6th September 2020
Weekly notices, Church at Home & watch live
(Scroll down for this week's service)
Fra Angelico, Conversion of Saint Augustine, c.1430, Tempera on Wood; Musée Thomas-Henry
Sunday, 10.30am at St James'
We meet for Holy Communion as the Benwell & Scotswood Team. Let us know you're coming if you can!
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Watch live on Sunday >
Weekly resources from 'Roots' for families to use to reflect on the Bible readings each week.
Kids' Resources >
NOTICES
Social distancing
When you come to church remember:
Sanitise your hands when you enter and leave.
Wear a mask (unless you are legally exempt, or if you are reading or leading intercessions)
Stay 2m apart.
Stay at home if you feel unwell (contact us if you need anything!)
APCM - Sunday 11th October
Our 'Annual Parochial Church Meeting' will be directly after the service on Sunday 11th October. This is when we elect people to roles on the PCC, and we hear reports on our activities and finances.
You can find all the information and paperwork here >
Anyone on the electoral roll can vote. You can join the electoral roll if you are over 16, baptised, and live in the parish or have worshipped with us for at least 6 months.
Baptisms on Sunday 20th September
We are very happy to announce that during the service on 20th September we will baptise several Farsi speaking members of our congregation. Some of them have waited patiently since asking to be baptised before lockdown. Please pray for all the candidates as they take this big step in their Christian life.
You can now submit prayer requests online. This can be done anonymously or by name and the clergy and congregation will pray for you each week.
Submit prayer requests >
Help keep our work going and our buildings open.
If you can, please give by standing order - regular donations help us to have a better estimate of our income and ensure we can keep our activities running.
Giving >
WORSHIP
Trinity 13
Reflection by The Revd David Kirkwood
Service led by The Revd Chris Minchin
or listen and read along here:
The service starts with some quiet music; please use this to clear your mind and acknowledge the presence of God.
Intro music
Vals Poetico by Enrique Granados.
Opening prayer
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Confession
God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son Jesus Christ
to save us from our sins,
to be our advocate in heaven,
and to bring us to eternal life.
Let us confess our sins in penitence and faith,
firmly resolved to keep God’s commandments
and to live in love and peace with all.
God be gracious to us and bless us,
and make your face shine upon us:
Lord, have mercy. (Lord, have mercy.)
May your ways be known on the earth,
your saving power among the nations:
Christ, have mercy. (Christ, have mercy.)
You, Lord, have made known your salvation,
and reveal your justice in the sight of the nations:
Lord, have mercy. (Lord, have mercy.)
May the God of love and power
forgive us and free us from our sins,
heal and strengthen us by his Spirit,
and raise us to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen.
Collect
Almighty God,
you search us and know us:
may we rely on you in strength
and rest on you in weakness,
now and in all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Reading
A reading from St Paul's letter to the Romans.
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light; let us live honourably as in the day, not in revelling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarrelling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
(Romans 13.8–14)
This is the word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Gospel
Alleluia, alleluia.
The word of the Lord endures for ever.
The word of the Lord is the good news announced to you.
Alleluia.
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.
‘If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’
(Matthew 18.15–20)
This is the gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ
Reflection
by The Revd David Kirkwood
May I speak, and may we all hear, in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit Amen
‘Take up and read. Take up and read’ In the middle of a profound personal crisis, eyes filled with tears, a man, just over thirty, heard a strange voice singing these words. It was a child’s voice, but whether boy or girl he couldn’t tell. He tried to recall was there a children’s song or game with these words, but he didn’t think so. What then? Could it be a message from God? Stopping his tears, he rushed to pick up the book he had been reading, opened it, and read the first words he saw. It was the passage from Romans we just listened to.
not in revelling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarrelling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
The man was Augustine, he lived in the 4th century a time when the Christian church was no longer persecuted but (with the help of the Roman state) was growing steadily. This was the climax of the story of his conversion, told in his own words, in the book known as ‘The Confessions’.
The son of a Christian mother, Monica, Augustine was a brilliant scholar and teacher of philosophy. For years he had been dismissive of the Christian faith, always seeking for truth, but for the most part in other traditions, including the exotic sect known as the Manichees. Recently he had again been drawn to look again at his mother’s faith, and the more he looked the more attracted he became. But there was a problem. Augustine was not sure he could cope with the demands of being a Christian. ‘My inner self was a house divided against itself’