Weekly News - 13th August 2023

This weekend’s Bible readings:

Deuteronomy 30:11-19 (p 209) and Romans 10:1-15 (p 1137)

No notices sheet for 20th August:

There will be no notices sheet next week, but we will be back to normal for 27th. Thank you.

Help needed for Little Munden churchyard:

We desperately need more volunteers to help maintain the churchyard at All Saints. If you can offer some time, please speak to John.

Holiday Bible Club 29th August to 1st September, 10.00 until 3.00:

This year’s theme is Jonah, linking each part of Jonah’s story with gospel stories. Bookings are coming in now, and we have significantly more youngsters than last year. We can still use more people to help with groups, refreshments and craft activities. If you’d like to know more or to volunteer, please speak to Caroline, and please invite any children who might come.

Mothers’ Union:

The next meeting of Braughing with Standon Mothers' Union will be on Wednesday 30th August at 2.30pm in the Old Boys School Braughing. Please note this is a change from the date advertised for this month in our 2023 programme. Diane Moss will be talking about The Enchanted Isles (Galapagos). Everyone is invited to this meeting. Brenda Cottle will bring the MU Christmas cards, gifts, 2024 calendars & diaries with her. Please ring Diane on 01920 821130 or text on 07949 665365 for more information or if you need a lift.

Pop up shop:

The pop up shop is open on Sunday 27th August at our 10.30am family service at St Mary’s. There will be fair trade items and other ethically sourced products along with various Christian gifts. Any profits go to our local food bank. If there’s anything you’d like to order just let Marion know.

Sunday lunch at the Star:

Heather's next Sunday lunch at the Star will be on 27th August at 12.15pm. Please let Heather know if you would like to book a place 07909 065550.

Come and Sing evensong 27th August:

We are planning another ‘come and sing’ evensong at the end of this month. If you would like to sing, please let Michael know; if you’d like to come and worship with us, just come along!

Midweek Music:

Midweek Music at St Mary’s is taking a break for August and will return on Wednesday 27th September, when Michael will be giving an organ recital.

Songs of Praise 9th September:

We are planning a Songs of Praise service on Saturday 9th Sept at 3pm in All Saints, to commemorate the late Peter Jackson (Heather's husband) who arranged music for the Music Group. It will be a service of about an hour, incorporating hymns and songs, interspersed with readings, and Heather's family will provide a short testimony to Peter. We will end with refreshments!

Changes at the Centre:

Centre meetings will continue at 4 pm on Sundays until 3rd September, when it will move to 5.45 for 6 pm, except on 4th Sundays, when we are inviting the Centre to join our evensong congregation. The focus for the August meetings is prayer. A variety of people will lead, approaching prayer through different styles and practices and praying particularly for the Centre, the Alpha course, our benefice etc. Anyone is welcome to come along. The Centre meets in All Saints, and there is cake!

Food bank:

The food bank has been undergoing some changes in recent weeks, as Karen has stepped back from leading the team. The new team is now up and running, and we have sent a Sainsbury’s order this week, to be followed by another next week. Please pray for Gemma as she gets to grips with her new role.

Alpha Course:

We will be joining in with the Alpha Course in Thorley on Wednesdays from 13th September. Please pray about this and especially if you can invite anyone along. We hope that we will be able to take a group from our benefice. Please speak to John for more information.

Website - changes:

Our benefice website is on the www.achurchnearyou.com platform. The ACNY platform has been/is rolling out a number of changes to improve their site so that benefice information doesn’t need to be duplicated for each church. Please bear with us as we work to populate the new pages.

Some people have been having difficulty reaching the benefice page. It can be reached via this link: https://www.achurchnearyou.com/benefice/32-240BF/. The forward from https://ubsms.org.uk has been updated to point to that new page.

Services for the next few weeks

Midweek services each week:

Tuesdays, 9.30am Holy Communion (BCP), St Catherine's

Wednesdays, 9.30am Morning worship & Bible study, St Mary's

Sunday services:

13th August 10.30am Holy communion, St Mary's

4.00pm The Centre, All Saints

20th August 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's

10.30am Holy communion, All Saints

4.00pm The Centre, All Saints

27th August 10.30am Family worship, St Mary's

4.00pm The Centre, All Saints

6.30pm Come and Sing evensong, St Mary's

3rd September 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's

10.30am Morning worship, All Saints

6.00pm The Centre, All Saints

10th September 10.30am Holy communion, St Mary's

6.00pm The Centre, All Saints

17th September 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's

10.30am Holy communion, All Saints

6.00pm The Centre, All Saints