St James The Great

​Old Milverton, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire

Foodbank Donations

At the moment, the foodbank is short of tinned vegetarian meals, long life milk, long life fruit juice, small jars of coffee, cup soups, shaving foam or gel, razors, baby wipes and nappies sizes 4,5,6 & 7, but any donations are always welcome.

Bishop Sophie, Bishop of Coventry   There are still a few seats available for the installation service of our new Bishop of Coventry, Bishop Sophie, at Coventry Cathedral on Saturday 7 th June at 2.00pm. If you would like to go but need a lift, let Sue know and we will try to help.

Doggy Coffee seems to have been a bigger success than any of us thought. Walkers, with or without four legged friends, look forward to our end of month gatherings and miss them when they can’t happen. To make sure that a regular coffee stop is provided I’m asking for volunteers to host sessions.

If you feel you would like to help and can offer a last Saturday morning in the month please get in touch with me Ali Foster; by text 07854069990 or by email ali_e_foster@hotmail.com indicating which date would suit and I’ll make a rota to circulate.

Thank you, Ali.

The next churchyard clearing morning will be on Saturday 14 th June – come along and help if you are free. Please bring your own tools with you.

Dates for the rest of the year are:

14 th June

16 th August

18 th October

13 th December

Join us for Muddy Church on Sunday 8th June at 3.00pm, in the churchyard.

Carrier Bags please! If you have any spare, sturdy carrier bags, would you bring them to church and leave them by the foodbank box please – I’m running low on bags to take your donations over to the foodbank.

Thank you.

Thought for the month: Bringing our young people to God

We have our second Muddy Church of the year this month. When we started this in the autumn of 2023 we had no idea if anyone would come – indeed, numbers are still something of an unknown quantity and each time we wait in hope and with a certain level of relief when the first families arrive!

Our numbers are never very big but that really doesn’t matter. Neither does the fact that I suspect Veronica’s hot dogs and toasted marshmallows are as big a draw as anything I might have planned (that applies to all of us, both young and young at heart!). What matters most is that we make them all feel welcome; that St James is somewhere to come and have some fun and, who knows, maybe meet God along the way.

We’ve done a variety of things: made bird feeders to help our feathered friends in the autumn; listened to the Easter story and made Easter gardens; been on a bug hunt – not everything we do could be classed as having a specifically ‘churchy’ link but this is God’s world so whatever we do he is present in the stories, the activities, the simple prayer and yes, the marshmallows!

Many of the children are quite young so a move-around, doing-things kind of afternoon is much more manageable for everyone rather than sitting in church trying to be quiet. Will it ‘grow’ our Sunday morning congregation? Unlikely, and that’s not its purpose. But maybe, when they are older, these young people may feel comfortable enough with the idea of church to come inside and learn just a little more about the God who loves and cares for each one of us, whatever our age.

We are all called upon to share something of God with others. I believe that, most importantly in that calling, is the need to tell our children about Jesus. Now that schools are no longer required to hold a religious assembly we cannot rely on places of education to help children to hear about the parables that Jesus told, the miracles he performed, and the promise he gives us of eternal life. For most of us, they are an integral part of our understanding of the world and our place in it: surely we our young people to grow up knowing those things too.

Come and give us a try some time – bring grandchildren, godchildren or come on your own. Share something of your knowledge of God with the younger generation and who knows, you might discover something more about God yourself.

With love, Sue x

​

Father God,

however young or old, big or small we are,

we are all your children.

Help us all to see you more clearly,

love you more dearly,

follow you more nearly,

day by day

We may not know what the future holds

But we can trust the One who holds the future

​

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Clergy

Revd. William Smith      316475      wms.smith@btinternet.com

Revd. Sue Fairhurst      735254       sue@fairhursts.me.uk

Churchwardens

Michael Rayner       831522

Jane Marshall         831680

Website & email

www.stjamesoldmilverton.co.uk       churchwardenstjames@outlook.co

​​​Parish News​