All Saints Sunday – 30th October 2022
Now that we are no longer all isolated from one another, I am considering discontinuing these locally produced services, and directing people to the excellent services produced by the Church of England centrally. This Sunday’s CofE service can be vied live on the CofE website, Facebook or YouTube . It will be available for playback immediately after as well.
Please let me know your thoughts.
Our local offering is available below.
Thank you for joining our online worship including our Holy Communion and a short sermon. Below them are links to a selection of music (traditional, modern and prayerful). Thanks once again to Stephanie Woollam for prayerfully choosing such a broad range of inspiring sacred music.
Today, I have included an additional set of prayers. These are from our previous Benefice Administrator, Lucy Elton. Lucy is now living on a narrow boat and traveling around the midlands. She found these prayers, thought of us, and asked me to share them. They are copied below, after the sermon and before the music links.
God bless,
Nigel.
Welcome to our Holy Communion, led by The Revd. Nigel Tuffnell
Our sermon for today is from John Taylor
Lucy’s Prayers
“In our Journey”
Heavenly Father,
Our love for you is so empowering with your Son Jesus in our lives. We feel your holy presence circling this place and the excitement we see in others is feeding all with joy.
Lord when you send anyone to face us in our path, whether it’s for us to show love, understanding, to listen, being involved in their lives or to bring hope through you we pray you will be right by our side guiding us in actions.
In our journey. Hear our prayer.
We know we are too far away to help others in other nations but we can help here in our own town, in our streets, on the rec and other gathering places, in our schools, in our sheltered housing, in the shops, family homes and parks, the pubs, the trading estate and our environment.
We have so many wonderful children, young adults, families and elderly in our community who yearn to know you. We pray through you we can go out to join them in their ways and language.
In our journey. Hear our prayer.
Lord you know our fears and anxieties in doing your will and we continually pray we can grow showing our individual gifts of love and commitment that you continually shape in us.
In our journey. Hear our prayer.
We ask you Lord to give ones the chance to seek you when they are alone in illness or feel they have no future in this life anymore…….
For the ones who already know you but are in pain and so long to be with you…..
We remember our loved ones knowing you are already there within your holy arms.
We say together
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Music links (just click on the titles below to be taken to the music hosted by YouTube).
More Traditional:
Sermon Text
Our reading contains four blessings and four woes which will completely change the lives of all affected. This is what Jesus is promising here but he is also giving us a warning. It is difficult to imagine anything more radical either then or now. It is also, depending upon your point of view, the most wonderful and reassuring prospect or the most frightening. It is all based on generosity. The generosity of God to us and the generosity God expects from us to each other.
Jesus is telling us that all our hopes and fears will become a reality. Everything we have experienced is going to be turned upside down. All our lifestyles will go into reverse. Those who have enjoyed all the good things will lose them forever, those who have been happy will experience misery and on the other hand the poor and hungry will become rich and well fed whilst the sad and crying will become joyful and laugh.
This is the message that Jesus gives his audience and then he goes on to tell them to give and give and not stop giving. Both parts of our reading, the blessings and the woes are rooted in generosity.
Firstly, the generosity of God towards those in need. Secondly the generosity which God expects from us towards those in need and thirdly, the generosity of God towards the comfortable and happy by giving them the chance to enjoy his mercy by showing mercy to others.
It is this last mercy which counters what might, at first glance, be the suggestion that for those now who are well fed and happy there is no chance in the future.
This is where the warning part of our reading comes in. Jesus is giving us all a chance. The reading finishes with the famous command to do to others as we would wish them to do to us. In the passage following our reading Jesus goes on to say that if we do this, if we treat others as we would wish to be treated, then our reward will be great. Jesus very clearly makes the point that because God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked, we are to be merciful to others. In fact we should be just as merciful to others as he is merciful to us.
We should not sit back and think; ‘when God comes the hungry will be fed.’ Those of us who have more food than we can eat should be feeding the hungry ourselves,. We should not be waiting for God to do what we can do ourselves. For example, if God were to ask me; ‘why did you let my children in Africa starve when I have given you so much?’ I am not sure that I would have any good answer. Amen.
KungFuPreacherMan 
Thank you, Nigel, met