Mid-week Joy 9th September

 Mid-week Joy

Welcome back to our mid-week celebration of all the great things happening in Leesfield Parish and beyond.

Our Sunday service details will be here as usual at weekend, but there's so much more that we would love to share with you in the meantime.

Please do join us tomorrow on our facebook page for important news about "Worship for all Generations" - just click on this link - Leesfield Parish. Full details will follow here after tomorrow's on-line service.

This week's musical item comes from The Greater Manchester Virtual Voices, and is a lovely rendition of "Make Your Own Kind Of Music". Those of us of a certain age will remember the version made famous by Mama Cass Elliott quite a few years ago.

After a well-deserved break for the summer holidays, our Sunday schools are back - not in our school halls yet, but on their facebook pages. There will be stories from the Bible, prayers, and lots of activities for children of all ages. We're really looking forward to seeing more of their brilliant artwork.

Harvest Queen Annie and her retinue would normally be holding lots of fundraising events, but unfortunately many of these can't happen this year (although they did manage to have a lovely Cream Tea Event just before our churches had to close). They have now set up a special fundraising facebook page, starting with a "New To You" Sale. To find out more please click on this link - Harvest Queen Annie FUNdraiser

And finally for this week - lots of people are quite understandably concerned about whether churches will be recording attendance for school admissions. We're keeping a close eye on any updates, but certainly for now the advice from the Diocese of Manchester is that we do not keep records for this purpose. Please see the notice below for more information.

Sunday 6th September

 Sunday Worship 6th September

St Thomas' Church welcomes you to a Parish Eucharist at 10 am. Presiding and preaching today is our own Associate Priest, Reverend David Halford.

We follow all of the advice from the Government, the Church of England and Manchester Diocese to ensure your safety. The wearing of face coverings is mandatory unless you are exempt from this requirement. Please do bring your own if you can, but we do have a limited supply of disposable face masks if you need one - so don't let that stop you from joining us. 

The latest local restrictions do not affect the numbers of people we are able to seat at our service, as we already have enough space to allow safe distancing. Please do remember though that socialising with people from outside your household before and after the service is not permitted at present.

Your own home is still the safest place to worship, particularly if you are shielding or in a vulnerable group, and you'll find everything you need here on this page.

This morning's first hymn is "Do Not Be Afraid" -

Today's Gospel Reading -

Reflection:

There are many messages in this Gospel passage but let us not overlook the obvious. 

Firstly, we are asked that when we have been wronged, be that by word of mouth or by a more serious crime being committed against us, we should pause and try and give the person who has offended us the benefit of the doubt. Love calls us to show patience and consideration. 

That may sound easy, but of course when someone has upset us, it is not necessarily easy to do. In fact, our first reaction may well be to moan to our friends and neighbours or anyone who will listen. In these times we may even turn to social media, to Facebook or Twitter. Before we know it, due to our anger things have escalated out of all proportion and there is harm done on all sides. 

However, Jesus expects us to love our neighbour and to be charitable towards them. Moreover, we have a responsibility to our neighbour to point out the perceived error of their ways with kindness and compassion. We need to create a space for them to think about what they have said or done and how it has caused us pain. Most importantly, we need to give them the chance to say “I’m sorry”.

Where this doesn’t seem to work, we can come together in prayer with a person or persons we trust. We can have confidence that when we ask Jesus for guidance and wisdom, he will be with us help shape our thoughts and actions. He will give us the direction we need and where necessary help us to show mercy and forgiveness.

Secondly, Jesus tells us, that “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” 

At first glance, this is sometimes taken quite literally in that we think of occasions where we are physically present in church or other location. However, by the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus is constantly with each and every one of us every minute and everywhere. We can, therefore, be confident that even when we are on our own when we pray in our homes, at work or anywhere, he hears our thoughts and concerns and through his divine grace we are spiritually gathered together.

Our Prayers for today -

And our final hymn is "10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)" -

 

Mid-week Joy 2nd September

 Mid-week Joy

Welcome back to our mid-week celebration of all the great things happening in Leesfield Parish and beyond.

Our Sunday service details will be here as usual at weekend, but there's so much more that we would love to share with you in the meantime.

Please do join us tomorrow for the last in our series exploring the books of the Old Testament - just click on this link - Leesfield Parish 

This week is very special for one of the longest serving members of St Thomas' congreation. Vivienne is celebrating her 90th birthday, but of course the celebrations will not be what she and her family would have wished for because of all the COVID restrictions. So the Ladies of Leesfield decided to surprise her at church last Sunday with a cake and some gifts. Vivienne was allowed to take her mask off for the photo below, and unfortunately the cutting of the cake had already started before we found somebody with a camera, but it was such a lovely occasion!

The return of children and staff to school this week is a really challenging but exciting time for everyone.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all at our three church schools - St Thomas' Leesfield, St Agnes' Knolls Lane, St Hugh Holts, and with our former pupils who have now moved on to their new secondary schools. 

This week's musical item is a little different to what we usually share in Mid-week Joy. Firstly, I don't usually choose a hymn for this spot, and secondly, the occasion where it was sung was not exactly joyful. 

If you regularly follow this page you'll know that we always share a couple of YouTube hymns with on-screen lyrics in our Sunday Worship so that folks at home can sing along. Sometimes it feels like a bit of a chore sifting through all the different versions of hymns, but every now and then I come across  one that's rather special.

This is "I Watch The Sunrise" from the Hillsborough Memorial Service in 2013. 

As we start another new month, here's a calendar from Action for Happiness, packed with ways to look after yourself this month.

Creationtide or the Season of Creation is the period in the annual church calendar, from 1st September to 4th October, dedicated to God as Creator and Sustainer of all life. The theme for the Season of Creation 2020 is Jubilee for the Earth. Jubilee is a time of rest for the land from exploitation, and to restore ecosystems and people. The Season of Creation is a great time to encourage children and young people to take part in the Letters for Creation project. This is a way for them to reflect on what caring for creation means to them, and how they want their voice to be heard in the climate justice conversation. To find out more click on the following link - Church of England creationtide/get-your-voice-heard