A very warm welcome to all
Psalm 34: “I will bless the Lord at all times.”
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Readings: Joshua 24: 1-2a, 14-18; Ephesians 6: 10-20
Gospel: John 6: 56-69
In our Gospel today
This Sunday we finish our readings from the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John – the ‘Bread of Life’ discourse. The readings for this week all focus on faith, commitment, and unity. They show us the importance of choosing to follow God and living according to God’s teachings.
In the Gospel, Jesus acknowledges and addresses his Bread of Life teachings are difficult and acknowledges disbelief among his followers. After many leave, Peter reaffirms their faith, recognizing Jesus as the Holy One of God. In the readings from the Old Testament in Joshua we hear Joshua challenging Israel to choose their allegiance at Shechem; the people reaffirm their commitment to the LORD, recalling His deliverance and protection throughout their history. In the Psalm, the refrain reminds us that “The Lord is near to the broken hearted.” as the Psalm speaks of the Lord, who, listening to the righteous and rescuing them from trouble, delivers and protects them in their adversity. The Epistle speaks of relationships, particularly marriage and how Christ’s role should guide how we act in relationships.
St Mary’s 160th Anniversary Service and St Mary’s Gift Day
Last Sunday we enjoyed a lovely celebratory service led by The Very Reverend Graham Taylor to mark 160 years of St Mary’s. It was great to see you back Graham and thank you from all at St Mary’s for presiding and preaching for our special anniversary service. Thank you also to everyone that contributed to the excellent bring and share lunch and to those who helped set up, clear up and wash up. Also, many thanks to all that made special gifts to St Mary’s, including to Judith Stephens for the two paintings that were donated that day. Please remember that its not too late to think about and donate that special gift for St Mary’s funds.
Season of Creation
During the five Sundays of September, we plan to use the Season of Creation (Creationtide) theme. This is an ecumenical idea that has been growing over recent years and seeks to raise the profile of our understanding and action about climate and biodiversity issues as Christians. The series culminates with the service of Harvest. You can find out more about Season of Creation here: https://seasonofcreation.org/about/
Church Grounds Tidy Up
Thank you very much to all who have done the excellent weeding work over the past few weeks. The church grounds to the north, west and south of the St Mary’s are all looking really neat and tidy! Our architect, Dave Chouman, is hoping to lodge our project plan for the East End Garden Project in the next few weeks. In the meantime, if you have the energy, please feel free to tackle the meadow at the east end of the church grounds. Look out for a new weekend weeding gang session.
Diocesan Library
Earlier this week Nick Mills arranged for James A. Dickson Books of Kilsyth to look at the remaining books in the Diocesan Library. Good news! The Kilsyth bookshop took away about seven shelves’ worth of books and paid a nice sum for the privilege. This will now help to tidy up the space to the south side of St Mary’s. The next step is most likely to have the remainder of the library books taken away for recycling. Well done, Nick!
Photograph Competition 2024
Our Photograph Competition is currently running and will now have a new deadline for entries of Monday 30th September. Please send any nice photographs to our webmaster, David Rose. Donations of £2 per photograph entry go to church funds. Thank you to all who have sent in photographs so far! You can view the latest entries here: https://stmaryscardenplace.org.uk/photograph-competition-2024/
Services and events commencing this Sunday and for the coming week
Sunday 25th August 8am Holy Communion (1970 Liturgy): Revd Canon Dr Jenny Holden
Sunday 25th August 10am Sung Eucharist (1982 Liturgy): Revd Canon Dr Jenny Holden
Tuesday 27th August 10am Morning Prayer: Revd Roger Dyer
Wednesday 28th August 10am Holy Communion: Revd Roger Dyer
Friday 30th August 6pm Compline: Revd Roger Dyer
Sunday 1st September 8am Holy Communion (1970 Liturgy): Revd Roger Dyer
Sunday 1st September 10am Sung Eucharist (1982 Liturgy): Revd Kate Gibson
Next Sunday’s readings: Deuteronomy 4: 1-2, 6-9; Psalm 15; James 1: 17-27
Gospel: Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23
“I was, as the prophet said, hungering and thirsting for righteousness. I found it at the eternal and material core of Christianity: body, blood, bread, wine, poured out freely, shared by all.”
(Sara Miles, Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion)
For any pastoral matters please contact our Assistant Priest Revd Roger Dyer. Please see email or paper copy of noticesheet for contact details.