Prayers and Parables

During the week I have had a number of really good conversations around prayer, something that I am glad to say happens quite frequently. Our adult confirmation group looked at prayer this week. I was reminded of the central place of thanksgiving whilst praying. And one of the lectionary readings during the week focused on Paul’s prayers from prison in his letter to the Colossians.

One prayer that I have often found myself using as a mantra has been the “Hail Mary”. This is not without controversy perhaps, but on a personal spiritual note it was a prayer I learnt in early adulthood and one that I have found both a challenge and a comfort since. This week at St Marys we celebrate our Patronal Festival – and our Patron is Mary. At All Saints the focus is more grounded in the Parables where thinking around favourite parables will be used to learn through play, prayer, story and craft a little more about who Jesus is asking us to be. Parables are things that require us to think, and I find God does some of the best of that when I bring myself in prayer.

Both Prayer and Parables are ways in which we encounter the living God. I pray that we will all be blessed by both our prayers, and those of others and the parables this coming weekend.

Our Services for this weekend – Sunday 10^th September 2023

8am – Holy Communion – All Saints

10am – Patronal Sung Holy Communion – St Marys (with a blessing of the refurbished Lychgate!)

10.30am – Muddy Messy Church Parables – All Saints

7.15pm – Generations – All Saints

Please find attached the weekly sheets and notices and readings, as well as the Thrive materials and activity sheets and a flyer for the All Saints Muddy Church

THE WEEK AHEAD

Tuesday 12^th September 10.30am – Music for Toddlers Starts Back at St Marys

3.00pm – Thanksgiving for Edward Hancocks

Wednesday 13^th September 9.00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

Thursday 14^th September 10.00am – Holy Communion – St Marys

Saturday 16^th September 12.00noon – 2.00pm –Saturday Lunches – St Marys

Sunday 17^th September 10.00am – Baptism – St Marys

10.30am Holy Communion & Baptism – All Saints

And for those who find it useful to pray with

“Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord be with you, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit your womb Jesus.”

Blessings

Revd Lizzie

No Pain, No Gain

During August I have done some walking. I did a couple of two day hikes – one along part of the Westweg long distance footpath in the Black Forest from Neuenbürg, via Dobel to Bad Wildbad with a friend I made 40 years ago at a youth week in Taizé – the other hike was with my eldest on the Pilgrims Way in Kent from Charing via Boughton Aluph to Chilham (Rowan continued on to Canterbury). My Fitbit got excited and awarded me a Canyon badge – sadly my watch ran out of battery before I could impress it with the next day’s longer hike. Does anyone else feel good about making your Fitbit happy? (I’m easily pleased).

Sections of the paths in both countries were flat and straight – along rivers or across harvested wheatfields; parts were shingly and other stages steep and rocky. I did stumble a few times. The first day feels a bit gruelling but then on the second you get into your stride.You get over the pain and start to gain: enjoying chatting, seeing new scenery unfold.

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus calls Peter a stumbling block (Matthew 16:23). I share a frisson of Peter’s shock. Understandably Peter couldn’t bear to hear his master would suffer and die in Jerusalem. He was so upset he blanked out the third promise of Jesus – which is that he would rise again to new life! (continued below)

SERVICES THIS SUNDAY 3rd SEPTEMBER

10.00am St.Mary’s – Creative Church – Theme: Gospel of John – Craft activity: Weaving

10.30am – All Saints – Holy Communion with Band and Junior Church

6.30pm – St.Mary’s – Choral Evensong

SERVICES AND EVENTS IN THE WEEK AHEAD

Mon 4th Sept – 10.30am – 12noon – All Saints – Tiny Tots

Wed 6th Sept – 9.00am – 9.30am – All Saints – Celtic Prayers

Thurs 7th Sept – 10.00am – St.Mary’s – Holy Communion

Sat 9th Sept – 12noon – 2.00pm – St.Mary’s – Saturday Lunches

SERVICES NEXT SUNDAY 10th SEPTEMBER

08.00am – All Saints – Said Holy Communion

10.00am – St.Mary’s – Patronal Festival with Sung Holy Communion

10.30am – All Saints – Messy Muddy Church for all ages

(continued from above)

Jesus invites Peter (and us) to walk with hope the way of the cross. We have to face hard truths sometimes in order to move through suffering – via remorse and repentance – towards renewal and restoration. My German friend told me about the existence of Stolpersteine. Literally it means ‘stumbling stones’. They are in fact commemorative brass cobblestones set into the pavement near to or outside the original homes of victims of the Holocaust: Jews, Roma, Sinti and people with learning disabilities – so they are never forgotten.

Not all cities are on board with having ‘Stolpersteine‘. For example, the people Munich have been resistant and the meaning behind the term ‘stumbling blocks’ in this context requires a little unpacking. As I see it, the stones have two purposes. Firstly, they are there to restore honour and dignity to people whose lives were treated as expendable. Secondly, they therefore serve as reminders of the shocking reality of man’s inhumanity to man. Whenever people stumble upon one of these stones they are reminded of the pain we are capable of inflicting on each other and of the barriers we put in the way of building just and hospitable societies.

My prayer is that the existence of the German Stolpersteine would renew our resolve to treat every child of God with respect and dignity and play our part in building cities which offer sanctuary. May we seek not get in the way but follow on the way of Jesus.

Revd Diane (assistant curate)

Diane and I have just returned from our holiday visiting friends in Germany and are now coming up to a bank holiday weekend. Placing the “Summer bank holiday” on the last Monday in August seems a little strange, until you realise that it was moved from the first Monday in August to encourage people to take holidays later in the month. (The Summer bank holiday is still on the first Monday in Scotland, for anyone reading this north of the border.)

Some of my most treasured memories of this bank holiday weekend come from the Greenbelt Festival, now celebrating its 50^th anniversary. The festival celebrates the coming together of artistry, activism, and belief with worship, performing and visual arts, music and talks. Creative ways of expressing the Christian faith and challenging the injustices of society help communicate what it means to be a Christian in the 21^st century.

Such creativity is not new. Song has been part of worship going back at least as far as King David in the Old Testament. In the book of Exodus, we hear about people, such as Ur, son of Hur, and Ohilab, son of Ahisamach, to whom God gave the skills to make beautiful things for worship. Prophets like Hosea and Jeremiah used their actions to teach the people in acted out parables.

This is something we are all called to continue. The Psalms call us to sing a new song to the Lord. The ordination service reminds us that the Church is to proclaim the faith afresh to each generation. The good news of Christ is eternal and never changing, However, changes in society bring new opportunities in how we present the gospel. What are the ways that we, here in Fishponds, can share the gospel with those around us? How can we combine both traditional and modern expressions of our faith? These are questions, to which we return again and again.

This Sunday, we have traditional worship with Holy Communion at All Saints at 8am and at St Mary’s at 10am. At All Saints at 10.30am we have a more creative, contemporary form of worship with Café Church, where we will be continuing our look at the book of Jonah. This gives the following services:

8.00 am All Saints – Holy Communion (said)

10.00 am St Mary’s – Holy Communion

10.30 am All Saints – Café church

This week we have our usual selection of midweek services. Next Sunday is the first Sunday of the month, so we have Creative Church at St Mary’s and Holy Communion at All Saints. In addition, there is evensong at 6.30 pmat St Mary’s. This gives the following services:

Wednesday 30^th – 9.00 am All Saints – Celtic Morning Prayer

Thursday 31^st – 10.00 am – St Mary’s – Holy Communion

Sunday 3^rd – 10.00 am – St Mary’s – Creative church

10.30 am – All Saints – Holy Communion

6.30 pm – St Mary’s – Choral Evensong

May God bless your plans for this bank holiday weekend, whatever they may be.

Yours in Christ

Mark

I’m currently reading a book of Martin Luther King Jrs sermons. What’s struck me so far is the grace and love of God and humanity that permeates his writings, whilst never underestimating the hurt and pain of segregation and discrimination. Even over 40 years since his assassination, his words are powerful and potent, which sadly reflect the reality of modern life. Whilst much has been achieved, there is so so much prejudice and hatred that is aimed at anyone who in any way might be seen as ‘different’.

This is why the Matthew text has always been one that is challenging. Jesus, who we see as our model of love and the antithesis of any prejudice, seems to be denying a frantic mother’s request for healing for her daughter. This seems to totally contradict his radical teaching of love. Yet she counters him with clever argument and seems to change his mind. Perhaps this is a reminder that Jesus’ humanity was still evolving and real, whilst still alongside his divinity. We’re all formed by our backgrounds, but we can also change. Jesus here embodies this for us. And I love that it’s a clever and brave woman who does this though the use of words.

Sunday 20 August – 11^th Sunday after Trinity

10am: Sung Holy Communion-Revd Lizzie & Revd Kester-St. Mary’s

10.30am: Holy Communion with Hymns-Canon Paul Denyer-All Saints

The Week Ahead

Tuesday 22 August-3pm: All Saints Family Café: All Saints

Wednesday 23 August – 9am: Celtic Morning Prayer : All Saints

Thursday 24 August 10am Holy Communion: St Marys

3pm All Saints Family Café: All Saints

Saturday 26 August 12.00 – 2pm –Saturday Lunches: St Marys

Sunday 27 August

8.00 – Holy Communion: All Saints

10.00 – Holy Communion: St Marys

10.30 – Café Church: All Saints

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen

Blessings

Rev Kester de Oliveira

“Bless O Lord us your servants that minister in your temple, grant that what we sing with our lips may we believe in our hearts and what we believe in our hearts may we show forth in our lives. Amen”

This is what is known as a chorister prayer – one that has been used by the Royal School of Church Music since 1934. Its origins are thought to date back further to the 13^th Century. It is still prayed with choirs, including our own, before services begin. For me there is something about this prayer that speaks of wholeness. A desire that what we say and sing is deeply connected to who we are and what we believe. That our intentions, actions and words are bound together in harmony rather than clash or jar. It is also something that resonates with the passage from Romans that we hear this Sunday morning.

“ because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved”

There are times when that harmony of life is not quite in sync, similarly with music sometimes it can sound flat or sharp or I just sing the completely wrong notes. However if the intention of the heart is in the right place, then what we say and do should follow naturally. Sometimes we can believe something deeply in our hearts but struggle to say it or speak it. At these times our actions can speak as loud as words. And sometimes our bodies are not able to complete actions that we want it to but our mouths can speak words of God’s love for others, ourselves and the world. Intentionally, mindfully, working towards making intentions, words and actions chime well, so that we can sing the beautiful song of the gospel is a Christians’ life work. May we all know and pray the chorister prayer.

Services this Sunday – 13^th August

8am – Holy Communion – All Saints

10am – Sung Holy Communion – St Marys

10.30am – Muddy Messy Church – All Saints

The coming week there is

Tuesday 15^th August – 3pm – All Saints Family Café – All Saints

Wednesday 16^rd August – 9am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

Thursday 17^th August 10am Holy Communion – St Marys

3pm – All Saints Family Cafe

Saturday 19^th August 12.00 – 2pm –Saturday Lunches – St Marys

Sunday 20^th August 10.00 – Holy Communion – St Marys

10.30 Holy Communion – All Saints

Blessings

Revd Lizzie

 Luke 9:28-36 – The Transfiguration

We all have those times where we really don’t know how to react to something. I can easily just babble away or just look baffled (which I’d like to think gives the impression of deep thought!) So, I can really identify with Peter in today’s Gospel. His reaction to the Transfiguration is really interesting and relatable. I suspect I’d have babbled like he did! But there’s much more to what he says.

The very human reaction to this epic experience helps me remember that encountering the divine in our daily lives can really leave us utterly unsure as to how to react. Thankfully Peter shows us that this is ok and those seemingly inadequate reactions are more relevant than we might think.

The Luke text always strikes me with its magnificence and power, and the authentic responses of the disciples, reminding me of God’s awesome power which can dramatically puncture and transform our lives at any time in unexpected ways.. This is exciting and challenging, but this also directs us to Jesus, reiterating who he is. God is giving us an anchor to cling to. At a time where there seems to be so much that is difficult and worrying, this is invaluable.

This Sunday we have Holy Communion at All Saints, as well as the chance to be crafty at Creative Church at St Mary’s. In addition, we have our service of Choral Evensong at St Mary’s at 6.30 which will continue the theme of the Transfiguration.

Please find attached the Readings for this Sunday and the weekly sheets with more details of the coming weeks activities.

Sunday 6 August

10.00 – Creative Church: St Marys

10.30 – Holy Communion with Junior Church :All Saints

6.30pm – Evensong: St Marys

The Week Ahead

Wednesday 9^th August – 9am Celtic Morning Prayer : All Saints

Thursday 10^th August 10am Holy Communion: St Marys

Saturday 12^th August 12.00 – 2pm:Saturday Lunches: St Marys

Sunday 13^th August

8.00 – Holy Communion: All Saints

10.00 – Holy Communion :St Marys

10.30 Muddy Messy Church: All Saints

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen

Blessings

Rev Kester de Oliveira

“Heave Ho 1-2-3, raise the anchor and out to sea, up with the sail and away we go, riding the waves with a Yo Ho Ho”

This is the earworm that has been in my head all week as over 40 children, young people and adults came together to celebrate Holiday Bible Club. Together we told the story of Jonah and the Whale, with song, dance, drama and craft. It has been such a joyous week and although there were tired limbs and voices at the end of Friday there was also a firm knowledge that we had held each other and been held by God. Jonah runs away from the task God asks of him, but after waves and whales he is gently guided back to Ninevah where he had a message of God’s love to tell people and with that lives were changed.

This week we join together again for our benefice service at St Marys at 10am. One of the readings is taken from Pauls letter to the Romans and it is this scripture that has been central to my own understanding of the God of mercy that Jonah came to understand. “Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ”. At times when high winds and stormy weather I have known these words to speak a deep Christian truth – that God remains constant, steady and present. God never deserts us, but holds, corrects, challenges and loves us through all time and all things.

I am deeply grateful for this past week and for this passage from Romans. I hope and pray it is as transformative for you all as it has been for me.

Services this Sunday – 30^th July 2023

8am – Holy Communion – All Saints

10am – Sung Holy Communion Benefice Service – St Marys

The Week Ahead

Wednesday 3^rd August – 9am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

Thursday 4^th August – 10am – Holy Communion – St Marys

Saturday 5^th August 12.00 – 2pm –Saturday Lunches – St Marys

Sunday 6^th August 10.00 – Creative Church – St Marys

10.30 Holy Communion All Saints

6.30pm – Evensong St Marys

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen

Blessings

Lizzie

Lolium temulentum, commonly known as darnel, is a real devil of a weed. When it is young, it is very hard to distinguish from wheat. It looks so similar, that it is often called false wheat. However, it has an invasive root system that chokes the plants around it. It cannot be uprooted without pulling out everything else in the area. Even worse, eating it can cause a drunken nausea and can be fatal in larger quantities. It grows just about everywhere wheat does and seems to spring up spontaneously in wheat fields. It is so pervasive that the ancient Greek botanist, Theophrastus, believed that wheat spontaneously transforms into darnel.

This is the image Jesus uses for evil, in our gospel reading this Sunday, Matthew 13.24–30. Evil is an insidious thing that works its way into our lives and our communities. Like the farm workers, we need to be constantly vigilant to identify it when it does start to creep in. But we also need to heed the warnings of the farm owner. Be sure that what you are rooting out is the evil. Sometimes it can be harder to tell than we suppose. Make sure you are not doing more harm than good. Tearing everything apart might not always be the best approach.

I will be talking a little more about this on Sunday at the 8.00 am service at All Saints and the 10.00 am service at St Mary’s. At 10.30 at All Saints, Diane and Kester will be continuing our Café Church series on Jonah. They will be helping us think about the God who relents in the light of Jonah 3 and Luke 13.6–9.

This gives the following services for Sunday 23^rd July:

8.00 am – All Saints – Holy Communion

10.00 am – St Mary’s – Sung Holy Communion

10.30 am – All Saints – Café Church

This coming week we have Holiday Bible Club at All Saints from Monday to Friday. Please pray for all involved, both the helpers and the children, that this will be a fun and safe time and that the gospel light will shine in all we do.

This means that there is no Celtic Morning Prayer at All Saints on Wednesday morning. In addition, Sunday 30^th July is a fifth Sunday, so we have a benefice service at all St Mary’s. As such, there will be no 10.30 am service at All Saints on 30^th July. This gives the following services for the coming week:

Thursday 27^th July – 10.00 am – St Mary’s – Holy Communion

Sunday 30^th July – 8.00 am – All Saints – Holy Communion

Sunday 30^th July – 10.00 am – St Mary’s – Benefice Sung Holy Communion

As we look forward to the coming week, in the light of last week’s parable of the sower, this week’s parable of the wheat and darnel and the parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13.31-32, let us pray that God will help our faith to grow so that his kingdom may flourish in all we do.

Yours in Christ

Mark

A sower went out to sow…

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I wonder how many of you are enjoying seeing the results of seed you have sown earlier in the season? On Monday a grandma at Tiny Tots told me how exciting it is seeing her flower seeds come up and blossom in bright colours. Flowers and fruit are signs of new life and hope. But you can’t get good growth without seed, good soil, rain and warmth. As I write I can hear welcome rain blowing against my window, while indoors the aroma of strawberries is filling the house. (Mark is making jam again!).

This Sunday’s reading, Jesus’s Parable of the Sower speaks of sowing seed – the Word of God – The Good News of the Kingdom.

We invite you to come and worship with us this Sunday as we respond to God’s Gospel of Reconciliation and seek to spread his peace in the world.

SERVICES THIS SUNDAY 16th JULY

Readings: Genesis 25:19-34; Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

10.00	St.Mary’s	Sung Holy Communion
10.30	All Saints	Holy Communion with Hymns

UPCOMING SERVICES AND EVENTS

Mon 17th July	10.30-12.30	All Saints	Tiny Tots
Wed 19th July	9.00 – 9.30am	All Saints	Celtic Prayers
Wed 19th July	6.30- 8.00pm	For more details speak to Rev Lizzie, Diane & Mark Simms	Adult Confirmation Class
Sat 22ndJuly	12.00-2pm	St.Mary’s	Saturday Lunches
Sun 23rd July	12.00-1:30pm	All Saints	Youth Confirmation Class

SERVICES NEXT SUNDAY 23rd JULY Communion Readings: Genesis 28.10-19a; Romans 8.12-25; Matthew 13.24-30,36-43
08.00	All Saints	Holy Communion
10.00	St.Mary’s	Sung Holy Communion
10.30	All Saints	Cafe Church: The God who RelentsJonah 3:1-4:1; Luke 13:6-9

HOLIDAY BIBLE CLUB 24-28 July mornings, at ALL SAINTS

There are still a few spaces for 4-12 year olds. Our theme this year is Jonah with tons of games, bible stories, crafts, drama and singing. Speak with Revd Diane or Lizzie for more information and to book a place.

In a speech he gave on Reconciliation last week, our Archbishop Justin, summarised the Gospel in these compelling and beautiful words.

God says you are loved so much that I died for you so that you can be reconciled to me, to yourself, to all that needs doing.

In my resurrection you have life and purpose, and by the gift of the Holy Spirit I equip you for the life of struggle and suffering, of joy and fulfilment, of pleasures and pains that are the cost of following Jesus. I will never leave you, never fail or forsake you. Nothing can tear you from my hands, not even you.

May you discover God’s acceptance in his message and then share his words to bring hope to someone else this week.Thanks be to God!

Revd Diane, curate.

Summertime often brings with it the anticipation of times of rest and refreshment, and the joy of watching lots of tennis and cricket, although watching Wimbledon or The Ashes has had its nail biting, plate throwing moments this week!

The words we here from Jesus in the gospel reading this week are familiar ones. “Come to me all who are heavy laden and I will give you rest”. They are words of invitation that are often spoken in the Book of Common Prayer Communion. They are words that for me have always been an encouragement when I am overwhelmed with the busyness of life. They are a reminder to me that whatever life brings us Jesus invites us to come to him and receive the rest that God desires us to have.

So how do we rest in God? What does that look like? And rest from what exactly? All of those questions might be different depending on who we are and what experiences we have, and perhaps it is that which is also the common thread of these words of invitation. God invites us to rest, and can carry our burdens however heavy or numerous. The things that we might shy away from loading onto others, are things that God can hold simultaneously at the same time that God holds all the burdens of those around us. Nothing is too heavy, no burden is too much. One of the joys of the Christian faith is precisely that – we are never too heavy for God.

As the frenetic pace of the build up to the summer holidays begins, I pray that we will all know that rest that God invites us to at moments this week.

This week on Sunday 9^th July our worship is as follows

10am – Sung Holy Communion – St Marys

8am – Holy Communion – All Saints

10.30am – Children’s celebration Service – All Saints

7.15pm – Generations BBQ – Vicarage

THE WEEK AHEAD

Wednesday 12^th July 9.00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

Thursday 13^th July 10am Holy Communion – St Marys

Saturday 15^st July 12.00 – 2pm –Saturday Lunches – St Marys

Sunday 16^th July 10.00 Sung Holy Communion St Marys

10.30 – Sung Holy Communion – All Saints

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

Matthew 11:28-30

Blessings

Revd Lizzie