The Benefice of St. Bartholomew

St Catherine's Church, Sedgehill - Harvest Celebrations 2019

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Written by Liz Stopford

St Catherine's Church, Sedgehill

Join us for the

Harvest Festival Evensong

St Catherine’s Church, Sedgehill

on

Sunday 22nd September 2019 at 6.00 pm

All are most welcome

______

Sedgehill Harvest Supper

will be held in

Sedgehill Village Hall

on

Saturday 21st September 2019

6.30 pm for 7.00 pm

Tickets: £10.00 for adults, £5.00 for children.
Please bring your own plate and cutlery.

It will be helpful to let Liz know if you are able to join us: telephone 01747 830611

Proceeds shared between St Catherine's Church and Sedgehil Village Hall.

Review of Weekday Services

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Written by The Rev'd Richard Warhurst

After reviewing attendance at our new weekly service pattern, we have decided to change the services we have during the week. During August 2019, we will have a simplified pattern of weekday services to allow for vacations. From September, we will run a revised pattern of weekday prayer to include Evening Prayer.

As a Diocese, we have our Mission of ‘Renewing Rural Hope: Pray, Serve, Grow.’ With our pattern of prayer during the week, we are seeking to promote times when we can ‘drop into prayer with others’.

Morning Prayer at 9.00am and Evening Prayer at 5.00pm will hopefully open up the possibility for people across the Benefice to find time to pray throughout the week. The service is about 20 minutes and is an informal gathering where we can pray the office from Common Worship.

From the Curate - September 2019

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Written by The Rev'd Kevin Martin

Dear Friends

As I write we are approaching the end of August and already we are making preparations for the restart of the year. August can be an unusual month when our usual routines change or completely disappear! The pressures of the school run or commute to work give way to a more relaxed start of the day as the holidays begin. New stresses can arise though as we wonder how to keep children and visitors entertained. It can sometimes feel like nothing is happening as clubs take a break and sometimes even our favourite cafe or hairdresser is closed as they too take a break.

Throughout August, however, there is also so much happening. It is a time when we hopefully find rest or a few extra hours in the day to ponder. Sometimes, time away from work makes us consider if we are in the right job or even career. For students it is a time of waiting. Waiting for results so as to be able to decide the next step of life's journey. Once the results are in there is then a flurry of activity as preparations are made to start a new term in a new place or new position.

We begin to realise that the quiet time we were expecting or may think others are having is actually very full. It is full because we have embraced a different relationship to time to the one we usually have in our normal daily routine. We can find ourselves in the present moment more and this is the main aim of taking time to rest. If we embrace the present moment we may notice people and things around us that we normally pass by in our rush to the next appointment or meeting. We can pause and have conversations we may usually miss the opportunity to have. In these moments we meet our surroundings, our neighbours and even our families in a more in-depth way.

This is the relationship God calls us into. One where we notice God as present in every moment of our day no matter what we are experiencing. God is with us in our busy routines and in our moments of rest and re-creation and invites us to notice God's beauty in our surroundings and the people we meet. God is a God of relationship between Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer and through the person of Jesus Christ we too are invited into that relationship. This relationship takes place in the present moment for time changes in this moment as we experience something of God's eternity. We glimpse it in our 'holiday mode' when we take time to notice our surroundings. We also glimpse it when we notice how time seems to drag when we are waiting for holidays to come or exam results to arrive but then speeds up as we start to plan for new terms or new jobs. We begin to get some understanding of how for God a day is like a thousand years whilst a thousand years is like a single day. I am hoping I will remember to embrace this present moment more often as the busyness of life starts again in September and beyond.

May God bless you with the rest you need and the time to embrace the present moment in everyday life.

Kevin

Prayer Cycle and Prayer of the Month - September 2019

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Written by The Rev'd June Lane

This month, there have been some wonderful answers to our prayers so do not be discouraged. Keep sending in your requests to Julia (tel: 01747 829166), The Rev’d June (tel: 01747 828427), Theresa (tel: 01747 829188), or The Rev’d Richard (tel: 01747 830174).

Prayer of the Month

I have used this prayer before but it is such a relevant one that I hope you will all pray it again with me.

This Prayer about our journey through life is by Canon Frank Topping.

Lord, you spent your earthly days travelling on foot.
Your greatest journey was on a donkey.
But you left behind a trail of hope, and love and peace.
At least I know that it is not the distance travelled that matters, but the quality of the journey.
In all my travels,
Christ be before me,
Christ be behind me,
Christ be beside me,
Christ be at mine end and at my departing.

Amen