Good News for the Poor

Apart from today’s service having a multicultural theme, it was also a gift service. Presents of about £15 had been bought for nearly 70 children who will spend this Christmas in mother and baby homes, and women’s refuges, near to the church.

Those who had bought and wrapped these gifts brought them forward during a song. In addition, people brought unwrapped gift for the “Welcome Project” for asylum seekers, based at St Martin’s house.

All these gifts will be distributed in the next few weeks.

From Every Tribe and Tongue

In our service today we celebrated our different backgrounds. The church had been invited to come dressed in our culturally different clothes. Some “white British” found this request difficult, although one came in a dapper three-piece suit and umbrella! However, there were some outstanding displays from Nigeria, Uganda and north and south India – not to mention a Scot! All came forward and showed their finery.

When it came to a time of sung worship, we sang the children’s chorus “Jesus loves me, this I know” in a mixture of three languages, Tamil, Yoruba and English.

It’s good to know that we are “All one in Christ Jesus.”

Christmas Fare at Barneys

Every month we offer “Breakfast at Barneys,” a breakfast, including a full cooked breakfast, at a very reasonable price in the Barnabas centre. Today was the last such breakfast before Christmas.

In addition to the usual food, the tables were decorated with crackers and floral displays. The crackers were fun, although the jokes were no better than usual! A good time was had by all.

Thank you so much to all those who helped to make this happen.

Gift Service

This morning was our Gift Service at St Paul's. As in previous years we have been in contact with some local refuge's and found 68 children who will be in their care over Christmas. Members of the congregation were given the gender and age of these children and brought them a Christmas present which we collected in this morning. The Gifts will be distributed this week so that each child will have something to open on Christmas morning.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

At the invitation of Sainsbury’s, Oadby, near Leicester, a group from St Paul’s sang Christmas Carols to the shoppers for an hour this morning (14 December 2019). We sang most of the well-known Christian carols and also added “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” at the end.

To illustrate our best wishes for our local citizens we handed out sweets as well (in the case of children, only with their parents’ permission). At the height of the secular Christmas sales season it was a good opportunity to remind people of the spiritual meaning of Christmas. People seemed to appreciate it

School Visit

Today we welcomed Foundation Stage from Brookside Primary School to St Paul's. They had all made decoration that they hung on our tree. They also had a look around church, lit the advent candles, explored advent calendars and the nativity scene as well as listening to the Christmas story.

Jennie Frith

Last Friday a packed St Paul's said farewell to Jennie, one of the founder members of St Paul's and a leader of Coffee Pot. Jennie was a well known and loved character and will be sadly missed.

On Saturday we hosted a Hustings event at St Paul's run by Churches Together in Oadby. All 5 candidates for our constituency were present and had equal opportunity to speak. About 100 people from the local community gathered to hear them answer a huge variety of questions that were emailed in in advance.
Today the Barnabas Centre is a Polling Station and I encourage everyone to vote.
Here is a prayer the Church of England has written for the General Election.

God of grace and truth,Send your Spirit to guide usas we discover your will for our country.Help us to discuss the issues before us
with courtesy, truth and mutual respect,and grant that all who stand for parliamentwill seek to serve the common good,through him who came not to be served but to serve,Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

Alpha 2019 Testimonies

We shared this video of testimonies from our recent Alpha course in church this morning.

Nativity Story Birth to Cross Line Drawing