Dear friends,

How wonderful to have role models, like the saints, who show us how to live a happy life.

Here is Fr Mike’s reflection: https://stgeorgechorley.co.uk/news/news_inner/351

Here is the notice sheet: https://stgeorgechorley.co.uk/brochure/theway.pdf

Need some time and space, check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfz2SKHaJbU

God bless,

Fr Mike

It was so great to have Simon preaching at Closer tonight! Great to see the seeds that God is sowing in him as we looked at the parable of the sower today

Dear All,

Today we celebrate All Saints' day in church! It would be so great to see you at either our 11am service, at which we will continue with our weekly children's club during our service, as well as our 4pm Closer service, at which there will be crafts, contemporary songs and fun as we learn about Jesus together.

Please find this week's sermon and prayers attached and put all our upcoming dates in your diary...

Weekly Services

Midweek:

Thursday 10:30am

Sunday:

11am Eucharist

4pm Closer (family service)

Weekly Groups:

Thursday at 6pm - Knit and natter

Fridays 5:30-7pm youth group

Other upcoming events:

26th and 28th November 7pm - Advent Wreath Making (£15 per person)

30th November 4pm - Memorial Service for the bereaved

7th December - St Georges Christmas fair

14th December (10:30am start) - All Saints' Christmas fair

This week's sermon and prayers:

On this All Saints’ day it’s right that we think about the faithful departed that have come before us and those who we can follow as they themselves followed Christ. And I was thinking that maybe I could apply for the role. I could go for the interview and see what happens, St Jordan the Martyr they’d call me for the absolute dedication to the job… Or maybe not.

We all have moments when we feel ‘Saintly’. Maybe it’s because we’ve been on a great retreat or pilgrimage or maybe there’s been a really beautiful service or there was a really great sermon or because we’ve just found faith again. And it’s a nice feeling but the only problem is that those feelings don’t last.

I remember having a really holy moment one day. I’d just read a book, which will shock some of you, and was feeling particularly close to God, I’d spent a few hours in prayer and then I remember going out to the shop where I worked feeling all Holy when a group of kids came in and started throwing dog muck at each other… Which kind of ruined the Holy moment.

And I remember feeling quite angry because I’d been feeling Holy and righteous and it had all gone. But, actually, if you read the bible, saintliness isn’t a feeling. It isn’t a bubbly halo that follows you around or a particular temperament that you have. Saintliness is based on belief, on faith in Jesus, and on the ways that faith changes your life. If you have faith in and follow Jesus, then you are a saint.

But there are some saints who have come before us who have lived standout lives, and these are the saints we can look to for inspiration in our own lives. These are who most people mean when they talk about the saints. And these guys are the ones we can look up to. The Saints would work hard, often without reward. The saints would suffer, they’d live lives of poverty, they’d give and they’ve even die for the faith. When we talk about the saints, what we’re talking about are the people who held on to Christ until the very end, throughout all of the suffering of life and all of the pain, they held on to Jesus. Being a saint, isn’t a nice feeling with a visible halo, being a saint means holding on tightly to Jesus, even when things seem impossible. The feeling of floaty joy can disappear, but steadfast faith, that’s what we see in the saints, that’s what should inspire us and help us to hold on to God ourselves.

“Who are these?” We heard asked in our first reading today, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Being a saint like those before us is what we strive towards, not for a reward or a nice life, but because we love our God who also loves us. In the total opposite to the ‘what’s in it for me?’ model that the world seems to work upon, in opposition to the rewards based society we live in, we are called to persevere in loving God and loving each other and that is our reward, as we grow closer to God.

Perhaps you’ve had a terrible few months? If that’s you I want you to pause and call to mind all the dreadful stuff that’s happened to you over the past few months. Perhaps you’re just feeling down, well then call to mind and gather together your feelings. Or maybe you’re doing great, then think of someone you know who is struggling. Today I want you to take all of the struggles that burden you, I want you to hold them in your hearts, and I want you to remember that God himself suffered when he walked among us. I want you to imagine the pain he felt on the cross, the weight that he took on his shoulders, the responsibility for every wrong. The loss of his mother at seeing him.

God suffered on earth. He knows your suffering, too. Just as we may cry out and ask why me, so too did Jesus ask that his cup would be taken from him. So too did he suffer. So too did the saints. We’re not here to have fun. We’re here to love; to love God and one-another, and when that get’s hard then we can remember that God suffered, we can remember that the saints suffered and we can rely on the Holy Spirit to comfort us too.

So hold on to the faith, brothers and sisters and to all of you who suffer, let me read again our Gospel reading. This reading is considered by some to be sort of Jesus’ manifesto, so let us hear it in our hearts, our weary long-suffering hearts as we draw closer to the example of the Saints who came before us, as they drew near to Christ. God’s radical manifesto for us:

‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ‘Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’

Brothers and sisters, may we persevere in loving God and loving each other. May we love God in the suffering as much as we do in the joy, may we hold on with all our might as the Saints have before us and may we draw near to him, one day, as we keep the faith to the very end. Saintliness is not a feeling, it is a decision to love even when we don’t feel like it.

Nonetheless, we don’t have to suffer alone. So my challenge to you this week is that you go and find someone you know who is struggling, maybe take them out for a drink, or maybe give them a call or do something small for them, to show your love for them, as you’d hope they would for you, in your need. But in all things, let us persevere in love, both of God and one another, as the saints did before us. Amen

Fr Jordan

God of the meek, may we always know in our hearts that your kingdom works in a way that is different to that of the world. While the world seeks reward, you seek to love us as the perfect Father, and so too may we love each other and love you with our whole hearts, not for reward, but nonetheless, will we inherit the world through you.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer

God of those who hunger for righteousness, we pray for justice among the nations. We pray for all those who are working in places where there is injustice, for the lawmakers and leaders who make decisions which shape the life of others. Guide them as you guided the saints, we ask. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

God of the peacemakers, we pray for those places where there is war and ask that you send peacemakers there to make peace. We pray especially for the people living in the Holy Land, for the people of the Ukraine and Russia, for the people of South Sudan, and all other places where there is currently war, violence and division. Bring your peace, we ask, O Lord.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer

God of the poor in spirit, we ask that you come close to all those who are downhearted today, whether because of their financial situation, home life, friends and family, or for any other reason. Let them know that you are near to them in their pain, and bring them healing of heart, we ask. And so too do we ask for healing for all who are sick, bringing before you Lord.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer

God of those who mourn, bring your promised comfort, we ask, to all who mourn this day. You love us and wish us to be healed when we are sick, and comforted when we mourn, so draw near we ask to the families of the recently departed and the families of those whose anniversaries of death fall at this time.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer

Merciful father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Have a blessed week.

Jordan