A very warm welcome to all
“I will give thanks to you, O God, with my whole heart;
before the gods I will sing your praise.”
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Readings: Isaiah 51: 1-6; Romans 12: 1-8
Gospel: Matthew 16: 13-20
In our Gospel today
Out of nowhere, it seemed, as they travelled along, Jesus asked his disciples a question about identity. ‘Who do you say that I am?’. It is a question that we must answer again and again as we seek to continue as disciples of Jesus Christ.
Can we remember how we started our journey of faith. It maybe that it began long ago, and we cannot clearly remember how or why. Yet every day is a new beginning and an opportunity to reaffirm our desire to be a follower of Jesus.
Some of us are more seasoned travellers on the journey of faith. Let us not lose the joy that we see in those starting out on this journey, the joy we experienced when we first believed. In our readings, hymns, and liturgy today we see many names and images of God – which one speaks to you as we hear Jesus ask us afresh the question “Who do you say that I am?”.
Season of Creation
During the four 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.
Services of Evensong
This Sunday there will be a service of Evensong at St Mary’s at 6:30pm. This will be Matthew’s last service with us before he takes up his new post. After the service there will be a Reception and an opportunity for us to express our thanks to Matthew for his work amongst us in recent years. We hope that you will be able to join us to thank Matthew.
Hurray and thank you! The photographic entries for this year’s Photograph Competition have been arriving thick and fast. The competition runs until the end of September, and we are looking for any nice seasonal photographs that can be reproduced in our 2024 Calendar. The entry photographs and competition rules can be found here: https://stmaryscardenplace.org.uk/photograph-competition-2023/
Social Ladies’ and Gents’ evenings
A Ladies’ Evening has now been arranged for Thursday 28th September at the No. 10 Restaurant on Queens Terrace. Please contact Gillian Rose or Anne Farquhar if you would like to attend. A similar evening will be organised for the gents, perhaps on or around the same date. So please let David Rose know if you’re interested in attending and have any good ideas for a venue. You will find a sign-up sheet on the table near the font.
Bottle Appeal
We ask everyone to consider donating attractive (and empty) gin or whisky bottles for our ‘Bottle Appeal’. This is an ongoing fundraising initiative and we ask you to keep your eyes open.
Services/Events Commencing Sunday the 27th August 2023
Sunday 27th August 8am Said Eucharist (1970 Liturgy): Revd Roger Dyer
Sunday 27th August 10am Service of the Word – Leading Nicola Mills and preaching Ferdinand von Prondzynski
Sunday 27th August 6:30pm Evensong: Revd Roger Dyer
Wednesday 30th August 10am Holy Communion (1970 Liturgy): Revd Ruth Green
Friday 1st September 6pm Compline: Iain Stewart
Sunday 3rd September No 8am Service
Sunday 3rd September 10am Season of Creation: Week 1 Sung Eucharist (1982 Liturgy) – Presiding Revd Kate Gibson and preaching Dr Nick Mills
Sunday 3rd September readings: Jeremiah 15: 15-21; Psalm 26: 1-8; Romans 12: 9-21
Gospel: Matthew 16: 21-28
“I believe in Christ like I believe in the sun. Not because I can see it but by it I can see everything else.”
(C S Lewis)
For any pastoral matters please contact our Assistant Priest Revd. Roger Dyer on 07719 458571
or revrogdyer@btinternet.com