploring church for those who don’t do church...

“A fantastic and easy to use tool for missional thinking for every church community. The chance to re-imagine so many different facets of life is something that every church should make full use of.” Jeff Reynolds Methodist Mission Enabler

Every Wednesday in October @ 7:30pm St Francis’ Church, Leyfields B79 8JB 17

Elizabeth Wilson Through the season of Trinity, we have been led through 1 Corinthians in our services. Chapter 12 is often a controversial passage about the gifts of the Spirit: although I would think that it is mainly ‘tongues’ that people get steamed up about; I’ve never heard anyone mention ‘helps’ being an issue. I was once told, if I hadn’t got tongues I hadn’t got there. People forget that it is a gift of God; if he thought it needful he would give it. Paul says it is the least important. it is for personal help rather than a gift that builds up the whole body. Love is what we need to develop. Also, it is the Giver we should be seeking rather than the gift. That reminds me of when I worked in a children’s home and a mother would come to visit her children. They would rush to see what she had brought them; as soon as they’d got the gifts they would leave her until the next visit. We had (at St Editha’s) two very good sermons about ‘gifts’ - one in the morning and the other in the evening: you get two bites of the cherry if you go twice! Both gave lots to think about, but Mike Le Worthy with his toolbox left a lasting impression. First, he showed us a hammer that had been his father’s, 18

then a sizeable screwdriver. He mentioned some of their uses, then he said, the arm of his glasses had come off. The tools he had were useless, like taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut; but the tiny little screwdriver for glasses was just what he needed. it made me think of the battle lost for want of a nail in the horse’s hoof. It doesn’t matter what high ranking officers were there to lead the troops, it needed that little nail to prevent the horse from being lame and so win the battle. There are so many different aspects of gifts one could look at, but two is as much as space will allow. Adam was born with no ability but his crooked smile. He was completely helpless. His mother was interviewed on Songs of Praise. She was asked how she had managed to carry this burden for 21 years. She said, ‘Adam isn’t a burden, he’s my son!’ He brings such joy into our lives.’ I can see the gifts the mother had, but Adam?! What had he to offer? A smile! It proves no gift is too small. Philip Yancey’s book ‘Just Wondering’ is full of provoking questions. Most of it left my head in a spin! At first glance, I thought I wold give teh book a miss, however, i persisted

FOUR BUILDINGS, ONE PARISH, ONE CHURCH

and was very glad I did. There is so much one could pass on, but the story about Shushaka Endo, a Japanese Christian novelist, I found really enlightening. Alienated from his own people because his mother had brought him up Christian, at school his classmates bullied him for associating with a Western religion; in his travels he was spurned because of his race, in France because he wanted to study various French Catholic novelists; he suffered a steady stream of anti-Japanese propaganda. He found himself the target of mush racial abuse. Rejected, he underwent a grave crisis of faith. He spent years studying the life of Jesus in Palestine; he made a great discovery: Jesus knew rejection, was betrayed by friends. While on earth, he seemed to gravitate towards the rejects, prostitutes, lepers, tax collectors etc. In Japan, Christianity was seen as a triumphant, conquering faith. Now, Endo saw Jesus as the suffering

servant of Isaiah 53: ‘There were many who were appalled by him; his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man...’ Read the passage, get the message. What was Endo’s special gift? I would say discernment, to put his finger on what was preventing Japanese people from seeing the true Gospel, not something superficial. He reminds us all: the two-pronged message of Christianity is a cross and an empty tomb. An empty tomb without a cross would miss the central message of the Gospel, A cross without an empty tomb would be merely tragic. We worship the Risen Christ. We worship a crucified Christ. Anything less is not enough! Don’t think you haven’t any gifts of any importance. Remember Adam; also the battle that was lost for want of a nail. God wants us to use all we’ve got, the gifts he has given us, for the common good.

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St Chad’s, Hopwas

An Open letter of Thanks to Mike Le Worthy Dear Mike The position was only meant to be two days a week for six months, but it quickly became full time for a joyous and inspiring four years. You gave so much of your God given gifts (thank you Lyn) to organising our church and to everyone entering it. To visiting the sick and lonely, inspiring the house group to model Godly character and to minister grace and love on our particular “front line”.

You supported and encouraged all our social events and stimulated our creative activity when doing a workshop with the school children at Easter. You influenced some of us to do prayers and intercessions when we probably would not have thought ourselves capable and to contribute and choose hymns, readings and organise songs of praise worship. We will miss you greatly. Our love and blessings. From St Chad’s

St Chad’s Christmas Market Saturday 28th November 10.30am - 1pm in St Chad’s Church Hall Tombola

Books

Coffee and mince pies various homemade soups served from 12pm 20

Teddy Tombola Cakes Raffle Toys Gifts

FOUR BUILDINGS, ONE PARISH, ONE CHURCH

St Francis’, Leyfields and Coton Green Recently I found myself drawn to words from 1 Corinthians 16: ‘Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.’ Be alert. Keep watch. Be steadfast. Be brave. Be strong. Let love be the key, the guide, the reality, the reason and the means by which we exist. A love found in Jesus dying upon the cross to reconcile us to God. It is in the Good News of Jesus, the Christ, that we find the path through the dense forests and cloying mire of everyday living. The problem is that we, the Church, are no longer alert. The watchmen on the walls are asleep or distracted by issues that, regardless of how important some might think them to be, are but a distraction. Increasingly ‘the Church’ is to be found hopping from foot to foot and turning this way as we try to be correct in terms of language, mindset and discipline. Opinions and beliefs are changed to avoid being unpopular and yet this results in a weak Church, not a welcoming one! Too often we stop being brave as we seek to be popular and this means that we have become cowardly in the telling others, and the living out, of our faith. Our strength is failing and we are about to be overrun.

Some say, ‘We are being strong because we stand against those in the Church who oppose x and y and z. We are loving and courageous as we change our position; to welome those who otherwise would not come; those who find the traditional views of the Church unpopular and unwelcoming. We’re just being creative.’ But what is being created is fluffy fiction not truth and solid faith! Last night, as I left a church building, one of those present came and challenged me by saying: ‘The Church is full of cowards. If we believed that Jesus holds the keys to life then surely we would have the courage to tell those we love about Him. Surely we would act to see them brought into relationship with God through the atoning work of the cross.’ He thought he was controversial; I thought he was being exactly what we need to find in the Church. Too often we focus on the distractions when we should be focusing on the Good News of Jesus and we worry because when we make a stand because so many around us are ready to tell us that we are out of touch, confused or just a little bit bonkers! Do you care about those around you? If you answered ‘Yes’, then my question to you is this, ‘Have you told them about Jesus’ love for them?’ 21

St Francis’

Saturday 21st November 11am - 3pm cakes refreshments tombola raffle homemadegoods 22

FOUR BUILDINGS, ONE PARISH, ONE CHURCH

St Andrew’s, Kettlebrook

Songs of Praise hostesses Sue Insull

Flower Rota 4th Sue Insull 11th Rita. 18th. June Flanagan. 25th. Janet Thomas.

Dates for diary Light Bite 6th October. 12-2pm. Jacket potato plus filling and dessert. £1-50 23

11 October 2015 Children’s Sheet Today’s Bible reading Mark 10.17-29 A rich young man questions Jesus about eternal life and discovers the cost of this.

What ion possess most are you d to? attache

Activity 1 Follow the lines to match the correct pairs.

Activity 2 Which of these ‘facts’ about camels are true and which are false? ‘FACT’

TRUE

FALSE

Baby camels are born without humps Camels store water in their humps Camels drink up to 7 litres of water a day

Jesus says, ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’

Camels have two rows of thick eyelashes to protect their eyes from dust Camels are aggressive animals

Answer to Activity 2: true, false, true, true, false.

Live in faith

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Lord Jesus, help us this coming week to notice what is important, to pay attention to our families and friends, and most of all to you. Amen.

Put one of your most valuable possessions away and do without it for a week.

Check it out The Quiltmaker’s Gift, Jeff Brumbeau, Scholastic Press. © ROOTS for Churches Limited www.rootsontheweb.com

FOUR BUILDINGS, ONE PARISH, ONE CHURCH

25 October 2015 Children’s Sheet Today’s Bible reading Mark 10.46-52 A blind beggar named Bartimaeus asks Jesus for mercy and is healed.

ame If your n rcy, was Me r what I wonde e like. you’d b

Activity 1 Bartimaeus had a cloak. What is your special possession? What do other members of your family have? Draw the items in the boxes.

Activity 2 Can you find these words from the story in the word search?

Bartimaeus shouted, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’

x p k h c r o w d q

d j f w s y j z c c

x n a w s h h u h q

q z i b b l i n d s

u y t a e t h g i s

m w h h c g j k t w

e k k i b v g n f d

r r i e v i p a y d

c l o a k t w f r g

y r r e h c a e t h

blind beggar crowd mercy cloak teacher faith sight

Live in faith The ‘Jesus Prayer’ has been used by Eastern Orthodox Christians for centuries. It is repeated slowly as a way of opening up the heart. Try it out: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

Pray the ‘Jesus Prayer’ once every day this week.

Check it out The Smartest Giant in Town, Julia Donaldson, Macmillan Children’s Books. © ROOTS for Churches Limited www.rootsontheweb.com

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FOUR BUILDINGS, ONE PARISH, ONE CHURCH

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Fixed festivals in October:

contact details:

Editor: Wendy Van Den Bergh 01827 65926 [email protected] deadlines:

18 Luke the Evangelist 28 Simon and Jude, Apostles

15th Oct for electronic copy to e-mail address above 12th Oct for hard copy to church office 27

28

25th

18th

11th

4th

date

10.30am Morning Worship 10.30am Holy Communion 6.00pm Holy Communion

8.30am BCP Communion 11.00am Holy Communion

6.30pm Evensong

8.30am Holy Communion 10.00am Family Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 3.30pm Baptism 12.30pm Baptism 6.30pm Confirmation * * Confirmation at St Ed’s * Confirmation at St Ed’s

10.30am Harvest

* Confirmation at St Ed’s

11am All Age Worship

6.30pm Songs of Praise

9.30am Holy Commmunion

6.30pm Evensong

11am All Age Worship

6.30pm Evensong

St Andrew’s

9am Holy Communion 10.30am Patronal & Harvest 11am All Age Worship

St Francis

9.00am BCP Communion 10.30am Family Commun- 10.30am Holy Communion ion 12.30pm Baptism 6pm Taizé Communion

St Chad’s

in October

8.30am Holy Communion 10.00am Holy Communion 3.00pm Boys Brigade 6.30pm Evensong 8.30am Holy Communion 10.00am Morning worship 3.30pm Baptism 6.30pm Holy Communion

St Editha’s

Sunday Services