This weekend’s Bible reading: Isaiah 55:6-13 (p 742)This weekend we welcome Harriet and her family and supporters to St Mary’s. Not only is it Harriet’s first birthday, but she will be baptised in our family service. Please pray for her and her sponsors as she embarks on her new life as a member of God’s world-wide Church.Please join us if you can for our special harvest choral evensong at 6.00, also in St Mary’s.Harvest appeal: This weekend, we launch our harvest appeal. This year, we are supporting the Robinsons’ efforts to raise enough money to purchase a minibus for their work at The Place of Grace, where they work with children from the slums of Bangkok. More information on their work can be found on our benefice website. If you would like to contribute to the appeal, please put your donation into one of the special envelopes available in the pews at St Mary’s, or directly into the collection bag at St Catherine’s next week, or All Saints on 6th October.Events coming up:Midweek Music 25th September: This coming Wednesday at 12.30 in St Mary’s Standon, the midweek concert 'Harvest Home' will be given by John Witchell, piano; Robin Pegna, baritone and Ros Holbrow, clarinet. Refreshments will be served from 11.30am and all are welcome. Any donations are shared with the whole Benefice.Sacombe picnic 29th September: We are invited to bring a picnic lunch to the Sacombe service on 29th, to enjoy in the churchyard (or in the church if weather dictates). Drinks will be provided, but please bring a chair if you can.What’s been happening recently:Little Munden Quiz Night: Thank you to all who helped make the quiz night on 7th September such a resounding success, both socially and financially. Everybody seemed to have had a lovely time, with an excellent quiz master and beautifully presented Ploughman's Platters. The bar ran dry and emergency supplies had quickly to be sourced. The event will certainly be repeated in 2025. The amount raised was £1,465.Services for the next few weeks:Midweek services each week:Tuesdays, 9.30am Holy Communion (BCP) & Bible study, St Catherine'sWednesdays, 9.30am Morning worship & Bible study, St Mary'sSunday services:22nd September 10.30am All age harvest worship, St Mary's6.00pm Harvest Choral Evensong, St Mary's29th September 10.30am Harvest morning worship, St Catherine's6th October 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's10.30am Harvest morning worship, All Saints13th October 10.30am Holy communion, St Mary's20th October 8.00am Holy Communion, St Mary's10.30am Holy communion, All Saints27th October 10.30am All age worship, St Mary's6.00pm Choral Evensong, St Mary's
This weekend’s Bible readings: James 3:1-12 (p 1214) and Mark 8:27-end (p 1012) Events coming up:Pop-Up Shop 22nd September: The fairtrade pop up shop is back next Sunday. Marion will be taking advance orders for Advent calendars and candles.Benefice bookstall 22nd September: The bookstall will also be back next week. Lizzy plans to have Christmas stock for the end of October, so if there’s something in particular that you know you would like her to order, please let her know.Sunday lunch at the Star 22nd September: Heather is organising our next Sunday lunch at the Star, next Sunday at 12.15pm. For more information, please contact Heather 07909 065550.Diocesan vacancies: The Diocese is advertising for two part-time administrators to work with the Education Team at Holywell Lodge, and has asked that we highlight this. Further details are available on their website at https://www.stalbansdiocese.org/vacancies-role/diocesan-roles/ .What’s been happening recently:Children’s groups: Little Angels returned for the new academic year on Friday. We were thrilled to welcome 13 pre-school children with their parents/carers. A fun time was had by all! At the café, we now have two groups for children. Lizzy S and Luke are both coming each week, and the older children have more focussed Bible study in the Upper Room while the younger ones continue with the activities downstairs. One of the older group described this week’s session as his best day ever! And, at collective worship in both schools this week, those who had attended our HBC could show that they remembered several key points from the teaching they received there. Please continue to pray for all our outreach work.Services for the next few weeks:Midweek services each week:Tuesdays, 9.30am Holy Communion (BCP) & Bible study, St Catherine'sWednesdays, 9.30am Morning worship & Bible study, St Mary'sSunday services:15th September 8.00am Ante communion, St Mary's10.30am Morning worship, All Saints22nd September 10.30am All age harvest worship, St Mary's6.00pm Harvest Choral Evensong, St Mary's29th September 10.30am Harvest morning worship, St Catherine's6th October 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's10.30am Harvest morning worship, All Saints13th October 10.30am Holy communion, St Mary's20th October 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's10.30am Holy communion, All Saints
This weekend’s Bible readings: James 2:1-17 (p 1214) and Mark 7:24-end (p 1010)Streaming issues: A couple of times recently, the stream hasn’t worked as it should. This can happen if YouTube has a glitch, or if the internet connection drops out – or, of course, through human error. If this happens while you’re watching, please remember that the service is always recorded, and will be uploaded to our YouTube channel as soon as can be managed.Notices sheet: As explained last week, we are changing how we present the information in this sheet. The description of each event will now only appear once, and after that, the title, date and name of the contact person will appear in a list later on in the sheet. This will, we hope, remove the need to scroll through items we’ve read before, which sometimes results in us missing something that’s new! Please let us know whether this new way of working is helpful.Knit & Natter group 12th September: The group will meet in Standon village hall at 2pm on Thursday. Tea & cakes will be available. For more information please contact Diane (01920 821130) or Marion (01920 745683).Philip Stopford choral workshop day 21st September: We could do with a couple of volunteers, please, to help serve coffee and tea to the singers, both morning and afternoon. If you can help, please speak to Caroline.Services for the next few weeksMidweek services each week:Tuesdays, 9.30am Holy Communion (BCP) & Bible study, St Catherine'sWednesdays, 9.30am Morning worship & Bible study, St Mary'sSunday services:8th September 10.30am Holy communion, St Mary's15th September 8.00am Ante communion, St Mary's10.30am Morning worship, All Saints22nd September 10.30am All age harvest worship, St Mary's6.00pm Harvest Choral Evensong, St Mary's29th September 10.30am Harvest morning worship, St Catherine's6th October 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's10.30am Harvest morning worship, All Saints13th October 10.30am Holy communion, St Mary's
This weekend’s Bible readings: Ephesians 4:1-16 (p 1175) and John 6:24-35 (p 1070) August (lack of) notices: Please note that this notices sheet is the last one until 1st September.Welcome to Olivia and her family: This morning at All Saints, we welcome Olivia, her parents and God- parents, and her family and friends. Olivia will be baptised during our 10.30 service.Rita: We have heard that Rita died peacefully, at home, surrounded by family, at 8.30 on Saturday morning. Please pray for Rita’s family and all who will grieve for her.Visit of Mission Partners from Austria: On Wednesday 7th August at 2.45 pm David & Marlene Fry will visit St Mary’s. They will update us on David’s work with MediaWorks. Tea & cake will be available. Please come and join us. Please contact Diane on 01920 821130 for more information.New prayer station at St Mary's: There is a new prayer station in the North East corner of St Mary's to provide a quiet place to be still. There are pebbles and a dish of water to help with prayer and various prayer cards and leaflets that people can take away with them. The prayer board is still in place so that names can be added to it and alongside it is an invitation to visit the prayer station.Choral Evensong, Sunday 25th August at 6pm: All are welcome to join us as the benefice choir and a large number of friends lead our worship. Music will include Stanford's Canticles in C, Haydn's 'The heavens are telling' and hymns for all to join in with.Mid-Week Music: Please note that there is no concert scheduled for August. The next one will be 25th September.Kneeler mending in St Mary’s, Standon: On Saturday 17th August from 10am-12noon, a group of volunteers will be in St Mary’s mending some of the kneelers. If anyone would like to join us we would be very grateful. Please contact Marion S.Holiday Bible Club 27th – 30th August: Bookings are open for our annual Holiday Bible Club and Caroline is collecting names of helpers. The theme will be kings and queens in the Bible: Saul, David, Jehosaphat, Hezekiah, Jezebel, Nebuchadnezzar and, most importantly, Jesus. Please speak to Caroline if you can help on any or all of the days, and encourage any children you know to come along.Sunday lunch at the Star: Heather’s next Sunday lunch will be on Sunday 25th August at 12.15pm at the The Star Standon. If you would like a place please let Heather know by Monday 19th August.All Saints Quiz Night 7th September: The Quiz Night will be held in Little Munden School on 7th September at 7.00 pm. There will be a ploughman’s supper and a licensed bar, and tickets, priced £15, are available from Hugh, Heather, Jacky or Chris. Gather your teams! More details from Hugh on 07730 419964.Website: Our benefice website is on the www.achurchnearyou.com platform. The benefice page can be reached via this link: https://www.achurchnearyou.com/benefice/32-240BF/. The forward from https://ubsms.org.uk should point to that page. Services for the next few weeksMidweek services each week:Tuesdays, 9.30am Holy Communion (BCP) & Bible study, St Catherine'sWednesdays, 9.30am Morning worship & Bible study, St Mary'sSunday services:4th August 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's10.30am Morning worship, All Saints11th August 10.30am Holy communion, St Mary's18th August 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's10.30am Holy communion, All Saints25th August 10.30am All age worship, St Mary's6.00pm Choral Evensong sung by the Benefice choir and friends, St Mary's1st September 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's10.30am Morning worship, All Saints8th September 10.30am Holy communion, St Mary's