Tag: church

Week beginning Sunday 27th July 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

Teach us to Pray

This week at All Saints, with children and families from both parishes, we have celebrated the joy of God’s world and creation and the gift of science with over 50 children and 25 adult volunteers at Holiday Bible Club “Whizz, Bang Wow!”  We have danced, sung, played, made things, talked about God, prayed and been together in a really special way. 

What underpins all of this, as it does with all Christian life and Church is lots of prayer. Prayers for places to be filled, for people to come and be part of something special, for everyone to be safe and blessed by others. 

This week’s gospel reading sees Jesus respond to the disciples ask – “Teach us to pray”. As we look towards the services of worship this weekend then we have the chance not just to understand that more deeply in our own lives, but to experience it with others. That is possible in communion services, but also our cafe church service which offers an informal service style looking at the theme of Devotion.

May we continue to be a ceaselessly praying parishes. 

WORSHIP THIS SUNDAY 27th JULY 2025

8:00am – Holy Communion – All Saints

10:00am – Sung Holy Communion – St Mary’s

10:30am – Cafe Church – Book of Romans

Everyone is welcome. 

THE WEEK AHEAD

Tuesday 29th July

2:00pm – 5:30pm – All Saints Family Café 

Weds 30th July

9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints 

Thurs 31st July

10:00  Holy Communion – St. Mary’s 

2:00pm-5:30pm – All Saints Family Café    

7:30pm – St Marys PCC 

Friday 1st August

11:00pm Living After Loss – St. Mary’s  

Saturday 2nd August

10:00am -12:00pm -Repair Café – All Saints

12:00pm – 1:30pm – Saturday Lunches  – St Mary’s 

Sunday 3rd August

10:00am – Creative Church, St Marys 

 10:30am – Holy Communion, All Saints 

 6:30pm – Evensong – St. Mary’s 

With blessing and thanksgiving and prayers

Lizzie

Week beginning Sunday 1st June 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

This Sunday falls between Ascension day where we contemplate Jesus’s ascension to the Father and the events of Pentecost. The disciples and his followers are left confused and emotionally drained, having lived through weeks of promise, despair, fear and rejoicing, and now their beloved leader is leaving them. But he promises the Comforter-an agent who will connect and witness to each all who believe..

Those first followers wouldn’t have fully understood what was going to happen. The Spirit of God has previously been attached to specific events rather than interacting with all believers. This would be a new level of personal, intimate connection.

In this week’s Gospel Jesus talks of the destruction of divisions, the erasing of barriers. He and the Father are one, and they in turn enfold us into their intimacy of relationships when we accept Jesus as Christ. 

The writer, theologian and Franciscan priest Richard Rohr wrote in his book The Divine Dance of his concept of the Trinity as a constantly fluid dance of equality and love with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. This vibrant living and harmonious dance is not one of exclusion, but inclusion, and we are invited to join in. When we do we become connected to the dynamic spiritual reality of this inter-relationship.

THIS SUNDAY – 1ST JUNE (7TH SUNDAY OF EASTER)

10.00am    Creative Church -St. Mary’s

10.30am       Holy Communion – All Saints

6.30pm       Evensong – St. Mary’s

THE WEEK AHEAD

Monday 2nd June

10.30am – Tiny Tots -All Saints Community Hall

5.15pm – Squirrels – All Saints Community Hall

6.15pm – Beavers – All Saints Community Hall

Tuesday 3rd June

10.30am – M4T – St. Mary’s Parish Room

Wednesday 4th June

9.00am – Celtic Morning Prayers – All Saints Church

Thursday 5th June

10.00pm – Holy Communion – St. Mary’s Church  

6.30pm – Cubs – All Saints Community Hall

8.00pm – Scouts -All Saints Community Hall  

Friday 6th June

11.00am – Living after Loss -St. Mary’s Parish Room

Saturday 7th June

10.00am – Coffee Morning & Repair Cafe – All Saints Church

12.00pm – Saturday Lunches – St. Mary’s Church

Next Sunday – 8th June (Pentecost)

8.00am – Holy Communion – All Saints Church

10.00am – Holy Communion – St. Mary’s Church

10.30am – Messy Muddy Church – All Saints Church

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

 

Fr Kester de Oliveira

 

Week beginning Sunday 9th March 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

Lent 1

As a young man, on two occasions I decided to give up alcohol for Lent. One year, I was successful, not drinking a drop until Easter Day. Yippee! I was so proud of that achievement – which, of course, defeats the whole object of a Lenten discipline. This is not meant to be about our moral strength or determination. Rather, Lent is a season to be more attentive to the presence of God, and our neediness. So, on the other occasion, I managed to avoid alcohol for 36 hours – but, by the Friday evening after Ash Wednesday, I gave up. I can remember sitting in the pub with my pint of beer, thinking “I’ve blown it. What a weakling!”. Until I remembered that wonderful story about two people who go into the Temple (Luke 18). The Pharisee is proud of his achievements; the other one – you or me – says “God, I’ve blown it again. Sorry. How can you help me be better next time? Thank you for not abandoning me”.

Services this weekend for the 9th March 2025

8:00am Holy Communion – All Saints 

10:00am Holy Communion – St. Mary’s

10:30am Muddy Church – All Saints

4:15pm Generations (Crazy Golf)

The Week Ahead

Mon 10th

10.30am – Tiny Tots – All Saints 

7.30pm – Lent Group 

Tues 11th

10:30am – Music for Toddlers 

Weds 12th

9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints 

1pm – Lent Group – St Marys 

Thursday 13th

10:00am – Holy Communion – St. Mary’s 

Saturday 15th

9.30am Safeguarding Training – All Saints 

12–2:00pm – Saturday Lunches  – St. Mary’s 

Sunday 16th

10:00am – Holy Communion – St. Mary’s 

10:30am – Holy Communion – All Saints 

Revd Bob.

Week beginning Sunday 2nd February 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

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

6.30pm – Choral Candlemas Evensong – St Mary’s.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Monday 3rd Feb

10:30am – Tiny Tots – All Saints

Tuesday 4th Feb

10:30am – Music for Toddlers  – St Mary’s

Wednesday 5th Feb

9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer   All Saints 

Thursday 6th Feb

10:00am – Holy Communion – St. Mary’s 

Saturday 8th Feb

 12–2:00pm – Saturday Lunches  – St. Mary’s 

Sunday 9th Feb

8:00am – Holy Communion – All Saints

10:00am – Holy Communion – St. Mary’s 

10:30am – Muddy Church – All Saints 

7:15pm – Generations – All Saints Link 

With my prayers and blessings to you all.

Revd Lizzie

Week beginning Sunday 26th January 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

If you only heard one word from the mouth of Jesus, what might that be?  ‘Love’.  ‘God’.  No, I suggest that the key word Jesus speaks to us today (as he did 2000 years ago to the first disciples) is ‘now’!

When should I do good?  Now!  How often should I forgive my brother?  Actually, the number does not matter.  What matters is: now!  If you pass the person who has been beaten up in the street (while the priest and the Levite pass by on the other side), when is the best time to help?  Now!

St Paul captures this in a wonderful verse on 2 Corinthians.  First God says to us: “at an acceptable time, I have listened to you; on the day of salvation, I have helped you”.  In other words, God hears us NOW – as soon as we pray.  God does not delay – God’s help may not be what we expected, nor what we thought we want; but there is no delay.

Martin Luther was asked: what would he do if the world were to end tomorrow?  He answered, “I would plant an apple tree today.”  Now!  There is a Greek proverb which says: a society grows great when old people plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.  There is value in doing something today – even if the benefits will not be manifest till many years later.

So, perhaps it is not surprising that the key moment in this week’s Gospel reading is when Jesus says “now”!  “I am now.  God’s promises are now – in me, by me, with me.”  And that ‘now’ continues up to today.  God’s actions are not merely found in the past.  God acts today – in us, by us, with us.

This Sunday 26th January the services at church are as follows

8am – Holy Communion  – All Saints

10am – Sung Holy Communion – St Mary’s

10.30am – Cafe Church – All Saints

(Cafe Church is a open and informal space which begins with coffee/tea and breakfast that enables worship with space for discussion and reflection with others.  We are currently looking at the Book of Romans together and is good way to get to know people and learn together about the Christian faith)
 

THE WEEK AHEAD 

Monday 27th Jan

10.30am – Tiny Tots – All Saints Church Hall 

Tuesday 28th Jan

10.30 am – Music for Toddlers – St Mary’s 

Wednesday 29th Jan

9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints 

Thursday 30th Jan

10:00am – Holy Communion  – St. Mary’s 

Saturday 1st Feb

10:00am – Coffee Morning and Book Sale with Bristol Repair Café – All Saints 

12.00 – 2:00pm – Saturday Lunches  – St Mary’s 

3pm  – Queer/Open Tango – All Saints  

Sunday 2nd Feb       

10:00am – Creative Church – St Mary’s 

10:30am – Holy Communion and Junior Church – All Saints 

6:30pm – Candlemas Choral Evensong – St. Mary’s

Revd Bob Cotton

Week beginning Sunday 17th November 2024

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

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

10.30am – All Saints – Holy Communion with Hymns

THE WEEK AHEAD

Tuesday 19th

10:30am – M4T – St Mary’s parish room.

Weds 20th

9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints 

Thursday 21st 

10:00am – Holy Communion  – St. Mary’s 

12:00pm – Funeral – St Marys 

Saturday 23rd

12.00  Wedding – St Mary’s  

Sunday 24th

8.00am – Holy Communion – All Saints

10:00am – Sung Holy Communion – St Marys 

10.30am – Cafe Church – All Saints

Blessings

Revd Lizzie

Week beginning Sunday 13th October 2024

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

Money, money, money
Must be funny
In the rich man’s world
Money, money, money
Always sunny
In the rich man’s world

All the things I could do
If I had a little money
It’s a rich man’s world’ 

Money, Money, Money-ABBA

Dear Friends in Christ,

I was reading an article about how much money the Democrats and Republicans have raised for their election costs, and it was staggering. The power of the ‘tech bros’ like Elon Musk through their staggeringly huge fortunes is increasingly alarming. Money-the presence or absence of it-seems to be increasingly the goal of life in the modern world. 

Yet so many others have so little. We see that in Fishponds-the homeless, those struggling with paying for heating and food. The gaps in society seem to grow ever bigger.

This Sundays Gospel reading  has the challenge to the rich young man. Can he give up his wealth to serve Jesus? It seems to be his stumbling block. Yet we need to also remember that it’s not having money in itself that’s evil but the love of it. History charts the wealthy who have shared that wealth. Its placing money above anything else that is the issue-especially when it replaces God in our hearts, and it can be anything that we put in the place of God that can become our stumbling block, not just money. I hope that the rich young man was able to see this and came to follow Jesus.

Sunday 13th October.  Twentieth Sunday after Trinity

8.00am – Holy Communion – All Saints

10.00am – Holy Communion – St. Marys

10.30am – Messy Muddy Church – All Saints

7.15pm – Generations – All Saints

The Week Ahead

Monday 14th October

10.30am – Tiny Tots – All Saints Community Hall

6.15pm – Beavers – All Saints Community Hall

Wednesday 16th October

9.00am – Celtic Morning Prayer –  All Saints Church

2-3.30pm – Benefice Bible Book Club – St. Mary’s Church

Thursday 17th October

10.00am – Holy Communion – St. Mary’s Church

6.30pm – 13th Bristol Cubs – All Saints Community Hall

8.00pm – 13th Bristol Scouts – All Saints Community Hall

Friday 18th October

11am – 12pm – Living after Loss –  St. Mary’s Church

Saturday 19th October

12 – 2pm – Saturday Lunches – St. Mary’s Church 

Next Sunday 20th October. Twenty First Sunday after Trinity

10.00am – Baptism & Holy Communion – St.Mary’s Church

10.30am – Holy Communion – All Saints Church

Looking ahead

Thursday 24th October – Fr Roger’s funeral – 2.15pm – St John the Baptist Church, Ruardean. All Welcome.

Saturday 26th October – Quiz Night – 7pm start.  All Saints Community Hall – Price £6 per person includes jacket potato with filling of choice

This academic year we welcome Charlie Blackett, who will be with both parishes on a long term placement as she trains to be a vicar. Charlie is at St Mary’s next week, please chat to her at coffee and ask any questions

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

Revd Kester de Oliveira