Services this Sunday for The Alde Sandlings Benefice
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Aldeburgh |
10.30am |
Holy Communion |
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Aldringham Friston |
11.00am 9.00am |
Holy Communion Holy Communion |
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Knodishall |
9.00am |
Morning Prayer |
Message from our priest in charge –
The Rev’d Sarah du Boulay
Dear Friends,
Today I’m feeling thankful. Although I’m on my second day off work (emails only!) with a bad cold, people have rallied round – both to look after me, and to take on aspects of my week which couldn’t be postponed. So thank you – all.
We’ve now had three of our four benefice Harvest services, and the churches have all looked incredible. People have worked hard, and have given, and together we have thanked God for His goodness.
I have had a message from the Bishop’s Office, to thank us as a benefice for the money donated at my licensing service, which has gone towards the Bishop’s Training Fund (which helps clergy study and attend training courses we wouldn’t usually be able to afford). So thank you.
We also have good news for Rev’d James – that he will shortly be taking up post as Associate Priest in the Barnes Team, Southwark (dates to be confirmed). We are so thankful for his ministry here, for all of the support you have given him over the past three years, and that now he is moving on to let his light shine elsewhere in the world – what a wonderful addition he will be to them. We will miss him but look forward to hearing all of his (and his little blue car’s) adventures.
With every blessing,
Sarah
A message from Bishop Martin and Bishop Mike
We are facing very challenging times and are very conscious that many in our communities are experiencing increasing hardship through the burden of rising cost of living and particularly fuel costs. Once again, we ask God for the wisdom, compassion and generosity that sustained our mission and ministry during the pandemic. We pray that for the time ahead we will be able to care for those in great need in our communities and make the necessary provision for our clergy who lead us in our worship and our service. We are therefore asking, as we have done once before, to pray this prayer in every service in your places of worship from this Sunday, October 2nd until All Saints Sunday, October 30th.
Loving God,
you are always with us,
and give us all we need to be your church in Suffolk.
In these challenging times, as we respond in loving
action to those in great need,
help us, we pray, to give as we have received:
abundantly, generously, and joyfully,
that our worship and our service
may bear witness to your Kingdom of unfailing love.
In the name of your Son who gave himself for us,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Collect
Almighty God,
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you:
pour your love into our hearts and draw us to yourself,
and so bring us at last to your heavenly city
where we shall see you face to face;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
First Reading
2 Kings 5.1-3, 7-15c
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favour with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, ‘If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.’ When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.’ But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, ‘Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.’ So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.’ But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, ‘I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?’ He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, ‘Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, “Wash, and be clean”?’ So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.’
Second Reading
2 Timothy 2.8-15
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. The saying is sure:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself. Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.
Gospel Reading
Luke 17.11-19
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’
Celebrating Harvest at The Alde Sandlings Benefice.
We have been holding our Harvest Festival Services around the Benefice. Aldringham’s being on the 23rd October. It’s a time to thank God for all the crops that have been safely harvested by the farmers, who put food on our tables. Here are just a few of the displays around the benefice.
A huge thank you to all the flower teams that work so hard.
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FRISTON |
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KNODISHALL |
On Sunday (2nd October) Aldeburgh held their harvest festival service. We thought it also an appropriate time to also thank God for blessing us with our church warden emeritus, Dick Jeffery. Dick has made the decision, at nearly 90 yrs of age, and many decades of service to Aldeburgh parish church to stand down as verger.
So, thank you Dick, from us all.
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Sermon preached by The Revd Sheila Murray
at Aldringham Parish Church, 2nd October
Sermon on Luke 17:5-10 We don’t need to impress God!
Today’s Gospel story is puzzling to many people. It even sounds a bit harsh. The servant has been out working hard all day. The master has probably been sitting around the house or, at best, has been engaged in some high level negotiations. Dirty and weary after a long day’s work, the servant comes home, and the master has a number of expectations before the servant may eat himself or rest. The master expects the servant to serve his supper, and then probably wash the dishes, sweep the kitchen and dining room, run a few errands, serve him his after-dinner coffee, and so on. Then the servant might be allowed to sit down and eat himself. And Jesus says that this is what the servant should expect! He is, after all, the servant. The master does not owe him any thanks or consideration. The servant should understand that doing all of this is simply his duty.
This feels rather harsh – especially to those of us who are not even used to the idea of servants. It doesn’t seem right that one person should work so hard and then be expected to wait on another person who probably has not been working very hard.
What is the point Jesus is trying to make?
The focus is really on the servant, not the master. And the point is that nothing the servant does can obligate the master. The servant cannot earn the master’s praise or obligate the master to repay him for his good work. That’s not because the master is unkind or ungrateful. But it is because the master does not owe the servant anything, while the servant probably owes his very life to the master.
What Jesus is doing is drawing an analogy between God and the master, between the servant and us. The behaviour Jesus is discouraging is the idea that we can somehow earn God’s approval. And the scripture that comes right before this story is one of the places we might have acquired some bad theology. Jesus says that if you had faith so weak that it only resembled a mustard seed, you could still say to the most deep- rooted tree, “Pull yourself up by the roots and move over there,” and the tree would do it! We listen to that, and we assume that our faith somehow controls God – if we have great faith God will do what we ask. If our faith is weak, God will not respond.
The place where this is most often heard is when someone is ill. “If you have faith, you will be healed,” someone will say. Or, worse yet, when someone is not doing well they will say, “your faith isn’t strong enough.” We assume that if Jesus says our little faith can move trees, then if we had any faith at all, we would certainly be healed. But, we fail to recognize that this means we would be manipulating God.
In other words, if I have enough faith, then God has to do what I want God to do!
But that is not what Jesus is really saying. Jesus makes it clear that we are simply expected to have faith – that is part of being Christian, just like serving is part of being a servant. Our faith does not require God to do anything. God does not heal us because we have faith. God heals us because God is God. God loves us simply because God chooses to love us. God’s power is active in our lives. God is present to us. God gives us more than we ask or deserve. In fact God sustains our very life. God does all of that but NOT because we have faith. God does that because it is God’s nature to love and heal and sustain life.
Neither our faith nor our actions can earn us God’s favour. Nor can our faith or our actions earn us salvation – the other common misconception. Many people believe that they must be good or do good in order to be saved. Or, on the other hand, they believe that their current or prior behaviour makes it impossible for them to be saved. Yet there is nothing you can do to earn salvation – it is a free gift offered by Christ through his life, death and resurrection. Even as God’s love is a free gift offered with no requirements or regulations. God simply is love. And Christ’s life, death and resurrection have already saved us. Nothing we can do, no amount of faith we can generate, makes God love us more or makes us more saved. Being saved is already a done deal – an accomplished fact.
Our responsibility is to respond to God. We are called to a life of faith; not to obtain anything from God but in response to God’s loving action toward us. We are called to have faith, not to get God to love us or heal us or to get Christ to save us. But we are called to have faith because God loves and heals us. We are called to have faith because Christ has saved us.
Before I was ordained, I worked for a few years in a national estate agency, as PA to 3 commercial agents. Sometimes they were lovely, but other times they pushed my patience. I shared a large office with two
other PAs. Between us we worked for 10 agents, so our room was always busy with people coming and going. I never pushed my faith at work, but people knew I went to church, and sometimes they would apologise if they swore, especially if they used the words God or Christ as swear words. One day all 3 of my chaps were demanding their work had priority over the others and I was going through some difficult issues at home and had had enough of it! So I banged about six files down on my desk and said “Oh just … a 4 letter word, followed by a 3 letter word”… I don’t want to say them in church. There was a huge gasp from everyone in the room. As soon as I said it, I thought Oh no what have I done. Please God forgive me! John who was one of my chaps said “Sheila you won’t be going to heaven now will you”. Well, I replied, the great thing is, I will, because it’s not about what I’ve done or not done, but about God’s unconditional love.” And a few hours later, John asked me to his office and then asked what I meant… isn’t God great that he can use times when we really mess up for his message!
Our faith does not need to impress God or anyone else. Our faith simply needs to respond to what God has given us. So the next time you are concerned about whether you have enough faith, stop and get in touch with God’s love for you. Become aware of all the gifts God has given you. And know that you are infinitely loved. Respond to God’s love with thankfulness and love in return. That is your faith. And that faith, even if it were as small as the tiniest mustard seed – that faith can transform you and the world. For God, working through you can do more than you can ever ask or imagine.
Amen
Post Communion
Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us,
and make us continually to be given to all good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Next week
Sunday 16th October
Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity
NOTICES
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✟ Morning Prayer across the Benefice with Revd Sarah ✟ Revd Sarah will be bringing the benefice together in prayer each morning from 9 -9.30am. People are very welcome to join Sarah, no regular commitment required, just pop along when you wish. Monday – Friston Tuesday – Knodishall Wednesday – Aldringham Thursday – Aldeburgh |
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Harvest Festival Services in The Alde Sandlings Benefice Aldringham 11am – 23rd October Thank God for the Harvest |
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✟ Church of England and Diocese Online Worship ✟ There are many online services you can view from the Church of England and our cathedral. Here are some links below. Church of England website https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/church-online/weekly-online-services Church of England Facebook page Church of England YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLecK8GovYoaYzIgyOElKZg St Edmundsbury Cathedral Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/stedscathedral |
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Food Banks at the East of England Co-op Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities. The Aldeburgh Co-op and Solar in Leiston are doing a grand job in collecting food donations, which are collected regularly and distributed. So please look out for the various collection baskets. |
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Youth Club – We need your help! |
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Weekly Benefice Newsletter If you would like something added to the weekly newsletter that is relevant to the Benefice, please do let Claire know and we will do our best to include it the following week. |
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✞ Pilgrims Together on Wednesdays on Zoom ✞ Saturday Community 15th October Good News Faith Cafe @ The Outside Inn, Parrot Pub 9.30 – 10.30 A time for conversation, a hot drink and a croissant. A time to share and offer our thoughts and stories. Acts of kindness within the Outside Inn and taken out into the outside world. |
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Remembering John Mosesson – Memorial Concert Aldeburgh Parish Church – Friday October 14th at 4pm Music for piano, flute, and voice by John Mosesson. You are all most welcome. Retiring collection for the Ukraine Appeal. |
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Lunchtime Classical Concert Series Tuesday 18th October at 12noon The highly successful series of the 2022 Classical Concerts organised by Save the Children in collaboration with Nadia Lasserson continue. The third concert will take place on Tuesday 18th October at 12 noon with trios for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano. Masumi Ogura (Clarinet) |
