Author: Worth Parish

List of Raffle Prizes for Fetes

Fair, Families, Fete, Kids

The list of raffle prizes for our fete on 22nd August at Worth Rectory, is currently as follows:

  • One month’s family membership of Nuffield Health (Fitness and Wellbeing Centre)
  • Two-course meal for 4 people at the Coaching Halt with a bottle of house wine
  • Framed watercolour of St Nicholas’ Church, Worth
  • Gel Manicure or Pedicure (kindly donated by Bodikind)
  • A LEGO set
  • Another LEGO set
  • Goodie bag from “Beautiful Nails & Body Salon” including £25 voucher
  • Chiropody Treatment (kindly donated by Bodikind)
  • Mounted photograph of St Nicholas’ Church, Worth (kindly donated by Bill Puttick)
  • A hamper of foods
  • A bottle of something nice
  • Set of 6 individual casserole dishes
  • Automatic golf putter
  • Ice-watch with Swarovski crystals (worth £100)
  • Ladies’ beauty products
  • A wine course for 2 people at Majesticwine
  • A £10 voucher from The Master Fryer – Crawley
  • Children’s golf set (kindly donated by ASDA)
  • Children’s badminton set (kindly donated by ASDA)
  • A box of biscuits
  • Men’s and ladies’ toiletry gift sets
  • Set of mystery books
  • Cool bag

Timetable for our Come and Sing… day released

Pewsheets

Preparations for our Come and Sing day on September 19th are well underway.  We will be singing songs from West Side Story and other musicals, then performing them in an informal concert.  For full details of this event, click here.

The timetable for singers has been released by Director of Music, Alex Hiam and is as follows:

timetable

Pewsheet for 9th August 2015

Pewsheets

Click here to see this week’s pewsheet.

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From the Associate Vicar…

Pewsheets

11121919_10153470903402481_1385107368_nPart three of five and Mary Sumner. Today’s gospel reading takes us further on John’s bread theme. After the feeding of the 5000 and Jesus teaching his followers about heavenly bread this week’s focus is on what it means when we gather round the table to share bread and wine.

Today we also remember Mary Sumner, founder of the Mother’s Union, and give thanks for the work they do in our parish and the church as a whole. As we gather round the table as God’s family we will also be giving thanks for the tireless work of the Mother’s Union in holding together and strengthening families since 1876. We give particular thanks for the MU in our own parish and their ministry during our many baptism services, supporting the clergy as families prepare for the baptism and at the services themselves.

It is also a fitting start to the new schedule of services at St Barnabas. Building on the strong mark that Family Services have had on the life of St Barnabas we are introducing a new Family Eucharist this Sunday. From this month on we will have two services for all ages. On the 2nd Sunday of the month we will have a Family Eucharist. The Family service will move to the 4th Sunday of the month. With the addition of the Family Eucharist and the second Nic’s service which started in June, there will now be a service in our parish every week suitable for young children. Hope you will join us for one or the other of them.

James

From the Curate…

Clergy

IMG_3280I know that it seems very hard to believe (or maybe it doesn’t), but I have been on a few diets in my time and the diet market is going strong as a growth (ironic really) industry in this country with most magazines promising quick fix ways to shed the pounds that will then make you truly happy. Let me see – for me there has been the Rotation Diet, the Atkins Diet – (high protein and no carbs – I got sick of it – for a time I couldn’t face seeing someone eat let, alone me eat, another Ham and Cheese Omelette in a police canteen), Weight Watchers (and its point system), the Fasting Diet (surely I should have been good at this one – but I wasn’t!) and the latest that I have yet to try the Dukan Diet (a hyper protein one, healthy and natural – apparently).

Then there are the diets offered in our readings – a fine flaky substance/manna from heaven and the bread of life – Jesus. These diets don’t promise to make us thin, but if grasped and taken they will sustain us through thick and thin (like what I did there?).

The results of these diets were for the Israelites a renewed faith and entry to the Promised Land, whilst to Christians a way never to hunger. We are only hungry when we take our eyes off of Him and try to fill ourselves from the worldly stuff that looks so tempting (like the Chocolate Brownie I am eating right now!) but never fills us. If we faithfully eat the bread of life of Jesus we are then promised the gifts of Ephesians – so as we go on holiday, rest assured I won’t be dieting from food but I will hope to feed always on the bread that Jesus offers

Steve

From the Associate Vicar…

Clergy

When I started training for the priesthood six years ago this summer I did not know how I would sustain myself along the new path I was about to enter. I had a pretty good idea of the priest I wanted to be. I also knew how much my failing could and probably would be a stumbling block to the formation into the priest I wanted to be. As for most of us I wasn’t quite sure if I would cope; and I still wonder.

God gives as much as we need. Five loaves of bread and two fish seemed nowhere near enough to feed the masses of people that had gathered to hear Jesus. But from the little that was offered Jesus was able to feed all. From the little that we are able to offer we can trust that God will sustain us. This is good news for all those who are on a journey with Jesus. We do not need much to follow but we need to be able to trust that God will provide just enough to sustain us.

A quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, written in 1943, has sustained me over the years,

“I believe that God will give us in each state of emergency as much power of resistance as we need. But he will not give in advance, so that we do not rely on ourselves but on him alone.”

As we reflect on Jesus feeding 5,000 men and the women and children who had come to listen to him I hope that we will continue and maybe learn anew to trust that God will provide as and when we need it. Bonhoeffer’s words written at an immensely difficult time have helped me to focus on how God is sustaining me rather than despairing at the never ending to-do lists. As God fed the 5,000 he is feeding us just as much as we need.

James