Friday Night Youth Glow Party

Last night we had a great time at our Glow Party with our pals from the Baptist church joining us

Lots of food, face paint, glow sticks, fun, and creativity later we finished with a Harry Potter clip, a reminder of the power of light in the darkness and Jesus’ help and light and hope in our tough times and of course rounded off with goodie bags!

Thanks to everyone who came and made it a fab evening

“The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness cannot extinguish it.” John 1:5

Music choices

This morning I shared with the congregation the challenge I find in choosing songs! In the style of Songs of Praise I had invited 4 members to pick their favourite and introduce it, saying why they had chosen it.
Thank you to Pat, Beryl, Kate & Emmanuel who did just that. It was great to hear the reason why they had chosen the songs and gave extra meaning to them as we sung together.

Youth Weekend Away

This is a video sharing some of St Paul's Youth weekend away. Our theme was Life and Faith survival looking at what Jesus, Bear Grylls and penguins can teach us about how we face life and it's ups and downs, how we prepare, how we keep going, how we need each other, how we share our story and how we face the adventure ahead. We made bread, kites, and bags, we did sports, and games and had a cool campfire with marshmallows and some valuable and precious time with God. Feeling so inspired and amazed by our young people and all that God is doing in their lives and excited for possible baptisms in the new year! :) Here are just a few of the photos from the weekend.

Harvest

Today we held our Harvest Celebrations and collected food for the Welcome Project and for Oadby Food Bank. We focused on the story of Ruth who went over and beyond what was expected of her in caring for Naomi and of Boaz who over and beyond what was expected of him in his care of Ruth. May we be generous with all we have and be willing to go over and beyond in our love and service of those in need.

All Good Gifts around Us!

The Coffee Pot group at St Pauls had a Harvest Lunch today. Unlike most Christian festivals, there is no fixed date, but our Harvest Festival service is this Sunday. Before I lunch, Steve Bailey, our vicar, talked about the meaning of harvest and of how, despite our hard work, we are impotent to bring it to completion. We were further reminded of our dependence on God as we sang the well-known harvest hymn “All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above – so thank the Lord for all his love.”

 

We then tucked into a most delicious home-made mixed vegetable soup, with different crusty rolls and sandwiches. We ended with delicious desserts and tea or coffee (Plus After 8 Mints).

 

There were then donations and raffle tickets to help Riding for disabled children.

 

We have a lot to be thankful for – and our thanks go to the team who had made and provided all the food.

Growing young leaders

Follow this link to watch a short video of our youth worker Lou talking about growing young leaders through her work with our young people.

Harvest Assemblies

This week Lou, our Youth Worker, and I are in Manor High School leading their Harvest Assemblies.
We have been using this clip called Why Poverty? from The Why as a way into thinking about generosity and how we can share with others from the abundance of good things we have been given.

We have also read the story of the Widows Offering from Mark 12.41-44
'Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting thier money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put two very small copper coins, worth only a few pence. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, 'Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on.'

Civic Service

The new Mayor of Oadby and Wigston, Councillor Rob Eaton, invited our vicar, Steve Bailey to be his Chaplain, during his year of office. It was therefore a great privilege to host the Civic Service at St Pauls on Sunday 25 September.

Not only did we welcome the Mayor, but also his wife, Councillor Lynda Eaton, and his guests which not only included councillors from Oadby and Wigston, but also the deputy High Sheriff and the mayors from many other boroughs.

At heart, the service followed our normal pattern, and we reached the 2^nd commandment in our series on the 10 Commandments. The mayor had chosen some of the hymns and there was also an act of commitment in which the mayor and the councillors committed themselves, before God, to the service of the people of the borough.

At a time of great financial pressure, we will be committing ourselves to pray for wisdom for the mayor and the other councillors as they make difficult decisions and will be praying for strength for them to be able to carry out their vision.

Thought for the Day

Yesterday morning I broadcast live my Thought for the Day on BBC Radio Leicester. You can listen to it here. (Move the slider to 46:12 minutes) They have been broadcasting on the road this week and were in Wigston yesterday. I was also interviewed afterwards. It was an early start, the Thought for the Day is at about 6.45am!

Here is the text of it:

In 1888 Alfred Nobel woke up one morning and read his own obituary in the local newspaper. It went as follows “Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite who died yesterday, devised a way for killing more people faster than ever. He died a very rich man.”

It was in fact Alfred’s older brother, Ludvig who had died. But Alfred was devastated and hated the idea of being remembered for developing a means to kill people and for amassing lots of money. So instead he decided to make a fresh start and initiated the Nobel prizes. His last will and testament set aside the bulk of his estate, giving the equivalent of $250 million US dollars to fund prizes for scientists and writers who foster peace.

As a Christian I believe that God offers us a fresh start at any time and that no one is beyond His love and grace. Through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, all our sin and shame has been dealt with. His rising again offers us hope. The past has been dealt with; our future is assured, so we can live in peace and hope today.  

Thought for the Day

Yesterday morning I broadcast live my Thought for the Day on BBC Radio Leicester. You can listen to it here. They have been broadcasting on the road this week and were in Wigston yesterday. I was also interviewed afterwards. It was an early start, the Thought for the Day is at about 6.45am!

Here is the text of it:

In 1888 Alfred Nobel woke up one morning and read his own obituary in the local newspaper. It went as follows “Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite who died yesterday, devised a way for killing more people faster than ever. He died a very rich man.”

It was in fact Alfred’s older brother, Ludvig who had died. But Alfred was devastated and hated the idea of being remembered for developing a means to kill people and for amassing lots of money. So instead he decided to make a fresh start and initiated the Nobel prizes. His last will and testament set aside the bulk of his estate, giving the equivalent of $250 million US dollars to fund prizes for scientists and writers who foster peace.

As a Christian I believe that God offers us a fresh start at any time and that no one is beyond His love and grace. Through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, all our sin and shame has been dealt with. His rising again offers us hope. The past has been dealt with; our future is assured, so we can live in peace and hope today.