Be Suspicious!

As usual, today, we held “Coffee Pot,” our Thursday morning coffee group, mainly frequented by older citizens. At it, we were visited by PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) Nad Ikram, who gave a PowerPoint illustrated talk on “Telephone and Postal Fraud.”

He talked about the importance of always being suspicious, whether of telephone calls (the commonest), email or web announcements, unsolicited letters, or individuals on the doorstep. If an offer was too good to be true – it wasn’t true. He discussed, and showed a video, of some of the commonest scams and warned people to give away the minimum of data and never to reveal PIN numbers, or the three CSV numbers on the backs of credit cards.

He also described scams where people were told they had a fraudulent financial problem and encouraged to ring their bank, only for the fraudsters not to hang up, but to still be on the line when the individual thought they were talking to their bank – and trustingly revealed just the information that the fraudsters wanted. He warned that sometimes the (bogus) bank would send a courier for the person’s cards, which would never be seen again – apart from a large withdrawal on their statement.

Hopefully, we have all learned lessons. Thank you Nad.

I Believe in the Church

This was the title of a book written by the late David Watson, formerly vicar of St Michael le Belfry, York. This has provided the background for a series of sermons on the subject of  The Church, which will be preached in both St Paul’s and St Peter’s churches.

Today, Gillian preached on the first of the series: “The Church of God.” We look forward to the subsequent talks in the series, next week being: “The Kingdom of God.”

People often say that they appreciate much of what Christ said, but they do not like the church. If that is you, do come and hear about the real meaning of the church

              

Where Was God When That Happened?

This event which had been advertised in an earlier blog, took place on Saturday evening, 17 June. It was led by Neil McBride, a Reader at De Montfort University, together with one of his students, Ben who, had suffered a disabling illness that left him in a wheelchair, and our vicar, Steve Bailey.

In the evening we addressed the problem of reconciling a loving God who was all-powerful with the existence of suffering and evil. Neil spoke from the philosophical point of view – with insights like “how would we know the meaning of evil, without a good God contrast to it with,” while Ben spoke of his practical experience and his ability to reconcile God’s love with his disability.

In groups at tables, we discussed our own attitudes to the issues raised.

In an interval, we all shared in the puddings that people had bought and enjoyed a glass of one of the drinks that had been provided.

There will probably never be an answer – at least not a simple one – to the original question, but we all came out better informed, and even more thoughtful.

Tea Fit for a Queen

Saturday 17 June was a busy day at St Paul’s. It was the Queen’s official birthday and we celebrated it with a magnificent Royal Tea. The ladies of the church had worked hard to lay on a spread for any who wish to come. There was a good turnout.

Our thanks to those who had worked so hard.

Where was God when that happened?

We are looking forward to this event on Saturday evening at 7.30pm.
It is a free event so come along and join with us, bring a friend!

Wrath-Hope-Peace

Yesterday we welcome Robert DeBerry with 3 other cyclists and their support car to St Paul's in the afternoon.

 We joined with them in a prayer meeting last night for the persecuted church and were pleased to welcome others to join us.

This morning those who had hosted the team prayed with them before they set off on the next leg of their journey.

 And then waved them goodbye as they headed off.

Every blessing for the remained of the journey. What a privilege to pray together for those who are persecuted for their faith and to support the work of Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

The Prayer Tree

At an earlier event of “Thy Kingdom Come” we set up a Prayer Tree in The Parade in Oadby Village Centre. Passers-by were offered chocolates to represent God’s generosity and invited to write a prayer on one of the the paper “leaves,” which was then stuck to an outline of a tree.

Quite a number of people accepted this opportunity – though the high wind made it a battle to keep the “leaves” on the tree, let alone keeping the “Thy Kingdom Come” banner upright!

Our prayer is that more people may consider the importance of prayer.

Praying together for Oadby

On Sunday evening St Paul's hosted 'Praying together for Oadby', an evening service for Churches Together in Oadby at the end of the Thy Kingdom Come wave of prayer. In between sung worship at the beginning and end of the service everyone was invited to make use of a variety of prayer stations at the back of church. Each church had been invited to provide an interactive prayer station focused on a particular area of our shared community life together. Here are some photos below..

 Everyone up and out of their seats making use of the different prayer stations which had been provided by the different churches in Oadby.

 Praying for the local emergency services and the safety of the community.

 Asking God how we should respond and share the love and light of Christ in the community.

 Praying for the local borough council and for our diverse community, that we can continue to live in harmony.

 An opportunity to write our own prayers and put them on the prayer wall or light a candle for those who have suffered particularly at the terrorist attacks in Manchester and London.

Praying for the local shops, businesses and community groups.

It was a good time for us to come together and pray for the needs of our community. A big thank you to all who came along and to those who worked hard to make the service happen.