Update from the Vicar 

11th November 2021

Here's a link to the update 


Hi everyone, can you believe we’re into November already? December doesn’t feel too far off and maybe we’ve already started to try to prepare for Christmas. This would be a good time to think about what might find helpful for your faith during the Advent season. And not just you but also others you care about.

Advent will be a time of waiting, not just any waiting but expectant waiting. A time for looking for the ‘advent’ or appearing and arrival of Jesus. We can look out for him and his leading and plan to be extra attentive in that season, thinking about how in the busy of life we can make time for connection. Wouldn’t it be good to prioritise listening to his Word and Spirit, really focussing on Jesus, growing in knowledge of our Redeemer.

There are many good resources, so now would be a good time to look for some. I’ve read a couple recently so that I could let you know about them. ‘The Dawn of Redeeming Grace’ by Sinclair B. Ferguson offers you a chapter per day in December. It explores the first two chapters of Matthew’s gospel as you draw closer to Christmas  which brings ‘The Dawn of Redeeming Grace’ (a phrase from Silent Night). Each chapter is short, about 5 sides. There were moments when it really touched my heart, and he has a way of putting things that draw you to worship, with some simple phrases that you want to meditate over a bit more. There are the lyrics of hymns in each chapter too, which poetically spoke of the hope we have. The readings showed Jesus’ humility and I appreciated the way it included the real challenges, the shadow that was cast over them, as well as the joy.

Then there’s a book is by Rebecca McLaughlin called ‘Is Christmas Unbelievable?’. I liked how she wrote, with empathy for skepticism whilst rooting things in the reality of their experience, when sometimes Christmas can feel a bit like a made up story. It was grounding things in reality and might be a good book to offer a family member or friend. It’s worth being aware there’s a brief Christmas myth spoiler in there. It asks questions like Was Jesus even a real person? Can we take the Bible seriously? How can you believe in a virgin birth? And Why does it even matter? A short, easy read with plenty of food for thought.
 
I haven’t read it but I am interested to see the title ‘The Weary World Rejoices, daily devotions for Advent’ edited by Melissa Kruger, with a variety of contributers and 25 readings. Perhaps a good book for us if we’re feeling weary as it looks at hope, peace, joy, love and faith.
 
As we start prepare to buy gifts, it might be helpful for you to be reminded that if some of those purchases are online you can raise money for St Mary’s Church very easily at the same time. You can sign up for easyfundraising and amazon smile and there will be automatic donations each time you shop that don’t cost you. It’s very straightforward to set up. On the Amazon app you can set it to always do donations, on the web browser you need to remember to go to smile.amazon.co.uk. With easyfundraising once it’s set up it will remind you to make a donation when you’re on a relevant online shop.  
 
Here are the links you need: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/stmarysleamington/
 
The site will send 0.5% to 1.5% of your total bill to St Marys. If you already support a charity this way, you can add St Marys as well.
 
At https://smile.amazon.co.uk – it will give 0.5% of your Amazon purchase price to St Marys.  You just need to go to the website, click on the "Change your charity" button and then search for  "St Marys Leamington" – without the apostrophe in St Marys.
 
Last Sunday there was such a sense of the joy of the Lord and it was so good to begin our teaching on Transforming Lives, the 3rd part of our vision statement: Encountering God, Rooted in Christ and Transforming Lives. We kicked off with a reminder of the central call of Jesus to make disciples and baptise them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To go to all nations making disciple making disciples, who obey Jesus who is always with them. I wonder if you’ve had any opportunities to share your faith this week, if so maybe come ready to encourage others with your stories.
 
This Sunday is Remembrance Sunday, where we’ll be thinking about a soldier who had amazing faith in Jesus (a Bible passage we’re looking at), and we will take time to remember those who gave their lives in conflicts. Sparklers and Rooted are happening on Sunday at 10:30am (for the children up to year 2 and the youth 11-18s), there’ll be activities for children staying in the service too, so come along if you can. In the evening we have our 6:30pm service, come at 6 for refreshments.
 
Don’t forget next Tuesday at 8-9pm we have our First Priority prayer meeting, at the church and on Zoom, come along and pray with expectant faith for the Lord to intervene and bring his healing power and Kingdom purposes.
 
Having done some book reviews, if you have been reading the book Bouncing Forwards by Patrick Regan of Kintsugi Hope you might like a reminder that the Bouncing Forwards tour has begun in November so look out for that if you’d like some encouragement for your mental health.
 
I pray you know God’s blessing this week as you seek his face, that you experience his loving kindness that’s so faithful and steadfast, and I pray that our faith will grow in him.