This Sunday we begin our Candlemas celebrations. A pivot point between Christmas and the beginnings of Lent. In the gospel story from Luke, we hear how Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the Temple to be “presented”. A ritual of thanksgiving for a new child and also what was the re-entry into society for a mother. It is a delicate, vulnerable and yet heart warming pilgrimage that they make. At one point Mary hands over the baby Jesus to Simeon, an ancient priest who had been waiting for that moment all of his life – to hold the Saviour of the World in his arms. We all have to delicately hand over precious people at times in our lives. With hearts in our mouth that we hope that the person receiving them will not drop them (always my fear with babies!) and to entrust to others the care of our most dear and loved ones. It happens at baptisms, weddings and funerals. It happens at the school gate, the work door and thresholds to nursing homes. We do so always in trust – that like Jesus, that they will be received, blessed, adored and recognised for who they are. It is a source of trust that needs a lighted path, and so as we begin our Candlemas festivities come to church to have your own candles blessed, to hear the good news and to trust that the God holds us tightly in love and care.
This Sunday’s Services – 2nd February 2025
10.00am – Creative Church – St Mary’s – (Theme is Scripture)
10.30am – Holy Communion with Junior Church and Band – All Saints
This Sunday, we reach the centre point of the Epiphany season. It is a season when we remember the way Jesus was revealed to the world. This week we reach what John refers to as the first of Jesus’ signs. Yet all our readings through Epiphany are signs that point to Jesus. The gifts of the magi, the Holy Spirit at Jesus’ baptism, the power of Jesus’ miracles, his fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies and his presentation at Temple all show facets of who Jesus is and why we can put our trust in him.
Our opening hymn at St Mary’s this Sunday gives a summary of this revelation or “manifestation”. Starting at Jesus’ birth, we sing of the events that we hear about in the Epiphany readings. Yet the hymn asks for more than just “Songs of thankfulness and praise”. It prays that we may learn more of Christ from the bible and that we grow to be more like him in all we say, do and are.
This Sunday morning, we have chances to reflect on these themes with Holy Communion at St Mary’s at 10.00 and at All Saints at 10.30. In the evening, there is the Epiphany carol service at St Mary’s at 6.30. This gives the following services for this Sunday 19th January:
10.00 am
St Mary’s
Holy Communion
10.30 am
All Saints
Holy Communion
6.30 pm
St Mary’s
Epiphany carols
During the week, we have our normal midweek services with Celtic Morning Prayer at All Saints on Wednesday at 9.00 am and Holy Communion at St Mary’s on Thursday at 10.00 am.
Next week follows our normal fourth Sunday pattern, with Holy Communion at All Saints at 8.00 am and at St Mary’s at 10.00 am. At 10.30 am at All Saints we have our café church, where we will be continuing our look at Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. This week’s theme is salvation, which Paul writes about in chapters 3 and 4.
This gives the following Services for the coming week:
Wednesday 22nd
9.00 am
All Saints
Celtic morning prayer
Thursday 23rd
10.00 am
St Mary’s
Holy Communion
Sunday 26th
8.00 am
All Saints
Holy Communion (said)
10.00 am
St Mary’s
Holy Communion
10.30 am
All Saints
Café Church
So, as we start a new week, let us pray that we can see that revelation of Christ and follow in his way, using the words of Christopher Wordsworth’s hymn:
Grant us grace to see thee, Lord, Mirrored in thy holy word. May we imitate thee now, And be pure, as pure art thou. That we like to thee may be At thy great Epiphany, And may praise thee, ever blest, God in Man made manifest.
Happy Gaudete! What a great word to say and reflect on. It is a word that has been set to many a tune, but the one that always springs to my mind is the Steeleye Span 80’s version – a gift of an earworm for your weekend!
Here in the middle of Advent the season makes a slight change of step. This Sunday coming has been known as Gaudete Sunday – a word that means “Rejoice”. The pink candle on the advent ring is lit. It marks a moment when our eyes can see in the faint distance the manger that we are asked to move towards in order to wonder at the gift of Jesus that God brings us all at Christmas.
“Rejoice” is the word that springs from one of the readings that we are given this Sunday – St Paul in his letter to the Philippians says this
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
It is an encouragement that despite the darkness that enfolds us that in everything by prayer we can bring our needs to God, and to be assured that the Lord is near and to be gentle with each other. Amongst the fever of Christmas preparations, I want to continue to cling to Advent, to stay in that place a little while longer in this season. Yet the call is to keep going, step by step, till we finally arrive prayerfully able to give over all that we need to God who comes to love the world.
We have the joy of being able to welcome the Bishop of Bristol, Bishop Viv, to celebrate holy communion and preach at 10am at St Marys. Our rejoicing continues at All Saints in the afternoon at 4.30pm with our children sharing with us the Nativity. Both services full of the glimpses of hope, love and rejoicing that we are called to be part of. Bring yourselves, your families, your neighbours and friends to rejoice and join in the joy.
Worship – Sunday 15th December
8:00am Holy Communion – All Saints
10:00am Sung Holy Communion with Bishop Viv– St. Mary’s
(10:30am Rehearsal for the Nativity– All Saints)
4:30pm Nativity Service – All Saints
THE WEEK AHEAD
Mon 16th December
10:30am Tiny Tots Christmas Party
7:30pm – Advent Group
Weds 18th December
9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints
12:00pm – Funeral of David Godfrey
6:00pm – Fishponds School Carol Service
Thursday 19th December
10:00am – Holy Communion – St. Mary’s
11:00am – Advent Group – St Mary’s
Saturday 21st December
12:00pm – 2:00pm – Saturday Lunches – St Mary’s
1:00pm – D&D fundraiser “Yuletide Ball”– All Saints
With trepid anticipation I have been waiting for something to arrive in the post for the last few weeks, and when it finally did a few days ago, I was as excited as a small child who waits for Christmas. The object of my eager longing – a new diary.
Each year the church starts again at Advent. Not January, or New Year, but Advent. This is when the new diaries, new lectionaries, new readings all start over. For me the arrival of a new diary is a chance to start again, with good intentions, that my new diary will not end up as haphazard, dilapidated, worn and scribbled on as last years. I am just as hopeful this year as I look at my well kept new diary, with entries in December looking neat and ordered.
As we begin Advent, we are asked to begin again. To start afresh with God. To come with all the hopes, dreams, worries and fears and lay them out to the Almighty. A spiritual cleaning is asked of us. I find that not only a good thing to do, but an essential thing for my soul. It helps me get things in order, builds a healthy spiritual perspective and confronts me with my need to listen more attentively to God, in worship, in Advent Groups, in fellowship at special services. Starting Advent well, like any new year gives sustenance for all that lies ahead.
I hope and pray that as we start Advent together, you are as expectant and excited as I am.
Our worship this weekend helps us to enter into that space of listening to God afresh – everyone is welcome to join us at all or any of them.
WORSHIP THIS WEEKEND – SUNDAY 1st DECEMBER
10:00am – St Marys – Toy Service – Guides and Brownies
10.30am – All Saints – Advent Holy Communion with Band and Junior Church
6.30pm – Advent Candlelit Service
THE WEEK AHEAD
Monday 2nd Dec
10:30am – Tiny Tots – All Saints
Tuesday 3rd Dec
10:30am – M4T – St Mary’s
Weds 4th Dec
9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints
Thursday 5th Dec
10:00am – Holy Communion – St. Mary’s
Friday 6th Dec
11:00am – Living After Loss – St Marys
Saturday 7th Dec
11:00am – 2:00pm – St Mary’s Christmas Fair
Sunday 8th Dec
8:00am – Holy Communion – All Saints
10:00am – Sung Holy Communion – St. Mary’s
10:30am – Service of the Word and Nativity Rehearsal – All Saints
7:15pm – Generations – All Saints
God of hope, who brought love into this world, be the love that dwells between us. God of hope, who brought peace into this world, be the peace that dwells between us. God of hope, who brought joy into this world, be the joy that dwells between us. God of hope, the rock we stand upon, be the centre, the focus of our lives always, and particularly this Advent time Amen
I wonder what our first thoughts are when we think of what a King is.
There are the historic kings with their penchant for lopping off heads (I see you Henry VIII) and sending troops off to conquer places that don’t belong to them. Then there are the kings depicted in art and media, those of fantasy and biography. Some are heroic forces for good, others evil and destructive, and some are comic.
Kings can be seen as vital links to heritage and tradition. Others see them as outdated and irrelevant. These sides can veer towards extremism in their passion, and history attests to this.
But then, is a king someone surrounded by pageantry and wealth, even if (like in the. UK) their role is ceremonial, or someone who may not embody this overt history but actually have more power?
Here is the modern quandary we encounter this weekend when we celebrate Christ as King. Is this imagery still helpful? It counted for much before, but even then it was used to believe that monarchs were chosen directly by God, rather than emphasising how Jesus’ kingship is entirely different to the human concept of monarchy.
Jesus is a leader, a figure of power-the highest power of all-that of God, yet unlike any king or earthly leader he serves, he avoids any of the palaver attached to royalty or indeed any type of earthly leadership.
Whilst the term king conjures up certain images that can be equally helpful and unhelpful, no other modern leadership term is free from positive of negative interpretations whatever field it appears within-sacred or secular.
We see his leadership with power and authority, which so often can corrupt and destroy. Politics can become a game of ambition and ego. However, there are leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu who were fully human, their humanity creating leaders of principle and integrity. Others like John F. Kennedy, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jnr. were killed for their integrity but their influence continues to inspire.
But Jesus as leader embodies, explodes and transforms whatever concept of leadership that society may create. His leadership is beyond our limited forms as he embodies the human and the divine. He leqds without corruption or selfish ambition . He leads to serve and serves to lead. He redefines the word king, as he redefines what it is to be human and held in the love of God.
Sunday 24th November Christ the King/Sunday next before Advent
10:00am: Holy Communion – St Marys
The Week Ahead
Tuesday 26th Nov
10.30am: Music for Toddlers – St Marys
Thursday 28th Nov
10:00am: Holy Communion – St. Mary’s
Saturday 30th Nov
12.00 – 1:30pm: Saturday Lunches – St Mary’s
Sunday 1st Dec (Advent Sunday)
10:00am: Creative Church – St Mary’s
6:30pm: Evensong – St. Mary’s
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
One of my favourite story books as a child was “The owl who was afraid of the dark” by Jill Tomlinson. For me it evokes good memories, it was both a book that my mother read to me and also one that I was first able to read by myself. The baby owl Plop (what a great name!) discovers new things about the dark, that it can be a place of excitement and discovery and need not always be a place to be feared.
Yet the darkness can be a scary place. As the nights draw in and the days shorten, so too do the readings we hear in church take on more sombre and darker notes. The bible stories remind me that the whole compass of life will involve rupture and darkness, uncertainty and fragility. How do God’s people navigate the darkness and yet remain a people of light and hope? That is a question that has been asked time and time again.
These past weeks of elections, budgets, remembrance and fracture illuminate a vulnerability and fragility of the world. The Church is not immune from the darkness, and it necessitates a need to be both repentant and reflective about how harm done is acknowledged and amendment keenly sought.
In the Letter to the Hebrews it speaks of “how to provoke one another to love and good deeds” and to “not neglect meeting together”. I was struck by how important both elements of this were to being able to discover the guiding lights when it feels dark outside. That we are called to be a people who “agitate” ourselves and others in love and that this is done most effectively when we meet others. Some of the most poignant, challenging and yet hopeful of moments in life are when we seek to be with others in the flesh, face to face.
I wish to encourage us to do so, be it in church, cafes, parks or elsewhere in the spaces we work, play and encounter others. Meeting together, even when fragile and wobbly, is a possible way to be able to see in the darkness, so that it doesn’t confound or frighten us, but allows us a path of light to follow.
This week we meet to worship together – Sunday 17th November
10am – St Marys – Sung Holy Communion with Baptism
When a young boy, my family subscribed to a weekly comic which routinely told ‘war stories’. These were daring tales of soldiers and sailors who overcame mountainous odds, defeated enemies, and often won medals. This stirred the hearts of young lads. As the years rolled by, I noticed that the stories became more varied. We heard about spies, or radio operators, or scientists – all of whom eventually contributed to victory in the Second World War.
And, more years further on, we now hear tales of the Women’s Land Army, or the Lumberjills (as the Women’s Timber Corps were affectionately known). There were plenty of others who contributed their part to the war effort, many of whom stayed at home and undertook mundane ordinary tasks which were vital to keep the country alive and flourishing. In this week of Remembrance Sunday, all these people deserve to be remembered. Of course, we must recall those who made the final sacrifice. Yet they were not alone. Many made a “living sacrifice” as Paul names it in Romans 12: “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
In addition, it is right that we remember those who have opposed injustice through their peaceful objection. Think of Rosa Parks who in 1950s Alabama courageously stood firm (or should it be “sat firm”?!), against racial prejudice. And here in the 1960s, there was the determined brave efforts of those involved in the Bristol Bus Boycott. There are many forms of evil in this world, each of which demands a different type of resistance. We may not personally be able to address each one of this world’s troubles; but we can choose what our particular contribution can be, to advance God’s kingdom. When we remember, we honour those who made for us the possibility of a better today. We honour the past partly by choosing well today. As the Kohima Epitaph says:
When you go home Tell them of us and say: For your tomorrow We gave our today
Sunday 10th November – Remembrance Sunday
08.00am – Holy Communion, All Saints
10:00am – Remembrance Sunday Holy Communion followed by civic act of remembrance in Fishponds Park, St Mary’s
10:45am – All Age Remembrance Service with Scouting Groups – All Saints
7.15pm – Generations Youth Group, All Saints
The Week Ahead
Tues 12th Nov
10:30am – Music for Toddlers, St Mary’s Parish Room
Weds 13th Nov
09:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer, All Saints
Thursday 14th Nov
10:00am Holy Communion, St. Mary’s
Friday 15th Nov
11:00am – Living after Loss – Bereavement Group
Saturday 16th Nov
12.00 – 2:00pm – Saturday Lunches, St Mary’s
Sunday 17th Nov
10:00am Sung Holy Communion with Baptism, St Mary’s
To all God’s beloved in Fishponds, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Since we are on the cusp of Bible Sunday I couldn’t resist opening my message with this beautiful greeting by the apostle Paul. He uses it to begin his letter to the Romans. This Sunday marks the launch of our new Cafe Church year studying Romans, animated by Bible Society’s dynamic presenter, Andrew Ollerton.
The Last Sunday after Trinity is commonly celebrated as Bible Sunday and the Collect gives thanks for the Holy Scriptures and asks that God would help us ‘hear, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them’ So how where do we start so our Bible studies don’t give us indigestion?
Over the years, I have valued tools for Bible Study e.g. consulting commentaries, using a Lectio Divina method of hearing the Bible as if God is engaging in a conversation with me through a phrase or passage. I find the so-called ’Swedish Method’ particularly helps me engage with any passage by using a range of questions (one version of the Swedish Bible Study Method is available here). Four key questions are:
What stands out to me in this passage? What don’t I understand? Does the passage remind me of something going on in my life, or the world at the moment? What will I do as a result of reading this passage?
If I apply these questions to this week’s Gospel reading about the healing of Blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46-51 this is the sort of thing that emerges for me… For you, it may look different.
What stands out to me in this passage?
The care of the people around Bartimaeus: ’Take heart, he (Jesus) is calling you!”
The courteous way Jesus addresses the blind man without making assumptions: ‘What do you want me to do for you?’
Bartimaeus chose the better, more life-transforming thing- not more money (he was begging), but the recovery of his sight.
Bart’s faith made all the difference. He trusted Jesus and Jesus healed him.
What don’t I understand?
I wonder why Bartimaeus addressed Jesus as ’Son of David’? I will need to consult a commentary to find this out, or a local Bible expert
Does the passage remind me of anything?
My thoughts turn to those who sit and beg around Fishponds and God’s greatest desire for their flourishing and how that might happen for them and how God might use our churches to be a part of that
What will I do as a result of reading this passage?
I will ponder the question of Jesus (What do you want me to do for you?) and, like Bartimaeus, try to identify and then dare to ask for something I would really like God to do in my life
Services on Sunday 27th October 2024
8.00am Holy Communion – All Saints
10:00am Sung Holy Communion, Trinity – St Marys
10.30am Cafe Church –Book of Romans (Episode 1)- All Saints
Events in the week ahead
Monday 28th October
No meeting for Tiny Tots, Beavers, Cubs or Scouts – Half Term
Wednesday 30th October
Celtic Morning Prayer – 9.00am at All Saints Church
Thursday 31st October
Holy Communion – 10.00am in St. Mary’s Parish Room (enter via back door)
Friday 1st November
Living after Loss – 11.00am in St. Mary;s Parish Room
Saturday 2nd November
Coffee Morning – 10am to 12noon at All Saints Church.
Plus Bristol Repair Team
Services on Sunday 3rd November 2024
10:00am – Creative Church – St Mary’s
10:30am – All Saints Patronal Festival: Holy Communion with Baptism and Junior Church and Band – All Saints
6:30pm – Choral Evensong – St. Mary’s
As you can see, there are three services to choose from to come and worship God together in Fishponds this Sunday. We look forward to seeing new and old faces. And you even get a lie-in, as the clocks go back one hour!
I wonder what points your preacher will draw out and what you will hear this Sunday? While we can read the Bible alone, it is even better when we explore the Bible in community. We can learn from a preacher who has studied the Gospel text and consulted commentaries and read what contemporary theologians are drawing out for today’s world. Or we can meet around a table and hear how a passage is resonating with members of the church family (e.g. at Cafe Church). Hearing from each other helps us care for one another better as we come to know what others are going through.
Additional Collect for Last Sunday after Trinity
Merciful God, teach us to be faithful in change and uncertainty, that trusting in your word and obeying your will we may enter the unfailing joy of Jesus Christ our Lord.
May God bless you with a healing message from the Scriptures this Sunday,
St Mary's, Fishponds 