22/8/21
News from the Benwell & Scotswood Team
Jump to: Engage >
The Almain Armourers' Album, ‘The Earle of Woster’ armour for William Somerset, 3rd Earl of Worcester, about 1570. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Dates for your diary
Sunday 5th September
Services in all 4 churches:
9.30am - St James' Benwell
9.30am - Venerable Bede
11.15 am - St Margaret's
11.15 am - St John's
Wednesday 8th September
Members of 'Mission Action Planning' group to meet
2pm at St Margaret's
UPDATE - Now Tuesday 14th September
Treasurers meeting
7pm on Zoom
Sunday 26th September - Sunday 3rd October
Newcastle Diocese Generosity Week
Wednesday 6th October
PCC meeting
7.30pm on Zoom
News
Rota
If you help us with readings/intercession/worship on Sundays then find the latest rota up until 24th October here:
If you are interested in being involved in worship then just speak with one of the clergy who will happily talk you through what it requires.
Bishop Christine announces her retirement
Having reached her 70th birthday (and having already retired in 2012 only to return to ministry on her consecration as bishop!) the bishop of Newcastle, Christine Hardman, has announced she will retire at the end of November.
Bishop Christine has visited our parish many times, including joining the interfaith peace walk, visiting Cornerstone, and to Confirm 17 of our Iranian congregation. She and her family will be in our prayers, as will Bishop Mark who will hold the fort during the vacancy.
She says: “I am profoundly grateful for the six years I have served this Diocese, the depth of welcome and relationships in this region has been inspirational and encouraging. We have all been called to minister together, lay and ordained, at a time of extraordinary challenge, and I am very proud of the way in which our clergy and laity have responded to this. I give thanks for all of you. It has been a privilege to be your Bishop."
Lunch Break to return - Tues 21st September, 12-2pm
Our weekly 'pay what you feel' lunch returns next month at St James!
From 21st September, every Tuesday there will be a simple lunch with teas coffees. You are welcome, whatever your age or background. This is always a great time to get to know all sorts of people in your local community.
Food will be brought to your tables and staff will wear masks. Please sanitise your hands and sign-in with the app or on paper when you arrive.
If you would like to help out with Lunch Break then let us know! We have volunteer opportunities for those who want to cook, wash-up, welcome and serve at tables.
Next month worship in all our churches - Sunday 5th September
9.45am - Venerable Bede
9.45am - St James
11.15am - St John's
11.15am - St Margaret's
As our last attempt at four services was scuppered by unforeseen circumstances, we are going to try again with a Sunday service in all four of our churches for the first time in over a year! We are trying out different patterns for our clergy to sustain worship in all our buildings without calling in outside help. This is not necessarily the times we will go with in the future
Covid-19 update
No doubt you will have heard that covid restrictions are being relaxed. As case rates are still high in our area you won't see too much change just yet! But we do have plans to reintroduce activities.
Most importantly - please get your vaccine if you haven't yet! And stay at home if you develop covid symptoms. Find vaccine times and locations here >
Cornerstone Community Cafe open!
Wednesdays & Thursdays 10am - 2pm
62 Armstrong Road, NE4 7TU
Delicious affordable meals
Outdoor Seating
Dog Friendly
Kids Corner
Computer and Internet Access
Computer help
Food pantry and emergency foodbank
and a great pre-loved shop!
Worship texts
Collect
Almighty and everlasting God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray
and to give more than either we desire or deserve:
pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid
and giving us those good things
which we are not worthy to ask
but through the merits and mediation
of 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.
Amen.
Reading
Ephesians 6.10–20
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.
Gospel
John 6.56–69
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.’ He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’ But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, ‘Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, ‘For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.’ Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, ‘Do you also wish to go away?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’
Sermon
The Revd David Kirkwood
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Amen
Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
I was fascinated to hear about the discovery last week of a hitherto unknown bit of the Roman Wall right on our doorstep- just along the West Road. When I was a lad I used to love coming up to the North East to stay, and one of the first things I always wanted to do was to go and visit the wall. I was a great fan of the romans. I used to have a poster in my room all about the roman army and in the middle, there was a big picture of a roman legionary. I hope you can visualise a roman soldier even without the poster, it is an image made famous in many films and reproductions and it is the picture to keep in mind listening to our first reading.
Roman Legionaries were the backbone of the Roman Empire and would have been known across its vast expanse, as familiar in Palestine and the East as here in Benwell on the western edge of the Roman world. Certainly, they would have been familiar to St Paul, and it is not fanciful to see that image as direct inspiration for the passage we just heard.
(Military imagery and metaphors are controversial and can be misunderstood. Looking in the hymn book we use at St Margaret’s, ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ has been replaced with ‘Onward Christian pilgrims’. While respecting the motivation behind those changes I think it is a mistake to try and remove ‘the noise of battle’ from our worship and tradition. It is clear from the teaching of Jesus as well as those who followed him like St Paul, that the life of faith is not always easy, indeed can be experienced as a life and death struggle, almost inevitably calling to mind the language of warfare. Falling away as described in today’s gospel is always a possibility, but so too is the prospect of overcoming. It would be a thin kind of worship with no place for the ‘victor’s song’. Happily, in the same hymn book ‘Soldiers of Christ arise,’ Charles Wesley’s hymn based on today’s Ephesians passage, is unchanged.
Jesus warns that anyone wanting to be a disciple should be aware of the cost. A king going out to battle, first estimates the strength of the forces against him, and if they are too great, seeks a settlement before the trial of arms. Warfare must be prepared for, it’s no good expecting things always to be easy, having just enjoyed the Olympics, it’s interesting to note, that as well as military metaphors, Paul also use the language of athletes in training. This language can be motivating, but it can also be misleading, we talk of elite athletes and elite forces, and I have heard Christians talking about ‘Spiritual Boot Camps’, as if learning to pray was nothing but cold showers and press ups. But Christian faith really isn’t about an elite either by natural endowment or by extraordinary effort. In the Gospel when Jesus asks Peter ‘Will you too go away?’ He replies ’Where shall we go you have the words of Eternal Life.’ )
And the passage in Ephesians begins Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power and put on the armour of God. Not so much an elite training camp as a being given the magic sword or ten league boots or whatever the computer game equivalent might be. Everything is done in His strength.
Which doesn’t mean we don’t have any responsibilities it is one thing for a soldier to go into battle ill equipped because he has not been provided adequate equipment, it is another thing if a soldier has neglected or not bothered to take up the equipment he has been issued with.
That equipment is set out in the reading and is there for us to use so let’s take a closer look.
Firstly, fasten the belt of truth around your waist. A belt is not very dramatic, is it? Mind you if you don’t have a belt, I know what happens to me! Going out beltless is a picture of unpreparedness, not only unable to fight or move freely but also unable to attach all the other things that the soldier needs.
The truth of the gospel, the good news about Jesus this is the starting point the call to arms, accepting it we prepare for battle. Gird up your loins be ready!
Secondly, put on the breastplate of righteousness.
Protecting the heart is of crucial importance, one of most vital and vulnerable points of the body, a wound here is likely to be fatal so it must be well protected. The breast plate is a key piece of armour. Righteousness, justice, words that are central to the scriptures both in the Old and New Testaments, ‘Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice’ says Jesus and ‘See that your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees’. A heart thirsty for justice, a good and holy life where good deeds bear witness to an inner transformation, the fruit of faith. This is a heart made secure.
Thirdly As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. Roman soldiers wore sturdy leather sandals, more like a leather boot-and they still turn up in sites along that famous road system that covered huge distances and kept the various parts of Empire in touch and spread the rule of Rome.
For the Christian soldier the message is clear -spread the rule of Christ, proclaim the good news to others in word and deed, having freely received be ready to freely give. But let’s be clear this is gospel i.e., good news and it is the gospel of peace not a call to domination or to holy war but to spread peaceably the good news of the peace Christ brings for all.
Fourthly With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
My poster had an image of the tortoise, not a pet animal, but the formation in which the Roman soldiers could use their shields to provide a protective wall not just around the unit but also over their heads. Amazing discipline and organisation! A powerful reminder that the shield was an essential piece of equipment but not just for individual protection. The Legion was a fighting machine and the shield wall only worked when everyone played their part. We don’t just look out for ourselves, as part of the church we look out for our comrades in arms, and they look out for us.
The shield of faith is not just our individual faith but the faith of the church into which we all grow, rooted in Christ and growing collectively and organically into His image. Faithfulness to Christ doesn’t mean there will be no flaming darts, but it means together they can be resisted.
Finally Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Two more key parts of the soldier’s kit which here are run together. Like shield and breastplate, the helmet offers protection, but it is more. Roman helmets could be wonderful works in their own right. A metal detectorist found one in Cumbria in 2010 that sold at auction for over £2million pounds. These splendid helmets were not so much for battle as to give the wearer status and dignity not unlike the wearing of a crown. Salvation is a reality partly present in the struggles of today but one that will be known fully only when we wear our crowns of glory.
Likewise, some commentators think the sword.. which is the word of God refers not so much to the word of God in the scriptures, the Greek word used is rema or spoken word rather than logos, but the word of God spoken to his faithful ones in the last day. ‘Well done good and faithful servant enter the joy of the Lord This is’ God’s ‘yes’ to us in Jesus, a word of vindication linked intimately with the hope of salvation present now but only to be known fully then.
May we be encouraged, not as lonely warriors, but as members one of another to put on the whole armour of God -in conversion, in holiness, in evangelism, in endurance and in the salvation which means God’s ‘Yes’ to us is indeed the final word.
AMEN.
Intercessions
Prayers for others:
Peter Wilson
John Nicholson
Debbie and Paul Hannon
Liz Holliman
Joan Finley
James, Christina, and baby Xavier
Anastasia Miklewright
Ali Zareie and his family
The Riches Family
Jill Sorley
Joyce Phillips
George Snowden
Claire Mozaffari
Eric Harling
Herbert Agbeko
Edward Fraser
All those who are Struggling at home or in hospital with Covid-19
Rest In Peace:
Michael 'Patchy' Bell
Maxine Davison, Lee Martyn and his daughter Sophie, Stephen Washington, Kate Shephard, their killer and all whom he has hurt.
All who lost their lives from Covid 19
Other intentions:
Afghanistan
Haiti
Iran
Bishop Christine as she prepares to retire
Post-Communion
God of all mercy,
in this eucharist you have set aside our sins
and given us your healing:
grant that we who are made whole in Christ
may bring that healing to this broken world,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.