Week beginning Sunday 17th November 2024

On 16 Nov 2024 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 17^th 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 10th November 2024

On 9 Nov 2024 By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

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 10^th 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 12^th Nov

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

Weds 13^th Nov

09:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer, All Saints

Thursday 14^th Nov

10:00am Holy Communion, St. Mary’s

Friday 15^th Nov

11:00am – Living after Loss – Bereavement Group

Saturday 16^th Nov

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

Sunday 17^th Nov

10:00am Sung Holy Communion with Baptism, St Mary’s

10:30am Holy Communion with Hymns, All Saints

Best wishes

Bob

Week beginning Sunday 27th October 2024

On 26 Oct 2024 By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

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,

Revd Diane (curate)

St Mary's, Fishponds

Tag: faith