27/10/24
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 evening prayer
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 27th October
11am - hub service moves to Venerable Bede
Sun 3rd November
All Souls commemoration of the departed - 4pm at St Margaret's
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 THIS SUNDAY - move to 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
Don't Forget this will also be the same day the clocks change! The clocks will go back one hour, so you get an extra hour in bed.
Donations for residents of Violet Close
Please take donations to Cornerstone Benwell, Armstrong Road, NE4 7TU. Please contact them if you are unsure of what to bring. Clothing, food, toiletries are needed. Islamic clothing, for men, women and children is needed.
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.
Who will our new Rector be?
The process for finding a new Rector has begun!
We want to know your thoughts to help us, it's important that everyone in the community gets their say. So we have 3 questions for you:
What is exciting in the parish that our new Rector should know about?
What do you think will be the biggest challenges for the new Rector to tackle?
What kind of person would you like our new rector to be?
Please email your responses to church@benwellscotswood.com or write on a piece of paper and hand it to a churchwarden or Revd Chris.
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
Trinity 21
Green
Readings
Jeremiah 31.7–9
7 Thus says the Lord:Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘Save, O Lord, your people, the remnant of Israel.’8 See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labour, together; a great company, they shall return here.9 With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back,I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;for I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Mark 10.46–52
46 Jesus and his disciples came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. 47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ 48Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ 49Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ 50So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’ 52Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
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
Kathy Germain, Reader
Bartimaeus is a man of great faith. Despite the people who try to silence him, his persistence shows the substance of his bold expression of faith.
Bartimaeus’s faith is not about reciting the correct words or subscribing to certain dogmas, it is his unrelenting conviction that Jesus can, and will, give him what he needs.
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Bartimaeus knows who Jesus is. He is blind but he sees clearly by his faith. No one else so far in Mark’s Gospel has recognised Jesus’ true identity, yet Bartimaeus is able to see so much about Jesus with so little information. Bartimaeus uses the title ‘Son of Man’. It harkens to the Hebrew scriptures, the prophecy of the Son of Man coming from the House of David.
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To Bartimaeus, the title means that Jesus is God’s chosen one, it introduces the notion of Jesus being a royal figure, an image that becomes very important when Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem as a king, only to be put on trial and die. Bartimaeus, despite his blindness, sees the royal lineage of Jesus’ identity.
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Bartimaeus also sees that Jesus can grant forgiveness and spiritual healing. Faith does not come easily to the people in Mark’s gospel; they have to climb obstacles and overcome others to find what they seek. As the story unfolds Bartimaeus shouts louder. The crowd keep trying to shut him up, heckling him, but he keeps going. Bartimaeus is at the bottom of the social ladder in ancient society, but he does not give up because the going gets tough.
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I wonder if the people shout Bartimaeus down because they think he ‘deserves’ to be who he is? Maybe they think he is blind because his sins made him so? Or are they selfishly putting their own needs above his? Perhaps it's their ignorance about Jesus, they don’t get his message and they think they can limit who receives his compassion and grace. But Bartimaeus was having none of it; he knew his salvation was in Jesus. Against the odds he shouted louder until his words could penetrate the ears of Jesus.
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Jesus could have quite easily walked over to Bartimaeus, but instead he gets the crowd to bring Bartimaeus to him. The crowd who tried to stop Bartimaeus now help him. Jesus is healing their blindness too. He is showing them all that this is why he has come.
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Mark adds another interesting detail. Bartimaeus threw away his cloak, we can assume for someone who had to beg for money, they would hang on strongly to their possessions. But Bartimaeus knows that Jesus will heal him, he will not need to sit on that cloak again and will not need to rely on the people walking by for sustenance.
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Jesus asks Bartimaeus “what do you want?” And Bartimaeus does not ask for gold or silver, he does not ask for more than he needs, but simply “that I can see again”. Knowing Jesus can do this, he has every confidence.
We can compare this to our reading from last week when Jesus asked the disciples James and John what they want. Bartimaeus does not ask for any special privileges like James and John. Jesus has not come to bestow power and wealth, but to open our eyes to a new spiritual and social reality of peace and contentment where God reigns. When it comes to understanding what Jesus has come to do, the disciples James and John were more blind than Bartimaeus.
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Bartimaeus started his journey sat by the side of the road, and he continues his story following Jesus along the road. He comes from being unseen, invisible in society, to being in the heart of the scene. The road becomes the way, the way to the cross and suffering, but also resurrection.
After 10 chapters full of secrecy, confusion and mistaken belief, Bartimaeus shows Mark's readers what faith in Jesus means.
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In our congregation and in our communities we all have a role to play. This story helps us to understand how this relates to salvation. Jesus saved Bartimaeus and all the people from a life of darkness, not just literally but spiritually.
We are called to see others as Christ does, we all need to be healed of our blindness and to see by the light of faith. To persevere. To shine as his light in the world and show the way to salvation and peace. We may feel unseen or unimportant. But I’m telling you get up, take heart, he is calling you.
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Amen.