A very Happy New Year to you!
We live in a worrying world with a dangerous situation in the Middle East possibly on the verge of becoming even more dangerous and terrible fires in Australia - amongst many other calamities elsewhere in the world. Nonetheless, however many worries we may have in life, God has still given us the gift of life which was all given to us freely and it is our duty to make the most of it as it is a precious gift.
With this in mind let me express the hope that you are not overcome with gloom as can often be the case at this murky dark time of the year (though the weather today happens to have been beautiful).
Indeed, may I wish you personally a blessed new year and also express the hope that you had a wonderful Christmas. It was good to see so many people at All Saints over the Christmas period.
We have our Lord with us and He will guide and lead us through the Year. As we trust in Him, our faith grows stronger and the fruit of the Holy Spirit grows within us more and more.
Now to news of January!
After a very busy run of weeks it looks like January will be a relatively quieter month but there are still new things to tell you about.
The first thing to tell you about is the Labyrinth that Dr Martin Garsed will be running on Saturday 11th January:
Open
Labyrinth at All Saints Whitstable on 11th January 2pm to 4 pm.
Martin writes "This is an
opportunity to take time out, drop in and prepare to set off anew on the road
of 2020 as the Magi did all those years ago. An experience of letting go the
past year and striding into the New one with love, faith and hope for oneself,
our loved ones and all peoples."
You don't have to come for the whole two hours. You can just stay for a short while or stay longer and arrive and leave at any point.
WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY
The next thing to let you know about is our Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Here are the details:
If you want to read the material in advance or as you go through the week then please click on this link:
PLEASE NOTE THE MATERIAL TAKES A MINUTE OR SO TO DOWNLOAD EVEN WITH A FAST BROADBAND CONNECTION
PLEASE NOTE THE MATERIAL TAKES A MINUTE OR SO TO DOWNLOAD EVEN WITH A FAST BROADBAND CONNECTION
ALPHA COURSE
I am running another Alpha course from the end of January right up to the end of March.There will be a choice of either Thursday evenings or Friday mornings. The venue will be the Vicarage. There will be no meal.
However, the DVDs are excellent and the group last year really enjoyed coming on the course.
Some are coming back to attend a second time which is absolutely fine.
Alpha comes from a particular theological and spiritual tradition but you can come from any particular theological understanding or even from an agnostic or atheist viewpoint and still find the course worthwhile.
The format is to watch the DVD which lasts about 25 minutes and then there is a conversation about the video.
The Thursday evening session will begin on 30th January at 7.30pm and will finish at 9.15pm. The Friday morning session will start at 10.30am and run till 12 noon, beginning on 31st January. There may be times when sessions have to be changed due to funerals I may have to take etc.
It is a particularly good way of preparing for confirmation which this year is in May at All Saints Whitstable with our new Bishop, Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin taking it! Now that is going to be brilliant!
So if you are considering confirmation this would be an excellent course to attend.
But if you are simply just wanting to come and search and ask difficult questions such as "Why is there so much suffering in the world?" (A good question to ask in view of the recent news from Australia and the Middle East) then this is the perfect format. I certainly don't have all the answers but we can at least discuss the questions.
The course is free of charge though if you want to contribute to the cost of the manual I think it is £1.
Let me know if you are interested please. And do watch this video too! You can email me at tillotsons@gmail.com.
Please note that the suggested videos that come up after a Youtube video has finished are based on the user's own computer's interaction with Youtube or its parent company Google and are not in any way suggestions from All Saints Whitstable.
The Archbishop of Canterbury visits All Saints
We were really delighted and honoured when a surprise visit by Archbishop Justin Welby took place on Sunday 22nd December.
Archbishop Justin does visit parishes in his Diocese quite often but even so it did come as a surprise.
You can hear the Archbishop's sermon here:Please note that the suggested videos that come up after a Youtube video has finished are based on the user's own computer's interaction with Youtube or its parent company Google and are not in any way suggestions from All Saints Whitstable.
The Archbishop of Canterbury visits All Saints
We were really delighted and honoured when a surprise visit by Archbishop Justin Welby took place on Sunday 22nd December.
Archbishop Justin does visit parishes in his Diocese quite often but even so it did come as a surprise.
If you are interested in listening to my Christmas morning sermon you can find it here. I was talking about the two questions that people often ask:
1) If there is a God why does he not reveal himself more obviously?
2) If there is a God why does he allow suffering?
I hope you find it helpful.
THE ZONE
THE NEW YOUTH CLUB FOR 11 to 14 year olds.
Starting on the last Monday evening in January
Contact Elena at allsaints.cfm@gmail.com for more information
UNITY UPDATE for the WHITSTABLE TEAM MINISTRY
Thank you for reading right to the end of the newsletter. I haven't this month included all our regular groups but please visit our website for more information on these.
www.allsaintswhitstable.com
Thank you
Rev Simon Tillotson
tillotsons@gmail.com
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