St Mary's Notices

We begin our next sermon series on Creation with a particular focus provided by Ruth Valerio and the World Council of Churches on bringing freedom and rest for the earth and addressing injustice and inequality
"The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it." John 1 vv 4-5 (New Living Translation)

Matt Lax is keen to have as many voices as possible to make a congregational sound for St Marys - if you didn't receive the original email please contact him on mail@matlax.co.uk as soon as possible

Leicestershire Historic Churches Trust grants aid to historic churches and chapels of all Christian denominations for repairs, restoration and some community facilities and the main fund raising is the annual sponsored Ride + Stride event.
St Marys will be open from 10am to 4pm so please contact John on 01509 557651 if you are able to help steward at the Church - full details in Adele's letter of 30th August.

A timely reminder to keep pressing on to aim for our goals as God has wonderful promises in store.
"So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised." Hebrews 10 vv 35-36

The letter is written by our Church Wardens Ian and Katherine this week whilst Adele takes a well deserved rest. The story of Ruth encourages us to make kindness our super power and to see how we are blessed by God in return.
The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge! Ruth 2 v12

As God's people we are all blessed with some superpowers but how will we use them? God can use the ordinary situations and people in extraordinary ways as we have seen throughout the pandemic.

My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
(2 Corinthians 12 v9 The Message and ESV mixed)

So more people can be included Matt Lax has kindly offered to update and extend the video for St Marys and full details can found in Adele's letter of 26th July.
He has set up a dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/request/rUlEKYtQbCne1QNmn2pd
which you can add to at any time and by 25 August at the latest.

We are looking at how we are connected as Church across time and place with the saints who went before and those that are yet to come.
"And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith." Hebrews 12 vv 1-2

As the Body of Christ we are called to look outwards to share the good news of Jesus even though that is challenging in current times.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There is no law against such things.”
Galatians 5 vv 22-23

Bishop Guli talks about the increased levels of anxiety and tiredness she is seeing as the pandemic is continuing for much longer than we may have thought at the outset. This short video outlines three main points - be gentle with yourself; remain faithful in prayer; and embrace uncertainty.

Adele's letter reiterates being still and goes on to consider our 'inward' relationship with God, one another and the world.

“Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.”
2 Corinthians 13 v11

Sadly, Ann will be resigning as Parish Administrator by the end of December. I want to say a big thank you to Ann for all that she does and for the wonderful support she offers me. Please pray for Ann and Andy and for the new opportunities that lie ahead, and for wise decisions for us at St Mary’s as we begin to consider options for the future. Adele.