Free to Believe

Of the charities that St Paul's supports, the one that we feature this month is Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). They described their role as follows:

"CSW works in over 20 countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, defending everyone’s right to freedom of religion or belief. Three quarters of the world’s population lives in countries with severe restrictions on their religious freedom – in fact, it’s one of the most widely-violated human rights in the world. We think this is unacceptable. We’re working to change it. Our vision is of a world where everyone is free to choose their beliefs – to hold and practise any religion they like, or none at all.”

We believe that everyone has the right to choose their belief, but as Christians, we particularly support Christians who are being denied that right – often at great cost, with prohibition of meeting for worship, confiscation of the Bibles, imprisonment and even in some cases death. The least we can do is to support them in prayer, and support CSW financially.

Cross of Ashes – a Sign of Love

Tonight (14 February) the Churches Together in Oadby Ash Wednesday service was held at St Pauls.

In the service, Steve took the opportunity to show a DVD which reminded us of the origins of the service of the Ashes, in which a cross of ash is placed on believers’ foreheads – looking back to Ashes as a sign of sorrow in the Old Testament, Jesus’ forty days of testing in the wilderness which is commemorated by the 40 days of Lent, and Jesus act of love and forgiveness on the cross.

In his sermon, Steve remarked on the appropriateness, this year, of Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day coinciding. Both are acts of love, which need a response.

There was then a time of congregational confession. Everyone (who wanted it) was then marked in ash with the sign of the cross, and the words: “remember that we all come from dust and to dust we shall return.”

It was good to be able to start our season of Lent in this way

New Roots

Trees feature frequently in the Bible – whether as symbols of abundance and the goodness of God or to remind us of the nature of an individual who is rooted in God.

So the broken tree trunk from the tree that snapped in the wind some weeks ago is hardly the ideal sign outside a church! So thank you to Tom, Mick and Dave who have replaced it with an Acer.

Unfortunately, they have identified two other trees which are diseased and at-risk, so they have also planted a second Acer to replace them.