Welcome:
Welcome to our harvest service, and a particular welcome to Lily and Alice and their family and friends. The twins will be baptised in our 10.30 service.
This weekend’s Bible reading:
Luke 12:22-31 (p 1045)
Harvest appeal:
This year’s appeal will be divided between our long-standing partners at Kisiizi Hospital in Uganda and the Holy Land Institute for the Deaf, which some of our folk visited last year. Fliers are available in all our churches. The cash collection at the harvest services in All Saints and St Catherine’s will go to the appeal; in St Mary’s there are special envelopes available for your gifts. Alternatively, you can give online to any of the bank accounts detailed later in this notices sheet, using the reference ‘harvest’.
This year’s ‘Friends of Kisiizi Day’ is on Saturday 7th October in Reading at Brookside Church. The friends would be delighted to see any representatives from our benefice to enjoy the updates and fellowship that the day always brings.
Pop up shop:
The next pop up shop will be this weekend at the 10.30am family service at St Mary's. There will be a lot of new stock of fairly traded and ethically sourced products. Any profits made go to our local food bank. If there is something you would like Marion to order for you please let her know.
“Living Out” Organisation meeting, 30 September 9.00 - 12.00 in St Albans:
What does the Bible really say about sexuality? Is it good news for all of us? How can we support those who experience same-sex attraction to stay faithful to Jesus and flourish? This meeting will explore these questions and more, offering a positive biblical vision and practical steps forward for Christians seeking to show Christ-like love to everybody. Living Out is delighted to be bringing you this day, and it is open to all Christians. While there are opportunities on the day to ask questions about what the Bible teaches in this area, those speaking are committed to the Evangelical Alliance's biblical and pastoral position with respect to homosexuality. Booking is on line only at: livingout.org/events.
Midweek Music at St Mary's:
This month's concert, entitled ‘Songs and Dances’ will be this Wednesday coming at 12.30, and will be given by Michael Smith. Come and hear pieces on the organ you may not have heard before. Refreshments are served from 11.30 so bring some friends and have a get together over a coffee. Free entry, donations welcome. Do come and join us if you can.
Mothers’ Union:
The next meeting of Braughing with Standon Mothers' Union will be on Wednesday 27th September at 2.30pm in the Old Boys School Braughing. There will be no speaker at this meeting which is entitled ‘A good read’. Everyone who comes is invited to say a few words about their favourite book or one they would recommend. Please ring Ann on 01920 821674 for more information.
Lunchtime concert season:
Our lunchtime concert season in St Mary’s starts next weekend. This year’s concerts are on 30th September, 7th and 14th October. The programme will be:
30th September The Rib Singers, directed by David Ranford
7th October Bella Cora, directed by Ros Savournin
14th October Flute Cocktail, directed by Wendy Walshe
A soup and cheese lunch will be served from 12.00 onwards, with concerts taking place at 12.30. As usual, we ask for £5 to cover lunch, and there will be a retiring collection for the Friends of St Mary’s.
Giving in St Mary’s:
You may have spotted that gift aid envelopes have reappeared in St Mary’s. We can claim gift aid on cash donations in the collection bags, but only up to a certain amount and last year Standon exceeded that amount. If you’re making a cash donation (in church or at one of our events) and you are a tax payer, it would be helpful if you would complete a GA envelope, please. If you’ve signed an ongoing gift aid declaration, just your name on the envelope will enable us to allocate the donation to your existing declaration. That will mean that we will claim more gift aid on the amount of cash given by non-tax-payers. Thank you for helping us maximise the amount we can recover from HMRC.
This isn’t an issue at present for our other two churches, who haven’t reached the limit and are able to claim tax back on all the cash donations they receive.
Basma’s cookery evening:
Basma will be hosting another demonstration of Levantine cookery, followed by supper, in the Memorial Hall, Dane End, at 7.00 pm on 21st October. Tickets are available from any of the Sacombe PCC. Proceeds will go to St Catherine’s. We recommend booking early – these always sell out very quickly!
Lighting issue in St Mary’s:
The electricians switched off the power in St Mary’s last week and, since then, the panel of buttons to control the lights hasn’t been working. Until we can get it sorted, the visitors’ lights (operated with the switch in the porch, just outside the big doors) has been altered so that it puts on all the lights. Please use that one if you need lights on.
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
Tuesdays, 9.30am Holy Communion (BCP), St Catherine's
Wednesdays, 9.30am Morning worship & Bible study, St Mary's
Sunday services:
24th September 10.30am Harvest family worship, St Mary's
6.00pm Harvest choral evensong, St Mary's
1st October 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's
10.30am Harvest morning worship, All Saints
6.00pm All Saints@6, All Saints
8th October 10.30am Holy communion, St Mary's
6.00pm All Saints@6, All Saints
15th October 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's
10.30am Holy communion, All Saints
6.00pm All Saints@6, All Saints
22nd October 10.30am Family worship, St Mary's
6.00pm Choral evensong, St Mary's
29th October Bible Sunday Morning worship, St Catherine's
6.00pm All Saints@6, All Saints