Weekly Bulletin for Sunday, September 13, 2009

Holy Cross Day

Divine Office

The Office for Ordinary Time is used all week.
Morning Prayer is said 9.00 am Monday-Friday

Order of service for Morning and Evening Prayer.

Services and Events

Sunday, September 13, 2009 (Holy Cross Day)
Daily intention: Our Parish
08:00	Mass	Saint George's Church
10:00	The Parish Mass	Saint George's Church.
17:00	Evening Prayer.	Saint George's Church.
Monday, September 14, 2009 (Holy Cross Day)
Daily intention: TOTS @ St George's
10:00-11:30	TOTS @ Saint George's	Centenary Centre
16:00	Healing Prayer Group	Lady Chapel
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 (Cyprian, bishop, martyr, 258)
Daily intention: Bishop John
12:00	Mass	Saint George's Church.
19:30	PCC Meeting	Centenary Centre
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 (Ninian, bishop, c.432, Edward de Bouverie Pusey, priest,1882)
Daily intention: Bishop Eric
09:30	Mass	Saint George's Church.
10:30-11:30	Tai Chi Class £4.50 per class.	Centenary Centre.
14:30-16:00	Tea and Chat.	Centenary Centre.
19:30	Lay Pastoral Meeting	Centenary Centre
Thursday, September 17, 2009 (Hildegard, abbess, visionary, 1179)
Daily intention: The Police Service
19:30	Mass	Saint George's Church.
Friday, September 18, 2009 (Feria)
Daily intention: The Community at Tymawr
Saturday, September 19, 2009 (Theodore, archbishop, 690)
Daily intention: Rowan our Archbishop
Sunday, September 20, 2009 (Saint Matthew)
Daily intention: Our Parish
08:00	Mass	Saint George's Church
10:00	The Parish Mass	Saint George's Church.
12:00	Parish Picnic 12noon at Stanstead House. We meet at 12noon in the walled garden for lunch either your own picnic or something from the Pavilion Tea Room. After lunch you can either look around the garden centre, house, chapel, woodlands, have a go on the light railway or play some games. Book the date in your diary now! Stansted Park stands in 1800 acres of ancient beech forest on the borders of Hampshire and Sussex, overlooking the coast. In 1983 the 10th Earl of Bessborough gave Stansted Park, the arboretum, his family home and its beautiful contents to the public. Stansted Forest is enjoyed by thousands of visitors each year and managed to conserve wildlife habitats. The private chapel, splendid mansion rooms and the fully furnished servants' quarters below stairs are open to visitors from Easter to September. Other family attractions on site are the Stansted Park Garden Centre, the Pavilion Tea Room in the walled garden, Stansted Light Railway, and the Salon du Chocolat.	Stansted House
17:00	Evening Prayer.	Saint George's Church.
18:30	Dragons	Centenary Centre

Opening Prayer

Almighty God,
who in the passion of your blessed Son
made an instrument of painful death
to be for us the means of life and peace:
grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ
that we may gladly suffer for his sake;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

First Reading

Numbers 21.4-9
A reading from the book of Numbers.

4 The Israelites set out by the way to the Red Sea,
to go around the land of Edom;
but the people became impatient on the way.
5 The people spoke against God and against Moses,
‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt
to die in the wilderness?
For there is no food and no water,
and we detest this miserable food.’
6 Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people,
and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.
7 The people came to Moses and said,
‘We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you;
pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from us.’
So Moses prayed for the people.
8 And the LORD said to Moses,
‘Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole;
and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’
9 So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole;
and whenever a serpent bit someone,
that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 22.22-27
R You are the Holy One, O God.

22 Praise the Lord, you that fear him;
stand in awe of him, O offspring of Israel;
all you of Jacob’s line, give glory.
23 For he does not despise nor abhor
the poor in their poverty;
neither does he hide his face from them;
but when they cry to him he hears them. R
24 My praise is of him in the great assembly;
I will perform my vows
in the presence of those who worship him.
25 The poor shall eat and be satisfied,
and those who seek the Lord shall praise him:
‘May your heart live for ever!’ R
26 All the ends of the earth
shall remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
shall bow before him.
27 For kingship belongs to the Lord;
he rules over the nations. R

Second Reading

Philippians 2.6-11
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Philippians.

6 Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
7 but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8 he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death –
even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father

Acclamation

Alleluia! The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Alleluia!

Gospel

John 3.13-17
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.

Jesus said to Nicodemus:
13 ‘No one has ascended into heaven
except the one who descended from heaven,
the Son of Man.
14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not perish
but may have eternal life.
17 Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world
to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through him.’

Closing Prayer

Faithful God,
whose Son bore our sins in his body on the tree
and gave us this sacrament to show forth his death
until he comes:
give us grace to glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
for he is our salvation, our life and our hope,
who reigns as Lord, now and for ever.

Your Prayers are asked for

Those in particular need of healing: Joan, Yvonne, James, Phyllis, Beth, Olive, John, Sheena, Jenny, Paul, Trisha, Shelia, ** Sam, Elizabeth, Gladys. Reg, Maria, John, Leslie, Michael, Nigel, Daniel, Dominique, Richard, Roy, Lynsey, Sheila, Mick, Linda, John.

Recently Departed: Phyllis Nora White, Cherry Dayes.

Anniversary of Death:

Notices and Future Dates

Next Sunday – we welcome Robert Perin from the Childrens Society who will be with us to tell us more about the wonderful work that the Society is involved with.

J Team Leaders – your new rota and information letters should have got to you by post, if not it’s because we don’t have your contact details. Please see Fr Stuart or Laura.

J-Team Members – you should have received a letter giving you the details of when your sessions are during this next term. If you haven’t got a letter its because we don’t have your contact details, please see Fr Stuart.

Dragons – you should have received a letter outlining the terms dates. Our next session is Sunday 13 th September 6.30pm – 8pm. If you are in Year 5 and haven’t received an invite to be a member please see Fr Stuart.

Parish Picnic – Sunday 20th September. 12noon at Stansted House.

We meet at 12noon in the walled garden for lunch either your own picnic or something from the Pavilion Tea Room. After lunch you can either look around the garden centre, house, chapel, woodlands, have a go on the light railway or play some games. If you are wanting to come please sign up on the list at the back of the Church. (please also indicate if you can offer a lift to anyone else, please indicate number of seats)

Other family attractions on site are the Stansted Park Garden Centre, the Pavilion Tea Room in the walled garden, Stansted Light Railway, and the Salon du Chocolat.

Sussex Historic Churches Ride & Stride - thank you to everyone who took part in this important day.

New Comers Leaflet – If you are new please pick up one of these leaflets from the back of church, fill it in and hand it to a member of the clergy. If any of you see a new visitor to St George’s please do welcome them and take them through to coffee and make sure they get a New Comers Leaflet.

Hymns and Pimms – Sunday 27th September after the Parish Mass. PLEASE SEE KATH, or LOUISE for tickets!

Children receiving Communion before Confirmation – After proper teaching, many churches in England now allow children and others to receive communion before being confirmed. We will be hosting a Deanery Teaching and Discussion evening on Tuesday 6th October at 7.30pm. The session will be led by Canon Stephen Lake who has recently written a book entitled ‘let the children come to communion’. This promises to be an interesting discussion and it is hoped that many of you will want to attend.

Christmas Tree Festival – Plans are now underway for this exciting event. The festival will take place from Thursday 26th November – Sunday 29th November. Please book this date in your diary – your help will be needed!!!!

Everyone will be needed to make this huge community festival work, please get ready to volunteer!!!

NEW , NEW, NEW! – Fr Stuart and Fr James Cooper will be launching a initiative in the church!

From this Autumn we will be launching a new programme of teaching for the whole of the Church. These teaching sessions are for everyone who can make it, young, old, new, and established members of the congregation. We should never stop learning about our God and our relationship with him.

The teaching sessions will happen along this format: An all together in Church for the main input. A couple of weeks later meet in groups around the parish in peoples homes in a similar way to how the Lent groups happen. During the group sessions we follow up the initial input and to discuss further the subject with some supporting material.

Subjects which will be coming your way over the next 12 months: What makes us human? How can we know about God? Who is Jesus? What is salvation? What / who is the church for? The Ethics of a Christian Life.

Receiving the Sacrament – throughout the summer we have had the letter from Bishop John about why we are only receiving the sacrament in one kind in the bulletin.

For further information there is a hand out at the back of church about why we are doing this for the foreseeable future. If you have any questions please do talk to one of the clergy.

The Old Craggs – following a couple failed events, we go back to a popular event, The Curry Night! Friday 25 th September. Meet at the Bull at 8pm. Please sign up on the list at the back of church. A group of any men associated with St George’s.

Tots @ St George’s – starts again on Monday 13 th September. 10-11.30am during term time. All are welcome. Please talk to Laura if you would like to know more.

Classrooms for Kenya.  Thank you to everyone who donated to this charity, which has now built 16 classrooms in 6 different schools (half of them this summer).  Gifts of money were used to purchase building materials, while gifts of stationery were distributed to the 6 schools.  Gifts of clothing were given to the Red Cross for distribution in Kenya where the need was greatest.  Jeff Vinter

Future Dates –

Friday 16 th October – Beetle Drive in the Centre! More details to follow!!!

Friday 13 th November – Quiz Night in the Centre! More details to Follow!!!

Did you know we were visited by a Mystery Worshipper a couple of weeks ago……The full report will be available in the next few weeks!!!!