| † St Andrews Proclaiming Christ in Clewer 06 November 2022 The third Sunday before Advent |
 WELCOME Having a Christian faith should produce in us questions throughout our whole life because faith is a living gift from God and requires us to embrace it by both accepting what we are taught and questioning it, so it really does continue to grow within us and be shown outwardly towards others, prompting them to ask questions. In the life of Jesus as recorded in the gospels we see on many occasions the religious people questioning Jesus about what he is teaching them and Jesus questioning people, ‘Who is your neighbour’, asks Jesus after having told them the story of the good Samaritan. In Luke’s passage today we have a question that was asked of Jesus by the Sadducees. They were religious people of Jesus’ day who believed that there was no resurrection, and they were intrigued why Jesus was always speaking about resurrection. In this encounter you have Jesus well versed in all of scripture and an academic group of Sadducees wanting to get into a debate about the question…..I am not certain that their question is one that you might ask today! Let’s try and think of some questions you might have today about what you read in the bible or think about? We are all familiar with Who Wants to be a Millionaire, a whole series of questions that start off very simple and get harder as the amount of money you can win increases. Today in our baptism service I will be asking some very straightforward questions, the first 2 being ‘is this your faith’ and ‘do you wish to be baptised’, to which I hope they will want to give me honest answers. Baptism is not the end of our faith journey it is the start, so the questions give a confidence to start learning more and asking different questions. The congregation is also asked a question, not a theological one but a heart felt community of faith question, ‘will you support and uphold……..’? In the quiz there are several lifelines, ask the audience, ask the vicar (host), ask a friend, because we all need help in our life and at baptism, we show our support by being all together at the service sharing the joy of the baptism and praying. But Jesus wants us all to remember our baptism and to think about our own faith and the questions we still have? No million-pound prize for getting questions right, for in faith, the questions keep our faith growing and get us ready to meet with Jesus in eternity. That’s why we give a candle to remind us that Jesus is the light and at times of darkness when things aren’t going well, we remember to turn to Him and ask for His help and ask Him to show us others that can help us. At end of Jesus answering the Sadducees question some said, ‘well said teacher’, doesn’t mean they fully understood the answer, but they didn’t ask any more questions! Sometimes we won’t always understand things about God and faith but we have to go on asking questions, all of us need to keep answering the question ..’do you turn to Christ.. I turn to Christ’, it’s not a one off question it is a daily question and answer with God, and only you and God will know the honest answer. Blessings for your week Revd Rosie COLLECT Almighty Father, whose will is to restore all things in your beloved Son, the King of all: govern the hearts and minds of those in authority, and bring the families of the nations, divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin, to be subject to his just and gentle rule; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. All Amen READINGS Job 19.23-27a ‘O that my words were written down! O that they were inscribed in a book! O that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock for ever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me! This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Psalm 17.1-9 Hear my just cause, O Lord; consider my complaint; • listen to my prayer, which comes not from lying lips. Let my vindication come forth from your presence; • let your eyes behold what is right. Weigh my heart, examine me by night, • refine me, and you will find no impurity in me. My mouth does not trespass for earthly rewards; • I have heeded the words of your lips. My footsteps hold fast in the ways of your commandments; • my feet have not stumbled in your paths. I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; • incline your ear to me, and listen to my words. Show me your marvellous loving-kindness, • O Saviour of those who take refuge at your right hand from those who rise up against them. Keep me as the apple of your eye; • hide me under the shadow of your wings, From the wicked who assault me, • from my enemies who surround me to take away my life. 2 Thessalonians 2.1-5, 13-end As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you? But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, 17comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. GOSPEL READING Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke. Glory to you, O Lord. Luke 20.27-38 Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die any more, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.’ This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ. INTERCESSIONS Everlasting God, open our eyes, that we might see you. Open our ears, that we may hear you. Open our mouths, that we might speak your praise. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer. Holy God, we pray for your church throughout the world, for sceptics and believers, for clergy high and low. For all those who seek God at home, at work, in the streets, and in the pews, for all who search for life. We pray for the stillness to listen to the voice of the Spirit and to recognise what you have done for us. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer. Creator God you gave to us the care of our planet and yet all that we seem to do is spoil it. We pollute the atmosphere in our striving for worldly goods, we endanger the lives of your animal kingdom in our constant desire for farmland and cash crops and we bring death and destruction in senseless wars and acts of terrorism. We pray for a time when common sense rules and we all learn once again to be good stewards of your wonderful creation. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer. Loving God, we raise before you the sick and the suffering and ask that even in difficult times, we may honour you and encourage others by our prayers for those who are suffering today. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer. Gracious God, you give light to those in darkness who walk in the shadow of death; so remember in your kingdom your faithful servants, that death may be for them the gate to life and to unending fellowship with you. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer. Faithful God, you have promised to be with us and long ago sent your Spirit to live amongst us to guide us to a future of goodness and hope. As we travel into the week ahead seeking your truth and justice, help us to feel your presence and see your answers to the prayers we have made to you this morning. Merciful father: accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION God of peace, whose Son Jesus Christ proclaimed the kingdom and restored the broken to wholeness of life: look with compassion on the anguish of the world, and by your healing power make whole both people and nations; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen Listen to Revd Rosie’s Sermon from last Sunday PLAY NOTICES SUNDAY EVENING The Sunday Evening Service will be a Eucharist in Church. SERVICES FOR THE NEXT FEW WEEKS Evening Prayer on Tuesday and Thursday at 5.00pm via Zoom Church Open every Wednesday 10.00am – 12.00 Sun 06 Nov 10.30am 3rd before Advent, All Age Eucharist 5.00pm 1st Sunday Eucharist in Church Sun 13 Nov 10. 45am Service of Remembrance at the War Memorial No morning service in Church 5.00pm Eucharist for Remembrance Sunday in Church Sun 20 Nov 10.30am Christ the King, Eucharist 5.00pm Evening Prayer Zoom Sun 27 Nov 10.30am 1st Sunday of Advent, Eucharist No Evening Service, Carol Service in the park instead PLEASE PRAY FOR The Suffering: Blake, Sam, Don, Karl, Sarah, Joanna, Holly, Hugo, Frank and Barbara, Bill, Suzanne, Christopher, Jackie, Norman and Diane, Sylvia, and Mary. Refugees, Prisoners, the Homeless and those who mourn. The Departed: Hugh Roddy, Frank Blagrove, and all those recently departed this life, and those whose anniversaries fall at this time. Those baptised this month: Russell and Dexter. Community Prayers: Clewer Green School, the head teacher Martin Tinsley and all the pupils, staff and governors. For all our Care Homes, for the safety of residents and staff. We pray also for Windsor Christian Action, and the work of the Homeless Project, Street Angels, FoodShare, and The Night Shelter. Parish Cycle of Prayer: Please pray for all who live or work in Little Buntings, Tyrell Gardens, Duncroft, Perrycroft, Ryecroft, Rydings, Ellison Close, and Addington Close. Anglican Cycle of Prayer: please pray for The Church of England. Please pray also for the Churches in these Dioceses: Newcastle (UK), Eastern Newfoundland & Labrador, Central Newfoundland, Western Newfoundland (Canada), Ngbo (Nigeria), and Niagara (Canada). Please continue to pray for and support your neighbours and families in any way you can whilst keeping yourself safe.  THE FUNERAL OF FRANK BLAGROVE The funeral of Frank Blagrove will be at Windsor Parish Church (St John the Baptist) on 14th November at 1330. There will be open ringing from 12.45. CHRISTIAN AID DONATION email received: Hi Rosie. Would you please send our thanks and very best wishes to our friends at St. Andrews for the generous donation of £168.76. It is much appreciated. Pat Gibbinson. Treasurer Windsor Christian Aid committee. CHURCHES TOGETHER IN WINDSOR CORE GROUP Churches Together in Windsor exists to encourage and enable local churches to work, worship and pray together whenever possible. In particular, CTW organises events coinciding with the three main Christian festivals – Carols on the Hill at Christmas; a public act of witness at Easter; and Thy Kingdom Come / prayer for Christian unity at Pentecost. The day to day running of CTW is conducted by a Core Group comprising a mixture of local lay members and clergy from member churches. These Core Group members are nominated and elected or re-elected as appropriate at the Churches Together in Windsor Annual Assembly, held each November. The Core Group would welcome nominations from CTW member churches of individuals with a passion for Christian unity, to serve on the Core Group in the coming year. In particular, we are currently seeking an individual with financial skills to take on the role of treasurer, and someone with project management skills to oversee the organisation of Carols on the Hill in future years. In both cases, these roles can be learned by shadowing those currently carrying them out. Nominations for the coming year (including a named proposer and seconder) should be submitted to the secretary of CTW, Jacoby Patterson, no later than Wednesday 9th November 2022. Please contact either Jacoby (jacobyvpatterson@gmail.com) or myself (minister@dgbc.org.uk) if you wish to find out more before submitting a nomination. Revd Matthew Scott Chair, Churches Together in Windsor BABY BANK The Baby Bank requires underwear and packs of pants, all ages, sizes and gender please. CHRISTMAS MARKET On 03 December we’ll be having out Christmas Market from 11.00am to 2.00pm. Donations of plants, home-made jams etc appreciated, CHRISTMAS LIGHTS & CHURCHYARD TREE DECORATION On 11 December we’ll be lighting up the churchyard again, as we did last year. If you would like to support this popular event, by contributing towards their cost, please see Revd Rosie. Alternatively, you could provide some battery powered lights. If you’d like to decorate a tree please see Revd Rosie. CHARITIES WHICH WE SUPPORT At the last PCC Meeting, we looked at what charities we support, and here is the agreed list for your information: Mothering Sunday – Baby Bank CA Coffee morning and Bucket collections – Christian Aid Harvest Festival – Windsor Christian Action Remembrance Sunday – Royal British Legion Christmas – East to West, Crisis, Childrens’ Society   WINDSOR FOODSHARE From their Facebook and Twittter Pages: https://www.facebook.com/windsorfoodshare https://twitter.com/WindsrFoodshare HELP Can you help ?🙏🏻 We are currently low on Tinned Fruit and Desserts. All items can be dropped off to the church: Dedworth Green Baptist Church, Smiths Lane, Windsor, SL4 5PE 9.30am-1.30pm Wednesdays 9.30am -3.00pm Thursdays. or alternatively they can be brought from our Amazon wish list. The address they are delivered to are saved to Amazon to make your life a little easier 😀. https://amzn.to/3a1IMAk Thank you all for your continued support and for helping to feed local families. More information, and to donate online: https://www.windsorfoodshare.org.uk/food-donations Did you know that Windsor Foodshare has its own just giving page. If you are donating with just giving don’t forget to tick the gift aid box that way we get an extra 25% on top of your donation. Every single penny we get given goes to help feed local families. https://www.justgiving.com/windsorfoodshare CAN YOU HELP US TO KEEP SUPPLYING FRUIT AND VEGETABLES? One of our biggest expenses at Windsor Foodshare is buying in fruit and vegetables weekly . We try and make sure that everyone that visits gets a good selection of fresh fruit and vegetables. It is so important for peoples health, especially the children. With the cost of living going up farmers and suppliers costs are also going up which inturn passes on to us. Stopping buying fruit and veg is not something we even want to contemplate. We are one of very few foodbanks that are able to supply fruit and vegetables. This week we fed 126 people . With the cost of our fruit and veg from our supplier we spent £3.52 per person this week, so £14.08 per month per person. We are hoping to find donors who would like to sponsor a person or even a family each month. If you or a company you work for would like to get involved we would be very grateful for your help. We have several ways to donate money either by a bank transfer or just giving . Both of these options can be set up for recurring payments. Please put your reference as fruit and veg. All payment information can be found in our website under donations. If you wanted any further information on this then please contact myself at manager@windsorfoodshare.org.uk CHURCH FINANCES – MESSAGE FROM ANDREW Thank you to everyone for all you have been able to give in this difficult time. Please consider continuing your regular giving by paying directly to our bank account, the details of which are: HSBC Bank, High Street, Windsor Sort Code: 40-47-37 Account number: 11373366 Account name: PCC St Andrews Church or if your bank doesn’t like this Parochial Church Council St Andrews Clewer Parish You may wish to consider transferring to the Parish Giving Scheme, which we promoted in previous years. Details are on our page on their web site: https://bit.ly/2XCLuCr [https://www.parishgiving.org.uk/donors/find-your-parish/clewer-st-andrew-windsor/] We also have the printed application forms available, please contact the Parish Office by email. CONTACTS The Parish Office is now closed. The Office Number is: 07490 094261 Email: office@clewerparish.org Parish Website: www.standrewsclewer.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/standrewsclewer Churchwarden: Stuart Cockman Safeguarding Policy: www.standrewsclewer.org/safeguarding-policy Safeguarding Officer: clewerparishsafeguarding@gmail.com |