Message to the Galatians

This Sunday, we reached the third of a series of six sermons on the letter of St Paul to the churches in Galatia (Southern Turkey). This is a crucial book in the Bible as it is one of the first, if not the first, letter by St Paul. In it, he explains the basic Christian belief that we receive God’s love (grace) not by anything that we do, but by faith in what Jesus has done by his death on the cross.

This week, Steve was preaching and demonstrated the extremes of Grace, accepting the love of God for us and Law, trying hard to abide by a set of rules – which we inevitably fail to achieve.

We look forward to learning more of God’s way for us in the coming weeks.

 

Church of England Readers – 150 Years Old

It is 150 years since lay ministers (Readers) started assisting the clergy in the Church of England. There had been some similar system many centuries earlier, but that had lapsed. But nowadays it is common to find a Reader leading a church service or preaching. They may also be involved in taking funerals or other activity in the parish.

At St Paul’s, there are two readers, Colin Chettle and Hugh James. To mark this anniversary, during this Sunday’s service, Steve invited them to come to the front of the church, where they were interviewed on how long they had been readers, what had led to them starting that ministry and what aspects of it they preferred most.

Steve then prayed for them – praying for God’s blessing on their ministry.

There will also be a number of other events to celebrate this milestone, both centrally in Leicester, and nationally

Backing the Blues

It is fair to say that most people in Leicester have gone football crazy as Leicester City Football Club draw ever closer to winning the Premiership. Yesterday everyone was encouraged to show their support and back the Blues who need just 3 points from the last 3 games of the season.
Our local High School, Manor released this video to show their support.
Many local buildings were lit up in blue including the Cathedral.

A Very Happy Birthday, Your Majesty

Our Thursday Coffee Pot Group celebrated the Queen’s 90^th birthday in style. At our Communion Service, the talk considered how we are called by Christ to serve one another – and how the Queen had put this teaching into practice. Then we prayed for her. Afterwards, we gathered at tables in the main church for our refreshments. Instead of tea or coffee (or as well) there was Schloer and there was a specially baked birthday cake, cut by one of our older members. We raised the loyal toast: “the Queen!”

Long may she reign!

My identity is in Jesus Christ

The Church of England, like every church, often makes mistakes and can often be (justly) criticised. However, when Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury discovered that the man he thought had been his father, was not, he handled the news in a way that was an example to everyone. Both his personal statement, and that of his mother, showed great graciousness, and pointed to their belief in Christ. Justin Welby stated: “I know that I find who I am in Jesus Christ, not in genetics, and my identity in him never changes.”

Read the Archbishop’s statement

Read the statement by Lady Williams of Elvel (his mother)

Queen's 90th

Here is a link to a blog from Christianity Magazine which lists 10 brilliant things the Queen has said about God.

Weeping and Rejoicing

Four hundred and fifty people packed Saint Mary’s Church, Islington on Monday 11 April 2016 to say farewell to Jennifer Harvey. Jennifer was the wife of our previous vicar, who had endeared herself to the parish in Oadby as much as she had done to people in all the other walks of her life. This explained the huge turnout for a funeral on a Monday. She had died following an (as yet unexplained) illness of a few weeks.

Nearly 50 people, including a coach party, travelled to Islington from St Paul’s. The service was led by the Bishop of Stepney, the Right Revd Adrian Newman, who also gave the address. In this he spoke of the way the message of Christ’s resurrection gives meaning to the Christian, even in the face of the apparently senseless.

Despite the sadness, the service was an uplifting act of praise to the God that Jennifer worshipped. The hymns included “And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Saviour’s blood?” which Jennifer had long ago said that she wanted at her funeral. Later, they discovered that Charles Wesley had written this hymn while he was vicar of St Mary’s Islington, where they now served.

The tributes spoke of Jennifer’s love for people, of her friendship, of her concern for the underprivileged, of her faith and of her concern for social justice – not to mention her love of a party! When Simon gave his tribute, every individual there was moved.

There was a time to get to know people from Jennifer’s different backgrounds, over cake and Prosecco afterwards.

Jennifer, it was a privilege to know you – and life on earth will be more boring without you. Our prayers go out for Simon and their children.

Celebrating Easter

Our young people took a major role in a packed main Easter Morning Service yesterday. The service was led by our youth worker, Lou McGoldrick. There were young people in the music group. The Bible readings used a video recording, and one of the young people gave the talk, pre-recorded on video.

There was an Easter egg hunt for the children, within the church, where each plastic egg contained a word which together made up a verse. For the prayers, everyone made a paper dart and put a prayer need on it. When the dart was thrown, someone else picked it up and prayed for the original person’s prayer request. This was repeated three times.

The service concluded with Holy Communion, using the shortest and most responsive communion prayer.

It was a time of great celebration, which makes all the sadder, the attacks on Christians around the world, who have also been celebrating Easter. Our hearts go out to the family of the Muslim shopkeeper who was killed, apparently, for wishing his Christian customers a happy Easter.

The news that Jesus Christ is not dead, but is indeed risen, is a cause of great joy.

Very Early in the Morning on the First Day of the Week.. .

On that first Easter Sunday, the women of Jesus’ group went to his grave early in the morning, to prepare his body – only to find that he wasn’t there, he was risen. To celebrate this, St Paul’s organised a service on the mound in Brock’s Hill Park at 6:30 a.m (it felt even earlier as the clocks had gone forward that night). They were joined by people from two other churches. Despite gloomy weather forecasts, the sky was clear.

The service started with a hymn reminding us of Good Friday and Christ’s death. There were monologues presenting the thoughts of four disciples, all discouraged or despondent in different ways. Then we read the Bible’s account of the resurrection, sang the hymn “Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia” and lit a candle (with difficulty in the wind!). Another four monologues portrayed the complete change in those same disciples that the resurrection made.

As we made our way back to the car park the sun was coming through the trees. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

He Died to Set Us Free

Although not even a holiday in the East Midlands, Good Friday is a major day of remembrance for Christians. It was then that Jesus voluntarily submitted to crucifixion, the most horrendous of deaths, bearing the sin of the world, to open the possibility of peace with God.

As many people have to work, the Churches Together in Oadby organised a single united service at 10 a.m. on Good Friday morning at Trinity Methodist Church. As well as the opportunity for prayer, praise and worship, the drama group gave a powerful presentation of the events of the first Good Friday. This was followed by tea and coffee and hot cross buns.

In the evening, at St Paul’s, we had a service of reflection. Apart from hymns, prayers and readings, there were also a number of stations which the congregation visited during the service. This gave opportunity for meditation as the stations included not only verses and poems but also physical reminders (hammer, nails and candles) and sensory reminders – the taste of vinegar and the smell of myrrh.

May we never forget the cost of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.