Free to Believe

Of the charities that St Paul's supports, the one that we feature this month is Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). They described their role as follows:

"CSW works in over 20 countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, defending everyone’s right to freedom of religion or belief. Three quarters of the world’s population lives in countries with severe restrictions on their religious freedom – in fact, it’s one of the most widely-violated human rights in the world. We think this is unacceptable. We’re working to change it. Our vision is of a world where everyone is free to choose their beliefs – to hold and practise any religion they like, or none at all.”

We believe that everyone has the right to choose their belief, but as Christians, we particularly support Christians who are being denied that right – often at great cost, with prohibition of meeting for worship, confiscation of the Bibles, imprisonment and even in some cases death. The least we can do is to support them in prayer, and support CSW financially.

Cross of Ashes – a Sign of Love

Tonight (14 February) the Churches Together in Oadby Ash Wednesday service was held at St Pauls.

In the service, Steve took the opportunity to show a DVD which reminded us of the origins of the service of the Ashes, in which a cross of ash is placed on believers’ foreheads – looking back to Ashes as a sign of sorrow in the Old Testament, Jesus’ forty days of testing in the wilderness which is commemorated by the 40 days of Lent, and Jesus act of love and forgiveness on the cross.

In his sermon, Steve remarked on the appropriateness, this year, of Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day coinciding. Both are acts of love, which need a response.

There was then a time of congregational confession. Everyone (who wanted it) was then marked in ash with the sign of the cross, and the words: “remember that we all come from dust and to dust we shall return.”

It was good to be able to start our season of Lent in this way

New Roots

Trees feature frequently in the Bible – whether as symbols of abundance and the goodness of God or to remind us of the nature of an individual who is rooted in God.

So the broken tree trunk from the tree that snapped in the wind some weeks ago is hardly the ideal sign outside a church! So thank you to Tom, Mick and Dave who have replaced it with an Acer.

Unfortunately, they have identified two other trees which are diseased and at-risk, so they have also planted a second Acer to replace them.

                                                                                   

Welcome Tom Cox

After a short lapse, Churches Together in Oadby again organised a “Pulpit Exchange” or more accurately, a “Preacher Exchange.” While Steve went to preach at Oadby Baptist Church, this Sunday, we were privileged to welcome their minister, Revd Tom Cox.

Tom was interviewed during the service as to how God had led him to come to Oadby, from his early Christian life in the Wirral and through training in London and Oxford. Hugh James, who was leading the service then prayed for Tom.

We are currently involved in a sermon series “Everyday Supernatural” and the theme for today was “God’s Power, Our Weakness.” Tom preached a powerful sermon, demonstrating that it was not our abilities that God could use, but our weaknesses and inadequacies and our dependence on Him..

Thank you, Tom, for your visit, and we look forward to working with you and Oadby Baptist Church, seeking  extension of the Kingdom of God in Oadby.

Tree Down!

Worshippers who arrived at the midweek communion service at St Paul’s on Thursday 18 January were amazed to find a large ornamental cherry tree
which had stood on the corner of the church site, snapped off at its base and lying in the road.
Many people have been kept awake by the high , winds the night before, but the snapping across of the 30 cm trunk a little above its base showed just how strong those winds had been. Happily other trees on the site, some of which seemed more frail than this one, were not affected. Apart from the rector’s garden fence, none of the buildings on the site were damaged.

Thank You to the Firefighters

Back on 25 November 2017 (click to view) we held our Christmas Fayre at St Paul’s. As is customary, we didn’t raise monies for ourselves, but for outside charities

The two we chose were the mayor’s charity, for the Children’s Hospital in Leicester, and, the other, the Firefighters’ Charity, which supports sick, injured and traumatised firefighters, and those in need

The mayor kindly visited us and received a cheque for for £600 for her charities some weeks ago. Now it was the turn of the firefighters, as Karl Anderson, a firefighter based at Wigston, visited our morning service. He expressed thanks for the cheque for £600 for the firefighter’s charity.

It’s good to be able to express our gratitude for all the hard work that the firefighters do. Let us never take it for granted.

Principal Services — January - MarchPrincipal Services — January - March

 Happy New Year! Welcome to the start of 2018.

As we begin a New Year so we begin a new sermon series called 'Everyday Supernatural'. Based on the excellent book by Mike Pilavachi & Andy Croft which is subtitled 'Living a Spirit-Led life without being weird'! I was massively impacted by the trip with our young people to Soul Survivor last summer and have been aiming to give more space to the Spirit in our worship' since then. My hope and prayer is Oat this series will allow us to build on that as we open ourselves up to the work of the Holy Spirit and learn together how to live in the power of the Spirit day by day.

At the end of this term we celebrate the work of Jesus on the cross as we recount the Easter story and seek to live as resurrection people.

Yours In Christ,

Steve.

Service Details

You shall call his Name Jesus

Later on Christmas Day, at 10.00 a.m. there was another Communion service, when children brought the gifts that they had received to tell us about. In his sermon, Steve showed us a gold heart. And said that Jesus was the gift of God the Father to us at Christmas. A gift that showed that he loved us. He encouraged us to value that gift – and to make it our own.
May we all know the presence of Jesus in our lives in the coming year.

Glory to the Newborn King

The great day has come. It started with the First Communion of Christmas, starting at 11.30 p.m. on Christmas Eve. The Communion reminded us that the baby who was born in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, was the same Jesus who died a criminal’s death on the cross in Jerusalem thirty years later – died to forgive our sin and to open the way for us to return to God.

Crib and Christingle Servicve

On Sunday afternoon, 24 December, St Pauls was nearly full for its annual crib and Christingle service. Many of the visitors were children (and grandchildren) of former members of St Paul’s, who had now moved away.

The service was very family friendly, led by Lou, our youth worker, using video clips, some of which had been prepared by our own young people, to explain the Christmas story. We also sang traditional Christmas carols.

The next of our services – the midnight Communion – will be the first of the services properly “of Christmas.” Do join us.