Dear All,
Hope you have had a good week.I have attached the weekly sheet for you to use this Sunday.
Ordination of Helen Deegan
Please pray today for Helen our Curate as she is ordained Deacon at 1.30pm in the Cathedral. All Ordinands in Liverpool this year are being ordained in small closed services which are happening this Saturday and Sunday. This year there are 25 being ordained as Deacons and 11 being ordained as Priests – These numbers are really encouraging – Please pray for them all.
School forms – If you need me to complete a school form for you this year please will you email me and let me know. I am currently booking people in with appointments to avoid queues. I will be using the Chancel area at the front of church. Access will be through the small door down the side of church that we use for wheelchair access. I will have availability in the day and evenings.Vestry hour is NOT currently running on a Tuesday evening.
Services in Church – We are OPEN this Sunday, churches are exempt from the new national restrictions.
The first service will start at 9.30am
The second service will start at 11am.
Both services will be the same and last about 35mins.
Please remember that you can access our Online Service on our website every Sunday from 9am. Please follow the obvious link from the home page. The service will remain on the website for the whole of the week and will then be updated weekly. Please click on the obvious tab.Zoom Coffee at 11.15am
After our Online Service each Sunday why not join us for Zoom coffee at 11.15am for 40 mins – remember to bring your own coffee! Details for Zoom coffee are as follows:
Zoom Coffee – every Sunday at 11.15am
Meeting ID: 842 767 1496 Password: 4allsaints
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/8427671496?pwd=K2dMMnlvTHpwTkxDNEV6bDYwQXBDQT09
With my thoughts and prayers for you all at this time.
Take care Andrew
27th September 2020 All Saints Church, Childwall
READ Matthew 21:23/32: 23 Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. ‘By what authority are you doing these things?’ they asked. ‘And who gave you this authority?’ 24 Jesus replied, ‘I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 John’s baptism – where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?’ They discussed it among themselves and said, ‘If we say, “From heaven”, he will ask, “Then why didn’t you believe him?” 26 But if we say, “Of human origin”– we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.’ 27 So they answered Jesus, ‘We don’t know.’ Then he said, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. The parable of the two sons 28 ‘What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, “Son, go and work today in the vineyard.” 29 ‘“I will not,” he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. 30 ‘Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, “I will, sir,” but he did not go. 31 ‘Which of the two did what his father wanted?’‘The first,’ they answered. Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
REFLECT: Jesus has recently ‘cleansed the Temple’ of the money changers and the sellers of animals, proclaiming, ‘“My house will be called a house of prayer,” but you are making it “a den of robbers.” Not surprisingly, the religious authorities react. In today’s reading they demand to know by whose authority he has done and said these terrible things! Jesus answers them with a question; he asks on whose authority they believed John the Baptist had acted in preaching repentance and baptism. This ‘threw the cat amongst the pigeons’; if they said that John’s ministry was of God, Jesus would ask why they hadn’t responded to it, but if they said John was not of God then the crowds would turn on them because the people believed John to have been a true Prophet of God. Hmmm! What to say? How to answer Jesus? They are in a quandary, so they say that they don’t know! Their non-answer speaks volumes! These are the men who, as part of their role in the leadership of God’s people, are supposed to discern between true and false prophets! They are condemned as unfit for that role, from their own mouths.
All of this prompts Jesus to tell them that if they won’t answer his question then neither will he answer theirs, but he will tell them a story. It’s a story about two sons each asked by their father to go and work in his vineyard. [We need to remember that the vineyard was an Old Testament symbol standing for God’s people [Israel]; this story is, therefore, about obedience/disobedience by God’s people to His commands.]
One son initially refused to go, but eventually obeyed his father; the second son said that he would go, but didn’t. Jesus asked the religious leaders which son had done what their father had asked – the answer was obvious, so they answer that it was the son who been rebellious in the first instance. Jesus then equates the sinners who had responded to John the Baptist’s message with the rebellious son who had later repented and obeyed his father, and the religious leaders with the disobedient son who said the right things, but didn’t follow through with his actions. Perhaps it’s worth noting that both sons in the story were ‘naughty boys’; they were both disobedient at some point, but only one came to his senses.
RESPOND: How readily do we accept Jesus authority over our lives and His Church? How willing are we to obey God’s call to serve Him? How active are we in working in/praying for God’s Vineyard [Church and world]? Can you identify with either or both of the sons in the parable? Is there anything you need to repent of in order to bring your life back into line with God’s purposes/wishes/commands?
PRAY: Collect for Trinity 15 – O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear the prayers of your people who call upon you; and grant that wemay both perceive and know what things we ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.
Rev Bill Forster (Associate Minster at All Saints, Childwall)
Dear Friends,
Services in Church – We are OPEN this Sunday and will be having 2 morning services.
The first service will start at 9.30am and the second service will start at 11am.
Both services will be the same and last about 35mins. Children are very welcome at either service.
For both services please could we ask you to start arriving from 30mins before the service. Everyone attending will need to wear a face mask, gel hands on arrival and sign in. Children will need to stay with parents at all times please. The creche cannot be open and the pew bags have had to be removed. After the service you will be directed to leave from the front of church. Once outside please keep 2m apart. I am sorry that this is all necessary, but it ensures the safety of everyone attending.
APCM – Our Annual Parochial Church Meeting is planned for Monday19th October in the evening.
Wardens & PCC nominations – nomination forms for Wardens and Deputy Wardens and PCC members are displayed at the front of church to the right of the Vestry door. We have 6 vacancies for our PCC this year. Please prayerfully consider whether you could serve on All Saints PCC. If you would like any further information or a chat about what it involves please will you speak to Andrew or one of the Wardens.
Rock Club – Our normal Rock Club offering cannot take place on a Sunday, so we are going online. Our new youth and children’s worker Gypsey, is developing new online activities for Pebbles, Rock Club & Boulders. If you would like to be kept informed and receive specific emails detailing our Youth & Children’s Worship please can you let us know by emailing gypsey.allsaintschildwall@gmail.com Once Gypseyhas your details, we will add you to our new mailing list specifically for our Youth & Children’s work. Please pray for Gypsey as she plans and develops our online provision for our Children and Young People.
Thursday Communion service – Our Thursday Communion service is now taking place each week at 10.45am. There will be no shared cup and wafers only which I will distribute with tongs whilst wearing a mask. Everyone will need to wear face masks, gel hands on arrival and sign in.
Harvest – It will come as no surprise that we are not able to collect gifts of food this year for harvest. Many families still need food particularly at this challenging time. Please could I ask you to donate the same amount that you would have spent on Harvest gifts to ‘South Liverpool Foodbank’.
You can donate directly on their website, this link will take you straight to their donation page:
https://slfoodbank.enthuse.com/Donate#!/ Thank you!
Tearfund Big Quiz Night scheduled for Saturday November 14th – Please put this date in your diary, further details will be communicated nearer the time.
Children’s Society Boxes – If you have been collecting for the Children’s Society over the last year please will you bring your collecting box to church and place in the box at the back of church. Please remember to write your name on it so it can be returned to you once it has been emptied. Thank you, Delia OwenWeekly Prayer requests – If you would like other members of our church family to pray for you or afamily member, please send me their names for this sheet, please ask permission from the person. We pray for all those who are unwell at this time particularly for Alan McClelland.
WEEKLY PRAYER MEETING – Weekly prayer meeting Thursday 6.30pm on Zoom. Why not join a group of us at All Saints that pray regularly. It lasts 40 minutes, you can pray, sit and listen or just contemplate.
Zoom Meeting: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79853782379?pwd=NEloclhRVEJST3RFeUdUVEowSWJRUT09
Meeting ID: 798 5378 2379 Password: 7VUQh6 Aidan Holmes
Zoom coffee – Please note change of time to 11.15am for 40 mins – remember to bring your own coffee! Details for Zoom coffee are as follows:
Zoom Coffee – every Sunday at 11.15am Meeting ID: 842 767 1496 Password: 4allsaints
With our prayers for you all at this time
Andrew Colmer – Vicar – Tel: 07305 842257 – vicar.allsaintschildwall@gmail.com
Helen Deegan – Curate – Tel: 07984 933467 – curate.allsaintschildwall@gmail.com
Gypsey Tait – Youth & Children’s Worker – Tel: 07961 793435 –gypsey.allsaintschildwall@gmail.com
