Come Ye Thankful People, Come

Sunday 24^th September was our Harvest Thanksgiving Service. In the reading, we remembered Jesus warning about the danger of storing up more and more goods without thinking about the future. But in his sermon Steve concentrated on the words that followed, in which Jesus encouraged us not to worry, as our heavenly Father knew all that we needed.

We then brought up our harvest gifts to the front – both fresh and tins and packets.

After the service all the fresh produce was auctioned and the profit sent to the Christian relief agency, Tear Fund. The tins and packets were given to the Oadby Food Bank and the Welcome Fund, run at the Cathedral for asylum seekers.

Coffee Pot Harvest Lunch

The members of Coffee Pot, our Thursday coffee meeting met together for a special event on Thursday 21 September, a harvest lunch, with soup and sandwiches. To remember the significance of the event, this was preceded by singing the hymn “we plough the fields scatter” and in your grace we remembered our dependence on God and prayed for those who are less fortunate than ourselves.

Thank God for All His Gifts

As we approached harvest, this display appeared in the foyer (Thank you to Vivien and Derek), reminding us of the meaning of harvest. Of how dependent we are all the gifts of nature that God gives us. We may not – in the words of the old hymn – “plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the ground” – but we are still utterly dependent on food – fresh and processed.

At this season we are using a special booklet for our services which centres not only on harvest, but also on creation, as we remember the greatness of the world that God has given us, and our commission to look after it, and not destroy it.

Church Open Day

On Saturday 16 September from 2 to 4 p.m. we held a church open day at St Paul’s. We had put flyers through the letterboxes of many of the local residents inviting them to come and see what we are about.

In church we put out A4 posters beside all the items that we use in worship (cross, font, Bible etc.) explaining what they meant to us and how they fitted into our faith in Christ. There were also displays showing our different activities – such as youth work, “Little Angels” mother and toddler group, and the charities and mission agencies that we support. Leaflets about our future activities and pamphlets explaining the Christian Faith were placed around for people to take.

The chapel was open for prayer and we served tea and coffee to those who were happy to sit down.

We made contact with a number of people and it was also an opportunity to let people know that we are here.

Thank you so much to all who distributed leaflets, made the displays or served refreshments. It all contributed to a worthwhile day

Open Church at St Paul’s

On Saturday 16 September we will be opening the doors of St Paul’s from 2-4 p.m. There will be displays of what goes on in church, explanations of what we believe, why we do things,  and what different items in church mean to us, and videos of some of our recent activities.

Do drop in and see what we are about and enjoy a drink and cake. Everything is free.

What Have You Got in Your Hand?

Tear Fund is a Christian relief and development organisation that St Paul’s has supported for many years. In particular, we are linked to projects in a church in Uganda. Today, Charlotte Nobbs visited our morning service, to speak on their behalf.

The reading was about how Jesus fed the crowd of 5000 men plus women and children. But to do this, he used one child’s packed lunch of just 5 rolls and two fish. Charlotte admitted that as we looked out at the world the needs seemed as great as trying to feed the enormous crowd. But her challenge was to look at what we did have – what had we got in our own hands, and make that available for God to use. Charlotte illustrated with pictures and case histories from Uganda which demonstrated how investment of small sums of money have been able to recreate the well-being of families.

May we respond in generosity and prayer to all that we learned.

Young people Support the Homeless

On the 23^rd August

our young people organised a coffee and cake sale in the Barnabas Centre, in order to support homeless young people in Leicester.

We sit comfortably here in Oadby, so it’s good that our young people can be concerned about his major social problem.