Vicar's Letter

Read Your Bibles, and Read them again!

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.                               (2 Timothy 3.16-17) 

Beloved, We have prepared this October edition of “St Paul’s news” early as we have lots going on with the 90th celebrations. Hopefully you will all be able to enjoy some of the celebration events and see both the wonderful work of our archive group sharing the history of our church, as well as the new vision going forward. (there will be displays of this in the church and more information shared in the November edition). 

Please do see the middle pages with all the dates of events and services from October to the New Year (2027!). 

We have already got settled into the new academic year and October is a little break of ‘ordinary time’ before we get deep into the Saints, Remembrance and Christmas season. 

But in October I draw your attention to a couple of chances to deepen your study or reflections on prayer and the scriptures. 

15th October is the feast of the interesting Saint Teresa of Avila, with various wonderful prayers attributed to her including…

Christ has no body but yours, 

No hands, no feet on earth but yours, 

Yours are the eyes with which he looks Compassion on this world, 

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,

Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. 

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, 

Yours are the eyes; you are his body. 

Christ has no body now but yours, 

No hands, no feet on earth but yours, 

Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. 

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

On that day there will be a 7pm Taizé service – if you’ve never been, then why not give it a go? – a quiet contemplative service including periods of silence and the chanting of short repetitive songs, in a peaceful environment of candles. A good opportunity to meditate and shut off from the work. 

On Sunday 25th October it is Bible Sunday and I invite you to bring along your bibles to be blessed at the 8am and 10:15am services. Of course, I hope we all read our Bibles all the time, but Bible Sunday is a day that reminds us of those words from Paul to Timothy about the role of scripture and encourages us to study and learn and grow, as we follow God’s word and as to why we have the words given to us, and where we can find hope and life in every word. 

At 4pm that day, we shall have a full reading of the Gospel according to Saint Mark. This is because each year the Sunday set readings known as the lectionary generally follow a different Gospel each year starting Advent Sunday to the following year. Year B uses Mark’s Gospel so we thought that in preparation we would have a chance to read and listen to the whole Gospel in one go. It is the shortest of the Gospels and one that has a particular pace to it. Please do come and join us. 

It’s really good that we allow ourselves time to be still, to be silent and to be intentional in our prayer, scripture reading and continued growth as disciples. 

We all need to take the chance to sit with the scriptures and read (and re-read) them through, to live the stories, to recall them, to put ourselves in them and imagine, to mark ourselves as characters, to read until a single word or phrase stands out and speaks to us of God afresh.

 The Collect Prayer for Bible Sunday speaks of how to use the scriptures: “help us so to hear them, to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them that, through patience, and the comfort of your holy word, we may embrace and for ever hold fast the hope of everlasting life, which you have given us…” because we have been given the fulfilment of the Book of Life – we find this in the Word become Flesh (why it must almost soon be Christmas?!) 

Have a good October, as you read and continue to be His eyes, hands and feet…

Blessings, In Christ,

Your Shepherd, Fr Tommy