All Saints' & St. Nicholas In the Mardyke Team Parish Michaelmas 2022 Sunday 25th September 2022 Sun25th Michaelmas 9.45am Mass at All Saints' 9.45am Mass at St. Michael 11.15am Prayer & Praise at St. Stephen 11.15am Mass at St. Nicholas Thur29th 11 - 1pm Foodbank at All Saints' 6.30pm Choir at All Saints' Sat 1st 11 - 1pm Foodbank at All Saints' Sun 2nd Harvest 9.45am Harvest service at All Saints' 9.45am Harvest service at St. Michael 11.15am Harvest service at St. Nicholas 11.15am Harvest service at St. Stephen 4pm Sung evensong at All Saints' From St Nick’s - This Sunday (25th) Holy Communion in St Nicholas at 1115am. Morning Prayer continues each weekday morning on our Facebook page, along with the daily Lectionary readings and live streamed on Thursday. Night Prayer (Tuesday 8pm) and Evening Prayer (Friday 6pm) continue on Zoom each week. Links are on the Facebook page and all are welcome. Please get in touch if you don’t know how to do this. Also do get in touch if you are in need of assistance, prayer, or a chat. God bless, Anne & Kat (Wardens) Live stream and on-line services can be accessed through the Facebook page of the identified church. All Saints: www.facebook.com/AllSaintsChurchBelhusPark St Michael: www.facebook.com/stmichaelaveley St Nicholas: www.facebook.com/stnicholaschurchockendon St Stephen: www.facebook.com/StStephensPurfleet PLEASE PRAY FOR: The Mardyke Team, Clergy, Readers and people. The Mardyke Churches Together, in particular Holy Cross RC Church. Our Armed Forces serving around the world, all the workers on the frontline who are dealing with the Corona virus. For the recently departed, also for those laid to rest recently and those whose anniversary falls at this time. Prayer list for week beginning 25th September 2022 Michaelmas PLEASE PRAY FOR: Carol Eames and family, Helen and family, Iris Holland, Peter Blake, Grace Nichols and family, Iris, George and family, Kevin, Gill and family , Doreen Proctor, John Painter, Betty Pavitt, Beverly, Ann, Helen Lungley and Nicki and family and her father, Dave , Kevin and family and Pat Langan. All those being married this week. GIVE THANKS FOR: The improvement in the health of Steven Burton. For an improvement in the health of Julie Byrne. The work of the Children’s Society. All Saints Craft Group every Tuesday 2-4pm, cost £2. Everybody welcome. Why not come along and learn a new craft. Tea, coffee, biscuits and chat supplied. St Nicholas Coffee and Chat every Wednesday 2pm - 4pm in church. Please come along, bring your knitting or sewing if you wish or just come to enjoy tea, coffee, cake and a chat. Dates for your diary; Friday 21st October 2022: All Saints Quiz evening in the hall. 6.30pm for 7pm start. Teams of eight, £5 per person, tea & coffee supplied, bring your own food and stronger drink if you wish. Saturday 19th November 2022: All Saints Autumn Fayre. (Time to be confirmed). Usual items needed for bottle stall, tombola, cakes etc. Foodbank: As demand for the use of Foodbank remains strong, we have now seen that demand increase above what it was this time last year! We are still finding gaps in supply of some of our most essential ingredients: tinned potatoes, tinned tomatoes, noodles, tinned fruit, mashed potato, jams & spreads, tinned fish, biscuits, fruit juice/squash. We really couldn’t do what we do without your support, every donated item makes such a difference. If you can donate any of these items, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! Today, 25/9/22: St Michael’s Patronal Festival. We are all invited to Lunch at 1pm in St Michael’s. You should have let Demus know if you are going so that you are catered for. Harvest - Sunday 2nd October: A sung Evensong will be held at All Saints at 4pm to celebrate this, followed by the Team Harvest Supper in All Saints hall. For catering purposes, please let Linda Buckingham or Sue Stamp know by Thursday 29th September if you are attending. The menu will be soup, salad and dessert. Financial donations will be for Food Bank which is the charity we are supporting this year. |
Reflections for Michaelmas Sunday 25th September 2022:
Angels have long been a source of fascination for the Church, as well as for individual Christians. Mysterious messengers, holy helpers, and soldiers of God: for our faith which is centred on incarnation, that is of the divine becoming human, angels are indication of the presence and activity of God in the world. (The manifest the divine presence in our midst.) There are various stories of angels from our own time, of people being aware of the presence of an unseen protecting or guiding ‘other’, not visible yet whose presence is palpable. A moment to ponder that ‘surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not’. Whenever angels appear in the Bible, it is unexpected, and sometimes alarming. Jacob encounters angels at Bethel. Moses hears the voice of an angel at the burning bush. Tobit is supported by an angel in his journeying, and Mary and Joseph encounter messenger-angels at the Annunciation. None of these encounters are expected or anticipated by those who experience them, they come as a surprise, and one of the most common salutations used by angels is ‘Don’t be afraid’, presumably because of the unexpected suddenness of their appearing. But those who encounter them are rightly afraid, because to encounter an angel is to encounter one who has been in the presence of God! But angels are not just mysterious divine servants, something beyond ‘our ken’. Churches have an angelic function. They are to be places of encounter with God. Bearers of the message of God’s presence and love, defenders of the people of God and those whom God favours, the poor and the needy. In the Revelation of St John the Divine, we read that each of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor have their own angel, and their own lampstand which stands in the presence of God, a reminder that our own Churches also have their own lampstand and angel. But the Church isn’t just a building, it is the people inside the church who form the Church as a living body. If our buildings are to be symbols of God’s presence, then as individuals we are to take on those angelic tasks I mentioned above: messengers, helpers, and soldiers of God, signs of the divine presence in the midst of the world. We do this primarily through our behaviour and our actions, living lives that bear witness to the presence of God in our own lives. We as individual Christians are called to bear witness to the presence of God in our own lives, and to let the light of Christ shine within us, so that those who encounter us may say: ‘surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not’. Fr Matt |