Please join us on the 2nd November at 6pm
Benefice Newsletter for Sunday 17th October – Twentieth Sunday of Trinity
Message from our Curate in Charge,
The Revd James Marston
After a relax with some blue vinney cheese and a glass of port after a long day exploring the delights of Dorset, I remembered I’d better write the weekly newsletter.
Not much news this week except to remind you we will be celebrating All Saints as a benefice at 10.30am at Aldeburgh church on October 31st. I’ve begun my research for the sermon, and the benefice choir will be forming under the direction of Mish Kelly who is already working hard on the music. I hope to see you all there on the day.
James
Collect
God, the giver of life,
whose Holy Spirit wells up within your Church:
by the Spirit’s gifts equip us to live the gospel of Christ
and make us eager to do your will,
that we may share with the whole creation
the joys of eternal life;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
First Reading
Isaiah 53.4-end
Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.
Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Second Reading
Hebrews 5.1-10
Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. And one does not presume to take this honour, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’; as he says also in another place, ‘You are a priest for ever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.’ In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Gospel Reading
Mark 10.35-45
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’ And he said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’ And they said to him, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ They replied, ‘We are able.’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.’ When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, ‘You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’
Sermon by The Revd James Marston
Preached at Aldeburgh 10th October 2021
Mark 10.17-31
“He was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions”
May I speak in the name of the living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We all like our own way, don’t we? I know I do. I like to be agreed with, I like to be proved right, I like my ego massaged and, dare I say it, I even like a little bit of attention. My little blue car – although I don’t like to admit it –draws admiring glances and comments that I rather enjoy. No wonder I like to keep it clean.
My sister tells me that if I get any more attention my head won’t fit through the west door –so enlarged is my ego that I barely meet the requirement of humility necessary in a priest.
I’m afraid we all like it when people agree with us, indeed we often chose to have people around us who are of a like mind. And we call people awkward or difficult if they propose a different stand point.
Most of us don’t like to be challenged at all and we often take the view that those who aren’t one of us must be ignored and avoided. It is a terrible trait and yet often part and parcel of our nature.
It is so easy to get wrapped up in the self and forget the bigger picture. Indeed, it’s often easy to exclude God entirely. In our secular and individualistic age, we often define our success in life by the paradigm of wealth and material gain – often leaving us, as the year’s progress, confused and lacking in understanding of others and lacking in spiritual health.
And in that sense today’s reading is also a challenge to us all.
We hear Jesus telling a wealthy man to give up his possessions, his material gain and wealth, in order to follow him. And, as is often the case, in Mark’s gospel, we hear of the consequences – the man was shocked and went away grieving, unable to exchange his comforts for the promise of eternal life.
Unable to trust in God.
We all fail to trust in God. We all think we are in control of our lives. We all assume we know best. We all have pride and ego that can often overwhelm us. And today’s reading highlights a difficult truth we may not want to hear – we are made weak by our human nature, our selfishness, and our focus on that which isn’t God.
And our New Testament reading from Hebrews reminds us that our weakness is seen and known by God and that one day, somehow, we will have to render account of ourselves to Him.
This might all sound a little bit depressing, a little too difficult for our Sunday morning ears, maybe even a little too much from the curate whose only been here five minutes. But let me assure you we have hope.
Jesus loved the wealthy man, he sympathises with our limitations, and with God all things are possible.
Our salvation, our journey to eternal life, isn’t easy and no Christian finds this an easy process – because as we get closer to God the worst excesses of ourselves are burnt away in the fire of faith.
Following Jesus, putting ourselves and our desires, low on the list of priorities forces us to wrestle with ourselves and our pride and ego, and forces us to realign our focus away from the self and towards God.
This is what trusting God is all about. And I think this is what Jesus is getting at, that faith is life changing and transforming as well as difficult and challenging.
I’m not going to give up my little blue car, or deceive myself that I am somehow without the sin of pride because I wear robes on a Sunday and people stand up when I enter a room, but that doesn’t mean challenging oneself in one’s faith isn’t necessary once in a while.
Allowing oneself to be burnt by faith, to accept following Jesus puts everything we measure ourselves by on its head, is how we get closer to God and therefore closer to our own salvation.
So, my challenge to myself and to you this week is twofold. To look at ourselves closely, to recognise we get it wrong and put things in the way and to do something about it – to admit our failings and to turn to God in our weakness.
How we all do that is up to us; prayer, worship, study, turning the other cheek a little bit more, may well be part of it but remember this deepening our faith is not always an easy or comfortable process.
If it is, we aren’t doing it right.
Amen
Post Communion
God our Father, whose Son, the light unfailing,
has come from heaven to deliver the world from the darkness of ignorance: let these holy mysteries open the eyes of our understanding
that we may know the way of life, and walk in it without stumbling;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
NADIA LASSERSON & FRIENDS
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NOTICES
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Weekly Benefice Newsletter If you would like something added to the weekly newsletter that is relevant to the Benefice, please do let Claire know and we will do our best to include it the following week. |
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✟ Church of England and Diocese Online Worship ✟ There are many online services you can view from the Church of England and our cathedral. Here are some links below. Church of England website https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer Church of England Facebook page Church of England YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/ St Edmundsbury Cathedral Facebook Page |
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✞ Pilgrims Together on Wednesdays ✞ The Pilgrims worship together every Wednesday. Pilgrims Quiz on Zoom – Saturday 27th October (not 20th) Please email Sue and Richard if you can provide a round: |
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Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities. The Aldeburgh Co-op and Solar in Leiston are doing a grand job in collecting food donations, which are collected regularly and distributed. So please look out for the various collection baskets. The Trussel Trust Organisation Food banks in our network have seen an increase in the number of food parcels given out over the last year due to Coronavirus, so any donations are much appreciated. You can find out which items your local food bank is most in need of by entering your postcode here – https://www.trusselltrust.org/give-food/ |
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Rainbow Tots has Moved! We are delighted to inform you that the popular Rainbow Tots group have changed their venue to The Church Hall (Aldeburgh). This takes place every Tuesday morning (during term time) at 10am. All Mums and toddlers are welcome. Find them on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/rainbowtotsaldeburgh/ |
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Next week – |
Benefice Newsletter for Sunday 10th October – Nineteenth Sunday of Trinity
Message from our Curate in Charge,
The Revd James Marston
As I lit the fire the other evening and relaxed with Vera, and a small selection freshly baked sausage rolls in the spacious rectory here in Friston, I thought it myself that autumn is well and truly here and maybe it’s time for a bracing walk.
With that in mind this week I found myself on Crag path in Aldeburgh – for more of a gentle stroll than a brace – when it struck me to remind you that prayer – the bedrock of our faith – can be done out and about as well.
Praying – talking to God, and trying to listen to Him, is how we develop our relationship with Him, and that’s not just done in church on a Sunday morning but at other times too. As we see from our gospel reading this week Jesus was an itinerant preacher, Jesus walked everywhere.
The exciting news this week is the addition of retired priest Rev’d Sheila Murray to our list of priests happy to help out with occasional services across the benefice. Some of you may recognise her from when she’s visited our churches. Rev’d Sheila introduces herself this week in the newsletter.
Just so you all know I’m away for a few days next week – visiting Dorset – which I’m quite looking forward to. While I’m away Rev’d Jo is still around if there’s anything super urgent.
James
Collect
O God, for as much as without you
we are not able to please you;
mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit
may in all things direct and rule our hearts;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
First Reading
Amos 5.6-7, 10-15
Seek the Lord and live, or he will break out against the house of Joseph like fire, and it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it.
Ah, you that turn justice to wormwood, and bring righteousness to the ground! They hate the one who reproves in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks the truth. Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and push aside the needy in the gate. Therefore, the prudent will keep silent in such a time;
for it is an evil time. Seek good and not evil, that you may live;
and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, just as you have said.
Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
Second Reading
Hebrews 4.12-end
Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account. Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Gospel Reading
Mark 10.17-31
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother.” ’ He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ They were greatly astounded and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’ Peter began to say to him, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you.’ Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’
Reflection for Harvest Festival Service with
the baptism of Evelyn Nunn, by The Revd Johanna Mabey
Preached on Sunday 3rd October 2021 Aldeburgh
Joel 2:21-27 and Matthew 6:25-33
May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Harvest is a time when we think of the fruitfulness of the land and our church is filled with produce and beautiful flowers, when we give thanks for all God’s gifts, but at the same time we’re reminded how all isn’t right with the world.
In earlier times food production was life – when crops failed, the winter could be a battle for survival.
Despite current difficulties with transportation and shameful fisty cuffs at some petrol stations, we enjoy a good measure of food security, as do many across the world.
But there are still places where the dependence on nature for food production is absolute.
Kagera, our link diocese in Tanzania is one such place, and that’s where all the money in our collection is going to today.
Around the world eco-systems are suffering and our behaviour is making the planet uninhabitable.
There’s a well know phrase that says: live simply that others may simply live.
The truth is that we need to live with less and take less from our world.
The prophet Joel paints a terrifying picture of a devastated world in the wake of a plague – in this case a plague of locusts.
The devastation is total.
There’s no pasture.
Flames have burned all the trees.
The watercourses have dried up.
Even the ground mourns.
But in the extract we heard, we suddenly hear the command
‘Do not fear’ – addressed to all creation.
‘Do not fear, O soil’, Joel says.
‘Do not fear, you animals.’
‘Be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God, O children of Zion.’
But the call not to be afraid doesn’t appear to make sense. Surely there’s rather a lot to be afraid of?
But read on and it does make sense.
‘Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and mourning’, God says.
In other words, let your heart be broken
Find compassion. Mourn what should not be.
So it’s all about a transformation of the heart.
We might say it’s our continued indifference or hardness of heart in our world, that stands between us and the restoration of God’s beautiful planet.
It’s striking that Jesus also urges us not to be afraid – in those beautiful words from Matthew’s gospel.
‘Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.’
‘Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.’
And yet, this isn’t a casual ‘head in the sand’ urging us not to worry, telling us to turn our back on the needs of the world.
Jesus is much more specific than that.
‘Strive first,’ He says, ‘for the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’
So, it’s on this basis, striving for what God wants for all creation, that we’re encouraged not to be afraid.
But I wonder what this means for us in practice as we give thanks for God’s harvest in the full knowledge that creation is groaning.
The climate crisis won’t be averted simply by the actions of governments, new technologies, activists, and individuals – important though they are.
What I take from our bible readings is that the climate crisis will be averted when our hearts are melted.
When we mourn the loss of natural habitats.
When we feel compassion for our suffering neighbour – near or far.
And when, by God’s grace, we act in love.
Do you remember Kermit the frog from the Muppets?
Well, I think Kermit was right when he said ‘It’s not easy being green’
But we know, for the sake of Evelyn who is being baptised today, and for the sake of her young friends and family, and her whole generation, we all need to change the way we live, making less of an impact on our world, by respecting it and caring for it.
When we do this, we walk in the ways of what is right and just.
As we look to the UN climate change conference – COP26 – in Glasgow next month, when so much is at stake, join with me in praying for a rich harvest…
For humility
For a sense of urgency
For compassion and for love. Amen.
Post Communion
Holy and blessed God,
you have fed us with the body and blood of your Son
and filled us with your Holy Spirit:
may we honour you, not only with our lips
but in lives dedicated to the service of Jesus Christ our Lord.
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NADIA LASSERSON & FRIENDS PRESENTED BY HUMPHREY BURTON Will include works by Bach, Scarlatti, Mozart, Rossini & Schuman Wednesday 27th October 2021 at 4pm at Aldeburgh Parish Church ALL WELCOME Admission Free – A retiring collection for Save the Children Social distancing will be administered in the church for everyone’s safety |
We welcome, The Revd Sheila Murray,
who will be leading occasional services within the Alde Sandlings Benefice
When my husband Andy and I came to Aldeburgh Church a few months ago, having moved to Saxmundham just before Christmas, we immediately felt at home. Despite us all having to sit socially distanced, and wearing masks we were made welcome and we just knew this was where we wanted to worship.
We have two children, Angus who is married to Sam and they have a little boy Ethen who is just 5 and Finn who was born in August this year. Currently they live near High Wycombe. Rebecca our daughter lives near Farnborough with her partner Kevin and his two teenage children. I was brought up in North London and have four siblings – 2 older and 1 younger brother and an older sister. During my early childhood we had a house on North Parade in Southwold, then my parents moved to Framlingham (by that time I had left home), then they moved to Saxmundham and Andy and I were married in Sternfield Church in 1983. Andy was new to Suffolk, having been brought up in Edinburgh. We met in 1981 in Oslo, Norway while we were both serving in the RAF, Andy as a pilot and I was a Finance/Personnel Officer. Having moved around a lot, we settled in Taunton in Somerset in 1994. We left in 2017 when I took a House for Duty Post in N Yorks, looking after two village churches near Ripon. We returned to Taunton in late 2019 and I had a few months off then sadly we were then into Lockdown 1.
I was ordained in 2011 in Wells Cathedral having studied for a year at Ripon College, Cuddesdon. I had six years as part of the ministry team at St Mary Magdalene Church in Taunton. I enjoy painting, and music, especially singing and have done a little bit of composing too. We both enjoy gardening, walking by the sea, and watching programmes such as Vera, Strictly, Bargain Hunt, Only Connect as well as watching cricket. (We were active members of Somerset County Cricket Team).
We are thrilled to be back in this part of Suffolk and are enjoying exploring new beaches, footpaths and country lanes, and getting to meet new people who also love this area.
I feel very privileged to be able to come and help out where I can, and I am looking forward to taking services throughout your Benefice over the coming months. Andy has also agreed to help out with playing the organ at Aldeburgh church when he can (he is also playing in Framlingham some Sundays). We both feel God has brought us here at just the right time, and we very much look forward to getting to know more of you in the future.
Sheila Murray
A LETTER FROM BIZE MINERVOIS
We’re here! The journey down went very smoothly apart from some heavy traffic near Paris, and we’ve been settling-in to the house that will be our home for the next year. It’s lovely, comfortable, and very well-equipped. Coco is beginning to realise that this is home too and has been enjoying walks out, exploring and sniffing (her favourite thing).
The last week or so in Aldeburgh was very busy, preparing for Revells to pack and store our furniture and then trying our best to keep one step ahead of them when they were in The Vicarage. They work fast! (And they’re very good.) I must apologise to those who I fully intended visiting before we left and in the end wasn’t able to – time just ran away with me.
Settling in for the year means that we have quite a bit to organise. Doctors, dentists etc need sorting (work in progress) and today we will be taking Coco to meet her new vet. We have already had one or two surprises. Only a few kilometres from our village there is a pick-your-own farm, run, I think, by English people (the PYO idea is a bit of a novelty in France) and, seasonally, you can pick peaches & nectarines, figs, cherries, aubergines, tomatoes …… We visited a couple of days ago and came back with figs and … strawberries. Picking your own strawberries in October – who’d have thought it. And they’re delicious!
With love, as ever, from Mark, Ro and Coco
Mark & Coco in Minerve – the village that gives the area its name. Note the colour of the sky!
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Texts from Coventry Cathedral’s Tablets of the Word I and the Father are one He that hath seen me Hath seen the Father John 10.30 and 14.9
This is a difficult one. How can we come (with St. Paul) to see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”? If we had been there, we might have seen the Father in the face of the infant Christ lying in the hay. If we had been there, we might have seen the Father in the face of twelve-year old Jesus talking with the doctors of the law in the Temple. If we had been there, we might have seen the Father in the face of the one standing by our side in the waters of the Jordan where, needing a fresh start in our lives, we had gone to be baptised by John. If we had been there, we might have seen the Father in the face of Jesus, teaching the people, healing the sick, calling Zacchaeus in the sycamore tree, accepting the offering of the woman anointing his feet. If we had been there – no, that is going too far – we cannot speculate, – we might have run away afraid. Put it again as a question, in the words of those later followers from the slave plantations of Virginia and Louisiana, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” Were we? And would we have seen the Father in the face of Jesus Christ? Probably not – such discoveries take time. It took Thomas ten days. Then “My Lord and my God”. John the Evangelist is called the Apostle of Love. He gives us today’s verses. He in old age sums up the whole Christian revelation: “God so loved the world that he gave . . .” John 3.16.
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NOTICES
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Pilgrims Together on Wednesdays The Pilgrims worship together every Wednesday. |
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Weekly Benefice Newsletter If you would like something added to the weekly newsletter that is relevant to the Benefice, please do let Claire know and we will do our best to include it the following week. |
|
Church of England and Diocese Online Worship There are many online services you can view from the Church Church of England website https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/church-online/weekly-online-services Church of England Facebook page Church of England YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/ St Edmundsbury Cathedral Facebook Page |
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Rainbow Tots has Moved! We are delighted to inform you that the popular Rainbow Tots group have changed their venue to The Church Hall (Aldeburgh). This takes place every Tuesday morning (during term time) at 10am. All Mums and toddlers are welcome. Find them on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/rainbowtotsaldeburgh/ |
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The Alde Sandlings Celebrate
Please remember that your Harvest gifts would be most welcomed at any of the food banks after the services. Of course, you may know of a group or someone that would be in need of a Harvest gift. Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities. The Aldeburgh Co-op and Solar in Leiston are doing a grand job in collecting food donations, which are collected regularly and distributed. So please look out for the various collection baskets. The Trussel Trust Organisation Food banks in our network have seen an increase in the number of food parcels given out over the last year due to Coronavirus, so any donations are much appreciated. You can find out which items your local food bank is most in need of by entering your postcode here – https://www.trusselltrust.org/give-food/ |
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Sacristan Training Sessions with Revd Johanna Mabey We are calling for all volunteers at Aldeburgh Parish Church, for Sacristans (Preparing the Holy Eucharist for the celebration of the mass. This includes readying the wine, water, and bread and putting them in place for the start of mass, and then removing and cleaning after the service). If you would be able to take part and assist with this role in our Holy Communion services, please speak to a member of the clergy or our church/deputy wardens. Revd Jo has created a printed guide and is offering training to anyone willing to join the team. |
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Next week – |
Concert at Aldeburgh Parish Church – Wednesday 27th October at 4pm – ALL WELCOME
19th September Baptism
On September the 19th we all gathered to celebrate the baptism of the lovely little Rose. It was such a joyous service and a great pleasure and privilege to witness the beginning of Rose’s journey within the Christian faith.
We welcome you into the fellowship of faith;
we are children of the same heavenly Father;
we welcome you.
Jesus said, ‘Let the children come to me. Do not stop them’.
We thank God for Rose who has come to be baptised today.
Christ loves her and welcomes her into his Church.
Here is The Revd Johanna Mabey baptising Rose, with the proud parents.
Thank you to Rose’s parents, Liz and Caesar, for sharing this photo with us.
Benefice Newsletter for Sunday 3rd October – Eighteenth Sunday of Trinity
Message from our Curate in Charge,
The Revd James Marston
I had to sit down with a soothing Cornetto this week after I realised my little blue sports car – a missional tool I told the Archdeacon – drank a little more petrol than I was at first prepared to admit. Thankfully I’ve got a fairly full tank and at the moment I’m riding out the crisis and able to panic buy toilet rolls instead.
I am, of course, despite my slight flippancy, reminded of 2 Thessalonians 3:16 “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.” I think this applies to all worrying and difficult situations in which we all find ourselves in the course of life.
Good news – I heard from our much loved Rev’d Sheila Hart this week. She is on good form, and despite some personal health issues, she is hoping to return to ministry as soon as she can – I suspect she’s already frustrated – perhaps in the New Year.
Rev’d Sheila has asked me to thank you all for your prayers as they mean a great deal to her. In the meantime, she’s helping me with some bits and bobs and, I think, keeping a watchful eye on me from afar! We all wish her well.
In the meantime, Rev’d Jo and I are, I hope, doing our best to keep the ship steady-ish as we approach one of the benefice’s busiest times.
As, ever, we thank you for your support and encouragement.
James
Collect
Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us your gift of faith
that, forsaking what lies behind and reaching out to that which is before,
we may run the way of your commandments and win the crown of everlasting joy; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
First Reading
Genesis 2.18-24
Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’ So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.’ Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Second Reading
Hebrews 1.1-4: 2.5-12
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. But someone has testified somewhere, ‘What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them?
You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned them with glory and honour, subjecting all things under their feet.’ Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying, ‘I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.’
Gospel Reading
Mark 10.2-16
Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ They said, ‘Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, “God made them male and female.” “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’ Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.’ People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’ And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Sermon from the Revd James Marston
Matthew 6: 25-33 Harvest sermon
Preached at St Mary, Friston 26.09.21
May I speak in the name of the living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
It is at this time of year the church turns its collective attention to marking the change of season and the harvest. As we rejoice today at God’s gifts of the countryside, the seeds that grow, the crops and fruits, and land of plenty that sustains and feeds us in our lives we can reflect that the harvest process itself has changed. The steam engines, the wheat shocks, the threshing drums, the horse powered transport have all largely disappeared.
Wheat, for example, is much less tall than it used to be, and wheat is harvested earlier in the year than ever before. The harvest takes a matter of days rather than weeks. Far less people work on the land than they used to. Modern technology has changed everything.
What hasn’t changed, of course, is God and the thanks we offer to Him here today and in other churches across the land. Harvest Festival remains an important part of our calendar and is a way of thanking God for the world around us and for being in our lives.
We may change and develop during the course of our lives, we grow up, we stop being children and we move on through life, but God remains God. I find some comfort in this, that the God I worship is always there and a constant in my own life.
In today’s Gospel reading Jesus urges his followers not to worry. Not to worry about what they eat, wear, or drink – to strive not for those things but for the Kingdom of God above all things. To put our faith first in our lives and see our lives through the lens of faith, to negate the material and self is not easy.
Indeed, this putting God first is the crux, of course, of the Christian struggle – to put self-second and God first. Yet to aspire to holiness, to live a life that trusts in God is very difficult – we might try but we fail again, and again, and again.
Jesus is not the daily bread made from the fruits of the harvest: wheat, flour, water, fat, and energy, but provides a spiritual food that we can rely on all the year long, for all the length of our lives.
And Jesus is God’s greatest gift.
It is, Jesus, as the son of God, who gives life and light to the world and transforms lives. That for followers of Jesus, there is more than just the physical bread to sustain us through life but, Jesus, the nourishing spiritual bread of life there to sustain us when we fail to live the faith we espouse. A counsellor and friend we can turn to in prayer that can calm and affirm us and replenish our souls to try again to put God first.
And for this, at this Harvest Festival, I believe we can be thankful people. We can express our gratitude to the God not only for the world around us and our community but for the gift of His son Jesus whose presence in our lives and in our community nourishes, sustains, and ultimately saves our souls.
We have come together today to bring thanks to God and to celebrate the safe gathering in of the harvest fed and watered by God’s almighty hand. We are giving thanks for the produce of our agricultural community and of our gardens. We are also here to remember and help others who live in other countries where food and resources are not so plentiful.
We come to church to pray, to sing and worship and spend time with God and each other. We also nourish our souls in the knowledge of the resurrected Jesus Christ in the process. And in this sense this Sunday is no different from any other.
But today, as we nourish our souls once more, Harvest Festival is, perhaps, a special time in which we can give thanks for the joy of faith. The marvellous knowledge and trust in the loving, generous and gracious God we worship.
We can rejoice in not only the harvest and the time of year but also in our faith itself. It is a faith that helps us live through the dry, difficult, and arid times as well as the good. It is a faith that also, when nourished and held in gratitude to God, gives us peace and keeps us going amid all the ups and downs of life.
And as we worship together today, we can think of this great gift of Jesus.
And for Jesus, as well as the other gifts of the harvest that we celebrate today, I believe, we can’t thank God enough.
Amen
Post Communion
We praise and thank you, O Christ, for this sacred feast:
for here we receive you, here the memory of your passion is renewed,
here our minds are filled with grace, and here a pledge of future glory is given, when we shall feast at that table where you reign
with all your saints for ever.
Texts from Coventry Cathedral’s Tablets of the Word Part Four by John GilesCome unto Me
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NOTICES
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Pilgrims Together on Wednesdays The Pilgrims worship together every Wednesday. |
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Mark, Ro, & Coco |
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Weekly Benefice Newsletter |
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Church of England and Diocese Online Worship Church of England website https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer- Church of England Facebook page Church of England YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLecK8 St Edmundsbury Cathedral Facebook Page |
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The Alde Sandlings Celebrate God’s Generosity
Please remember that your Harvest gifts would be most welcomed at any of the food banks after the services. Of course, you may know of a group or someone that would be in need of a Harvest gift.
The Trussel Trust Organisation |
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Sacristan Training Sessions with Revd Johanna Mabey |
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Rainbow Tots has Moved! |
Next week –
Sunday 10th October
Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity
Benefice Newsletter for Sunday 26th September – Seventeenth Sunday of Trinity
Message from our Curate in Charge,
The Revd James Marston
With the resounding success of the benefice’s Harvest Messy church and all the other things that are going on across the Alde Sandlings, there is a real sense of energy and what the French call the “Rentreé” – that “back to school” feeling and return to life in the autumn months.
The summer is behind us, and we are looking forward to the future. The political year, the academic year, the seasons, the church year – all are interlinked and intertwined. It is no coincidence Christians celebrate the light of the coming of Christ in the depths of winter, or that Easter is in the spring. We have harvest just around the corner, Remembrance on the horizon and Christmas coming round the corner.
As I try to till the ground for the next incumbent, we all need to strike the right balance between pause and action – not easy as we come out of a long period of enforced inactivity. It is difficult to hold the space of being in the short term.
In the meantime, the Alde Sandlings Benefice waits on God and waits on His will and His time as you discern the future.
James
Collect
Almighty God,
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you:
pour your love into our hearts and draw us to yourself,
and so bring us at last to your heavenly city
where we shall see you face to face;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
First Reading
Numbers 11.4-6, 10-16, 24-29
The rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.’ Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then the Lord became very angry, and Moses was displeased. So Moses said to the Lord, ‘Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favour in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, “Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child”, to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me and say, “Give us meat to eat!” I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once—if I have found favour in your sight—and do not let me see my misery.’ So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Gather for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them take their place there with you. So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again. Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, ‘My lord Moses, stop them!’ But Moses said to him, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!’
Second Reading
James 5.13-end
Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest. My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Gospel Reading
Mark 9.38-end
John said to him, ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’ But Jesus said, ‘Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward. ‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched. ‘For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.’
Sermon from the Revd James Marston
Preached at Knodishall 19th September
Jeremiah 11:18-20
James 3:13-4:3-8a
Mark 9:30-37
May I speak in the name of the living God, Father Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
In my copy of a diary of a country parson by James Woodforde, there is an entry in September 1793 which says the following. “We were very sorry to see on this day’s paper from bath that our very valuable and worthy friend the Reverend Mr Duquesne from Tuddenham was no more. It is a very great loss to us but I hope to him, gain. Pray God he may be eternally happy…Dinner today: boiled leg of mutton and a roasted rabbit.”
Mr Woodforde went on “Drank some spruce beer of Mr Taswells and liked it very much, it was in bottles.”
I have to admit this entry brought a smile to my face. Not least because of the juxtaposition of the concept of eternal life and, as we see throughout his diary, Mr Woodforde’s enjoyment of food and drink and people and all that earthly life has to offer.
Indeed, it brought Shakespeare to mind “Let me have men about me that are fat; Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o’nights: yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.”
It is as a Christian community our constant mission to stand out as the people of God. In order to do this we are those people in our communities who pray and think about the divine.
But is too much thinking a dangerous thing? I don’t know but I sometimes wonder if it might be. It is easy to focus our minds to such an extent on the numinous that we can forget we come together to worship God and live the faith in the here and now. And, at times, it seems to me we can all think too much about the spiritual and not enough about the present.
I may well be preaching to myself but getting the balance right between earthly things and the metaphysical is a challenge for us all.
Christians are called to be in the world but are also called to be less of the world. It is a fine distinction and we all waver between seeing the world and our place in it through the lens of faith and seeing the world through the lens of the self and our human experience. Too much of one negates the other.
And I think today’s gospel reading, a story in which those around Jesus are caught thinking too much about themselves and not enough about the faith they are being taught may be a useful reminder to us all that the self is something we need to subjugate from time to time. Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.
Furthermore, Jesus points to a child and challenges those around him by highlighting the importance, in His view, of what first century contemporary social attitudes considered unimportant. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me. Jesus is saying, I suggest, that God is interested in and values the unimportant and those often ignored and forgotten in our communities.
Perhaps our attitudes in the 21st century of what’s important and what isn’t sometimes need a shake up too. Perhaps we all get too wrapped up with the details and forget the bigger picture.
This week just as I was worrying the details of something trivial that needed to be done that afternoon a parishioner asked me my views on eternal life.
It made me stop and think and was a question to which I probably responded inadequately but, nonetheless, one which has stayed with me all week and one to which we all ought to give our attention once in a while because it reminds us that it is part and parcel of our faith and set of beliefs.
Rev Woodforde, it seems to me, gets the balance right. His matter of factness about the death of his friend can also be read as a statement of Woodforde’s hope found in his faith, his certainty of eternal life – his prayer suggests his friend is in a better place.
And that life and the here and now, and the roasting of rabbits, goes on.
Amen
Post Communion
Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us,
and make us continually to be given to all good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The joyful and busy return of Messy Church!
by The Revd Johanna Mabey
After an enforced break of two years, we had a marvellous return of all things messy with our Harvest Messy Church service on Saturday 18th September in Aldeburgh Church Hall.
It was attended by 31 children and 36 adults!
The Hall was full of the sound of children (and adults) having a wonderful time… the children had grown so much since we last had Messy Church – it was astonishing.
Everyone was extremely happy to be back. The relief and joy that events such as this are now possible again felt very evident.
The children were able to participate in bread roll making, apple bobbing, chocolate apple dipping (that was very messy, but excellent fun) biscuit decorating, writing prayers for our Harvest thankfulness prayer tree, harvest wreath making, pom pom hedgehog making, and many more crafts.
Fran read the Bible story from Luke’s Gospel about the rich farmer who stored up all his crops and didn’t share his wealth. We then talked with the children about what that story could teach us. That was followed by some prayers using various cereals and then we all sang ‘He’s got the whole world in his hands’.
Jules and Andy kept us all supplied with endless cups of coffee, squash, hot chocolate and biscuits.
Reverend James offered the final prayer and blessing, and everyone left very happy with their bags full of the things they had made and full of the joys of harvest.
We had a retiring collection in aid of the emergency appeals for the Afghanistan Crisis launched by Unicef, The British Red Cross, and Church’s Welcome – all charities that work with children and families.
Huge and heartfelt thanks to all the helpers and supporters on Saturday – you worked so hard. This was a Benefice/Community wide effort too – with helpers from Aldringham Church, The Baptist Church and the Pilgrims Group. As I keep saying, this valuable ministry amongst children and families would not be possible without you. So, THANK-YOU!!
We also greatly appreciate the support for this ministry that we receive through your prayers – they are so important.
We gave out invitations to every child and family for our Harvest Festival Service in Aldeburgh Church on Sunday 3rd October.
Preparations now begin for Christmas Messy Church on Saturday 11th December at the Fairfield Centre: 10am till 12noon. Time to get the glitter out!
Here are a few photos from the day. There are more to view at
https://www.aldeburghparishchurch.org.uk/harvest-messy-church-18th-september-2021/
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Afghanistan Appeals – THANK YOU!
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NOTICES
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Pilgrims Together on Wednesdays The Pilgrims worship together every Wednesday. Some dates for your diary: Saturday 2nd October Saturday 6th November Saturday 4th December Our lovely Chris at the Parrot has offered the pub as the venue for our breakfasts, for £5 he is offering a breakfast bap and coffee / tea combo. Bap choices include sausage, bacon, or egg. We will gather at the pub from 9.30 am for breakfast. A big thank you to Chris! As ever people are welcome to come just for breakfast, for the breakfast and the ramble or for just the ramble. If you would like to just ramble then I would think we would be moving on in our cars, from the Parrot, at about 10.30am. The lovely Eric is planning the walk…more on that soon. All are welcome to the breakfasts / rambles. |
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Weekly Benefice Newsletter If you would like something added to the weekly newsletter that is relevant to the Benefice, please do let Claire know and we will do our best to include it the following week. |
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Aldringham Sunday Services The last outdoor service starts at 11am, in the beautiful Aldringham churchyard. Weather permitting. ALL VERY WELCOME |
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✟ Church of England and Diocese Online Worship ✟ There are many online services you can view from the Church of England and our cathedral. Here are some links below. Church of England website https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/ Church of England Facebook page Church of England YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/ St Edmundsbury Cathedral Facebook Page |
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Ride and Stride Update The 2021 Ride and Stride took place on Saturday 11th September. A HUGE thank you, to all that took part. |
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The Alde Sandlings Celebrate
Please remember that your Harvest gifts would be most welcomed at any of the food banks after the services. Of course, you may know of a group or someone that would be in need of a Harvest gift. Food Banks at the East of England Co-op Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities. The Aldeburgh Co-op and Solar in Leiston are doing a grand job in collecting food donations, which are collected regularly and distributed. So please look out for the various collection baskets. The Trussel Trust Organisation Food banks in our network have seen an increase in the number of food parcels given out over the last year due to Coronavirus, so any donations are much appreciated. You can find out which items your local food bank is most in need of by entering your postcode here – https://www.trusselltrust.org/give-food/ 01722 580 178 or emailing supportercare@trusselltrust.org |
Next week –
Sunday 3rd October
Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity
Harvest Messy Church – 18th September 2021
The joyful and busy return of Messy Church!
After an enforced break of two years, we had a marvellous return of all things messy with our Harvest Messy Church service on Saturday 18th of September in Aldeburgh Church Hall.
It was attended by 31 children and 36 adults!
The Hall was full of the sound of children (and adults) having a wonderful time… the children had grown so much since we last had Messy Church – it was astonishing.
Everyone was extremely happy to be back. The relief and joy that events such as this are now possible again felt very evident.
The children were able to participate in bread roll making, apple bobbing, chocolate apple dipping (that was very messy, but excellent fun) biscuit decorating, writing prayers for our Harvest thankfulness prayer tree, harvest wreath making, pom pom hedgehog making, and many more crafts.
Fran read the Bible story from Luke’s Gospel about the rich farmer who stored up all his crops and didn’t share his wealth. We then talked with the children about what that story could teach us. That was followed by some prayers using various cereals and then we all sang ‘He’s got the whole world in his hands’.
Jules and Andy kept us all supplied with endless cups of coffee, squash, hot chocolate and biscuits.
Reverend James offered the final prayer and blessing, and everyone left very happy with their bags full of the things they had made and full of the joys of harvest.
We had a retiring collection in aid of the emergency appeals for the Afghanistan Crisis launched by Unicef, The British Red Cross, and Church’s Welcome – all charities that work with children and families.
Huge and heartfelt thanks to all the helpers and supporters on Saturday – you worked so hard. This was a Benefice/Community wide effort too – with helpers from Aldringham Church, The Baptist Church and the Pilgrims Group. As I keep saying, this valuable ministry amongst children and families would not be possible without you. So THANK-YOU!!
We also greatly appreciate the support for this ministry that we receive through your prayers – they are so important.
We gave out invitations to every child and family for our Harvest Festival Service in Aldeburgh Church on Sunday 3rd October.
Preparations now begin for Christmas Messy Church on Saturday 11th December at the Fairfield Centre: 10am till 12noon. Time to get the glitter out!
Revd. Johanna Mabey
Here are some photos from the day
Benefice Newsletter for Sunday 19th September – Sixteenth Sunday of Trinity
Message from our Curate in Charge,
The Revd James Marston
Priests are called first and foremost to be a person of prayer. Indeed, all Christians nurture and develop their relationship with God by the medium of prayer.
It is through prayer that we still ourselves sufficiently in order to detach ourselves from the quotidian routine in order to see the world around us through the lens of faith and the spiritual.
The history and practice of the Christian faith inform us that prayer has many forms – immediate and urgent cries for help, intercessionary, liturgical, hymn singing, study, the Eucharist, silence…the list goes on.
Although our whole lives and how we lead them are a prayer to God, making time to join the ancient river of prayer, in whatever form, is the heartbeat of our Christian lives. Prayer is how we still ourselves in order to be able to listen to God in our own lives and ensure we direct our lives to His service.
We do meet to pray together on a Sunday morning, but church services are not really sufficient for the development of our prayer life and, in turn, the nurturing of our souls and our relationships with God. Clergy often try to inspire congregations to a prayer life alongside, yet also outside of, Sunday church.
This week one of our benefice elders Jan Chard has offered to maintain a benefice-wide prayer list for those who we hear of in our communities that might be in need. This is important work and part of our collective ministry and mission to the communities in which we live.
We are, as Christians, called to be aware of and look out for those who might be sick or unwell, in trouble or adversity. These people are prayed for at Morning Prayer at Aldeburgh church which I, and a few others, usually attend.
If you hear of anyone from your parish who is in need and asks for this public prayer ministry do let Jan know and she will update our benefice’s daily prayer list accordingly. Remember we do need people’s verbal permission to put their names on the list.
Please contact admin@aldeburghparishchurch.org.uk if you would like someone added.
In other news I’d like to congratulate and thank all those involved with this year’s Ride and Stride event which raised much money for the Suffolk Historic Churches Trust. As usual our benefice was well organised and well prepared as we welcomed cyclists keen to explore our churches.
A great success.
James
Collect
O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear
the prayers of your people who call upon you;
and grant that they may both perceive and know
what things they ought to do, and also may have
grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
First Reading
Jeremiah 11.18-20
It was the Lord who made it known to me, and I knew;
then you showed me their evil deeds.
But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter.
And I did not know it was against me
that they devised schemes, saying,
‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
so that his name will no longer be remembered!’
But you, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously,
who try the heart and the mind,
let me see your retribution upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
Second Reading
James 3.13-4.3, 7-8a
Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace. Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Gospel Reading
Mark 9.30-37
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, ‘The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.’ But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’
A Message from Revd Sheila Hart
I am writing this because I am concerned that some of you have misunderstood James’ message in the pew sheet last week in regard to my future involvement with the benefice and I would like to put a few of those right.
Firstly, I have NOT resigned from the benefice, neither have I resigned as Rural Dean BUT there are a few issues going on with my family and me which are causing me to think carefully about what is the best way for me to handle the next few months especially so that James and the ministry team have time to plan for unforeseen eventualities which may happen.
As a result, I have decided not to lead Sunday worship in any of our churches until our situation has stabilised somewhat.
As far as I am able, I shall continue to attend meetings and do pastoral visits and home communions all with the proviso that all is well with me and Mary, our daughter. I shall give you as much notice as I can for a change in my situation BUT I shall not be resigning from the benefice for the foreseeable future.
I continue to value your thoughts and prayers and do please keep in touch.
With my love to you all
Sheila x
Stewardship
St Andrews Aldringham 12 September 2021
Address by Mark Goyder
A few minutes’ walk from here is the RSPB hide. You know the one? It looks across the reedbed towards Sheep wash Crossing. It’s a good place to watch the marsh harriers. To get there you go along the boardwalk.
Early this year a firm of contractors was commissioned by the County Council to renovate the boardwalk. The old planks were ripped up and new ones put down.
When I talked to the men doing the work, I found them disillusioned.
‘This wood that we are putting is no good. It won’t last that well,’ they said.
I asked if they had pointed this out to the council. Yes, they had but they were told to go ahead anyway. Someone had an annual budget to keep to, and had found cheaper timber. They weren’t concerned with the risk that their successors would pay the price for this decision.
Someone at the council has not been behaving like a steward. Stewardship means looking after the assets with which we have been entrusted and passing them on to our successors or to the next generation in better condition.
Let me give you another local example.
When the vicarage in Westleton became redundant, local people developed a plan to enable people to stay in the village as they got older. With the blessing of the Church of England, they envisaged building 20 bungalows as sheltered accommodation, and using the redundant vicarage building itself as a social hub for future residents. In 2020 East Suffolk Council turned the proposal down. They said the proposal was unacceptable in the light of the ‘historical significance of St Peter’s Church nearby’.
I don’t know about you, but I think offering the senior citizens of tomorrow the chance to find a home and stay in the village, and using the vicarage to combat loneliness might be more in tune with the best historical traditions of the church. More so than opening the way for more executive housing.
Now just Imagine if a house builder had been on the look-out for profitable community-initiated schemes and had worked with the community groups to help realise their objective. There are such people about. I’ve just read about a company which specialises in making flats for young people more affordable by making them smaller but designing them so that they don’t feel cramped.
That’s what I would call stewardship. Thinking ahead to the needs of the next generation.
When I started talking to Rev James about future generations, he reminded me about the growing activities of the Messy Church for the under 5s in Aldeburgh…
Let’s think further about what we are doing for future generations.
I have spent my life working in and around business. I spent twelve years as a manager in engineering and paper manufacturing. I have worked with some dedicated people who cared deeply about what they did and the customers they did it for. I have also experienced all kinds of takeover and merger and management buyout, some of them with greedy, uncaring people at the helm who just wanted to extract as much profit as quickly as possible. lt made me realise that business can be a force for good but it matters who owns a company and whether they are thinking short term or long term. So I set up an organisation called Tomorrow’s Company that has spent the last 25 years mobilising the power of business and investment to make things better for people. Making a profit yes; but doing so in a way that adds value to people and the community. As that passage from Ecclesiastes puts it
‘I have seen the business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s mind’.
If you ask people in different countries around the world if they think the system is working for them, only one fifth say that it is. It is all too remote. Too often people feel helpless to influence things.
To me a vital part of Christian faith – something, as well, which is shared by all major religions – is that everything is connected. And we are taught that the Kingdom of God is not some far away place that we will find out about after death. The Kingdom of God is here, all around us and we are put on this earth to nurture it. God has made everything beautiful. We are here to be good stewards of it. We all have the potential to make things better. We are all endowed by God with some capacity to contribute to the advancement of that Kingdom. We just have to look for it.
How do we in the church think about wealth creation? Do we think of it as a remote thing operated by strangers that we cannot influence?
This is where stewardship comes in. We have more influence than we might imagine. The world of business and investment is not a black box. People are influencing it in all kinds of ways.
Take fast fashion. 90% of the people who work in the garment industry are women. Many of them are badly exploited, not only in Bangladesh but here at home where companies in cities like Leicester have been exposed for exploitation. The garment industry is, after the oil industry, the second biggest polluter in the world.
When my daughter comes to stay with our granddaughter, odd packages keep being delivered. At first, I wondered why Diana was buying so much stuff. But she wasn’t buying it: she was swapping it. There is a very successful enterprise called NU that does this. Its customers are enjoying fashion while also recycling it.
We make all kinds of buying decisions that make a difference.
A confession: I love peanut butter and the like. And my favourite nut butter was a scrumptious almond one that came from Marks & Spencer. I used to buy it in threes and fours!
Then I became aware of the destruction caused by palm oil. I looked at the jar and there it was. Palm oil. That means deforestation and bad impacts on the world’s ability to absorb C02. No more almond butter.
Or think about the decisions people make when they buy a car. Last year, the International Energy Agency published research that showed that SUVs – so-called Sports Utility vehicles – were the second largest cause of the global rise in carbon dioxide emissions (second largest cause of the global rise in carbon dioxide emissions) over the past decade, eclipsing all shipping, aviation, heavy industry and even lorries.
Each year, said IEA, SUVs belch out 700 mega tonnes of CO2, about the entire output of the UK and Netherlands combined. If all SUV drivers banded together to form their own country, it would rank as the seventh largest emitter in the world.
Last weekend I was contacted by a friend whose daughter bought a flat in Basildon. The company building the flats failed to put in any firebreaks in internal walls. As a result of a review following Grenfell Tower, her fire insurance is now FIVE TIMES what it was. I hope none of my pension savings are invested in a building company which is such a poor steward.
Think about investment.
Anyone here who has a pension, or even a life insurance policy, is through those channels a shareholder. As such we have the opportunity to choose funds that have the right impact on this wonderful world, or tell our pension trustees what they can and cannot do with our money.
When I left a big company in my late thirties, I had to set up a personal pension scheme and save directly into that. It gives me a buzz to know that part of my pension is invested in an investment fund that focuses on renewables and environmental improvements, and stays away from industries like oil and tobacco and mining.
In two weeks’ time we will be celebrating Harvest Festival. The hymns we sing and most of the prayers we say are left over from the day when agriculture dominated the economy. Since then, the economy has moved on to manufacturing, services, health, housing, leisure, now digital and artificial intelligence. To me all of that, and the way we invest our money, is part of the harvest. In our church it is time to think about what a c21 version of Harvest festival would look like.
How well have we sowed? How will our grandchildren reap? How can we improve what Ecclesiastes in our reading calls ‘the business that God has given the sons of men to be busy with?’
And the daughters!
That to me is the challenge of stewardship.
Post Communion
Almighty God,
you have taught us through your Son
that love is the fulfilling of the law:
grant that we may love you with our whole heart
and our neighbours as ourselves;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Afghanistan Appeals – Can you help?
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Next week –
Sunday 26th September
Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity
Texts from Coventry Cathedral’s Tablets of the Word
Part Two by John Giles
I am the Vine,
Ye are the branches.
He that abideth in Me, and I in him
The same beareth much fruit
For apart from me you can do nothing. John 15.5
Six of the verses chosen for Coventry Cathedral are from St. John’s Gospel. Three, including today’s verse, come from what we know as Christ’s Last Discourses with the disciples, following the Last Supper.
Grapes, wine, and the vines from which they came, played a large part in Jewish life. Had not Noah planted the first vineyard after the Flood (Genesis 9.20)? Grapes, vines, and vineyards figure regularly throughout the Old Testament, while the vine is a symbol of the ideal Israel. To this day Jews keeping Passover take care to spill some red wine as a symbol of God’s Grace and Generosity. My Old Testament professor used to say the Jews of old had a “wine-based economy”. No puritan streak there!
So Christ invites his followers to abide in him, to come in under his roof and stay with him. He is the stock of the vine; we are to be the branches, growing grapes from the rising sap of his goodness. Oh dear, we don’t do it very well. But the grapes come in the end from Him. Our job is to abide in him. The word comes again famously in the story of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus meeting the stranger: “Abide with us, for it is toward evening” There is a lovely Taizé chant saying just that.
It is not easy to “abide”, to “dwell” in Christ in a materialistic fun-loving culture such as our own, obsessed with gold medals which are idolised, rather than the (very good) things, in sport, gardening, acting etc., they celebrate. We need to maintain our union with the stock, through church, prayer, the scriptures. If we think of Christ as the Vine Stock, then he has become a very old vine, a true Vielle Vigne, from which as we know the best wines of all are grown. Sidney Carter kept alive the thought of Christianity keeping us young and old in his
“One more step along the world I go”:
You are older than the world can be,
you are younger than the life in me;
ever old and ever new,
keep me travelling along with you:
And it’s from the old I travel to the new:
Keep me travelling along with you.
NOTICES
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Pilgrims Together on Wednesdays The Pilgrims worship together every Wednesday. Please contact admin@aldeburghparishchurch.org.uk for more info |
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Weekly Benefice Newsletter If you would like something added to the weekly newsletter that is relevant to the Benefice, please do let Claire know and we will do our best to include it the following week. |
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Aldringham Battle of Britain Service This Sunday (19th)
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U Food Banks at the East of England Co-op U Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities. The Aldeburgh Co-op and Solar in Leiston are doing a grand job in collecting food donations, which are collected regularly and distributed. So please look out for the various collection baskets. |
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The Trussel Trust Organisation Food banks in our network have seen an increase in the number of food parcels given out over the last year due to Coronavirus, so any donations are much appreciated. You can find out which items your local food bank is most in need of by entering your postcode here – https://www.trusselltrust.org/give-food/ 01722 580 178 or emailing supportercare@trusselltrust.org |
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✞ Compline on Zoom ✞ Compline online services are every Wednesday at 6pm. All are very welcome. Please contact admin@aldeburghparishchurch.org.uk for more info |
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✟ Church of England and Diocese Online Worship ✟ There are many online services you can view from the Church of England and our cathedral. Here are some links below. Church of England website https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/ Church of England Facebook page Church of England YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/ St Edmundsbury Cathedral Facebook Page |
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Ride and Stride Update The 2021 Ride and Stride took place on Saturday 11th September. A HUGE thank you, to all that took part. Janey Blanchflower’s (Aldringham, St Andrew’s) The Suffolk Historic Churches Trust Sponsored Bike Ride 2021 |
Benefice Newsletter for Sunday 12th September – Fifteenth Sunday of Trinity
Message from our Curate in Charge,
The Revd James Marston
I begin with some unsettling news. Our benefice’s assistant priest, The Revd Sheila Hart, advised me this week that she will be withdrawing from active ministry for the foreseeable future due to personal and family health issues.
Our prayers are with her and her family at this difficult time as we support Sheila through the coming weeks and months as medical investigations continue.
Meanwhile this news naturally means there will be some practical issues with regard to staffing and timing of regular and other services in our benefice, which I, and the ministry team, will be working on in the coming days. I ask for your support, understanding and patience as we do this.
Be assured of our ongoing support for all of our parishes, as we work through the coming weeks and months.
In the meantime, we heard the sad news that Val Jeffery, a much-loved and long-standing worshipper at Aldeburgh church died peacefully earlier this week. Our prayers and thoughts are with Dick and the rest of their family. May Val rest in peace and rise in glory.
With this sad and unsettling news from our church community this week and the difficulties of the last 18 months for us all, it may well be time for some spiritual nourishment as we face the challenges of the coming weeks and months.
I would urge you to think about joining me once in a while at the service of Morning Prayer – held at 9am from Monday to Saturday in Aldeburgh church. I go most days and it is by daily giving ourselves to God that Christians nourish their souls in order to do render service to God and the community. And during this service we pray for those in need as well as for the church and other communities of the benefice and diocese.
Regular prayer is important work which underpins our work for others and our own faith and by prayer we are reminded of our joint enterprise of sharing God’s love and supporting one another in the journey of faith.
Peace be with you.
James
Collect
God, who in generous mercy sent the Holy Spirit
upon your Church in the burning fire of your love:
grant that your people may be fervent
in the fellowship of the gospel that,
always abiding in you,
they may be found steadfast in faith and active in service;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
First Reading
Isaiah 50.4-9a
The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher,
that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens—wakens my ear
to listen as those who are taught.
The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious,
I did not turn backwards.
I gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.
The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be
put to shame; he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who are my adversaries?
Let them confront me.
It is the Lord God who helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
All of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.
Second Reading
James 3.1-12
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
Gospel Reading
Mark 8.27-end
Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’ And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’
Sermon for 12th September, Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity,
by The Revd Johanna Mabey
Isaiah 35.4-7a
James 2.1-10 [11-13] 14-17
Mark 7.24-end
‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
As we’ve just heard in our readings, healing is a sign of God’s kingdom – the fulfilment of God’s purposes.
So it’s a bit disappointing isn’t it? and a bit rubbish to say the least, for those of us who often pray for healing – for ourselves and for others – when, often the longed-for healing doesn’t materialise.
We know we’re supposed to have a more nuanced understanding of healing as something emotional and spiritual if not always physical – but, if we’re honest, that can still feel a bit like a consolation prize.
So, what are we supposed to do when our diseases of mind and body persist?
What’s the point of all this unalleviated suffering?
What’s God up to?
There are some simple answers to that question that are sometimes offered – and please note these come with a hefty health-warning:
First: if we only prayed enough, or if we prayed in the ‘right’ way, then God would do what we asked.
Or Second: suffering is an entirely just punishment for our sins so we just have to bear it, because, deep down, we deserve it.
Or, third: there is no God, so there is no point, no meaning to any of it!
One could offer countless objections to all three of those answers, but, perhaps the most important objection is that not one of them is of any help!
All of them, ultimately, increase and compound suffering – and nowhere do we see Jesus either doing this, or recommending that we should.
As I’m sure you know, a cornerstone of medical ethics is
non-maleficence,
or ‘First do no harm’, and as people of faith, we have a similar responsibility.
We are not here to make things worse for one another.
I’ve been privileged to work in places where sadly people seem to have more than their fair share of suffering… as part of my ministry training, I undertook a placement at Ipswich hospital as a chaplain.
Visiting the neo-natal intensive care unit, the suffering of children felt especially devastating and unjust – the questions there seem somehow sharper, more urgent – we can hear it in the persistent and courageous voice of the Syro-phoenecian woman in the gospel, as she pleads for her daughter.
In a hospital, you know that you aren’t going to make it all better- but you can make sure that it isn’t made worse!
You can make sure it isn’t made worse by the environment in which the patient and family are held…
That said, spend time with anyone who has a chronic disability and it’s soon clear, that there’s so much in the world that makes things worse for them – as if their troubles weren’t enough.
Access for wheelchair users remains a significant issue. It doesn’t take much imagination to know what it’s like not to be able to get into places where other people can go. Being excluded, even if there is no malice or harm intended, is never good.
In the letter of James that we heard earlier, there’s a clear instruction to the Church to show no favouritism; to make no distinctions between rich and poor members.
It’s important that we remain alert not just to those we may be favouring but also those we may be excluding, albeit un-intentionally.
When it comes to human suffering, there’s much we can do that falls into the category of ‘first do no harm’.
Simply paying attention to the attitudes of mind that, without any malice, marginalise…
and the aspects of the physical environment that restrict and exclude, all of which simply makes the suffering worse than it need be.
This may not literally give sight to the blind or unstop ears – although it might make life less hard for those who have those difficulties.
When Jesus said ‘the poor will always be with you’, I think we can be pretty sure that there will always be suffering in this life…for all of us – in one way or another.
So what is God up to in this? I suspect God is up to the same thing he has been up to from the beginning, which is the creation and redemption of the world, and I suspect that no life is too short or limited to be of significance in that creative-redemptive process.
Yes, the suffering is hard – hard to endure, harder still to understand – but we have more power than we realise.
James, in his epistle, quotes the same scripture as Jesus; ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself’.
It is love, the greatest of all spiritual gifts, that enables us to recognise and respond to the suffering in others.
It is love that fires that deep sense of the sheer offensiveness of suffering – an energy that drives so many – especially in the medical and caring professions.
God is at work in all of this. The same God who in Christ worked miracles to show us that our desire for healing is ultimately his, and that all those prayers we offer for healing are not in vain, even if the result in this life is not the fullness of what we seek.
Christ is risen from the dead to assure us that suffering and death won’t have the final word, and Christ gives himself to us in bread and wine as a pledge that we too will share in that victory.
In the meantime, there’s much we can do for our neighbour through love; through simple, practical compassion so that suffering isn’t compounded, isn’t made worse by marginalising, or excluding those who suffer.
I’ve been speaking mostly about disability this morning, but much is also applicable to the suffering of refugees – so much in our news right now.
The Syro-phoenician woman was only looking for the crumbs under the table. She knew it wouldn’t take much to change her world, and with God, as we know in the Eucharist, even crumbs; tiny fragments, can become charged with the hope of a new world, and become signs of the fulfilment of God’s healing work.
Amen
Post Communion
Keep, O Lord, your Church, with your perpetual mercy;
and, because without you our human frailty cannot but fall,
keep us ever by your help from all things hurtful,
and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Afghanistan Appeals – Can you help?
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Texts For Today from Coventry Cathedral by
Canon John Giles
Tablets of the Word is the name given to the eight stone slabs on the side walls of the modern Cathedral in Coventry rebuilt in the 1950s. They bear key New Testament verses, beautifully carved by Ralph Beyer. Roughly seven feet long, they face diagonally into the nave so that you can see them and read them as you go up to the Altar.
The carved words of the verses are basic to Christianity. They were chosen by Provost Howard Williams, following his other inspired decision to inscribe “Father Forgive” above the altar in the ruins of the old cathedral, destroyed by German bombs on the night of 14th November, 1940.
The Tablets of the Word give us a series of powerful texts to strengthen our understanding of the message of the New Testament. I will be commenting on them in the coming weeks. Coventry incidentally is the UK City of Culture 2021.
Tablet 1
The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Luke 19.11
The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep John 10.11
“Are we lost?” asked one of the young. “We’re not lost” said the leader (your correspondent of course) “We just don’t know quite where we are”. The church youth group from St. Mark’s Sheffield was on a Sunday afternoon “Ramble”, in the Peak District. We had ended up on Kinder Scout, one of the bleakest places in the British Isles. Some Ramble! We all got safely back to base in the end, but for a moment there was real uncertainty. Does that ring a bell for us today?
According to Luke, Jesus speaks of himself as Son of Man. He comes amongst us as one of us, as a man, in full humanity, however gifted, where humanity crosses over into divinity. He is not lost himself. His whole concern is for those who are lost. There are so many types of lostness, uncertainty. We might spend a moment thinking quite where lostness hits us, and where Christ’s teaching and example can refix our spiritual and practical compass bearings. And then go on to Part 2 of this Tablet of the Word:
The Good Shepherd. John chapter 10 is directed straight at the disciples, and of course Christ’s followers today. The title of the Good Shepherd was especially dear to the first Christians in Rome. In the catacombs are several wall paintings of a young shepherd dressed in a Roman toga, carrying fire in a bucket, and carrying a sheep on his shoulders. Those first Christians knew full well Christ had given his very life for them. It is that sort of faithfulness and dedication to others at whatever expense that can bring back direction and value to our society today.
We shouldn’t say too much about verses like these. They are far too important to be wrecked by over- elaborate commentary. They need rather just to be repeated again and again to ourselves till the truth behind them really sinks in. And then let thankfulness break out – as it can and surely will.
Next week –
Sunday 19th September
Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
NOTICES
| An Update from The Pilgrims As a group we are also planning to arrange Zoom Quiz and Storytelling Ceilidh evenings again for the winter months. These proved very popular, and many people said that they appreciated being able to enjoy such evenings from the comfort of their own armchair! We would also like to gather people’s thoughts on more Zoom Bible study sessions, as again these too proved very popular. Pilgrim Breakfast and Pilgrim Rambles will be starting again very soon too, more information to follow. We did begin to discuss the venue for our Wednesday gatherings at last week’s online meeting. Everyone present was in agreement that with the current situation regarding Covid, the Thorpeness Pavilion is too small to meet safely and enjoy face to face Pilgrims with singing, shared food etc (which, as we know, is all very important to our face-to-face gatherings). Continuing on Zoom was considered best for the foreseeable future; we are very open to any suggestions…one being that Wednesday becomes regular on Zoom, especially now we have a gathered community taking in several members, who live a good distance from the area, and wouldn’t be able to attend face to face. But to look to plan face to face ‘Pilgrim Specials’ (for example Harvest) and find a local hall location which is big enough to safely meet and gather in the way we would like to… We would love to hear your thoughts on the above and we are open to hearing any other ideas that Pilgrims might engage in within our local community. Please do contact us, email pilgrimstogether473@gmail.com ✞ Pilgrims Together on Wednesdays ✞ The Pilgrims worship together every Wednesday. People are more than welcome to email pilgrimstogether473@gmail.com Please contact admin@aldeburghparishchurch.org.uk for more information |
| Weekly Benefice Newsletter
If you would like something added to the weekly newsletter that is relevant to the Benefice, please do let Claire know and we will do our best to include it the following week. |
| Aldringham Outdoor Services
The services start at 11am, in the beautiful Aldringham churchyard. Weather permitting, these services will continue throughout September. ALL VERY WELCOME |
| Food Banks at the East of England Co-op
Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities. The Aldeburgh Co-op and Solar in Leiston are doing a grand job in collecting food donations, which are collected regularly and distributed. So please look out for the various collection baskets. |
| The Trussel Trust Organisation
Food banks in our network have seen an increase in the number of food parcels given out over the last year due to Coronavirus, so any donations are much appreciated. You can find out which items your local food bank is most in need of by entering your postcode here – https://www.trusselltrust.org/give-food/ 01722 580 178 or emailing supportercare@trusselltrust.org |
| The Return of Our Messy Church Services
We are delighted to be re-starting our much loved Messy Church Services with Harvest Messy Church on Children of any age, parents, and grandparents are all welcome. No Charge. A fun morning of crafts, bread making, singing, games and prayer… If you would like to book a place, please contact HELPERS NEEDED FOR THIS VERY VALUABLE MINISTRY. Another date for your diary: Christmas Messy Church on Saturday 11th December at 10am to 12 noon AGAIN, HELPERS ARE NEEDED… |
| Compline on Zoom
Compline online services are every Wednesday at 6pm. All are very welcome. To join on Zoom, please contact |
| ✟ Church of England and Diocese Online Worship ✟
There are many online services you can view from the Church Church of England website https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/ Church of England Facebook page Church of England YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/ St Edmundsbury Cathedral Facebook Page |
| 🎶 Alan Bullard Weekly Online Hymns 🎹
Since the lockdown started Alan has recorded over 200 hymns which are available each week to view online. These have been very popular amongst other churches. If you would like to receive these each week, please contact admin@aldeburghparishchurch.org.uk and we will pass this onto Alan. Here is the link to this week’s hymn – For the fruits of all creation – as the season of harvest begins https://1drv.ms/v/s!AtEyLDlEdaeJg90dJaIAZH2NdN9N4Q (you don’t need to sign into anything, just press play) Website |
