The Baptism of Christ 13th January 2008
Please pray this morning for Sophie Ann Hems, and for her Godparents and parents. Sophie is to be baptised this morning at 11.45. Please stay for the service if you would like to. Sophie and her sister and parents our regular attenders at the Monday morning service and many of you will know them from Sundays also.
Collect
Eternal Father,
who at the baptism of Jesus
revealed him to be your Son,
anointing him with the Holy Spirit:
grant to us, who are born again by water and the Spirit,
that we may be faithful to our calling as your adopted children;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
First reading - Isaiah 42.1-9
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him
and he will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his law the islands will put their hope.”
This is what God the LORD says –
he who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it,
who gives breath to its people,
and life to those who walk on it:
“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles,
to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from prison
and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
“I am the LORD; that is my name!
I will not give my glory to another
or my praise to idols.
See, the former things have taken place,
and new things I declare;
before they spring into being
I announce them to you.”
Psalm Refrain:
May the Lord bless His people, Bless his people with peace.
Second Reading - Acts 10.34-43
Then Peter began to speak: “I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached – how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen – by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
The Gospel
Gospel - Matthew 3.13-17
Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?”
Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” Then John consented.
As soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Post-communion
Lord of all time and eternity,
you opened the heavens and revealed yourself as Father
in the baptism of Jesus your beloved Son:
by the power of your Spirit
complete the heavenly work of our rebirth
through the waters of the new creation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Next week’s readings
Isaiah 9. 1-14,
1 Corinthians 1. 10-18, Matthew 4. 12-23.
Services this week
Sunday 10.00am Parish Mass
11.45 Holy Baptism Sophie Ann Hems
6.30pm Evensong
Monday 10.00am Mums and Toddlers
Tuesday 10.00-12.00am Coffee Morning
11.00-12.00am Fruit and Veg. Co-op
Wednesday 8.30am BCP Holy Communion
Thursday 7.00pm Mass
Friday 5.00pm Children’s Choir
Morning and Evening Prayer, Monday to Thursday
8.00am and 5.00pm respectively.
‘Breaking through the Glass Ceiling’, please put 26th Jan in your diary particularly if you are on PCC or Welcome and Evangelism team. There will be a mini-conference on church growth particularly aimed at churches with our sort of numbers and growth pattern.
There will be a meeting for the volunteers of the St Andrew's Homeless Project on Sat 19th January at 2pm. If anybody would like to volunteer, please come along
Two new Parish Appointments!
I am delighted to be able to announce today that in the course of this year our staff will triple in number!
Pastoral Assistant. Peter Strefford is now our Pastoral Assistant for one year working 15 hours per week. His role is already well-developed in the parish and includes running the coffee morning, the welcoming teams, the website and exercising much pastoral care for many in our community. He is also launching a soup kitchen from next month. I am delighted that the funding for this role has been awarded by the Area Council and look forward to watching Peter’s ministry continue to flourish. Like many in church Peter is dedicated to church-growth and he has my full-support in his many activities and enthusiasms for the parish! Peter has a responsibility to report back to PCC on his work and will work very closely with myself in all he does.
Assistant Curate. It is many years since this parish has had a curate and it is a real joy to be able to announce that Fr Marcel McCarron will be joining us in Summer as full-time stipendiary assistant curate for a period of three years. The curate’s role is to assist the parish priest and to receive the training and support necessary as preparation for taking his own parish. A curate’s ministry normally begins with ordination at the Cathedral, but Fr Marcel is already ordained having been a Roman Catholic priest for some years. He is now at Cuddesdon (the theological college in Oxford where Fr Martin studied) for one year receiving more training and insight into the ways of the Church of England! The addition of a full-time curate to the life of the church here will be a very significant step forward indeed and Fr Marcel is a very able and talented priest who will bring many gifts to this new role. Again we need to recognise that this development has only been possible through the support shown to us by the diocese and in particular to our Bishop, The Rt Revd Michael Colclough.
With these two appointments we are entering an exciting time in the life of the parish and I would ask you please to keep our Bishop in your prayers as he prepares to move to St Paul’s and also please pray for Fr Marcel as he begins his preparations for coming to us in June and also pray for Peter and give thanks for all that we have already received through him.
Other Notices!
Children’s Choir starts again this Friday, 11th, at 5.00pm
Art exhibition opening night Friday 1st Feb 7.30pm, please put in your diaries.
Giving thanks to God through supporting the Church
For many years the Church of England has set a target of 5% of income after tax to be given to support the life of the church and 5% to be given to charity. The giving in this parish is generally very sacrificial but we are low on the number of people who structure their giving through Standing Order. We will be running a Stewardship Campaign in Lent this year in the hope of having a time to reassess how we give thanks to God, by sacrificially supporting the church, for all the good things that we enjoy. We need to remember that if we are flourishing financially that is only because we are utilizing the gifts that God has given each of us and this should be expressed in offerings of thanks to Him through supporting the church. We receive no money from the government or charities and are entirely self-supporting. The cost of running a parish with one priest and one clergy house is around £60,000 a year (most of which does not go to Fr Martin!). If you would like more information as we start to think about the Stewardship Campaign or would like to be involved in running it (particularly if you have experience in finance) please talk to Fr Martin. Expert help would be very greatly received.
Items for the pew-sheet to Shelley by Thursday morning please, admin@standrewsfulham.com
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