Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice.

Philippians 4.4

As Diane reminded us last week, joy is a theme that runs through Paul’s letter to the Christians in Philippi. Yet there are times when Paul’s call to rejoice always, to be glad at all times, is hard to hear. In a week where we have had another major earthquake and one of the most horrendous terrorist attacks in living memory, it can feel hard to be joyful. In Ecclesiastes 3.4, the author says that there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance”. It is important that we do not forget to lament the pain and suffering in the world. Responding to the world’s needs in prayer and practical action is part of the mission of the church.

However, Paul knew that, it is important to look out for the good things that God has given. This is particularly true when things are not going well. When writing this letter, Paul himself was in prison. Yet he started his letter with thanks and an expression of his own joy. Even though he was in prison, he could rejoice in the success of the Christian community at Philippi.

There is a time to weep and a time to laugh, but they can be the same time. If we only ever rejoice and give thanks for the good things in the world, we can fall into simplistic naivety. If we only lament and weep for the pain and suffering, we can be trapped in despair. To hold the two in tension is to acknowledge that evil is real, but that, in Christ, God has overcome the power of evil.

This Sunday, we have the Harvest Festival at St Mary’s and Holy Communion at All Saints:

10.00 am – St Mary’s – Harvest Festival

10.30 am – All Saints – Holy Communion

This week we have our normal weekday services, with Celtic Morning Prayer at All Saints on Wednesday and Holy Communion at St Mary’s on Thursday. Next Sunday follows the normal fourth Sunday pattern, with Holy Communion at All Saints at 8.00 am and at St Mary’s at 10.00 am. The 10.30 am service at All Saints will be café church, with our last session looking at Jonah.

Wednesday 18^th

9.00 am – All Saints – Celtic morning prayer

Thursday 19^th

10.00 am – St Mary’s – Holy Communion

Sunday 22^nd

8.00 am – All Saints – Holy Communion (said)

10.00 am – St Mary’s – Holy Communion

10.30 am – All Saints – Café Church

So let us come with joy to rejoice, but to bring the needs of the world to him who, by the power at work within us, can accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3.20)

Mark

Knowing You Jesus, There is no Greater Thing

Knowing you, Jesus
Knowing you, there is no greater thing
You’re my all, you’re the best
You’re my joy, my righteousness
And I love you, Lord

In these few words (and the rest of his song, All I once held dear) Graham Kendrick draws out the heart of Paul’s message in this Sunday’s reading from the epistle to the Philippians 3:4b-14. Here you can read the fascinating background to Kendrick’s song and what stirred his heart to come up with those words.

Joy is a key theme in Philippians. And Paul’s joy is not momentary or flippant. It’s a deep lasting contentment and sense of assurance, that no matter what happens to him – and so many trials came his way to test his faith – his hope remains buoyant. So too for us. Why? Because Jesus suffered and came through victorious by rising to new life, we also can share in Christ’s resurrection life.

Oh, to know the power of your risen life
And to know You in Your sufferings
To become like you in your death, my Lord
So with you to live and never die.

I myself have felt in the doldrums only to be surprised by God’s joy puncturing my gloom. This was our experience just today, when the local school for children with Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties, Autism and Complex Needs, visited All Saints Church for Harvest. The joy of their enthusiastic engagement despite everyday challenges and limitations they live with, felt like the grace of God sweeping through the building and into each other’s lives. Thanks be to God!

SERVICES THIS SUNDAY 8th OCTOBER 2023

Holy Communion Readings: Philippians 3:4b-14; Matthew 21:33-end

08.00 – All Saints- Said Holy Communion

10.00 – St.Mary’s – Sung Holy Communion

10.30 – All Saints – Messy Muddy Church

THIS WEEK’S SERVICES AND EVENTS

Mon 9th October – 10.30 – All Saints – Tiny Tots

Wed 11th October – 09.00 – All Saints – Celtic Prayers

Thurs 12th October – 10.00 – St.Mary’s – Holy Communion

Sat 14th October – 12.00 – St.Mary’s – Saturday Lunches

SERVICES NEXT SUNDAY 15th OCTOBER

10.00 – St.Mary’s -Harvest Service of the Word

10.30 – All Saints – Holy Communion

UPCOMING BAPTISMS AND CONFIRMATIONS

Please pray for our candidates, both adults and young people who are being baptized on 29th October (10.30 at All Saints during the Joint Benefice service) and 5th November (6.30pm during Evensong at St.Mary’s) and come along to support them along their faith journeys and to share their joy.Confirmation is Wednesday 8th November in All Saints with Bishop Viv.

We look forward to seeing you at All Saints or St.Mary’s on Sunday. In our worship I pray that you too will share in the joy of the risen Christ in the midst of your trials and triumphs.

To God be the Glory, great things He has done and is doing among us!

Revd Diane (curate)

“All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above, so thank the Lord, lets thank the Lord for all his love”

The refrain of the Hymn “We Plough the Fields and Scatter” can, for me, be a bit of an earworm through the autumnal season; a season where we pay attention to fruit that emerges from God’s creation and gives thanks for its blessing.

Yet it would be strange to think that this was the only time of thanksgiving during the year, we gives thanks for many different seasons of life and church, be that at Harvest, Christmas, Easter or Pentecost when we are aware of God’s goodness and presence.

Yet there is a specific focus for thanksgiving connected to this season of creation that asks us to reflect on the different ways in which we are connected to God through the physical earth and also to each other. Harvest time has at its heart that core of bringing people together and being aware of our reliance on the physical land that we inhabit. It is a constant reminder that we are dependent on God’s creation and on other people. The gathering “in” of crops is a way of stewarding the gifts of creation well, to prepare us for the harsher months. God gives abundantly but it is for us to be resourceful and creative with the ways in which that is then used and shared for the good of all God’s people. We are in that way invited into the creative process with God. It is therefore a season of thanksgiving, generosity and sharing – all of which point us towards the connectivity that is ever more vital today in order to ensure the flourishing of all God’s creation. Thanks be to God.

All Saints are celebrating Harvest this Sunday – please bring food which can then be taken to Fishponds Food Bank and the Julian Trust. St Marys are celebrating Dedication this weekend, and then Harvest on the 15^th October.

Our Services this weekend – Sunday 1^st October

10am – Creative Church – Thanksgiving – Creative Team – St Marys

10.30am – Harvest Festival Communion with Band and Junior Church – All Saints

12noon – Harvest Community Lunch – Everyone welcome – Bring a Gift! – All Saints

6.30pm – Dedication Festival Choral Evensong – St Marys

THE WEEK AHEAD

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

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

Saturday 6^th October 12-2pm – Saturday Lunches – St Marys

Sunday 7^th October – 8am Holy Communion – All Saints

10am Sung Holy Communion – St Marys

10.30am – Messy Muddy Church – All Saints

7.15pm – Generations Youth – All Saints

Blessings,

Revd. Lizzie

This Sunday’s gospel reading is the parable of the workers in the vineyard from Matthew 20.1–16. It is also, coincidentally, the gospel reading set for our Café service at All Saints. In this story Jesus tells of a landowner, who goes out to hire workers to work in his vineyard. In Jesus time, just like today, many agricultural workers were casual labourers. They were hired by the day and were required to turn up in the marketplace or town square each morning looking for work. It was a very precarious existence for many of them, with an unreliable income and no other assets.

In Jesus’ story, a landowner comes into town to hire workers first thing in the morning. He agrees a wage with some workers and sends them into the vineyard. Later in the day, he realises there is more work than the workers can manage, so he goes out and hires more workers. This happens twice more in the day. At five o’clock, only an hour before sunset, he is surprised to find that there are still people standing around looking for work. When he asks them why they are still there, they tell him that no-one has hired them. So, the landowner sends them to work in the vineyard as well.

When evening falls and it is too dark to work any longer, the landowner calls the workers together and starts to give them their day’s wage. To the surprise of those who were hired first thing, he gives all the workers the same amount, one denarius, the usual wage for a day’s work. Those who were hired first start to grumble. Why were those who worked less paid less? Why did they not get paid more? The landowner explains that everyone was paid what was agreed. No-one was cheated or treated unfairly. The landowner has a right to be generous.

In the past, this parable has often been treated as an allegory, with the different groups of workers being different groups of Christians, who turn to God at different times. It might be the Jews and the Gentiles. It might be cradle Christians and deathbed conversions. But I can’t help thinking that Jesus was painting a simple image of how we should behave in the kingdom of God. What if Jesus was saying that this is how the rich should treat those less fortunate, if they want to be part of the kingdom of heaven?

If so, what does this parable tell us about the ethics of the workplace? How can it help us think about the effects of economics in our society? With an election looming next year, does it give any pointers towards the sorts of policies we might want to see our politicians proposing?

There will be more opportunities to reflect on these and other thoughts at the 8 am service at All Saints and the 10 am service at St Mary’s. At 10.30 at All Saints, there is our café service, where we continue our series looking at the book of Jonah. This gives the following services for this Sunday:

8.00 am – All Saints – Holy Communion

10.00 am – St Mary’s – Holy Communion

10.30 am – All Saints – Café church

Through this week, we have our usual mid-week services, with Celtic Morning Prayer at All Saints on Wednesday and Holy Communion at St Mary’s on Thursday. Next Sunday, there is a Harvest Communion service at All Saints. At St Mary’s there is Creative Church in the morning and Evensong in the evening. This gives the following services for the coming week:

Wednesday 27^th September

9.00 am – All Saints – Celtic morning prayer

Thursday 28^th September

10.00 am – St Mary’s – Holy Communion

Sunday 1^st October

10.00 am – St Mary’s – Creative Church

10:30 am – All Saints – Harvest Communion

6:30 pm – St Mary’s – Choral Evensong

May God bless you in all you do this weekend and through the coming week.

Mark

Our readings this week challenge us and remind us about forgiveness. The Genesis reading springs from the family drama that has enfolded Joseph. His father has died, his brothers come to Joseph in fear that the forgiveness he has bestowed upon them all would now end. They are fearful, and they have good reason to be. Joseph would not be human if thoughts of retribution did not cross his mind, and he has the power to exact his revenge. But he continues to practice and promise radical forgiveness to his brothers and family, swearing that he will continue to extend his forgiveness after the death of their father. His generous forgiveness is a manifestation of the even greater forgiveness that God practices, a response to the repentant pleas of his brothers. His is not an abstract act. He has plenty of cause to exact vengeance, to get recompense for his sufferings. Yet he chooses to be merciful to live out forgiveness even when it is costly.

Our other texts serve as warnings to practice this same kind of forgiveness, to not judge, to forgive others and to be aware that God is the one true judge. When we refuse to forgive, when we judge harshly, ultimately we will be ones held accountable by God. Yet this is not a message of rigidity and punishment, but of unlimited grace and love. The commendation to forgive ’77 times’ really means eternal forgiveness, forgiveness without ceasing as the number 7 has special significance in Judaic tradition, an infinite number. This is forgiving that wipes clean and sets free, liberates, and heals, mends, and rebuilds.

Sunday 17^th September– 11^th Sunday after Trinity

10am: Sung Baptism Service-Revd Diane-St. Mary’s

10.30am: Sung Baptism Service-Revd. Lizzie-All Saints

The Week Ahead

Tuesday 19^th September: 10.30am – Music for Toddlers

Wednesday 20^th September: 9am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

Thursday 21^st September: 10am St Matthew – Holy Communion – St Marys

7.30pm – PCC – Parish Room

Saturday 23rd September: 12.00 – 2pm –Saturday Lunches : St Marys

11am – Communion in the Wood

Sunday 24 September

8am – Holy Communion: All Saints

10.00 – Sung Holy Communion: St Marys

10.30am – 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

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