St James The Great

​Old Milverton, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire

​​We will be celebrating St James Day with our Patronal Festival Service on 28th July: come and join us for a celebration service followed by drinks and nibbles in the churchyard.

The next churchyard clearing morning will be on Saturday 17 th August – come along and help if you are free. Please bring your own tools with you. Dates for the rest of the year are:

• 17th August
  
• 19th October
  
• 14th December
  

Please continue to support the Foodbank over the summer months.

This can be a particularly difficult time for families: with children on holiday from school (and therefore not receiving a cooked meal at lunchtime each day) there is often an extra strain on family finances.

Remember that you can leave donations in the collection bins at all the local supermarkets as well as bringing them up to church.

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This month, the Foodbank is particularly in need of tinned tomatoes, vegetables,

custard and rice pudding; long life milk and fruit juice, squash, jam, cup soups

and instant mash​​​​​​

Thought for the month: ‘One is nearer God’s heart in a garden than anywhere else on earth’

Dear Friends

One of my greatest pleasures this time of year is to spend time in my garden – not gardening, but simply enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of the world around me.

It’s always tempting to go and pull up a few weeds, or tidy something up, but when I resist the urge to be busy and simply stop to look at the colours of the flowers and the endless shades of green or to listen to the bird song, I always get a sense of God’s presence out there with me.

You may know the poem by Dorothy Frances Gurney that the heading for this month’s ‘thought’ come from. It talks of the garden of Eden, created by God where, ‘in the cool of the evening, God walked with the first of men’.

The bible is full of references and stories connected to nature, from the Garden of Eden through to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed the night before his crucifixion. I particularly like this quote from Isaiah 58:11:

The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your

needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen

your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring whose waters never fail’.

My garden help to remind me of the ongoing circle of life through the growth and bounty of spring and summer to the closing down and resting of autumn and winter, but always with the knowledge that spring will come again. That quote from Isaiah helps to give me confidence that whatever life holds in store – be that a time of summer growth or winter scarcity – God will always supply my basic needs and keep me going day by day.

Our alternative version of Psalm 23 this month was written by an eleven-year old who saw herself as a flower growing in God’s garden, nurtured and watered by his hand. It’s an image you might like to think about next time you potter around your own garden and invite God to refresh you with his life-giving water so that you can flourish and blossom to his glory.

With love, Sue

God is my gardener; I shall not wither.

He finds me good soil to plant me in,

He waters me daily so that I will stay lush and green.

He gives me my blossom.

He directs my roots in the right direction.

When I find myself in deep winter,

I will not be scared of the darkness

for you will make it spring again.

Your watering can and your smile watch over me.

You give me the most beautiful sunshine in front of the weeds.

I bloom with the most amazing flowers for you.

Your goodness and beauty will show in my garden until I move to heaven

Then I will stay in God’s garden for eternity

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​