Services This Week
Dear All,
Services this week are taking place in person or via livestream through our YouTube Channel. Please find gathering times and service sheet links below. (Note that there will NOT be a 9am BCP service of Holy Communion this coming Sunday.)
Friday 29 November
10.30am - BCP Holy Communion (Revd Dr Jeremy Morris)
Sunday 1 December / First Sunday of Advent
11am - Holy Communion
Sermon: ‘The Root of Jesse’
Service Sheet: Here
4pm - Advent Carol Service
Service Sheet: Here
Other notices:
Advent Reading Groups: During advent we will be running three parallel reading groups on John Behr’s book Becoming Human: Meditations on Christian Anthropology in Word and Image. The first group will meet via Zoom on Wednesdays at 8pm (starting this Wednesday 27 November); the second group will meet in Benet’s Café on Sundays at 9.30am (starting next Sunday 1 December); and the third group will meet in St Edward’s on Sundays at 12.30pm (also starting next Sunday). We warmly encourage you to join a group for advent and hope that the choice of meeting times and formats will accommodate everyone who wishes to do so. Copies of Behr’s book will be available but, for this week, the first three chapters are accessible here and the study questions for the course of advent are accessible here.
Advent Carol Service: At 4pm on Sunday 1 December we will be having our annual advent carol service, which will last an hour and be followed by mince pies and mulled wine. Please do invite friends and family to this joyful inauguration of the season of advent and the new liturgical year!
Volunteer Rota: In addition to the sign-up sheet in church, we are making it easier to volunteer by attaching an online rota with the weekly email here. (N.B. There will be an initial delay before access is granted to the form, in order that only church members can see and edit it.) Please do consider if you are able to help out in any of the ways listed – we are particularly in need of regular volunteers to set-up tea and coffee and stay a little longer after each service to wash-up/leave away. Many thanks!
Giving: As always we are grateful for all of your gifts! Offerings may still be given during this time via a basket collection during live services, Standing Orders, or one time bank transfer, via BACS (Sort Code: 20-17-19 / Account Number: 30851477 / Account Name: St Edwards Church). There is now also a SumUp machine by the door of the church, for those of you who wish to give contactlessly: Simply power on, enter the amount you wish to give on the screen, and then tap your card.
Exciting Holiness (Saturday 30 November):
Though St Andrew is named among the apostles in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, it is in John’s gospel that most is learned about him. Andrew was a Galilean fisherman, mending his nets, when Jesus called him to follow him, which he promptly did. He then seems to have remained with Jesus until the end. He was there at the feeding of the five thousand and then later, when some Greeks in Jerusalem wanted to see Jesus, Philip brought them to Andrew who told Jesus of their desire. Tradition has him travelling on several missionary journeys and eventually being martyred by being crucified on an x-shaped cross. He became the patron saint of Scotland because of a legend that his relics had been brought there in the eighth century.
Almighty God, who gave such grace to your apostle Saint Andrew that he readily obeyed the call of your Son Jesus Christ and brought his brother with him: call us by your holy word, and give us grace to follow you without delay and to tell the good news of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
