Fruit

As we continued in the series which looked at the Gifts of the Spirit, in our All Age service last Sunday we reached “Spiritual Gifts in Relationship.” These are the “Fruit of the Spirit” which are mentioned in Galatians 5:22: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are the attitudes that enable good relationships within the Church community – and any other community.

In her talk, our youth worker, Lou, spoke of how, just like ordinary fruit, we may have preferences – she preferred strawberries to grapefruit. But all are needed.

A display of fruit pieces was then laid out, with the names of the different Fruits of the Spirit. Steve invited the congregation to come up and take the fruit (or fruits) which they most needed in their lives.

We left church with a piece of fruit in our hands and food for thought.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ – When One Suffers, All Suffer

The Christian Church in the Middle East dates right back to the time of Christ. With the coming of Islam, it was much reduced in size, but in many countries it still has a substantial presence. However, recent events have had a devastating effect on it. The consequences of the Iraq war have decimated the Christian Church there. Many refugees fled to Syria, where they joined the substantial Christian minority which, for all the problems of the Assad regime, had been tolerated there. Now, they have come under fire from the rebels.

In Egypt, the “Arab Spring” revolution has resulted in increasing persecution of the Christian Church there. Christians have been murdered and churches destroyed.

 It’s right that Christians should support and pray for our brothers and sisters who find themselves in this terrible situation, especially when our governments seem to support those who are oppressing them. One organisation that is concerned to raise support for the persecuted church is Christian Solidarity Worldwide. It’s role is to stand in solidarity with the Christian Church worldwide, wherever it is persecuted, and encourage others to do so.

 On the 1^st September, a representative of Christian Solidarity Worldwide will be speaking at our morning service. It will be a good opportunity to learn of the tragic complex situation.

 Do join us then.

 Link to Christian Solidarity Worldwide

What's Going On? Principal Services – July - September

See our Programme - here

As the summer term draws to its end and the holidays
begin we bring to an end our sermon series on Spiritual
Gifts.

During the following weeks I am delighted that we have
a variety of speakers at St Paul's. Along with some home
grown talent we are also able to hear from those we
support by praying and giving as we are updated on their
work.

St Paul's hosts the Joint Parish Communion at the end of
August and the following week we are privileged to
welcome Stuart Windsor from Christian Solidarity
Worldwide to speak about the Persecuted Church.

As the Autumn term begins so we start a new sermon
series called 'Life on the Frontline'. Together we will be
exploring the environment where God has placed us
outside of the Church and how we can bring a positive
Christian presence into those places. As a church we
want to support and encourage everyone in their
frontline ministry. There will be opportunity to follow up
on this teaching with Home Group studies – do join a
group if you are not already part of one, speak to myself
or Graham Woodard to join one.

Yours In Christ,
Steve

Revd Steve Bailey.

Wedding Dance with a difference!

The wedding season is upon us now and I look forward to the joy and privilege of taking a marriage service.
Watch this link to see a flash mob dance within a recent wedding service taken by someone I trained alongside.

Welcome Back Jane Jerrard

After the service yesterday (23 June) the parish’s link Mission Partner with the Church Mission Society (CMS) spoke of her work in Pakistan. She described the work of setting up primary schools for the least privileged communities. Education offered the chance for these children to rise above their lowest level in society. For a girl, it offered the prospect of marriage to a man who was equally educated and a home where education was valued. Using role-play the children were also trained to stand up for their own rights and for the rights of others.

Over a simple lunch afterwards, people were able to ask Jane more about her work.

The IFCampaign Rally – the Batchelors Report Back

The banner outside the church at present reads: “enough food for everyone, IF we act and pray.” The action of one family in the church, the Batchelors, was to go to London support the IF Campaign Rally on 9 June in Westminster Central Hall, Westminster, and then in Hyde Park. There, they joined 45,000 other like-minded people from 200 different charities.

At our service yesterday, Matilda presented a PowerPoint of their experiences. She described what it was like to be in the huge crowd. The rally was particularly calling for the developed world to Give enough Aid; for multinational companies to Stop Tax Dodging, which was depriving Third World countries of much-needed revenue that was rightfully theirs; for a Stop to Land Grabbing which meant that rather than being used for food, the land was growing biofuels; and overall for Transparency, so that it could be seen what companies were doing what.

 It was a scandal that one in eight people in the world went to bed hungry when there was actually enough food for all, and 3 million children died of malnutrition each year. The rally had been supported by many celebrities such as  Danny Boyle, Bill Gates, Rowan Williams, Justin Welby, Eddie Izzard, and other religious leaders.

The family brought with them the banners that they had carried on the march and invited other children in the church to come and wave them.

Let’s continue to pray for this campaign.

Father's Day

On Sunday it was Father's Day. At St Paul's we took the opportunity to mark this day by praying for all the men, especially the Dad's in our congregation.
The news in the past week reported the 'desert' of fathers in children's lives today. Statistics show the importance of having a father, a positive male role model in the life of a child.
As well as praying we gave all the men a gift, a bar of chocolate that has been advertised with the slogan 'its not for girls'!
At our evening prayer meeting we prayed for home and family life and for the work of the Mothers Union, Care for the Family and others who work tirelessly to support and uphold marriage and family life.

Garden Party

On Saturday 8th June we hosted our second Garden Party in the Vicarage garden. For those of us not able to travel to London and join in the IF rally we used this opportunity to raise some funds for the IF campaign.
Home made cakes were enjoyed, with tea or Pimm's! There was a raffle as well as a well stocked plant stall.

Over 50 people attended through the afternoon including neighbours from St Paul's flats. It was lovely to welcome such a wide variety of the local community. It also gave people a chance to meet the new Chicken's in the Vicarage garden, Orange & Borange!
Many thanks to all those who worked so hard to make the afternoon a success.

Enough Food for Everyone IF...

The campaign "IF" is a campaign run by a coalition of relief and development agencies, some of which are Christian. The belief is that the cause of malnutrition and starvation in the world is not a lack of food – in fact there are often excesses, and land may even be "set aside." Rather, the problem is he is one of inequality caused by poverty, where people lack the ability to pay for what is available – a problem of equality. The problem is often made worse when multinationals in Third World countries avoid paying the taxes to those countries which would help lift the poor out of the gutter.

Yesterday, hoping to gain the attention of the G8 meeting of the finance ministers of leading economies, a large (many tens of thousands) rally was held in London by the organisers.

St Paul's has supported the campaign since its inception, and one family travelled to London to join the rally and show their support.

 We continue to pray that the IF campaign may make a real impact.

This is Discipleship

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk8ERxqCZqQ
Click on the link above to watch a thought provoking clip about Discipleship.