St James The Great
Old Milverton, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
Harvest Festival
Following our Harvest Festival Service on Sunday 5th October we will be taking your food offerings to Lillington Food Bank. Thank you for your ongoing support for the foodbank – for those of us who don’t have to worry about where our next meal is coming from, it can be hard to remember that not everyone is so fortunate.
Join us for Coffee and Chat in the Parish Room on Wednesday 29th October: a chance for a proper conversation with one another!
The next churchyard clearing morning will be on Saturday 18th October – come along and help if you are free. Please bring your own tools with you. The final session this year will be on 13th December to help clear leaves from the churchyard.
We have an email Prayer Team: this is a group of church members to whom Sue sends an email most months with any prayer requests that we have received. Each person then includes those requests in their own prayers. If you would like to join in with this very important part of our church life, speak to Sue. Or, if you have someone you would like us to pray for, let Sue know.
All Souls Service: Sunday 2nd November
This is our annual service to remember and give thanks for all those we love but who are no longer with us. As part of that service, we will read out names and light candles. If anyone would like a name included, please let Sue know in advance of the day or add it to the list at the back of church. They can be someone who has died recently or a little while ago.
You may also remember that earlier this year one of our prayer stations in the churchyard offered people the opportunity to put the name of a loved one onto a red heart and we kept these on the church windowsills for a while. They will be brought back into church for the All Souls service. If you would like to add a name to a heart, there will be blank ones available at the back of church throughout the coming month.
Looking for things to do in October? Here are a couple of ideas of things happening at St Mary Magdalene’s this coming month.
Mike King is organising what sounds to be a lovely concert on Saturday 18th October at 7.30pm
St Mary Magdalene's
CONCERT
With CHEESE AND WINE
Saturday 18th October
7.30pm
Jane Moss - folk songs with a ukulele
Paul Monks - light jazz, tenor and alto saxophone
Michael King on the organ
Vicarage Rd Lillington CV32 7RH
Donations to the Organ Fund
And if you haven’t found a Macmillan Coffee morning to support this year, you may like to join folk at St Mary Magdalene on Wednesday 22nd October 11.00am – 12.30pm (after the church service).
Thought for the month: Following God’s call on our lives
At Coventry Cathedral on the 20th September, we celebrated Lay Ministry in the wider church. This was a time to recognise and licence those who felt called to be licensed Readers (including our own Geoff) but also a time to remember that each and every one of us is called to be a ‘minister’ in God’s church.
At the beginning of the service, Bishop Sophie read out these words:
- The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; and, according to their gifts, to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship and governance of the Church.
The very early church didn’t have the same formal structures we live with today. Groups of believers met in one another’s houses to worship God and support one another, with leaders growing up from within each community. St Paul’s letters in the Bible were written to those churches, scattered around the Mediterranean, to encourage them to keep going, to answer their questions and help to resolve difficulties, but always to remind them that each person had a role to play in the life of their church.
His words in 1 Corinthians 12.12-26 sum that up nicely. If you have time, look that passage up and read it. It reminds us that no single part of the body is more important than another – each individual part is needed for the body to function well. And that is also true of our shared life as a church community. Whilst some of us stand out at the front of church on a Sunday morning, leading the service, reading, playing the organ and so on, none of that would happen unless someone else unlocked the building and got everything ready; unless someone welcomed people into church; kept our churchyard looking cared for and welcoming, or served on the PCC. One of the great strengths of St James is the level of involvement of everyone in the day-to-day life of the church and your willingness to share your skills and experience with one another.
So what do you think are your gifts? What does God call you to do in his name – not just in church but out in your everyday lives? Because ‘ministry’ in his name doesn’t just happen on a Sunday morning. As Christians, we are called to love and serve God in the whole of our lives. We may do that by caring for our families, or volunteering with a charity; it may be seen through your respect and care for the people around you when at work. Perhaps physically doing something has become more difficult – in which case, please remember that prayer ministry is of at least equal value and is something we can all do. God calls and uses each one of us so that together, we can be his church in the world. That call may change at different times in life but be assured that God has a purpose fo reach and every one of us. If you think you might have something more to offer to God but aren’t sure how to follow that thought up, please come and speak to me or Geoff.
One of my favourite hymns is ‘I the Lord of sea and sky’ and I think the chorus sums up what ‘ministry’ looks like:
Here I am Lord, is it I Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go Lord, if you lead me,
I will hold your people in my heart.
We are the body of Christ in the world today: let’s hold his people in our hearts and share our knowledge of his love and peace with those around us.
With love, Sue.
God our Father,
We offer our lives to do your work
in your Church and in the world.
Help us by your Holy Spirit
to hear more clearly your call
to deeper commitment to your service,
and give us grace to respond with gladness;
for the glory of Christ our Lord.
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
Ali Foster © 2013