Come ye thankful people come!

Come ye thankful people come! Raise the song of harvest home. So run the lines of an old harvest hymn. Few of us are now engaged in agriculture and so most have not actually seen the harvest come in. But all of us have reason to be thankful to God for food, water and fuel. And everyone loves a party! So, on Saturday 18 September we met together to enjoy a harvest supper in the church, followed by a quiz. A great time was had by all and many thanks to all whose hard work was much appreciated.

On the Sunday afterwards, we met again in church for all age worship when we again gave thanks for all that we have received from God. But we were also conscious of the responsibility that we have been given to share what we have received with others. We watched a video clip of the work of the TEAR fund, a Christian relief agency. During the service, people had been encouraged to bring up tins and packets of food as well as vegetables and fruit. At the end of the service the dried goods were sent to the Welcome Project. This seeks to help asylum seekers in Leicester. Then people bought the fruit and vegetables and that money was sent to TEAR fund.

Our fete

In some ways we are blessed by having open ground at the side of the church, occasionally it is a trial! However Saturday 11th September was a great opportunity for us to invite friends, neighbours and everyone who could make it to the fete. A wonderful team of people filled in forms, bought prizes and organised events and the prayers of many were for fine weather... it arrived exactly on time at 12.00 just as Sheridan began serving the first hot dogs.

Things developed, gradually more and more people arrived and everyone got involved. The aim of the fete is outreach to our community. It brings everyone together and is a good way to say hello to people you might not stop and talk to in the rush of a normal day. Well! Having started the day getting soaked and spent a lot of it taking pictures I ended up in my armchair waiting for the news of how much we were going to give to LOROS. It was a very good afternoon.

If you wish to see my other pictures follow this link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=297021&id=572010791&l=af4081137f

Welcome to the Archdeacon!

Richard Atkinson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, joined us at St Paul's for our morning service on Sunday 5 September. He thanked everyone who was involved in the life of the Church, during the vacancy of a Team Vicar, and encouraged us to keep up the work. He preached from Philemon 1-21 and Luke 14.25-33 on "counting the cost." Being a Christian means different priorities. He asked us: "what is your priority?" He then presided at Communion and joined the congregation for coffee and tea (fair trade of course!) at the end of the service. It was good to have someone from the central church authorities come and encourage us.

Back from Holidays

The West’s New Year starts on 1 January. Officially, the Church Year starts on Advent Sunday, in November. But as people return from their holidays, refreshed and renewed, like the schools, our year often seems to feel as if it starts in September. Coming up are the Church Fete on Hamble Green, our Harvest Thanksgiving, Persecuted Church Sunday, Bible Sunday and Remembrance Sunday. Annual giving renewal is also coming. Each of them gives us the opportunity to pause, to stop and think -- and pray -- about different aspects of our Christian life.
In our Services, will be spending some time studying Paul's letters to the young church leader, Timothy, and trying to learn from the advice given to him -- and all that is coming up even before we start the run-up towards Christmas!
I am looking forward to learning, worshipping and praying together with all the community at St Paul's in this new season.

Daddy, please!

One thing that I suspect that most Christians agree on is that prayer is very important, but also that prayer is very difficult. This Sunday, 25 July we have been studying what Jesus had to say when the disciples said to him: "Lord, teach us to pray."

We saw that in Luke's Gospel the prayer began with the single word "Father." That probably represented Jesus' much loved term for his Father, in the local Aramaic language: "Abba" - equivalent to the English term "Daddy."

The week before, I had been to Drayton Manor Park with my grandchildren. All around were small children playing. Their absolute trust in their parents - and their parents' love for them, were so much in evidence. That combination of love and trust should be the relationship at the centre as we pray to our Father .

As we pray for God's honour, for the coming of his kingdom, for our daily needs, for forgiveness, and for protection, may we do it with that same trust and confidence in our father's love that the small child has.

In the evening service, we discussed this further and shared our own and others' experiences of prayer.

Simon is the new Vicar of Islington

http://www.london.anglican.org/NewsShow_13567

Imagine everyone's suprise when the coach from Oadby parish was met outside St Mary's Islington by the Bishop of London in full regalia carrying his crozier. The coach had been delayed in traffic and at Bishop Richard's insistence the service was held up until the people from St Peter's and St Paul's arrived. What a dramatic scene as people passed by and saw that something special was about to take place. Simon was received by the Archdeacon and introduced to the church. He had a good pull on the rope which rang the bells and was clapped as he re-entered the nave. The congregation sang lustily and were blessed by the Bishop's words. In fact the service was an excellent introduction for Simon. Thanks to the people of St Mary's who provided light refreshments after the service and for the lovely welcome. The link provided will take you to the report of events for the London Dioscese.

Who is my neighbour?

Last week saw the fifth anniversary of the 7/7 bombings in London and the release of the film 'London River', a film which tells the story of two very different parents who are both searching for their children in the aftermath of the bombings. Elisabeth (Brenda Blethyn) is from Guernsey and Ousmane (Sotigui Kouyate) comes from West Africa. The films shows Elisabeth's journey from initially refusing Ousmane's help (refusing even to shake his hand), until both she and Ousmane overcome the barriers between them and find common ground - a shared humanity.

And this acceptance of help offered by a person from a very different background of culture, religion and language emphasised one aspect of our thinking at last Sunday's 'All Together Church' service. Jesus' response to the question, "And just how would you define 'neighbour'?" was to tell one of the most familiar stories ever recorded - the parable of the Good Samaritan. The response of the Samaritan to the injured Jewish man illustrated Jesus' understanding of 'neighbour' - our neighbour is anyone in need and God's love for his world is to be reflected in our love and care for everyone. It's not so much, 'who is my neighbour?' but, rather, 'do I behave as a neighbour?'

However, being a neighbour also means accepting help, even if the help comes, as the parable shows, from an unwanted or even disliked source. Allowing our prejudices, pride and self-sufficiency to be challenged by others will cause us to grow and mature so that help can be accepted from even the most unlikely of sources.

Our retelling of the parable was brought to life by the Brownies carrying out some very impressive first aid on Doug, our hapless 'victim'. A very big thank you to all involved.

Saying thank you.

It is an important part of our community’s life when we say thank you to members who have worked long and hard for the good of all. David and Neil have worked consistently, with loving hearts to help our young people find their way to the Lord. Their teaching in our pathfinder’s group came to an end this Sunday. During the service we prayed for them and presented them each with a gift to remind them of all the long hours they worked with our teens.

Is there a chance that the Lord is calling you to be part of a teaching team? We are trying to organise for John Fryer who works as a children’s coordinator for the diocese to come and lead some training. Please pray and if you feel called; you can discuss it with Anita, Derek or Paul.

What a way to celebrate!

Two of our congregation, Sheridan and Gilda Roberts celebrate their ruby wedding anniversary today. At a time when marriage often seems under threat, it's good to celebrate God's provision of marriage for mankind. He saw that it would not be good for people to be alone and so he provided mutual friendship and the joy of family life and children.

For most of us a ruby wedding anniversary would be an opportunity for a meal with friends and family or a special holiday. Sheridan and Gilda decided to be different. They held a barbecue for 170 people at their home to raise money for the work of Christian Aid in the Kibera slum of Nairobi in Kenya. It was a great time of fun for all and has already raised over £1200. Everyone benefits from their generosity. Thank you Sheridan and Gilda!

Do It Yourself -- Sign of Good Leadership!

It's a mark of good leadership that a leader enables those they have led to take responsibility in that leader's absence. That's as true for Christian leadership as for any other -- in fact possibly more true as Christians believe in the "priesthood of all believers."

So it was encouraging that the first Sunday morning service after Simon Harvey had left us, was taken by the members of one of the eight home groups -- the Dove Rise group. It was entitled "Looking forward, not back." Teri, our Churchwarden's wife led the service. Another member of the home group, Derek, preached the sermon, while other members read the lessons, led the prayers and took part in an enacted Bible reading of the prophet Elijah feeling bereft.

We explored the subject in greater detail in the small-group evening service.