3rd April 2022 All Saints Church, Childwall
Read: Philippians 3 4b/11 [The Message] – “You know my pedigree: a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God’s law; a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting the church; a meticulous observer of everything set down in God’s law Book.
7-9 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, first hand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.
10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.”
Reflect: There is an advert on TV at the moment, entitled ‘Stuff’, in which Ewan McGregor extols the virtue of doing more with our lives than accumulating ‘stuff’. The advert finishes with the words, “Do you think any of us will look back on our lives and regret the things we didn’t buy? Or the places we didn’t go?” The whole purpose of this travel advert is to encourage us to undertake journeys to far flung, exotic and exciting places and experience wonderful things rather than to accumulate ‘stuff’. St Paul would have agreed! In today’s reading, Paul makes the point that he gave up ‘inferior stuff’ so that he could undertake a wonderful, lifelong journey of exploration with Jesus and experience the wonderful things of God. And, during this journey Paul would get to know Jesus more deeply and eventually end up in that place which is not advertised in any Travel Agent’s brochure – Heaven. The advert is talking about not allowing material ‘stuff’ to become the focus for our lives, whereas St Paul is talking about not relying on religious ‘stuff’ like religious tradition or ritual or rules or regulations or family heritage to become a barrier to or a substitute for a growing personal relationship with Jesus.
Now, the odd thing is that it was precisely that ‘religious stuff’ that St Paul used to rejoice in and rely on to guarantee his personal standing before God! But now, Paul says that he regards all that ‘religious stuff’ as a load of garbage! Paul had come to realise that God’s 10 great principles for life in communion with God and man had become a ‘religious system’ which stifled the life of the Spirit and strangled the faith of its adherents. This ‘religious system’ had trapped Paul [and the nation] into believing that he/they could earn God’s favour and friendship ONLY by performing ‘religious stuff’. But Paul had come to realise that God was not a demanding, rules obsessed tyrant, but his loving Heavenly Father. Paul had come to see that, in Jesus, God had revealed Himself and His love in the most wonderful way. No longer did Paul [or we] need to seek to earn God’s love and forgiveness, rather simply to accept God’s offer of a growing friendship with Himself made possible by Jesus death, and through which he [and we] could increasingly experience the transforming power of God’s love in our daily lives, through Jesus resurrection. How is this deepening friendship with God enabled? The same way any friendship/relationship develops – through spending time together, talking, listening and learning.
Respond: What are you relying on to bring you fulfilment in life? What are you relying onto ensure you spend eternity with Jesus? How are you strengthening your personal relationship with God, through Jesus?
Pray: Most merciful God, who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ delivered and saved the world: grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross we may triumph in the power of his victory; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, Amen.
Bill Forster (Associate Minister at All Saints)
Church services
Sunday 3rd April 9.15am – Service of the Word 11am – Holy Communion Service
6pm – Celtic Evening Worship (in the Church Hall)
Thursday 7th April – 10.45am – BCP Holy Communion
Sunday 10th April – Palm Sunday 9.15am – Holy Communion 11am – Service of the Word
6pm – Holy Communion with prayers for healing (in the Church Hall)
Morning Prayer – Monday and Friday at 8:00am – Common Worship Morning prayer service with
words on screen. Optional Chat after the service. Meeting ID: 948 786 2454 Passcode: 4allsaints .
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. – Aidan Holmes
Vestry Hour – every Tuesday in Church from 7pm – 8pm
To book a Baptism or a Wedding or speak to a member of the clergy, please come to Vestry Hour which is held in the church every Tuesday, no appointment is necessary. Please use the wooden door to the left of the tower. You do not need to knock; just come in, take a seat and you will be seen privately in turn.
Bookworms – Since resuming Bookworms in December we’ve had two very enjoyable meetings at the Childwall Abbey pub. Our next meeting is on Monday April 4th at 7.30pm and the book we shall be discussing is Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. Please come and join us. Val Yates
Easter Sunday Sunrise service.
Followed by breakfast in the church hall.
All are welcome to this short open-air service in the churchyard which will be starting at 6am so that the sunrise can be experienced. Please sign up on the sheet at the back of church so that so that we have an idea of numbers for breakfast.
Easter Egg Appeal – Once again we are supporting the Liverpool Homeless Football Club’s Easter Egg Appeal. All eggs donated will be distributed to children in temporary accommodation and domestic abuse refuges. In 2019 (before the pandemic) we donated over 200 eggs, let’s see if we can beat that total this year. Eggs can be left at the back of Church. With thanks, Garry and Barbara Critchley.
Easter Cards – We have a selection of Easter Cards (packets & individual) for sale at the back of Church.
Taking part in the Sleepout is a lot of fun! There are games, stories, as well as building cardboard shelters. To join in make sure you’ve
packed everything you need to have a great evening and a good night’s sleep! If you are under 16 you will need to bring a responsible adult with you.
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/8802380315?pwd=cGxQTnQ0QVRjU1gyUnBrYnJMMzZldz09
Please note joining ID. Meeting ID: 880 238 0315
Passcode: yt76bq
Sunrise Service
Easter Sunday-17th April 6:00 am
All Saints’ Church Childwall
Join us in the churchyard to celebrate Christ’s victory. The service will be followed by breakfast in the church hall.
MENS BREAKFAST – Saturday 9th April at 8am. Why not join a group of men for a simple breakfast, a time
of fellowship, a short talk, prayer and finished off with a hymn. We should be finished by about 9am.
Liverpool Cathedral Sleep Out – Join us on Friday 8th April as we partner with the Whitechapel Centre and
Liverpool Cathedral to raise money to help tackle homelessness in our city.
Visit https://www.liverpoolcathedralsleepout.org/ to find out
more and register. Please let Helen know if you plan to take part curate.allsaintschildwall@gmail.com.
Whitechapel Centre – Collection box in the Church hall How you can help!
Clothing: (Small / medium sizes)
Men’s boxer shorts (new), Female underwear (new) Long sleeved tops, Sweatshirts
Hooded tracksuits, tracksuit bottoms, jeans Women’s leggings
Trainers, Socks, Coats, Gloves, hats & scarves
Bedding:
Duvets, pillows, covers & sheets – we are only able to accept new items, in its original packaging.
John and Laura Groom help to run a week-long Christian summer camp and it is back this year having had two Covid years off.
Please continue to pray for all affected by the war in Ukraine. People have also been asking what else we can do to help the people of Ukraine. The Church of England released the following guidance …
“At present the single most productive thing you can donate is money to the charities that are already on the ground in Ukraine and bordering states. There are two safe and secure ways where your gift can support those most in need: The first is through the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal which is supported by a number of charities including Christian Aid, the ecumenical relief and development agency of the British and Irish churches. Your gift will help provide food, bedding and temporary accommodation for people who have fled the conflict in Ukraine. The second is through the USPG-Diocese in Europe Emergency Appeal which is looking to support the front line work of chaplaincies across Europe as well as Christian charities carrying out humanitarian work both in Ukraine and responding to the arrival of refugees in neighbouring countries. Although we appreciate the willingness and generosity many wish to show in the charitable collection of toys, clothes and bedding we would urge you to avoid this approach as it is often inappropriate and not what is most needed on the ground. If you, or someone you know, can speak Ukrainian, Russian, Hungarian, Polish, German, Czech, Romanian or Moldovan then those language skills could be very useful in translation work. That includes through Translators Without Borders who are supporting many refugees in translating and understanding forms and procedures.” Follow the links below to find out more. https://www.dec.org.uk https://ukraine-emergency-appeal.raisely.com/ https://translatorswithoutborders.org/
Weekly Prayer requests – Please pray for all those who are unwell at this time particularly praying for Gary
This is a fantastic opportunity for a week away in a safe Christian environment learning more of the gospel whilst having lots of fun – Olly and Jess can tell you first hand!
Please come and talk to either John or Laura Groom if you’d like more details or information. Please also pass on this opportunity to your friends and families who might be interested.
McCoy, Stan Cowley and Alison Kefford. We pray for the bereaved family and friends of Graham
McCulloch, Diana Cowley and Sybil Francis.
Andrew Colmer – Vicar – Tel: 07305 842257 – vicar.allsaintschildwall@gmail.com
Helen Deegan – Curate – Tel: 07984 933467 – curate.allsaintschildwall@gmail.com
Bill Forster – Associate Minister – william.forster1@btinternet.com
Adeyinka Olushonde – Ordinand – adeyinka.allsaintschildwall@gmail.com
