3/11/24
Your weekly update from the Benwell & Scotswood Team.
Click below to read this week's information and latest news.
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Services this week
Sunday 9.30am - St John's Holy Communion
11am - Hub service (Parish Eucharist) at St James'
4pm - St Margaret's All Souls' Thanksgiving for the departed
Tuesday
9.30am Morning prayer at St Margaret's
Wednesday
5.45pm Evening Prayer at St John's
Thursday
10.30am Venerable Bede - Holy Communion
Dates for your diary
Sun 10th November
9.30am St John's, Holy Communion followed by an Act of Remembrance.
11 am, Ven Bede Act of Remembrance followed by Holy Communion.
4pm, St Margaret's, Act of Remembrance and evening prayer
Mon 11th November,
10.55am, St James, Act of Remembrance at the war memorial.
News
DON'T FORGET - We are now at the Venerable Bede
From Sunday 27th October our 'hub' service (11am parish eucharist) will move to the warmer Venerable Bede Church for the winter months.
Venerable Bede, West Road, NE4 8AP
Every Sunday at 11am
From 27 October
4pm TODAY All Souls' Service - Thanksgiving for the departed
Sunday 3rd November, at 4pm
At St Margaret's Scotswood, NE15 6AR
Every year we hold a special service on All Souls' Day (or on the nearest Sunday).
During this service we gather to remember those we have lost, to pray for them, and light a candle in honour of them.
This year the service will take place on Sunday 3rd Nov at St Margaret's. Everyone is very welcome.
During the service a list of names of those we have lost will be read out, including those whose funerals have happened in the last 3 years. If you would like to add a name to the list please send an email to church@benwellscotswood.com (alternatively a paper list will be available in our churches).
If you have any questions or would like someone to talk to, please do let us know.
Remembrance 2024
We will be holding an Act of Remembrance in each of our churches this November. This is when we remember those who gave their lives in the First World War and all other wars, and we pray for an end to all conflicts.
On Remembrance Sunday -10th November
St John's Benwell Village 9.30am
Holy Communion followed by an Act of Remembrance.
Act of Remembrance followed by Holy Communion.
Act of Remembrance and prayer
On Armistice Day - Monday 11th November
St James, Benwell, 10.55am
Act of Remembrance at the war memorial inside St James' church.
Embrace - Gaza appeal
The people of Gaza are living through an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Israel’s response has led to indiscriminate civilian suffering, with residents forced to move from place to place in search of safety. Food and medical supplies have all but run out; water, electricity, and fuel have been cut off.
The people of Gaza were already on their knees with 80% of residents reliant on humanitarian aid to survive. Please, can you make a donation into help in their hour of need?
You can donate online, by clicking below, or by calling 01494 897950. Your gift will support Embrace’s Christian partners in the immediate aftermath of this humanitarian crisis and to help to heal the wounds it’s caused across Israel – Palestine.
Sunday Worship
All Saints' Sunday
White/gold
Readings
Revelation 21.1–6a
21I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,‘See, the home of God is among mortals.He will dwell with them;they will be his peoples,and God himself will be with them;4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.Death will be no more;mourning and crying and pain will be no more,for the first things have passed away.’
5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ 6Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.’
John 11.32–44
32When Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ 33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ 35Jesus began to weep. 36So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ 37But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’
38 Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.’ 40Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ 41So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.’ 43When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’
Intercessions
Prayers for others:
Tai and Derek
Lawrence Okonkwo
John Nicholson
Malcolm Smith
John Peterson
Maria Hawthorn
Herbert Agbeko
Ellis & Pauline Nelson
Michelle Wilson
Peter Wilson
Alan & Maureen Taylor
Irene Foskett
Pat Law
Moe and Mary
Lynn Mosby
Irene Scaife
Baby Alice Rose, Jodie and family
Christina Wilson
Diane Humphrey
Rest in Peace
Archie York
Jay Laws
Lin
Other
Residents of Violet Close
Merton Lodge Community Centre
If you would like to add someone to the prayer list please email church@benwellscotswood.com
The name will stay on the list for 1 month unless requested to be long-term.
Sermon
Revd Anne
The sermon is written to accompany the slide show above.
Today’s readings tell us how Jesus opens heaven’s gate for us.
The gospel story tells how Jesus raises his friend from the dead and restores him to life. Jesus’ whole purpose was to bring us into new life with God.
The reading from Revelation is a dream about a new heaven and a new earth – where the home of God is among mortals and all things are made new. God will dwell with them and they will be his peoples. The dream is about the ‘communion of saints’ –
Today we celebrate the ‘Communion of saints’ – everyone, living and departed, who are united together in Christ through baptism. We remember all our sisters and brothers in Christ… those alive today and those no longer living. We also remember the stories of saints, passed down the generations, who have helped to shape our own faith.
We wonder – how do they inspire us?
Today we focus on some saints who brought the good news of Jesus Christ to our northern region of Northumbria over 1,300 years ago. The gospel news came from Ireland, through the island of Iona in Scotland, to Lindisfarne (Holy Island). Saints in Jarrow and Whitby carried on the mission work. Monks in Lindisfarne wrote the gospels on parchment – a life-time’s work.
Four saints are well known in the north region. Aidan and Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, Hild of Whitby and Bede of Jarrow.
We start with the Venerable Bede, because he is the patron saint of one of our churches, though he was much younger than Aidan, Cuthbert and Hild, all of whom had died before Bede became a monk.
Bede was educated from age 7 at Jarrow monastery. He rarely travelled but devoted his life to study and writing, including Bible commentaries which were highly valued. A few years before he died he completed the last of five books entitled the ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English People’. It describes the early history of England from the Roman occupation of Britain in 55 BC until AD 730. It is through Bede’s history that we know about the early English church and the lives of Aidan, Cuthbert and Hilda.
He was also known for his scientific studies of the natural world. He was an astronomer, observing the movements of the moon and stars. He also translated John’s gospel into the vernacular language of the day.
Bede is buried in Durham Cathedral. Above the tomb are words of faith.
Christ, the eternal star,
who when the light
of this world is past,
brings to his saints
the promise of the Light of Life
and opens everlasting day.
Bede was an observer of the natural world and he saw the greatness of God in creation. He also observed people and how their lives changed over time. By writing about them he ensured they were not forgotten. Bede inspires us to stop and look and learn from nature and from the changes we experience in the world around us and in our own lives. Also to praise God in all circumstances.
St Aidan was a monk from the monastery of Iona in Scotland. He was the first monk to come to Northumbria. He was invited by King Oswald to ‘Bring the Light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ’ to the people of Northumbria.
Aidan established a simple monastery on Lindisfarne (Holy Island)
He came across the sea to Northumbria and made his home here.
He travelled everywhere by foot and recited the psalms as he walked.
He stopped to talk about Jesus with everyone he met. King Oswald gave him a horse to help him travel more easily. Aidan gave the horse to the first poor man he met. He did not like being ‘higher’ on the horse than the people he met on the ground.
Aidan was a traveller. He knew the dangers of travelling by sea and land. He would enjoy talking with those members of our fellowship who have come from distant countries through many trials. He was a quiet, shy man but never too shy to talk about the Light of Christ to everyone he met.
Aidan inspires us to welcome strangers and to tell people about Jesus. And he reminds us that God travels with us wherever we go.
St Cuthbert grew up in the Scottish border as a boy shepherd.
He had a vision of Light the night that Aidan died on Lindisfarne in 651, which led him to become a monk. In 665 he became Prior of Lindisfarne monastery. In 684 he was called to be Bishop of Lindisfarne, though he was very reluctant. He did not want any power to corrupt him.
Cuthbert was known for his austere life-style. He travelled widely as a missionary bishop and preacher. Wherever he went, large crowds gathered to hear him and many told of his power to heal sick people and animals.
He longed for solitude so he could pray - so he built a shelter on a tiny island cut off by the tide. The seals and eider ducks would come to rest at his feet.
He lived his later years as a hermit on Inner Farne Island.
When the Vikings invaded Lindisfarne in 793, the monks of Lindisfarne carried Cuthbert’s body to Durham. The Cathedral was later built around his tomb.
He was known for his healing powers, both in life and in death. Pilgrims would travel long distances to see his tomb.
Cuthbert inspires us as a strong leader and a powerful preacher, yet with a longing to be quiet with God. No matter how busy our day may be, Cuthbert would urge us to find a quiet place to sit and listen to God.
St Hild was a niece of King Edwin of Northumbria
She was called by Aidan to live out her vocation as a nun in her homeland of Northumbria. She founded a monastery at Whitby for both men and women.
She was a wise counsellor and a respected educator, to both ordinary folk and rulers.
Hild called the bishops and kings of Northumbria to a Synod at Whitby to resolve the differences between the Roman and the Celtic traditions of the church. One difference was how they calculated the date for Easter.
Hilda’s wise counsel helped to unite the two English churches together. They elected to adopt the Roman traditions of Europe.
Hild was a competent teacher, a wise counsellor and a diplomat. She inspires us to listen to one another before we make a judgement; and to be prepared to compromise and stay together, rather than fight and cause division.
Today, as we celebrate the whole Communion of Saints, across the generations, let us be thankful and join together in saying Bede’s prayer:
O Christ, our morning star
Glory of eternal life
Shine in our lives
and renew in us your gift of hope. Amen
ای مسیح، ستاره صبح ما
شکوه زندگی ابدی
در زندگی ما بدرخشید
و هدیه امید خود را در ما تجدید کنید.
آمین.