News

9.45am Holy Communion Friston Church 10.30am Family Service Aldeburgh Church 11.00am Holy Communion Aldringham Church

Message from The Rector

Unusual circumstances call for unusual solutions and this coming week there is a rather special event, prompted by the fact that many people will not be able to sing carols in the way that they are used to this Christmas. ‘Doorstep Carols’ happens between 6 and 7pm on Wednesday December 16^th. The idea is that, if you wish, you can sing along with Radio Suffolk on your doorstep and invite neighbours to join in from theirs.
All of the details are here:

https://www.doorstepcarols.co.uk/is-your-area-involved-/suffolk

.. including details of how to raise some money for charity too. Sounds like fun!

If, however, you’d like something a little more traditional then the day before (Tuesday 15^th) at 6.30pm there will be a gathering on Mill Hill in Aldringham for some socially-distanced carol singing. Wrap up warm (it won’t last too long) and come and sing some old favourites.

Our church services for Christmas include something Christmassy in Aldringham on Sunday 20^th at 11.00am and Monday 21^st at 6pm – contact David Copp with your preferred service and the number of people who can sit together in a pew – we don’t want to have to turn people away. Similarly, there is a special Christmas service in Friston on Tuesday 22^nd at 6pm (contact Carole Edwards for details of booking).

There are services in all of our churches on Christmas Day at the usual times, but it would be good to let me or one of the churchwardens know that you are coming so that we can keep an eye on numbers. Again, it would be dreadful to have to turn you away because the church was full and numbers are, inevitably, restricted.

Finally, some details of the national church’s Christmas campaign this hear. It’s called ‘Comfort and Joy’ and has all sorts of ways of being involved – streamed services, reflections, downloadable resources of one kind and another, even a special phone app. Do have a look here:

https://www.churchofengland.org/

With love, as ever

Mark

Collect
O Lord Jesus Christ, who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you: grant that the ministers and stewards
of your mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in your sight; for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

First Reading
Isaiah 61.1-4, 8-end

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing;
I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed.

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the nations.

Second Reading
1 Thessalonians 5.16-24
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.  May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.

Gospel Reading
John 1.6-8, 19-28
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.  This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.’ And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ Then they said to him, ‘Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ He said, ‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord” ’, as the prophet Isaiah said.  Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, ‘Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’ John answered them, ‘I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.’ This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

 

Sermon for 13^th December – Third Sunday of Advent
by The Revd Sheila Hart

Today we have three amazing readings from the Bible to ponder and meditate upon.

The passage from Isaiah 61 sets out the message of hope for the future of those who are still in exile. It is almost saying ‘Don’t worry about your current circumstances, they are only temporary for I am giving you a message of hope that all will be well.’

The statement made by the prophet in the first verses of the chapter is, of course the words which Jesus applied to himself after he had read this passage in the synagogue in Luke chapter 4, ‘today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’

Our reading from Paul’s epistle to the Thessalonians is written to the young church to encourage them in their faith and their growth in their relationship with God.

And, since traditionally on the third Sunday of Advent we remember the ministry of John the Baptist, the reading from John’s Gospel highlights just that, firstly by the mention of the Baptist in the Prologue to the Gospel and then taking us on to John’s ministry and how the people received both him and it.

All of this is fine, but what is the message from these passages and how are they relevant to us today?

In the reading from Isaiah chapter 40 which we heard last Sunday the message from the prophet was that God wanted to comfort His people in their exile in Babylon and it was relatively easy to apply that to how God might want to comfort us in our ‘exile’ or ‘captivity’ as a result of Covid 19 and, indeed, there is much hope for the future control of the pandemic through the roll-out of the vaccines as they become available.

In our reading from Isaiah chapter 61, however, the prophet goes much further and spells out that God has sent him to

‘Bring good news to the oppressed,
To bind up the broken-hearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives, And release to the prisoners;
To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour, And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort those who mourn.’

This is a real message of hope, not only for the exiled Israelites, but also for those of us who are beginning to become a bit wearied by our current situation.

It poses the question, though, ‘is this hope for us alone, or do we have some sort of responsibility in, not only rejoicing in its application to our situation, but also in trying to share it with those who are not yet able to trust in the message of God for themselves?

If we look at the prologue of St John’s Gospel, where he mentions John the Baptist, we read about his coming into the world, not as the ‘Light of the world’, but as ‘the witness to that light.’ And later, John the Baptist, himself declares that he is not the Messiah, but the ‘voice crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord.’

If we take these two readings as a whole, is that not our mission and ministry, to witness to Jesus, the Light of the world so that others may come to know Him as we do?

The question is: How can we do this if we, too are overtaken by despair and hopelessness in our current situation?

The answer to this question is to be found, I believe in our reading from Paul’s epistle to the Thessalonians when he encourages the young Christians there by writing:

‘Rejoice always
Pray without ceasing,
Give thanks in all circumstances,
Do not quench the Spirit,
Do not despise the words of the prophets
But test everything, hold fast to what is good.’

As we take Paul’s very sound advice, I believe we will grow in our knowledge and faith in God who alone can take us through our current circumstances and into the future He has for us whatever that may hold, and we can do no better than commend ourselves to God using the words with which Paul sums up his advice:

‘May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your body and soul be kept sound and blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.’ Amen

Post Communion
We give you thanks, O Lord, for these heavenly gifts; kindle in us the fire of your Spirit that when your Christ comes again we may shine as lights before his face; who is alive and reigns now and for ever.

The Week Ahead – Next Sunday
20^th December – Fourth Sunday of Advent

9.45am	Morning Prayer	Friston Church
9.30am	Holy Communion	Knodishall Church
10.30am	Morning Prayer with Baptism	Aldeburgh Church
11.00am	Christmas Service	Aldringham Church

Deciphering words in the New Testament
(It’s all Greek to me)

‘En Christo – In Christ

Over the last few weeks, we have looked at snap shots of key words of Jesus. Hopefully they have brought into sharper focus for us words in Greek as heard by most of the first Christians. “Be of good heart – tharsei”, “Don’t be afraid – me phobou”, “Steadfast Endurance – hupomone”, “Sin, or Missing the Mark – hamartia”, “Repentance, or Change of Heart – metanoia”, “Love and Friendship – agape & philia”.

What emerged from those who first heard these powerful words was a band of disciples, learners on “The Way” (Acts 9.2), the first name given to the Christian movement. They would come to be called the Church, ‘ekklesia’ in Greek, those “called out” of the world to make up a new family.

In the Epistles of Paul, Peter, John and James we find a portrait of this new family life. In them we read of the shared experiences and beliefs of the early church, as its new members explored the richness of new life and faith under the Lordship of Christ, under his Cross indeed, but in the joy, confidence, and faith of the first Easter. At the same time church leaders had to start coping with the first divisions and arguments which, predictably, with human nature being what it is, soon arose, and we have to admit, have continued ever since.

Yet behind this was a unity of church members, symbolised in Baptism, (which was by total immersion in those days), in which the candidates, wearing the robe of baptism, entered the fellowship of those en Christo, in Christ. Paul wrote to the Galatians (ch. 3.28) “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus (en Christo Jesou)”. The same phrase occurs again and again in Paul’s Letters.

The words are engraved in my memory from being sent off on National Service in Germany in 1954 as a representative British soldier in blitzed Dortmund, where British soldiers were not exactly popular, to share Christmas Day with a German coal-mining family on a distant housing estate. I went to a Lutheran service with the family where an old man, at one point, seized me by the hand and said emotionally “Wir sind alle einer in Jesu Christi”: we are all one in Jesus Christ.

En Christo: At the altar rails (soon may they be restored to us) all are one in Christ.

A young curate, before going to his first Deanery Chapter was warned that it might be a bit of a shock. “But perhaps you should remember”, said his vicar, “when meeting some of these older clergymen, that however good or bad or lazy or crazy or saintly or arrogant or cynical or pompous or despairing or defeated, at some time in their lives they were inspired by Jesus Christ.”

And that will surely be true for the great majority of our fellow worshippers in the pews and at the altar rails. In Christ, en Christo, we find our unity, however different, however diverse we may be. In that is the secret energy of the Church which can pick it up by God’s grace again and again and put it back on the rails. To be personal it was that sense of us all being one in Christ, en Christo, which has upheld my own feeling of loyalty to and family membership of our Benefice in recent months and prompted me to make this tiny contribution to our life together.

Next Sunday, the last before Christmas, we shall pray the prayer of the last verse but one of the New Testament: “Even so, come Lord Jesus”.
As He most certainly will!

John Giles

DAY	ALDERTON	ORFORD	ALDEBURGH
Monday	8.00 to 14.30	8.00 to 18.30	8.00 to 18.30
Tuesday	8.00 to 18.30	CLOSED	8.00 to 18.30
Wednesday	8.00 to 18.30	8.00 to 13.00	8.00 to 18.30
Thursday	8.00 to 18.30	8.00 to 13.00	8.00 to 18.30
Friday	8.00 to 18.30	8.00 to 13.00	8.00 to 18.30

STAFF MEETING CLOSURE DATE

The surgery will be closed between 14.00 – 16.00 on Thursday 21st January for a staff meeting.

We appreciate that not all of our patients have internet access, but in the current rapidly changing climate our website & Facebook page are the most direct route for you to find up to date patient information.

If you are unable to access the internet please call the surgery if you have any queries on 01394 411641.

www.thepeninsulapractice.co.uk

NOTICES

Food Banks at the East of England Co-op Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities and have an even more vital role to play as we navigate our way through these unprecedented times. With Christmas fast approaching, your donations will make all the difference. 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.

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. Whether it be a story to tell, or tips or recipes or a notice to be added to spread the word. What Christmas traditions do you have? Your home decorations or that special recipe that is always a Christmas favourite.

9.30am Morning Prayer Knodishall Church  9.45am Morning Praise Friston Church 10.30am Holy Communion Aldeburgh Church 11.00am Morning Prayer Aldringham Church

Message from The Rector

December has arrived and we are able to resume worship in our churches. (Aldeburgh’s 9.00am Mon-Fri Morning Prayer will resume next Monday). The restrictions remain pretty well as they were before the recent lockdown so we still have to be very careful about numbers, about not being too close to people outside our immediate family or ‘bubble’ (outside the churches as well as inside), congregations still can’t sing and must wear masks unless they are medically exempt from doing so. And Christmas approaches! What can we possibly do? Well – we do what we can. I’m afraid that the ‘big’ services such as Aldeburgh’s Crib Service and Midnight Eucharist will be impossible – we simply can’t handle those kinds of numbers. I couldn’t, however, think of Aldeburgh church being closed on Christmas Day so there will be a service of Holy Communion at 10.30. There can’t be any congregational singing and we will have to restrict the numbers so please keep an eye on the website for details of how to reserve a place. We will try and contact everyone who isn’t on email by phone so that no-one misses out. But I’m afraid you won’t just be able to just turn up on the day, you will need a reservation.

Each of our village churches will also have a Christmas Day service at the usual time – 9.30 in Knodishall, 9.45 in Friston and 11.00 in Aldringham. There will also be a Christmas service in Friston on Tuesday 22^nd at 6pm (contact Carole Edwards through Aldeburgh Church website to enquire about a place for this service). And there will still be chance to sing carols outdoors too. The usual gathering of carol singers on Mill Hill in Aldringham will take place at 6.30pm on Tuesday December 15^th. We may not be able to retire to the Parrot & Punchbowl afterwards, but we can certainly have a good (socially distanced) sing! All are welcome.

The restrictions give the current season of Advent a whole new twist too. Traditionally we talk of Advent as a time of watching and waiting – and many of us this year have been waiting for some kind of normality to return for what seems like ages. So much has been disrupted. So many have had their lives turned upside down. But Christmas remains and, though it may be going to feel rather different for us this year, its message never changes. So we continue to watch and wait – but we can be sure that Christmas will still be Christmas. As it says on the board outside Aldeburgh church ‘Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.’

With love, as ever

Mark

Collect
O Lord, raise up, we pray, your power and come among us,
and with great might succour us; that whereas, through our
sins and wickedness we are grievously hindered in running the
race that is set before us, your bountiful grace and mercy may
speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ your Son
our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit, be honour and
glory, now and for ever.

 

First Reading
Isaiah 40.1-11
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her that she has served her term, that her
penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double
for all her sins.  A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the
way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 

Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made
low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’ A voice says, ‘Cry out!’ And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’ All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass.  The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand for ever. Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’  See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.  He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep. 

Second Reading
2 Peter 3.8-15a
But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.  The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire?  But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him.

Gospel Reading
Mark 1.1-8
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight”’, John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

 

Reflection for 6^th December – Second Sunday of Advent
by The Revd James Marston
St Nicholas

As a friend and wannabe comedian said to me “‘tis the season to be jolly careful” and “you better watch out sanitiser’s on his way.”

As I open my Aldeburgh advent calendar each morning – to be greeted by the image of a gingerbread man or a sprig of Holly – or switch on the television, or visit the supermarket, it is easy to get bombarded with Christmas and the ever longer run up to it. Often, somewhere in the mêlée there is an image one of the greatest saints known to the Christian faith, a man venerated and recognised as Holy across the western and eastern Christian traditions, a man whose generosity and kindness have shone through the centuries and who has never really been forgotten.

This man wears today a white beard, red trousers, black belt and red jacket. He has a sleigh and reindeer. And is particularly loved by children. We know him now as a festive figure of folklore, but he existed nonetheless. We may think we have turned him into a fictitious character and given him the name Santa Claus or Father Christmas but as every child will tell you, he is actually real.

Today, alongside the second Sunday of Advent, is St Nicholas day. Here in our benefice, it seems we quite like the saints, we observe the patronal festivals of St Peter and St Paul, St Andrew, St Lawrence as well as the blessed virgin herself. We like to hear about saints, who they were and what they did. They can inspire, and make us think, as well as call us to holiness as we march along the path of faith.

St Nicholas of Myra is not a figure of legend whose origin is lost in the mists of time but was a real person. A churchman in fact who attended the council of Nicea in AD325 at which point Christian belief began to become codified in the form of a creed.

Born at the end of the third century, in about 280, Nicholas was a very devout young man who, still quite young, became a Bishop and then the Archbishop of the then great city of Myra, which is in the province of Lycia in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey.

There he was renowned for his charitable deeds. There he set up orphanages, hospitals, hostels for the mentally ill, fed the starving in famine, and set up a drainage system so that his people would not die from the diseases incurred by poor hygiene.

He freed captives unjustly imprisoned, saved sailors in stormy seas, redeemed young girls who were bound for child prostitution. The stories about Nicholas highlight his ability to give, to care and to love.

It is Nicholas’ generosity, his loving kindness, his dedication to the faith and life of Christian witness that we can see Christ himself, and how Nicholas calls us once again to us to holiness as we march along the path of faith.

St Nicholas – Patronages

Sailors,

Merchants, 

Archers,

Repentant thieves,

Prostitutes,

Children,

Brewers, 

Pawnbrokers,

Unmarried people,

Students

As well as various cities and countries around Europe including Greece, Liverpool.

 

Post Communion
Father in heaven, who sent your Son to redeem the world and will send him again to be our judge: give us grace so to imitate him in the humility and purity of his first coming that, when he comes again, we may be ready to greet him with joyful love and firm faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Aldringham Church Calendar 2021 The Aldringham church calendar for 2021 is now on sale.  You can either collect a copy at any of the services at Aldringham church or contact David Gordon. The calendars are £10 each. Free copies have been distributed to the sick and the lonely in the congregation and the rest will be sold to raise money for church funds.

Deciphering words in the New Testament
(It’s all Greek to me)

AGAPE and PHILIA – Love and Friendship

In Christina Rosetti’s words “Love came down at Christmas”. So, Advent is a good time to think about it. The Love we are talking about in Greek is “AGAPE” (three syllables). Agape is the shining sun which gives warmth and life to our faith. “Love was Our Lord’s meaning” said Julian of Norwich.

First then, AGAPE is the word for the Love that God has for all his children on earth, given to us in human terms by Jesus. (John 3.16) “God so loved the world that he gave . 

Secondly, it is the word for the love by which we in our hearts respond to that same love (John 14.15) (If ye love me, keep my commandments); or in St. Paul writing to the Romans (ch. 5.5) “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

Thirdly, it is the word for love between people, when care and respect for them is touched with real good intent. Love is more than merely liking. When Jesus took from the Old Testament (Leviticus 19.34) the words “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Matthew 5.43) he uses the word ‘agapao’ (as a verb) which is practical in meaning, i.e., wanting the best for them. To love the hungry, for example, practically, is to give them food. He then continues “love (agapate – imperative tense) your enemies”. Well, that should make us think.

We put so much romance and sentimentality (not to mention the physical side) into our use of “love” today. Both in the Old Testament, and in the teaching of Jesus, love is present and shown by good intent more than emotions of the heart.

Secondly there is “PHILIA” or friendship. In the famous chapter,
(John 15,) where Jesus speaks of himself as The Vine, with his followers as the Branches, he goes on in verse 14 “You are my friends (philoi-plural) if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants (or slaves – the Greek ‘doulos’ has both meanings), for a servant does not know what his master is about. I have called you friends . . .”
This is so deep. We must try to understand all that follows from this, the privileged relationship with Christ that can be at the heart of discipleship. It is wonderfully recalled in the hymns “My song is love unknown” and “What a friend we have in Jesus”.

Agape and Philia overlap to some extent. In John 21, Peter does not presume to use Agape in reply to Jesus’ first and second questions “Do you love me?” (using Agape); while third time round both Jesus and Peter settle for Philia, i.e. “Do you love me as a friend?” “Yes, Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you as a friend”. “Feed my sheep”. That is the church’s episcopate.

So much to ponder and give thanks for. Christmas approaches. Here is Love in action, and this time no lockdown.

John Giles

The Week Ahead – Next Sunday
13^th December – Third Sunday of Advent

9.45am	Holy Communion	Friston Church
10.30am	Family Service??	Aldeburgh Church
11.00am	Holy Communion	Aldringham Church

NOTICES

Food Banks at the East of England Co-op  Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities and have an even more vital role to play as we navigate our way through these unprecedented times. With Christmas fast approaching, your donations will make all the difference. 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.

📆 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. Whether it be a story to tell, or tips or recipes or a notice to be added to spread the word. What Christmas traditions do you have? Your home decorations or that special recipe that is always a Christmas favourite.

None of us has known a Christmas like this one.  Many of the things that we normally associate with Christmas will be different and that, I’m afraid, includes our church services.   Aldeburgh Parish Church is normally at the centre of our community as families come and join together to celebrate the birth of Christ.  It breaks our hearts to not be able to hold our usual services (Christingle, Crib Service, Midnight Eucharist) but the pandemic continues to prevent us doing many of the usual things.   
With guidance from the Government and the Diocese regarding tier two level services we have created a plan.  Safety has to be our priority.  We will be holding a Christmas Day Holy Communion Service at 10.30am.  This will unfortunately have to have a restricted number in the congregation and I fear that congregational singing will still not be possible.  You will need to book in advance and we must stress that if you haven’t been allocated a confirmed place you will not be able to attend.  If you would like to enquire about booking a place for this service, please use the contact form and we will try our best to reserve a place.

This week’s service will be streamed live from Friston at 9.45am on Zoom. You may need to install Zoom on your device. Or you can view it using the usual method on the Alde Sandlings YouTube Chanel from 3pm on Sunday.

Message from The Rector

Last week I wrote that ‘we still await government guidance about what we can and can’t do after December 2^nd. I’m writing this at 3.30 on Friday afternoon (I really can’t keep Claire waiting any longer) and the Church of England website still says, ‘Following the publication of the Government’s Covid-19 Winter Plan, including permission for the resumption of public worship, we are awaiting the publication of detailed guidance after which we will update our advice.’ So, we know that we will be able to resume Sunday services from December 6^th, but we don’t know anything about additional restrictions that might be put in place as a result of Suffolk being in ‘Tier 2’ of local restrictions. I think we can assume that congregational singing will still be off limits and that there will be some restrictions about the numbers that we can allow in church – but we cannot yet be certain. It is very frustrating.

Having said that, we do have news of two special online services this week. On Sunday morning at the earlier-than-usual time of 9.45 our Friston Elders, Emma and Martin Steadman, will be leading a special Advent Sunday service on Zoom and this will be our benefice offering for this week. Everyone is welcome to join – all you need is a computer, phone or tablet that has an internet connection, a camera and a microphone. Then, a few minutes before 9.45, if you click on the link that Claire has provided, you will be able to join in. Everyone is very welcome. If you are not able to be there at 9.45, I hope to have a recording of the service available in the usual YouTube place very soon afterwards.

The following day, Monday November 30^th, is St Andrew’s Day and Aldringham church would normally hold a Patronal Festival service followed by fish and chips. Given that the lockdown will still be in place on Monday we have an alternative plan. Together with our Pilgrims Together group we have come up with an unusual and, I hope, inspiring online service. In their regular worship the Pilgrims use a good deal of material from the Iona community. Andrew is, of course, the Patron Saint of Scotland and after enquiries were made at the community the suggestion emerged that we might adapt their ‘Ceilidh’ service for our own use. We tend to think of a Ceilidh as a dance but it can be rather more than that – a gathering in people’s homes at which hospitality is shared, stories told and new people welcomed. Our service will hopefully be just that. The stories that we share will be both about St Andrew and St Andrew’s church – some of the group have long memories of the important part that the church has played in their lives. There will be music and prayer and it promises to be a memorable event. All are welcome to join.  The service will begin at 6.30 and last about 45 minutes, after which you are welcome to leave the link open and share some chat and food. If you’re not used to Zoom it would be a good idea to check in in good time so that we can make sure that all is well. The Pilgrims have also asked that you don’t share the link on a public platform (social media like Facebook, for example). Their lack of security can cause problems. You are, however, very welcome to share it in emails to friends who you think might enjoy the service – all are welcome!

Elsewhere on this pew sheet there are details of the services that we hope to hold in our churches on December 6^th and by next week I very much hope to be able to give you detailed information about our Christmas services. In the meantime, please stay warm and safe.

With love, as ever

Mark

Collect
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal
life, in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious
majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to the life
immortal; through him who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

First Reading
Isaiah 64.1-9
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that
the mountains would quake at your presence— as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil—to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!  When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.  From ages
past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him.  You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed.  We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.  There is no one who calls on your name or attempts to take hold
of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have delivered us
into the hand of our iniquity. Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are
the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. 
Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity
for ever.  Now consider, we are all your people.

Second Reading
1 Corinthians 1.3-9
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Gospel Reading
Mark 13.24-end
‘But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.  Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. ‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. ‘But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.’ 

Sermon for 29^th November – Advent Sunday
by The Revd Sheila Hart

Advent is a season in which we are asked to watch, wait, be patient and stay awake and alert and, as I reflected on this, I cannot help thinking that the whole of this year has been a time of watching, waiting, being patient and staying alert. And as I continued to reflect, I am very conscious of how difficult it is for people, us, me to watch, wait, be patient and stay alert. It’s fine when we are not told that this is what’s expected of us, but when the expectation is to do all of these things, I don’t know about you, but I find it extremely hard.

There is a sense of desperation, almost anger or frustration with God, in our reading from Isaiah. ‘O that you would open the heavens and come down…..When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.’ There is a sense of the prophet, the writer saying, ‘Come on God, get a move on, we want to experience your real presence among us again.’ And bursting into a chorus of ‘Why are we waiting?’

This is followed by a sense of understanding as to why the people are waiting – they have sinned; they have turned away from God ‘We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth……There is no one who calls on your name or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.’

Having acknowledged the perceived reason why God seems to have deserted His people, the writer changes his tone somewhat and pleads with God – ‘Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are the work of your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity for ever.’

It reminds me of the naughty child who knows he has not met the expectations of his parents and goes to them with his sense of failure and guilt and pleads with them to forgive him and reassure him that they still love him really, despite all he has done to anger and upset them and there is a sense of reconciliation.

But the people of Isaiah’s day had to wait a long time for the experience of being enabled to be fully reconciled to God, for Jesus, the Messiah had not yet been born, let alone lived and then been crucified and been raised from the dead so that God’s people could experience new life in Him.

In that respect we are fortunate in that we no longer have to wait for salvation for it is there for us to grasp if we will, through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

So, what are we waiting for? And why is it so difficult?

Once Jesus had begun to speak openly to his disciples about his impending death and making veiled references to his resurrection, he began to hint that he would, someday, come back and reign on the earth as King. Paul writes about the return of Christ in many of his letters to the young churches in order to give them hope for the future. But they will have to watch and wait and be patient.

In our gospel reading from Mark, we read about the difficult times that are coming for those who believe in Jesus. Prior to the verses we have heard this morning, Jesus foretells the destruction of the temple, persecution of those who believe even from members of their own family and the days of desolating sacrilege. After this comes the promise of Jesus’ return to the faithful BUT we do not know when this will happen – only God knows the day and the hour – so we are told to stay awake – alert.

Waiting, watching and staying alert are all difficult because they require patience. I don’t know about you, but I can wait for a certain length of time and then my patience begins to run out. I also find it much easier to wait when the end is in sight. One of the hardest things about the times we are living in at the moment is that we really are not sure when the end will come – we have no target to work towards. We have little chinks of light on the horizon, but we really don’t know when the vaccines will be available, when we will be able to have them, how safe they are long-term, how effective they are and how many doses, and how regularly we will have to have them to enable life to go back to normal – whenever that is. It is hard to live with uncertainty because most of us like routine and certainty.

And awaiting the return of Christ falls into this category too. There is some certainty in that, if we believe the Bible, He will come again to reign in glory. But there are also a lot of uncertainties about exactly when and even how this will happen. And so we wait and hold the tension between expectancy of an imminent return and our need to wait and watch and stay alert in our unknowing of the fine details.

Are we living in the last times? Many have thought so throughout the generations from the time of Jesus onwards and we are still here, and he hasn’t yet returned as far as we are aware. Meanwhile we trust in Christ’s promises and we continue to watch and wait and stay alert and in that watching and waiting we pray that we will grow in our love and knowledge of him who loves us and gave His life so that we might have life in his name. Amen

As we can’t hold a Christingle service in Church this year, we thought, perhaps we could still celebrate Jesus Christ as the “Light of the World”.  Here are some ideas to create your Christingles. What is the meaning behind each part of the Christingle? Here are some notes to make you own Christingles and also to teach children/grandchildren about the symbolism behind each part of it. The candle represents Jesus being the light of the world, bringing hope to people when they are in need. The sweets/dried fruit represent God’s creations in the four seasons. The orange represents the world. The red ribbon represents God’s love for the world and the blood of Jesus when he died on the cross. How to make a Christingle Tie a red ribbon around the middle of an orange. Push four cocktail sticks into the orange. Carefully, put sweets or dried fruit on the ends of the cocktail sticks. Push a candle into the top of the orange. Light the candle.

The Week Ahead – Next Sunday
6^th December – 2^nd Sunday of Advent

Hopefully will be:

9.30am	Morning Prayer	Knodishall Church
9.45am	Morning Praise	Friston Church
10.30am	Family Service	Aldeburgh Church
11.00am	Holy Communion	Aldringham Church

NOTICES

Food Banks at the East of England Co-op  Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities and have an even more vital role to play as we navigate our way through these unprecedented times.  The Aldeburgh Co-op and Solar in Leiston are doing a grand job in collecting food donations, which are collected regularly and distributed.

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. Whether it be a story to tell, or tips or recipes or a notice to be added to spread the word.

Message from The Rector

We have reached the end of the church year and I don’t really need to say what kind of a year it’s been, do I? Suffice to say ‘not what any of us anticipated or would have wanted’. But at least nowadays the church year ends with a bang and not a whimper. The Feast of Christ the King, which we celebrate this week, is comparatively new in the church calendar and began in the Roman Catholic church in 1925, finally and permanently making it into the Church of England lectionary when Common Worship was introduced in 2000. Previously this Sunday was merely ‘The Sunday Next Before Advent’ and was colloquially called ‘Stir-up Sunday’ – the words taken from the Book of Common Prayer’s collect for the day and taken literally by many who ‘stirred-up’ their Christmas puddings this weekend. But it’s good to celebrate something that is rather than something that’s about to be – and The Feast of Christ the King has now firmly taken its place in the calendar. (Though the ‘stir-up’ collect prayer is still with us and will feature in this week’s online service.)

Christmas plans are beginning to form, though we still await government guidance as to what we can and can’t do after December 2^nd. All being well, in the week before Christmas, there will be services of words and music in both Friston and Aldringham churches and there will be services of Holy Communion in some or all of our churches on Christmas Day. Sadly, the big occasions – including Christingle, the Crib Service and Midnight Eucharists are off the agenda this year but we will try to supply some online worship to compensate as best we can. It has been really difficult to try and work out what we can realistically do in these strange times – but the most important thing is that we keep safe. Covid-19 seems to be able to find ways of spreading very quickly once we relax and if we are to try to have a reasonably normal 2021, we still need to be very careful. I promise that we will do what we can.

With love, as ever

Mark

Collect
Eternal Father, whose Son Jesus Christ ascended to the throne
of heaven that he might rule over all things as Lord and King:
keep the Church in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of
peace, and bring the whole created order to worship at his feet;
who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

First Reading
Ezekiel 34.11-16, 20-24
For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

Gospel Reading
Matthew 25.31-end
‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’ 

 

Reflection for 22^nd November – Christ the King,
by The Revd Nichola Winter

Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;
rejoice, again I say, rejoice

I had so hoped that in a year in which we have been deprived of celebrating those great festivals of Easter and Pentecost in church we might just manage to mark the final Sunday of the church’s year, Christ the King, with jubilant acts of worship. Singing some of our wonderful hymns that mark the kingship of Christ – ‘O worship the King all glorious above’; ‘Rejoice the Lord is King’; ‘Alleluia, sing to Jesus’. We miss it so much.

But it cannot be. We can only sing in our hearts, join with the online offerings, and work out our faith in our individual ‘lockdown’ ways. Next week sees the beginning of Advent, the start of the church’s new year and – I think we all pray for this – new hope. It’s been hard – I don’t need to list the ways in which our worship has changed and evolved. It is, perhaps, the fellowship that we’ve missed most – those opportunities for sharing joy and sorrow, companionship and laughter, bring-and-share meals – and, of course, frequent ‘cake’ opportunities. Perhaps ‘Cake and King – Let us Sing’ might be the basis for one of our first acts of communal worship once we’re allowed!

Over the altar in Aldeburgh Church is the dramatic window depicting the crucifixion of Christ. But raise your eyes a little higher and we see Christ depicted in all his glory. Kingly, serene and majestic – ‘king eternal, earth thy footstool, heaven thy throne.’ There is scarcely a grander or more widespread image used in the Bible than that of ‘king’. The Hebrew-Aramaic word for king, ‘melek’, is one of the most commonly used words in the Old Testament, occurring approx 2700 times. In the New Testament the Greek word, ‘basileus’, occurs more than 125 times. If you add in associated words such as kingly, kingdom, the verb ‘to reign’, then the motif of kingship weaves its way through the entire fabric of the message of the Bible. Much relates to earthly kings but today we think about our divine king, Jesus Christ, redeemer, saviour, servant, healer, teacher and companion.

There have been many images over the last months of people in positions of power and authority welcoming photo opportunities that demonstrate how they are ‘at one’ with the people. ‘Coronavirus opportunities’ for the great and the good show just how much they try to be ‘on side’ with the rest of us. Commendable as these may be they are nothing compared with the way in which Jesus lived out his life engaging completely with the people – peaceably for the most part but not above criticising when necessary. The king we worship is extraordinary. Wholly human and completely divine. Sent from God to be with God’s creation. Emptying himself of kingship so that he could be as one with, and of, us. God comes to be with his people – to be with you and me, finding us wherever we are, in whatever state we find ourselves. Happy, sad, joyful, despairing, lonely, stressed – he’s right there. At the Clergy Conference last week we were reminded of the importance of allowing ourselves to be still and quiet with God. It’s so easy to get caught up in the hustle and hassle of instant communication via electronic media. We need to guard the space – allow those times of quiet. Ours is a king who rejoices when we are still and attentive.

Paul’s words to the Ephesians come as a timely reminder – and can be a prayer for us all:

‘I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you…’

At this festival of Christ the King, may we find the eyes of our heart enlightened and our souls cheered by the hope to which he has called each one of us.

 

Deciphering words in the New Testament
(It’s all Greek to me)


METANOIA, or repentance, is a key word for Christianity.  I admit I had my own fancy idea of what I could say about it until I actually got down to working on it.  Metanoia enters the New Testament via John the Baptist. Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell us that his message was a call for Repentance.  Mark (1.4) and Luke (1.3) both use identical words in the Greek: John’s baptism was “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”. Baptisma, a baptism, metanoias, of repentance, eis, for, aphesin, the forgiveness, hamartion, of sins. 

Then comes a discovery. Luke (24.28) tells us right at the end of his gospel, that immediately prior to the Ascension, Jesus commissions the disciples to go out and preach to all nations “repentance and forgiveness of sins”, using exactly the same Greek words as are used about John the Baptist’s message, thus linking Jesus and his cousin John, the beginning and end of Christ’s ministry on earth.

Once I was at a clergy school where we were challenged by the speaker to recall what Jesus told his disciples to go out and preach. Not one of us could remember these words from St. Luke.  Yet they were clearly very important to the first Christians.  “Metanoia eis aphesin hamartion” must have been a well-known formula, even a mantra, for the early church. If we forget this phrase, we are forgetting words at the centre of the first Christian preaching.

So, to METANOIA. Meta, when linked to a following word, means ‘change’. Noia is a variation of ‘nous’ which means ‘mind’. So meta noia means change of mind, or in our case, repentance.

It doesn’t mean grovelling abasement, but rather a new outlook, turning our thinking inside out. Maybe it might come to mean seeing that God loves the other person and not just me. Here is the basis for the best sort of inclusivity.  Maybe on this understanding we can all go a bit woke!

Behind that is a basic humility, a realistic self-awareness before something so much greater than ourselves.  This is the humility of the tax-collector (the publican) in the Temple praying with the Pharisee (Luke 18.23) – or the Canaanite woman (Matt 15.22) – or the two blind men (Matt 9.27).   The great Christian Prayer which expresses this is the Jesus prayer of the Orthodox Christians: “Lord / Jesus Christ / Son of God / have mercy on me”.  To be repeated slowly, phrase by phrase, over and over and over again. No gold medals here, no celebrity status, but maybe peace, love, joy. Amen.

John Giles

 

The Week Ahead – Next Sunday
29^th November – 1^st Sunday of Advent

 

NOTICES

The week ahead online services Sunday 15th 10.30am Holy Communion from Friston Monday 16th 6.30pm The Power of Prayer Wednesday 18th 10.00am Holy Communion (BCP) Aldeburgh Wednesday 18th 6.00pm Compline from Friston Wednesday 18th 6.30pm Pilgrims Together

 

Message from The Rector

There isn’t a huge amount to say that is new this week. We continue with our online services recorded in church – this week’s Sunday morning service of Holy Communion will be recorded in Friston church. We continue to hope and pray that we will be able to return to worshipping in our churches from December 6^th, but we wait and see what restrictions there may still be.

In the meantime, there will also be some special services online too. This Monday evening at 6.30pm our Pilgrims Together group has been asked to lead half-an-hour of online prayers as part of a week-long county-wide ecumenical celebration of prayer in its many forms. It’s called ‘The Power of Prayer’ and if you would like to take part you can get the Zoom link by emailing the organisers at thefarmbythewater@gmail.com

If you are unsure of the details of how to access any of these online services, please let me know and I’ll be happy to pass them on to you.

Finally, may I please say an enormous thank-you to all who helped to organise and lead our Remembrance Sunday commemorations last week. I have had lots of very positive feedback. In the middle of all of the current strangeness it was good to stop, pray and remember those who gave their lives for our freedom. We will always remember them.

With love, as ever

Mark

Collect
Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son was revealed to destroy
the works of the devil and to make us the children of God and
heirs of eternal life: grant that we, having this hope, may purify
ourselves even as he is pure; that when he shall appear in power
and great glory we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom;
where he is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the
Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

First Reading
Zephaniah 1.7, 12-end
Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is at hand;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, he has consecrated his guests. 
At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the people who rest complacently on their dregs, those who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will he do harm.’ Their wealth shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them. The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter, the warrior
cries aloud there. That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. 

Second Reading
1 Thessalonians 5.1-11
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, ‘There is peace and security’, then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labour pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then, let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing. 

Gospel Reading
Matthew 25.14-30
‘For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, “Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, “Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” But his master replied, “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Second Sunday before Advent.   Notes on this Sunday’s readings, and thoughts arising by Canon John Giles

Advent Sunday is only a fortnight away. Our lessons today confront us with one of the more sombre themes of Scripture, to which we shall be returning in Advent, that of the Day of the Lord (the prophet Zephaniah); the Second Coming of Christ (Paul’s Letter to the Thessalonians); and a rather worrying judgement of ourselves as to whether we have used what gifts we have effectively enough for the Lord (the Parable of the Talents). All in all, we have a general theme of Judgement. 

Let’s first get rid of the notion that Covid is a divine judgement. Covid is a natural phenomenon, a pandemic, like Spanish flu, or the Plague. Jesus specifically denied that natural disasters were sent by God to punish particularly wicked people. When the Tower of Siloam collapsed, killing eighteen people, they were, he said, no more wicked than anyone else. (Luke 13.4). That still didn’t stop the need for everyone to heed a deeper moral judgement on their actions. Similarly, with Covid, we must now look to science to help us find out how and where it started, and hopefully how to defeat it. 

Our lessons are all concerned with a deeper moral judgement, teaching that doing wrong things, or not doing right things, can lead to big trouble. The prophet Zephaniah foresees a truly 3D day of disaster, darkness and distress. Neither silver nor gold will be able to save the people from the Lord’s wrath. Zephaniah wrote in a time of national apostasy; of falling away from the true faith; and a time of idolatry, in which the worship of pagan religious gods with associated practices, some of which were highly immoral, was widespread. The international scene was full of predatory rival states. A nation, corrupt in its heart, would fall prey to one of them sooner or later. Zephaniah was right. Within fifty years, the Jews would be carried off as captives to Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar. Zephaniah’s prophecy of judgement was fulfilled.

Six centuries later Jesus had brought a new message of hope to the world. He had been cruelly put to death. Spiritually he had reappeared to his followers.  Physically he was no longer with them, but the belief grew in the church that he would come again and put both the world and the church to rights (see today’s Epistle). This was predicted in the gospels, especially in Mark 13 and Matthew 23 & 24. Hence the expectation of the Second Coming of Christ. The years passed and no Second Coming took place. The church’s understanding of these passages changed. Christians came to see that through the gift of the Holy Spirit the Risen Jesus had always been with the church. We celebrate that in our Communion hymns, and it remains true today: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them” (Matthew 18.20). 

So, our gospel for today, the Parable of the Talents, is a passage to challenge the church to be brave and use its gifts both on the level of personal discipleship and in the life of the church. There is indeed also a warning against doing nothing, burying talents in the ground. Maybe we all need to take that on board. The wider challenge remains as we look at the work and the witness to which we are called in the world today. Christ is always around the corner when we need Him. We can be sure of that.  He will come again – indeed He has never left us. Hurrah! Amen.

Post Communion
Gracious Lord, in this holy sacrament you give substance to
our hope: bring us at the last to that fullness of life for which
we long; through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

 

Tell us your news!
Remembrance Day in lockdown 2020 by Mary Sidwell
Having learnt soon after I moved to Aldeburgh, about the Dutch Kayakers memorial (near Sizewell beach) that is where I hold the two-minute silence and I place a poppy on Remembrance Day. Today (11^th) there were several crosses and poppies placed on it, and the Lest We Forget flag nearby flew well, in the stiff SE wind.

I then drove to Aldringham churchyard to see the Remembrance display. It is a very moving tribute, so well researched and presented, and I’m glad a donation was possible. Thank you to all who had installed this tribute, the young men, and their families would be very proud and humbled by it. I highly recommend a visit.

Mary Sidwell

The Week Ahead – Next Sunday
22^nd November – Christ the King

 

Our Churchwarden Ken Smith has made two hedgehog and insect hotels for our Churchyard.

Whilst Ken was making them (along with his best helper) they were already proving popular with local wildlife, with two ladybirds, two spiders and a shield bug.
So definately one to watch.

10.50am RD Service Knodishall at The War Memorial 10.50am RD Service Friston at The War Memorial 10.45am RD Service Aldeburgh at The War Memorial 10.50am RD Service Aldringham Churchyard

FOR OUR TOMORROW

THEY GAVE THEIR TODAY

Message from The Rector

A pew-sheet with a difference this week as we mark Remembrance Sunday in the context of the current restrictions. There will be shortened outdoor services in all of our parishes, in the village churchyards and at Aldeburgh’s War Memorial. Each will begin at 10.45 / 10.50, incorporate the two-minutes silence at 11.00 and include the traditional words. And for those who are unable, for whatever reason, to be present there will also be an online service too, in the usual place –
https://www.youtube.com/channel/
UCM3YVzDVIlYmnpVFSdOOTvQ

It will begin with suitable music at 10.45 and also include the Exhortation, Last Post, two-minutes silence at 11.00, Kohima Epitaph and prayers. Even in these most unusual circumstances ‘we will remember them’.

For the duration of the ‘lockdown’ there will be an online service every Sunday at 10.30 and every Wednesday at 10.00. The services remain on our YouTube channel so if you aren’t able to be with us at those times you can worship with us later too. My plan is to record these services in church – more appropriate surroundings, less dining-room curtains! And we are planning for a return to church after the lockdown ends though, of course, we do not yet know what restrictions may still be in force. But, sadly, we know we will miss being able to gather together for the feast of Christ the King (November 22^nd) and Advent Sunday (November 29^th). We will do our best. By the way, I have written to our member of parliament to ask if she would support a reconsideration of the policy of closing churches, pointing out the care that we have taken to make them Covid-safe. I have not received a reply (or an acknowledgment) at the time of writing this. And for those who rise early on a Sunday there will be a familiar voice on Radio Suffolk at about 6.40am, discussing remembrance and closed churches.

Last week I mentioned the wonderful work that has been going on in Aldeburgh churchyard. There is now a special page on the website, complete with some pictures. Many thanks to Sue Howcutt for the well-chosen words.

https://www.aldeburghparishchurch.org.uk/our-churchyard-revival-2020/

And finally, some really good news from Aldeburgh – we have a churchwarden! After my appeal at this year’s APCM Ken Smith has agreed to be our warden until the next APCM. We have already had an excellent meeting about what is involved. Many will already know Ken and his combination of a gentle presence with a wonderfully practical approach (he has been working hard in the churchyard – and I mean hard!). He has been a loyal member of the PCC for many years and I am so grateful to him for stepping forward. All we have to do now is to make him legal – and I’m working on that!

With love, as ever

Mark

Reflection for Remembrance Sunday by Prebendary Derek Johnson

I can remember quite clearly what I was doing on V.E. Day. One friend of mine from school Bill Burton lived with his widowed mother in her small general store a few doors down in the High Street from my grandmothers pub. Mrs Burton invited some of Bill’s friends for fish and chips in the late afternoon. I am ashamed to say I am unable to remember what I was doing on V.J. Day.

I think one of the reasons the men were called The Forgotten Army was because it did not impinge on us so much. The Japanese had not dropped bomb on us and so it was more remote. There is an element of truth in that.

The Burma campaign was horrific in every sense of the word and more. In the late 1950’s The War Office tried to prevent the film The Bridge Over the River Kwai being made. It was made, as we all know – a box office hit with seven Oscars. Brigadier Sir Phillip Toosey, who had been in the camp and worked on the railway, went to see it and said “It was a good piece of story telling but absolute fiction”. A great many who had been on the railway saw it and were upset and insulted by it. Then, with Sir Phillip, they raised their voices in protest. The idea that with British stiff upper lip they had collaborated with the Japs to show how they could build the bridge was offensive – they were always trying to sabotage it.

The real story of that appalling time is found in Ernest Gordon’s book The Miracle on The River Kwai. One sees the horror of it all, the dreadful conditions in the camp, the “every man for himself attitude” and how it was transformed by two Christian men, one a Methodist the other a Roman Catholic. The way they worked and cared for their fellow – men was an example that others began to follow. A true and wonderful example of faith in action.

Some say it is time to stop and let it all go. I cannot.
I believe we should REMEMBER.

Deciphering words in the New Testament –
(It’s all Greek to me)

In Matthew’s version of the Lord’s Prayer(ch.6.12) “trespasses” in Greek is “opheilemata”, or strictly, debts, i.e. what we owe to God and haven’t paid. Luke (ch. 11.4), almost certainly writing later, seems to correct this to “HAMARTIA”, a word which has a basic meaning not so much of wilful wrongdoing, or owing anything, as of missing the mark, as in arrows missing the target.  This might suggest a reduction of personal responsibility for actions that our consciences tell us are wrong. “I did my best, Sir, but I missed it.” There’s a sort of hidden excuse in here which doesn’t fit the broader teaching of Jesus, who without doubt teaches us to take full responsibility for our actions.  Yet read right through the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) from end to end and you don’t get the feeling that Jesus is always banging on about sin, any more than saying that driving is all about flat tyres. He has much better things in view.

Note incidentally the crucial difference between “trespass” and “sin”: a trespass is a wrong action; sin involves a denial of God or whatever is your final authority if you happen to be an atheist.

So was Luke’s word, “Hamartia”, closer to the word, presumably Aramaic, used originally by Jesus himself? We don’t know, and I’m afraid I can’t help, for as one Old Testament professor said to me on a famous (only for me) occasion: “But then Mr. Giles, you know no Hebrew; allow me to translate”. And anyway, there is no known Hebrew or Aramaic version of the Lord’s Prayer yet somehow “hamartia” seems to me to soften the element of destructive blame to be dumped on us when we have gone off the rails. As we all do. So, Tyndale’s translation “trespasses”, which he seems to have been the first to use in this context, works well enough for me. The Lord’s Prayer is indeed one of our greatest treasures. We can give a big thank-you that it has come down to us over all these centuries, in whatever translation. Amen.

Next week we will move on to happier ground with the word for repentance, namely “Metanoia”.

John Giles

Next Sunday
15^th November – Second Sunday before Advent

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

we will remember them.

We will remember them.

Remembrance ideas for 2020

The Royal British Legion have a comprehensive website with information of all Remembrance Day related points. Do take a look.

https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/remembrance

Here is a snippet of ideas from their website.

As a result of Covid-19 restrictions, it may be necessary for individuals and communities to consider new ways of performing Remembrance activities, whether at Remembrancetide or any other time of the year.

To give you a helping hand, we’ve put together a wide-range of suggested Covid safe activities that are inexpensive to create:

• Hold a small Remembrance service in your garden.
• Create a Remembrance space in your garden by planting plants that have a connection to Remembrance.
• Use Zoom, Facebook or another online meeting resource to host an online Remembrance service or activity.

Aldringham Church
A Field of Remembrance will be open during all of next week.
Chris Burrell-Saward has been busy researching the histories of those brave servicemen who died in the two World Wars and those histories are now displayed outside the church in a Field of Remembrance so even if you are not able to attend the service on Sunday, a visit to the churchyard at some other time will be well worthwhile to read the astonishing stories of those men who gave their lives.

NOTICES

To all Friston Residents It is important that we carry out our annual parish council meeting (APCM) as soon as possible – however, due to the current circumstances, it is impossible to do this in the Church as was originally planned.  The APCM will however go ahead – on Zoom following on immediately from the Compline at 6pm to which all are also welcome.  The PCC appreciates that for some people attending online is not possible and we apologise for this. Thank you. Carole Edwards, Churchwarden

We now have a page dedicated to the work that has been carried out in our Churchyard. You will find this under the news header.

9.30am Morning Prayer Knodishall Church 9.45am Holy Communion Friston Church 10.30am Service for All Saints’ Day Aldeburgh Parish Church 11.00am Morning Praise Aldringham Church 3.00pm Online service available

Message from The Rector

Back in August I wrote about the beginnings of the Aldeburgh Churchyard Project and promised to update you – so here goes. Walking through Aldeburgh churchyard you will notice (as promised back in August) a great deal of progress and activity. Scrub and weeds have been cleared, as well as self-seeded saplings that are small enough not to need extra permissions. That work alone has transformed the space. If you walk from Victoria Road towards the footpath that heads for Northfield Court, you can now see the sea! Without disturbing the resident badgers (which would be illegal) the large spoil heaps caused by their activities have been removed – and the next phase of the project has begun. We have employed an excellent firm of tree experts to examine and tag every tree in the churchyard – and there are over 150. Each now has a recommendation for its future and a timescale for the work. Some need a small amount of reshaping, some need serious coppicing, some need felling. The maintenance of the churchyard is the responsibility of East Suffolk Council, so the next stage is to engage with its tree officer to receive approval for our proposals. The diocese is involved too (I’m going to walk round with Archdeacon Jeanette next week) but we see no reason why we will not be able to start the next phase of work very soon.

This is all very exciting and thanks are due to the energetic and dedicated team who have been overseeing (and in some cases actually doing) the work. Nigel Howcutt is the mastermind, Mike Shepherd the resident historian (who has found all sorts of interesting things as gravestones have been revealed) and Ken Smith, Derek Cook, Adrian Brown and Karen Thackeray have all played important parts. Onward!!

Next week we mark Remembrance Sunday. The big difference this year (because of the Covid restrictions) is that in Aldeburgh there will be no morning service in church – everything will be done at the War Memorial by the Moot Hall. We simply couldn’t manage the usual large congregation in the church building so, if you wish to be with us, please assemble by the War Memorial by 10.45am. There will be a quiet service of Evening Prayer in church at 6pm. In Aldringham, Friston and Knodishall there will be Acts of Remembrance in the churchyards around the 2’ silence at 11.00am. Even in these difficult circumstances ‘we will remember them.’

With love, as ever

Mark

Collect
Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion
and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord:
grant us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and
godly living that we may come to those inexpressible joys that you
have prepared for those who truly love you; 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
Revelation 7.9-end
After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying,  ‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’  And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, singing, ‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen.’
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, ‘Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?’ I said to him, ‘Sir, you are the one that knows.’ Then he said to me, ‘These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.  They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’

Second Reading
1 John 3.1-3
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Gospel Reading
Matthew 5.1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

 

Deciphering words in the New Testament –
(It’s all Greek to me)

HUPOMONEE – Greek Words cont. . . .

It wasn’t easy to be a Christian in the early years of the Church. Nero came on the scene in 54AD. His savage persecution of the church is the key to that strange Book of Revelation.

Christians in those early years (as today) had to have “patience” – not just waiting for the bus to come along, but “patient or steadfast endurance”, enduring suffering, sharing the suffering of Christ Himself. The word for this in Greek was Hupomonee. It comes again and again in the Epistles.

Christ had already said “Bring forth fruit with patience” in the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8.15). In the last days, he said, “stand firm and you will get through, you will hang on to your own souls” (Luke 21.19).  Think Dr. Zhivago while the Russian Revolution raged around him. The letter to the Hebrews (ch. 12.1) urges us: “Let us run with patience the race that is set before us”. We need that hupomonee, that patient endurance, today, and not just because of the pandemic.

PS Can anyone help me find Greek lettering on my computer?
John Giles

 

Sermon for All Saints’ Day by The Revd James Marston

Today’s service isn’t Book of Common Prayer matins or Holy Communion order it is instead something called Informal Worship – I don’t fully understand what it means.

I’m sure some of you might agree that when one is asked to a social event with the dress code “smart casual your heart sinks” – what does this actually mean – something between white tie and ripped jeans, neither one thing nor another.

Indeed, part of me fears that by the same token the concept of “informal worship” is something of a contradiction in terms, an oxymoron rather like, dare I say it, Sporting Personality or Police Intelligence. But if you look at it another way, with perhaps slightly less flippancy, neither one thing nor the other is also two things rolled into one.

Today we are doing that. Alongside remembering, honouring and praying for the souls of the departed of this parish and those we have known in our lives, we are here also to remember, celebrate, honour and be inspired by the saints – the great cloud of witnesses of the Christian faith.

Often those saints are men, indeed most of the saints we remember in the church are men, and many of those male saints are priests, or Italian or French. I’m not here today to point out the inequalities of the patriarchy or make some point on behalf of Germaine Greer – but in an age increasingly recognising the power and inequality of unconscious bias the saints and, the church, I’m afraid to say, have a part to play.

Nonetheless, that is not to say there aren’t women too have who played their part and are remembered for their holiness and dedication to Christ. Indeed, here in Aldeburgh I think there is a celebration of female sainthood and holiness that we can be proud of.

Donated by a school teacher, and one whom I suspect was probably somewhat ahead of her time. The chapel window has piqued my interest in recent weeks.

You might be able to pick out on the front of the order of service the figure on the left – the angel Gabriel – instructing Mary – the studious young girl with the slightly more spectacular halo and the lily on her desk – that she is to bear a son and call him Emmanuel. At least it could be that, but I wonder if it might be St Anne, the mother of the virgin, teaching her daughter scripture.

Whether Gabriel or Anne the image is supported and surrounded by four saints. In the top left we have St Katherine of Alexandria, complete with Katherine wheel on which she was unsuccessfully tortured and the sword – a symbol of the beheading that killed her. Her hair, which is unbounded and thereby depicting an unmarried woman, and the crown reminds us she was a princess by birth.

Among her extensive list of patronages are students, unmarried women, as well as teachers and, perhaps more unexpectedly hat makers. St Katherine is also interesting as her story suggests she stood up to men by defying the emperor and refusing marriage.

On the top right is St Cecilia. Another who consecrated her virginity to Christ and refused to bow, in this case, to roman authority and jilted her pagan fiancé on the day of her wedding. Again, she was subjected to an unsuccessful and bizarre attempt to kill her – they tried to stifle her to death with steam and heat in her bathroom.

In the end Cecilia was killed by soldier who was sent to behead her. Here in Aldeburgh she is depicted holding a palm – a symbol of martyrdom – in her right hand and a little cherub type figure playing a lute in her left. She is famously the patron saint of musicians because, it was said, she sang of Jesus’s passion in her heart and because music would have been playing to celebrate her wedding.

Just below Cecilia we have St Margaret of Scotland, known for being a good influence on her husband – King Malcolm III – and for bringing up her children well and taking care of orphans. She is depicted here wearing a crown and holding the sceptre of royalty as well as a bible to remind us of her piety and practice of devotional reading. Margaret, a queen, exercised her power by reforming and influencing the church in Scotland. She was, by all accounts, a force to be reckoned with.

And finally St Ursula, in the bottom left. A legendary figure who was shot by an arrow along with 11,000 other virgins at Cologne in Germany. There is also a story about her too avoiding an unwanted marriage. Ursula is depicted here with an arrow and what appears to be a little girl. Ursula is the patron saint of female students.

Martyrs, virgins, queens and princesses, these four women have been carefully chosen as sources of inspiration as they overcame adversity, stood up for, suffered and even died for their faith and battled against injustice and oppression. They are saints because not only are they Holy but because they also made a difference – two characteristics rolled into one person.

They are a reminder that we too are called by God to be saints. Indeed, St Paul, one of the patron saints of this church, describes the Christian community as set apart, as God’s holy ones, with a sacred calling.

As we look at the window of our chapel and as we celebrate All Souls Day and All Saint’s Day we remember those who have played their part in the life of our community and we remember those who have lived out lives of holiness. And we are invited to consider our response to that calling to be counted amongst the saints in our own lives.

I suggest to you today that our faith means we must be seeking to be ordinary every day saints. We are, as Christians, public in our faith and therefore we are to be busy in our community making Christ known.
We are to exercise forgiveness, live out the hope and joy of the Gospel, and demonstrate Christ’s radical message of love.

We are called to be the saints in Aldeburgh, making a difference through faith in Jesus Christ and we do this with the support of one another, the inspiration and prayers of the saints who have gone before, and with the grace of God.

Amen

Post Communion
God, the source of all holiness and giver of all good things: may we
who have shared at this table as strangers and pilgrims here on earth
be welcomed with all your saints to the heavenly feast on the day of
your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Week Ahead – Next Sunday
8^th November – Remembrance Sunday

10.50am	RD Service	Knodishall at The War Memorial
10.50am	RD Service	Friston at The War Memorial
10.45am	RD Service	Aldeburgh at The War Memorial
10.50am	RD Service	Aldringham at The War Memorial

 

NOTICES

Aldringham – 11.00am Service This Sunday (1st) being All Saints day, we have a special morning praise at Aldringham Church ‘Remembering Saints (hallows), martyrs and the faithful departed’. All welcome.

Food Banks at the East of England Co-op  Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities and have an even more vital role to play as we navigate our way through these unprecedented times. The Aldeburgh Co-op and Solar in Leiston are doing a grand job in collecting food donations, which are collected regularly and distributed.

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. Whether it be a story to tell, or tips or recipes or a notice to be added to spread the word.

Choral Evensong at Aldeburgh Church We will be joined by Martyn Bagnall and the Jubilate Choir for an Evensong on Sunday 15th November at 6pm (current restrictions allowing). All welcome.