A very warm welcome to all
Psalm 145: “Great is the Lord and highly to be praised.”
Tenth Sunday After Pentecost
Readings: 2 Kings 4: 42-44; Ephesians 3: 14-21
Gospel: John 6: 1-21
In our Gospel today
2 Kings 4:42-44 is a bit of a confusing passage of scripture. Who are these people? Where are these places? What message are we to glean? Empowered by God, Elisha takes a small amount of bread and gives it to a huge crowd.
Elisha’s servant is dumbfounded – what use is this small gift? And yet, it is of use. Somehow God multiplies the bread and there are leftovers.
In John 6:1-21 we read of the feeding of a great number of people with meagre resources. Jesus looks back to the Old Testament, when God rained down manna and when Elisha fed the crowd as in our 2 Kings reading.
In this way Jesus makes a statement about who he is – he is the one who fulfils our needs abundantly. It is also an encouragement to us that every gift, however small we feel it might be, is meaningful to God and can be used by God for God’s glory and the building of community.
St Mary’s 160th Anniversary Service and Lunch Sunday 18th August
At St Mary’s we have a special anniversary to celebrate as the church is 160 years old this year! We plan to celebrate the occasion with a special service led by the Very Reverend Graham Taylor on our patronal festival day (Sunday 18th August). Following the service, we will be having a celebratory bring and share lunch. This will also coincide with our annual St Mary’s Gift Day. Please make a point of putting this date in your diary and let us know if you will be able to bring items for the lunch. Please see the sign-up sheet at back of church. Thank you!
Thursdays @ 7
Thursdays @ 7 meets in the church crypt for bible-study and prayer. Up to 15th August we are endeavouring to complete a speed tour of Paul’s letters. You’d be very welcome wherever you feel you are in your faith journey. Bring a friend if you wish. We aim to be an hour – longer if you stay for refreshments.
Gallowgate Fair Saturday 3rd August
St Mary’s will be taking a stall at the Gallowgate fair at St Margaret’s on the first Saturday in August. We would be very thankful for baking and confectionary things like tablet to sell on the stall. Items for sale can be dropped off on Friday 2nd August between 12 noon and 1pm. Please contact Anne Farquhar if you need to drop items off at a different time. Please fill in the sheet at the back of church if you plan to donate items and/or are able to help out with the stall on Saturday 3rd August. Thank you!
Church Grounds Tidy Up
With our anniversary celebration coming up soon it would be good to have another Saturday morning weeding session ahead of the special day. Please come along on Saturday 10th August if you can between 10am and 12 noon. Please feel free to come along at any other times. It’s surprising what you can achieve in half an hour. Thank you!
Soup Sunday
A big thank you to everyone that has donated tins or packets of soup again to help those in need. Your generous donations will be delivered to some of the local charities or foodbanks in the near future. Thank you very much again!
St Mary’s Magazine
The next issue of our Magazine will be published a little later than usual on Sunday 4th August to be closer to our anniversary celebration service on 18th August. If you have any articles to contribute to our editor, Nicola Mills, please note the deadline for copy is Monday 29th July. Thank you!
Photograph Competition 2024
Just a brief reminder that our Photograph Competition is currently running and will now have a new deadline for entries being 30th September. Please send any nice photographs to our webmaster, David Rose. Thank you!
Services and events commencing this Sunday and for the coming week
Sunday 28th July 8am Holy Communion (1970 Liturgy): Revd Roger Dyer
Sunday 28th July 10am Sung Eucharist (1982 Liturgy): Revd Roger Dyer
Tuesday 30th July 10am Morning Prayer: Revd Roger Dyer
Wednesday 31st July 10am Holy Communion: Revd Roger Dyer
Friday 2nd August 6pm Compline: Revd Roger Dyer
Sunday 4th August 8am Holy Communion (1970 Liturgy): Revd Roger Dyer
Sunday 4th August 10am Sung Eucharist (1982 Liturgy): Revd Kate Gibson
Next Sunday’s readings: Exodus 16: 2-4, 9-15; Psalm 78: 23-29; Ephesians 4: 1-16
Gospel: John 6: 24-35
“When placed in the hands of Jesus, human weakness and finitude become more than enough.”
(Cheryl Bridges Johns)
For any pastoral matters please contact our Assistant Priest Revd Roger Dyer. Please see email or paper copy of noticesheet for contact details.