Dear Friends in Christ,One of the things I’ve noticed about being embedded in a community is the role of the unexpected leader. These are people who may be the most unlikely to lead in an ‘official’ way but who do so, often in dramatic and dynamic style, but also in quiet and unobtrusive ways. In reality many of us are people of influence and manifest ‘soft’ authority, perhaps within our families or our friendship groups. The unexpected leader is often someone who doesn’t follow conventional, ‘polite’ paths. They often are the ones who challenge authorities or systems. They may be those establish groups to come together to achieve a common goal or address an injustice. It’s easy to think that we as ordinary citizens have no power, no influence, but we do, and we can enable others to do so. It just needs the spark of one person to start a fire that changes everything. This Sunday is Bible Sunday, and Jesus is starting his own journey through leadership. As a male in Judaic society, he would already possess inherited and unearned power. Now he speaks at the synagogue, itself a conveyer of his position. His listeners are initially proud of what he’s doing-the local boy doing good-until he dumbfounds them by not playing the expected game, challenging them and breaking out a message that affronts them. Jesus begins his ministry with the Isaiah reading, proclaiming a message bigger than his hearers want. He’s not limited by his context. He’s now emerging into a new era, the ultimate in unexpected leaders. This Sunday 26 October the Last after Trinity 8:00am Holy Communion, All Saints10:00am Holy Communion, St. Mary’s10:30am Cafe Church, All Saints The Week Ahead Wednesday 29th Oct 9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer, All SaintsThursday 30th Oct 10:00am – Holy Communion, St. Mary’sFriday 31st Oct 11:00am – Living After Loss, St. Mary’sSaturday 1st Nov 10:00am – Coffee Morning, Book Sale & Bristol Repair Café, All SaintsSaturday 1st Nov 12:00pm - 1:30pm – Saturday Lunches, St. Mary’s Next Sunday 2nd November 10:00am –. Creative Church, St. Mary’s10:30am – Holy Communion, & Junior Church, All Saints6:30pm – Choral Evensong, St. Mary’s May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, evermore. Amen. Blessings, Fr Kester de Oliveira
Dear All Saints and St Mary’sThis year is the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea. At this council, The Emperor Constantine gathered all the wise and the great in the church to resolve some questions that had been dividing the church. Christianity is a religion centred on the story of God’s relationship with human beings. That story started in the Old Testament and continues to this day. At the heart of the story is the story of Jesus, his life, death, and resurrection. Living out this story, some questions arose. Is God the Father the same as the creator God of the Old Testament? Is Jesus a god, a human or somehow both? If Jesus is in some way a god, are there two gods or one? If there is one God, how is Jesus connected with God the Father? And what do we think about the Holy Spirit, the church, baptism, and resurrection? The answers to these questions have surprising consequences. They affect our attitudes to creation, to human suffering and to community, among other things. The answers to the questions of the day were summarised in a document that was agreed by representatives of all the churches. This was updated in fifty-six years later in the Council of Constantinople to produce what we know as the Nicene creed. This statement of the Christian faith is still accepted by almost all of those who call themselves Christian. In honour of this anniversary, we have decided to think about the creed in our Café Church services at All Saints. After a general introduction in October, we will work our way through the creed. We will reflect on what it says and how that makes a difference to our faith and in our lives. All are welcome to our first session on October 26th.Before then, this Sunday, we have our normal pattern of service for a third Sunday. In addition, there is a memorial service at St Mary’s in the afternoon, “A Time to Remember”.10.00 am St Mary’s Holy Communion10.30 am All Saints Holy Communion3.00 pm St Mary’s A Time to RememberThe services for the coming week are as follows:Wednesday 22nd 9.00 am All Saints Celtic morning prayerThursday 23rd 10.00 am St Mary’s Holy CommunionSunday 26th October8.00 am All Saints Holy Communion (said) 10.00 am St Mary’s Holy Communion 10.30 am All Saints Café ChurchYour brother in ChristMarkMark SimmsLicensed Lay MinisterBenefice of all Saints and St Mary Fishponds
Welcome, Bienvenue, Bienvenida,Witamy, Selamat datang....Wil CumaDear All Saints and St MarysI am very fond of the signs that have the world Welcome on their doors, especially the ones that have it in multiple languages. The world Welcome comes from two words - "Wil" which means "desired" and "Cuma" which means "Guest". Its a rather lovely way to think about the word - to desire a guest. To wish for company. At both All Saints and St Marys we welcome people in all sorts of different ways, and to many different things - worship, concerts, groups, cafes. To extend a welcome to a whole community is something that is core to the values of the Church of England, which has, a parish in every part of the country. Part of our DNA is that everyone in a parish immediately belongs and that we are all welcome, regardless of creed, colour, sex or sexuality. It also means that all are welcome regardless of ability, intellect, wealth or skill. We don't earn our parish - we simply are born, work, or live in it - we belong because we are here. As both churches, look at ways in which we can live out this welcome, whether that is through open churches, better access or more creative invitations, it is good to believe, trust in and know that Jesus is the person who teaches us and models for us a radical welcome. May we be parish churches who trust in that welcome that is extended to us all.All Saints welcomes our furry (and not so furry) friends to worship tomorrow for the Pet Service at 10.30 - do bring along your pet, or if not a cuddly toy as we look at place of animals in our lives. St Marys focus will be on raising awareness of disability and how we can make a difference here in this place with our welcome.Sunday 12th October8:00am Holy Communion, All Saints10:00am Sung Holy Communion, St. Mary’s10:30am Pet Service, All Saints 7:15pm Generations, The WoodThe week aheadMon 13thOct 10:30am -Tiny Tots, All SaintsTue 14th Oct 10:30am - Music 4 Tots, St. Mary’s Parish RoomsWeds 15th Oct 9:00am - Celtic Morning Prayer, All SaintsWeds 15th Oct 9:00am - 2:00pm - Bible Book Club, St. Mary’sThurs 16th Oct 10:00am - Holy Communion, St. Mary’sFri 17th Oct 11:00am - Living After Loss, St. Mary’sSat 18th Oct 12:00pm - 1:30pm - Saturday Lunches, St. Mary’sSunday 19th OctoberOct 10:00am - Sung Service of the Word, St. Mary’s 10:30am - Holy Communion, All Saints 3.00pm - A Time to remember - St MarysBlessingsRevd LizzieVicar of All Saints and St Marys Churches, Fishponds
GentlenessDear All Saints and St MarysHow do we live well in a world that marks many different life defining moments, almost simultaneously? The last 48 hours has brought us the news and horror of an attack on a synagogue during the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur. The news has also brought again a week of witnessing to continued bombing of Gaza and the subsequent loss of life. It has also been a week when a cure for Huntington's Disease is seemingly possible, and one when the Church of England has made a historic appointment of the first woman to be the Archbishop of Canterbury. There are things to mourn, times to weep and yet also things of thanksgiving and wonder and celebration. Is it okay to celebrate one thing at the same time as feeling aggrieved in prayer at another? How do we square that? Should we even try to make sense of it? Can we find genuine joy in one thing when it sits alongside tragedy in another? Today, the 4th October, is the day the church remembers St Francis of Assisi. A Saint whose story filled both extremes of wealth and chosen poverty. He may not have been aware in the 12th century of global news from around the world, but he did experience the extremes of both sorrow and joy. One of the striking things about Francis is perhaps once he had made his choice about how he was going to follow God, he appeared to have made peace with that decision, and in that he became a man of peace. A gentle, simple appreciative life was lived in the service of others and the created world. It was his intentional living in this way that perhaps gave rise to some of his more famous moments of compassion. No doubt he continued to have the same human responses of anger and injustice as others around him at what he saw and experienced. Yet he practiced peace. And for that I am truly grateful.Peace.Revd LizzieServices this Sunday 5th October10am - St Marys - Creative Church - Looking at Eve10.30am - All Saints - Harvest Festival Holy Communion Celebration with Band and Junior Church and Harvest Lunch6.30am - Choral Evensong for Dedication at St MarysThe week aheadMon 6thOct 10:30am – Tiny Tots, All SaintsTue 7th Oct 10:30am – M4T, St. Marys Parish RoomsWeds 8th Oct 9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer, All SaintsThurs 9th Oct 10:00am – Holy Communion, St. MarysSat 11th Oct 12:00pm - 1:30pm – Saturday Lunches, St. Mary’s\Sunday 12th Oct 8:00am – Holy Communion, All Saints 10:00am – Holy Communion, St. Mary’s 10:30am – Pet Service, All Saints 7:15pm – Generations, The Wood
Dear Friends in Christ,Since I moved to Fishponds 2 years ago, I’ve spent a lot of time walking around the area. It’s sometimes chaotic diversity can be refreshing, exciting, sometimes challenging, but never dull! What strikes me within the diversity are the contrasts. Perhaps the starkest is between those who can afford to use the artisan and independent cafes and shops and those who sit on the streets begging. These are the visible ones. May more are just about scraping by unnoticed.Of course, other places are even more stark in contrast. I visited Sao Paulo in Brazil and there the contrast between the uber wealthy and the destitute is shocking. Our Gospel warns us of stocking up earthly treasure at the cost of our spiritual lives, our connection with God. the transient vs the eternal. Yet it’s not telling us to hate the things of the world, but to have the right relationship with them. Being totally consumed with the modern consumerist world is a way of life that will never be fully satisfying as its never ending. But we mustn’t become so holier than thou that we fail to see the real need that so many have for the means to live and thrive Instead, Jesus is teaching us to not make money and stuff our God, but to keep God at the centre of our lives. These other things are an undeniable and vital part of life, but they are not its fullest answer. The tension of this is real, but God gives us the way to navigate it as long as we constantly lean into and on him.May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, evermore. Amen.Blessings, Fr Kester de Oliveira This Sunday 28 September 15th after Trinity8:00 Holy Communion, All Saints10:00 Harvest Festival Communion, St. Mary’s10:30 Cafe Church, All SaintsThe Week AheadWeds 1st Oct 9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer, All SaintsThurs 2nd Oct 10:00am – Holy Communion, St. MarysFri 3rd Oct 11:00am – Living After Loss, St. MarysSat 4th Oct 10:00am – Coffee Morning and Book Sale with Bristol Repair Café, All Saints11:00am – Communion in the Wood12:00pm - 1:30pm – Saturday Lunches, St. Mary’s7:00pm – Barn Dance, All SaintsSun 5th Oct 10:00am – Creative Church, St. Mary’s10:30am – Holy Communion, All Saints10:30am – Junior Church, All Saints6:30pm – Choral Evensong, St. Mary’s
Red Letter DaysDear All Saints and St MarysI always enjoy finding out new things! This Sunday 21st September happens to also be what was traditionally called a "Red Letter Day". It's a way of describing a special feast day that occurs in the calendar, often linked to saints and therefore in medieval times they were also always holidays! St Matthews feast day falls this Sunday and is a Red Letter Day. Researching the term was fascinating, as what I discovered is that they got their name when the printing press was invented. These festival days were marked out in the calendar in red, instead of black, so that they stood out, hence the name. Adopted almost universally when the Book of Common Prayer came into print, it meant that they were easy to spot and look forward to. They provide interruptions in our rhythms, sometimes welcome, sometimes not! They often require an ability to pivot, embrace a change, stop and consider rather than ploughing on. Jesus was a good interrupter. His call on people like St Matthew, marked moments of change, pivot and disruption in life, presenting opportunities to rethink and discover something new about God. The choice becomes ours, to either embrace them or avoid them, but my spiritual hunch is that that God will continue to put these disrupters in our lives until we are ready to listen and learn and grow.Services this Sunday 21st September10.00am - Sung Holy Communion - St Marys10.30am - Holy Communion with Hymns - All SaintsThe week aheadMon 22nd Sept 10:30am – Tiny Tots, All SaintsTues 23rd Sept 10:30am – Music for Toddlers, St. Mary’s Parish RoomsWeds 24th Sept 9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer, All SaintsThurs 25th Sept 10:00am – Holy Communion, St. MarysSat 27th Sept 12:00 - 1:30pm – Saturday Lunches, St. Mary’sSun 28th September8:00am – Holy Communion, All Saints 10:00am – Harvest Festival Communion, St. Mary’s 10:30am – Café Church, All SaintsHarvest Festival at All Saints will be on the 5th October, with a barn dance on the evening of 4th October.BlessingsRevd LizzieVicar of All Saints and St Marys Churches, Fishponds