Dear Brothers and Sisters,This Sunday we celebrate St Margaret’s Patronal Festival, which is leading into the week of the Flower Festival this year rather than concluding it. It’s extraordinary to think that people have been worshipping God on the site where the current church now stands for over 1,000 years. And to consider how many people have been baptised in the Norman font down the centuries. The writer to the Hebrews encourages us that we are surrounded by a ‘great cloud of witnesses’ as we in our turn ‘run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith’ (Hebrews 12.1-2). So we ask God to help us play our part, as we give thanks for all who have gone before. Our 10am morning service will be a joint Mission Community Eucharist at St Margaret’s and at 3pm Jeremy will lead Songs of Praise in the churchyard (weather permitting). Find out the top 8 hymns Topsham voted for and enjoy tea and cake afterwards.Every blessingMaggiePlease send all contributions for the newsletter to Gill by the end of Thursday and material for A Church Near You to Tony Raven: tony@theravens.orgServices and calendar for the weekSaturday 20 July - 12.00…Wedding…St Margaret’sSunday 21 July - 8am…Holy Communion…St Margaret’s 10am…Joint Holy Communion…St Margaret’s 3pm…Open Air Songs of Praise…St Margaret’sMonday 22 July - 10am…Take 5…St Margaret’s 7pm…Compline… Zoom Tuesday 23 July - 9am…Morning Prayer…St Margaret’s 10.30am…Coffee and Chat…St Luke’s church roomsWednesday 24 July - 10am…Morning Worship…Zoom 11am…Summer Study Group…St Margaret’s 2-4pm…Open Church…St Luke’s All day…Flower Festival preparation…St Margaret’sThursday 25 July - 10am – 6pm…Flower Festival…St Margaret’s NO Mini Messy Church…St Margaret’s 3.15-4.15…Summer Study Group…St Luke’sFriday 26 July - 9am…Morning Prayer…St Margaret’s 10am – 6pm…Flower Festival…St Margaret’sSaturday 27 July - 10am – 5pm…Flower Festival…St Margaret’sSunday 28 July - 10am…Family Communion…St Margaret’s 10am…Morning Worship…St Luke’s 12noon…Baptism…St Luke’s 6.30pm…Evensong… St Margaret’sThe Zoom links and meeting IDs for all the Zoom events are on our pages on ACNY (A Church Near You)St. Luke’s church is now open on Wednesday afternoons between 2.00 and 4.00.All are welcome...To look aroundTo sit quietly for a whileTo light a prayer candleTo pray.News and NoticesFrom the end of July, there will no churchwarden, unless someone comes forward! If you would like to know more about what is involved, please contact Gill: gyates@uwclub.netPlease pray for at least 1 churchwarden for St. Margaret’s.Bookings - St. Margaret’s bookings has been taken over by Caryll Ingerslev. Contact: C.I.churchbookings@outlook.comSummer Study and Fellowship groupsThe book chosen for the summer session is “Holy Habits” by Andrew Roberts. This week we meet in the social area of St Margaret's Church for tea/coffee from 10.40 but will decamp to St Nicholas Methodist Church at 11am to avoid disturbing preparations for the Flower Festival. Our final session on 31st July will be at St Margaret’s as usual.All are welcome (even if you haven’t been before-each session stands alone). For more information contact Revd Maggie Stirling Troy:mstirling1@hotmail.co.ukSt Luke's are reading the same book, starting on Thursdays 3-15 pm - 4-15 pm, meeting in their Church rooms and also serving tea/coffee. All are welcome. Songs of Praise, Sunday 21st July at 3.00 p.m.Open-air Songs of Praise 3.00 p.m. Sunday 21st in the churchyard (in church if wet). Please bring your own chair if you can! Followed by tea and cake Flower Festival at St. Margaret’s – Thursday 25th - 27th JulyThere are still plenty of gaps to be filled, stewarding, making cakes, helping with refreshments.As always the success of this major event in our church year depends heavily on volunteers who are happy to smile at visitors!There are now sign-up lists at the back of the church. Please check you diaries before coming to church on Sunday!Please ask David Byrne (01392 758557) dbyrne47@outlook.com or Gill Yates gyates@uwclub.netif you want to find out more.Wednesday 7th August, 3 – 5pm – There will be Cream teas in the garden of Ken and Sandra Greedy at 29 Southbrook Road, Countess Wear. Tickets are £5 and can be obtained from Ken, Sandra or Brian Bolt, or phone Ken and Sandra at 01392 271458 or e mail – Kenneth.greedy@sky.com. All proceeds will go to St. Luke’s Church Funds. We are hoping that the weather will be suitable to sit in the garden, not pouring with rain, as happened for the Desserts Alfresco evening.Please find the August newsletter for St. Margaret’s attached.Exmouth Food BankSupplies We Are Short Of This Month – July 2024 T ins of baked beans & spaghetti hoopsCerealsStir in pasta /pasta bake saucesTins or packets of soupTinned fruitPeanut butterJars of jamCoffeeTea bagsPackets of biscuitsShampoo & conditionerThe Exmouth Foodbank urgently needs bags for life/large plastic bags to enable people to carry their food parcels home. Thank you.Many thanks for your support. We simply couldn’t do this without you!Thank you in advance for your generosity!For further information email: info@exmouthfoodbank.org 07787758511PrayersFor those who are ill or in need of our prayers:Roger Fogwill, Lucy, Pauline, Jill and Adrian, Michael, Kirsten, Chris Whitehead, Fay, Anne, Tony Bradford, Marlene Gardner, Pam Wormald, Mary, Peter, John Heal, Rosemary Henry, Gail MillerHousebound or in nursing/care homes:Alfred Wonnacott, Janet Mutter, Georgina LearPlease pray for Anne Plested supporting the work of Bethlehem Bible College, and Ben and Katy Ray in Tanzania, St. Luke’s CMS mission link.AnniversariesJoyce Robinson, Phyllis GrayJocelyn Fisher, Mary Godly, Bill Secrett, Winifred Robinson, Joan Drake, Dorothy EastwoodRecently departedPat LomaxGospel Readings for the coming weekSunday 21st July Ephesians 2: 11-endMonday 22nd July John 20: 1-2, 11-18Tuesday 23rd July Matthew 12: 46-endWednesday 24th July Matthew 13: 1-9Thursday 25th July Matthew 20: 20-28Friday 26th July Matthew 13: 18-23Saturday 27th July Matthew 13: 24-30Sunday 28th July John 6: 1-21Collect and reading for Sunday 21st JulyAlmighty Lord and everlasting God, we beseech you to direct, sanctify and govern both our hearts and our bodies in the ways of your laws and the works of your commandments; that through your most mighty protection, both here and ever, we may be preserved in body and soul; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.Ephesians 2.11-endOne in ChristSo then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called ‘the uncircumcision’ by those who are called ‘the circumcision’—a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, so that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spirituallyinto a dwelling-place for God.
As we all pray for peace in Israel and Palestine, please do keep alert to the work of Bethlehem Bible college whom we have been supporting for several years now.All of us at the Bethlehem Institute of Peace and Justice have been shocked and horrified at the ongoing war in Gaza and the unimaginable suffering of the Gazan people. The magnitude of the destruction is beyond comprehension. A thriving city has been destroyed, as well as thousands of innocent lives, the most significant percentage being women and children. The murder of many Israelis was a tragedy, but Israel's response has been beyond excessive. A ceasefire must occur so that the indiscriminate attack on schools and hospitals where thousands of Gazans are sheltered is stopped. Instead of trivializing the need for peace and justice studies, the magnitude of the destruction is a statement of the fruit of the neglect of peacemaking and justice studies. Therefore, we are pressing ahead with all our programs at the BIPJ. Every semester peacemakers from an array of nations from Japan to Tanzania to Belgium and Canada are pursuing graduate-level studies with us for either credit or audit. Anthony Khair, a talented student at Bethlehem Bible College, says of his studies with the BIPJ this semester: "After living through this war in Palestine. I've realized more than ever how important it is to study peacemaking and justice. Therefore, I am eager to continue taking the BIPJ's spring semester course to have a broader knowledge of how to deal with injustices in our context and internationally." Our BIPJ course participants have established deep relationships with each other. The cohort from our two-week residential Summer Intensive last May has continued their conversations about peacemaking and met in live Zoom sessions during the war. The BIPJ is a peacemaking community. Our conviction at the BIPJ is that the more people study peace, the less conflict and war there will be. The prophet Isaiah's vision of the age of the Messiah points to the time when people will not learn about war: "He shall judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2.4). Instead of learning about war, people must know how to make peace to heal our world. We are so grateful you are part of the Bethlehem Institute of Peace and Justice family. We pray that the Lord will multiply grace and wisdom to you during these difficult days. Let's urgently pray together for the war to end soon. One of the Bethlehem Bible College students, Rose, offers this prayer: In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, JESUS, I want you to be the sunshine of our life. We ask you to be with our people in Gaza, to protect them under their broken homes. Please be with the mothers, fathers, and their children. Our hearts are broken because so many people have died. Amen. For Christ always –