staffsgemms

2011-10-29T18:07:00.001+01:00

All Saints' Sunday
October 30th 2011

Today:
United Service - St Matthews Derrington 10:00am
Rev. Geoffrey Smith & Martin Wilson (USPG)

Next Sunday - 3rd Sunday before Advent
(1 Thessalonians 4.13-end, Matthew 25.1-13)

8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion MM
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
10.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Somgs of Praise WG

2 - weeks to the Rev. Sue Symons licensing
November 12th 3.00 pm St Marys and All Saints Bradley Bishop Jonathan leading

Notes from the Archive
Blessed are those:
Who feel spiritually poor, eyes not yet closed to new adventures of faith; not yet so sure of themselves that they fail to be open to others.
Who mourn for a world in distress: lost in its own confusion; and who weep not just over others sin but for their own.
Who accept nothing as a right but all as a gift. Who put no claim on others but defend rights not their own
Who go hungry and thirsty to see fairness and justice in the world. Prepared to have less and change their lives that others may have at least something.
Who offer love and dignity and not vengeance, even to those who have wronged them; sharing God’s righteousness not our retribution.
Who refuse to be corrupted by the wiles and temptations of the world; but who focus alone on God in Jesus.
Who take action to bring peace and use weapons better than those made to destroy; who accept their part in God’s call to reconciliation however hard it might be.
And who will suffer. As peacemakers, misunderstood; as pure, maligned; as merciful, mocked; as seekers of righteousness, shunned; as meek, looked down on; as mourners, laughed at;
And as poor in spirit, maligned, mocked, shunned, looked down on, laughed at and derided by those who are certain only of their faith in themselves, and their own power, but who are spiritually lost and who fail to see their own need of God.
Peter G Ashby (retd)

2011-10-15T10:35:00.001+01:00

17th Sunday after Trinity
October 16th 2011

Today:
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion
6.30pm St Mary’s Bradley Holy Communion

Next Sunday - Bible Sunday (Colossians 3.12–17, Matthew 24.30–35)

8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Morning Prayer WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
11.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion

4 - weeks to the Rev. Sue Symons licensing
November 12th 3.00 pm St Marys and All Saints Bradley
Bishop Jonathan leading

Notes from the Archive
Matthew 22:15-22
Are we in the world or escaping from it?
Is the church a refuge – an anaesthetic – somewhere we escape into the comfort of a familiar service?
Or is it the kingdom – what the world might be if it followed God
Both the Roman and Jewish leaders were oppressive. Many people were opposed to both. But Jesus said render to Caesar – don’t opt out; Paul confirms it: obey authority (Romans 13)
We need order not chaos – authority is there to provide a framework within which worship and service are possible. Life is robbed of meaning if worship and service not possible. But equally authority is robbed of meaning if it simply serves its own power. And we are all under the authority of God.
Jesus became incarnate in history he didn’t separate himself from it.
We are part of world: so we have to make the best of it, following the example of Christ.
Jesus used the things of the world to the glory of God – earth, water, fish, and bread. So should we. And we have the advantage that the Gospel “came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit.”
That makes change possible – nothing is fixed or final – even among the authorities and powers of this world. So we don’t accept fatalistically what the world throws at us, and those around us but use the possibility of change to encourage human growth and oppose all that demeans and degrades humanity.
To fail to be involved is to allow the possibility that chaos will return.
Peter G Ashby (retd)

2011-10-01T08:55:00.001+01:00

15th Sunday after Trinity
October 2nd 2011

6 - weeks to the Rev. Sue Symons induction

Today:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion GS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
10.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion GS

Next Sunday - Trinity 16 (Proper 23)
(Philipians 4.1-9, Matthew 22.1-14)

8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion
6.30pm St Mary’s Bradley Holy Communion

Notes from the Archive
Matthew 21.33–46
There is only one race – the human race.
And Paul regards himself as having a head start as one of the chosen people. There have been many who tried to produce a super-race. Those that can’t compete in a bit of assisted natural selection should be allowed to die. Children once left on hillsides, the elderly left behind as the adults moved on. Or those who thought their natural superiority made them leaders over the weaker members of the human race.
But then Paul says that all that is rubbish, all the advantages he had as loss, because they distract us from the one thing that matters. All that matters is that we are one with Christ. Made one through our baptism the race has already been won. We are part of eternal life from that moment on.
So there is no need to compete, we can let go of our ambition and our competitiveness. We can be free to help the weak, indeed we have a commission to do so.
We have a commitment to the purpose of God which is to unite all things in himself. Gradually calling back all the things that have separated themselves off from him and drawing them together for the good of all. We are part of the fulfilment of God’s plan from the beginning of time. And that goal has yet to be achieved.
So we are set apart for service – we have not made Jesus our own, he has made us his own – and join the race which Christ has started.
We are not on our own, otherwise we would revert to type and lord it over others. It is not in our own strength or in our own terms, but with God at our side.
Peter G Ashby (retd)

2011-07-30T17:02:00.001+01:00

6th Sunday after Trinity
July 31st 2011

Today:
10.00am St Giles Haughton United Service GS

Next Sunday - Trinity 7 (Proper 14)(Romans 10.5–15, Matthew 14.22-33)

8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion GS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
10.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion GS

Notices: St Editha’s Church Summer Lunch
Sunday 21st August - 12.30pm for 1.00 pm
In aid of St Editha’s Church Tickets from David on 01952 691586 and Michael 822586, or other members of the PCC
Tickets: £15 for adults and £5 for children under 12.
Tables of 10, but please talk to us if you just want to come and we will help fit you on to a table.

Notes from the Archive
Matthew 14.13-21
They don’t need to go away. You give them something.
We are too ready to pass people on – to think that we have nothing to offer, whether it is practical help or faith. Although usually something not quite as daunting as feeding 5000 people, not counting women or children. At least, according to John, the disciples asked where they could buy the food for everyone. In Matthew it is more pointed – let them find their own food. Happy to receive from Jesus themselves they are reluctant to share with others.
But Jesus is telling them, “You can do it, why send them somewhere else?”
John tells us that it was Andrew who points out just what is available. He it was who, when he met Jesus, immediately went and told Peter. He knew that faith was something to be acted on. Not to be left to other people.
And they can do it. The resources they have are enough and to spare. Once they have the blessing of God anything is possible. The formula of taking, giving thanks, and breaking is the same used at the Last Supper, on the Emmaus road and at breakfast on the shore.
The broken pieces are then gathered together. Firstly from all the twelve tribes of Israel; but then even the crumbs, the leftovers are of value, as we will see in a couple of week’s time.
And those who have shared become the Eucharistic community, a community of faith first; but also a community of action. The broken bread gathered together, becomes one. Not leaving it to others but sharing faith and gifts and resources as others come to hear of what they have and come to join them.

Peter G Ashby (retd)

2011-07-23T08:17:00.001+01:00

5th Sunday after Trinity
July 24th 2011

Today:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion GS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Morning Prayer WG
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion GS
11.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion GS

This week:
Wednesday - Derrington / Haughton housegroup at Hazel Litherland's - 7:30pm

Next Sunday - Trinity 6 (Proper 13)
(Romans 9.1–5, Matthew 14.13–21)

10.00am St Giles Haughton United Service GS

Notices: St Editha’s Church Summer Lunch
Sunday 21st August - 12.30pm for 1.00 pm
In aid of St Editha’s Church Tickets from David on 01952 691586 and Michael 822586, or other members of the PCC
Tickets: £15 for adults and £5 for children under 12.
Tables of 10, but please talk to us if you just want to come and we will help fit you on to a table.

Notes from the Archive
Matthew 13.1–9, 18–23
What are we looking for?
And will we know it when we find it?
It’s so easy to get caught up in the search that we forget what it is that we really want. We miss the clues and go on looking long after we have passed by the treasure.
Or maybe we are sincerely looking but get distracted and start to look in the wrong place. There is so much on offer that we think that the treasure must be around somewhere. There are so many options to explore and we overlook the familiar. We think we know it after all these years and have found it lacking and so we move on.
But we are also reluctant to give up what we already have. We think that the things we own are treasure, the things we do essential.
Yet a good teacher will bring out of the old storeroom new treasures. There is always something new to discover. The familiar made extraordinary by looking from a new angle, or pointing to something we may have missed the first time around.
And once discovered, made visible, then all else seems worthless. It is worth giving up everything else for just this:
God’s spirit within us, helping us in our prayers;
God’s son alongside us, sharing our image and our lives;
And God never separate from us but in us and through us as we offer ourselves in his service.
Peter G Ashby (retd)

2011-07-15T21:43:00.001+01:00

4th Sunday after Trinity
July 17th 2011

Today:
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion GS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion MM
10.45am Sunday School at Haughton St Giles School
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion GS
6.30pm St Mary’s Bradley Holy Communion MM

This week:
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary & All Saints

Next Sunday - Trinity 5 (Proper 12)
(Romans 8.26–39, Matthew 13.31–33, 44–52)

8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion GS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Morning Prayer WG
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion GS
11.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion GS

Notices: St Editha’s Church Summer Lunch
Sunday 21st August - 12.30pm for 1.00 pm
In aid of St Editha’s Church Tickets from David on 01952 691586 and Michael 822586, or other members of the PCC
Tickets: £15 for adults and £5 for children under 12.
Tables of 10, but please talk to us if you just want to come and we will help fit you on to a table.

Notes from the Archive

Matthew 13.1–9, 18–23
Thistles and thorns abound in dry lands like Israel - over 120 kinds, some growing to over 6ft/2m. Some, such as the milk-thistle, have beautiful flowers, but can quickly suffocate young plants at the edges of fields (as in Jesus' story of the sower and the soils). Thorns were plaited into a mock-crown for Jesus at his trial. The `tares' in the story of the wheat and the weeds are darnel, which looks exactly like wheat in its early stages.
Can you spot which are the weeds and which the wheat?
Not in my garden. Just too much stuff in the borders.
And the wheat comes from the bird table among the hebes and the quince.
Most of the time you have to wait until the plant has grown a bit and see which way it grows. Even sometimes wait until it flowers.
Only then does the plant admit to being clearly a weed.
And not just a wild flower out of place.
The `tares' in the story of the wheat and the weeds are darnel, which looks exactly like wheat in its early stages. And not too different to the untrained eye even when it produces a head (OK, maybe more like rye).
Sometimes what seems right at the time turns out be a bad idea. It is only when the results appear that you can see clearly.
And then have to scrub everything and start again.
But, Paul reminds us, we live in hope. We are God’s children and he will, in the end, weed out of his kingdom all that causes sin. And that doesn't mean burning us on the fire, as the old hellfire and brimstone merchants would have it (but don't you just miss them). But he will burn out of us all that causes sin, and the process might be painful. But we are called to patience, live in hope, let God take control, in his own time.
Peter G Ashby (retd)

2011-07-08T22:31:00.001+01:00

3rd Sunday after Trinity
July 10th 2011

Today:
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion MM
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion RV
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion & baptism MM
10.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion RV

This week:
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary & All Saints

Next Sunday - Trinity 4 (Proper 11)
(Romans 8.12–25, Matthew 13.24–30, 36–43)

8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion GS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion MM
10.45am Sunday School at Haughton St Giles School
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion GS
6.30pm St Mary’s Bradley Holy Communion MM

Notices: St Editha’s Church Summer Lunch
Sunday 21st August - 12.30pm for 1.00 pm
In aid of St Editha’s Church Tickets from David on 01952 691586 and Michael 822586, or other members of the PCC
Tickets: £15 for adults and £5 for children under 12.
Tables of 10, but please talk to us if you just want to come and we will help fit you on to a table.

Notes from the Archive

Matthew 13.1–9, 18–23
What are the seeds we sow?
Sometimes a careless word or a casual action can lead on to unforeseen consequences. But then so can a casual act of kindness or a thoughtful word in the right place.
We may think that they won’t make much difference in the world but if we are kind and thoughtful then those we treat well will be more likely to go on to treat others the same way. If we are selfish and unkind then we can’t expect others to act differently.
Sometimes some people say that they never say a bad word about anyone or do anyone a bad turn; but do they also say positive things to people and work for the good of others?
What difference do we really make with our lives?
There are many good causes out there, not just the churches. And a common feeling among them is that there are fewer people giving time these days. But perhaps it starts with us.
So plant a seed or two. Not in the garden, but to plant in your life. And like those other seeds these will need nurturing form time to time, watering with some prayer and weeding out all that crowds our lives with trivial things.
So think of a random act of kindness and act on it during the week. Some may be personal, others mean finding someone in need. Or just find out about the way the world is and begin to work to change it.
All are to do with spreading a little bit of God’s love in the world.

Peter G Ashby (retd)

2011-07-01T17:05:00.001+01:00

2nd Sunday after Trinity
July 3rd 2011

Today:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service WG
10.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion RV
6.30pm St Editha’s Church Eaton Songs of Praise - Bishop Geoff

This week:
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary & All Saints

Next Sunday - Trinity 3 (Proper 10)
(Romans 8.1 - end, Matthew 13.1-9, 18-23)

9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion MM
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion RV
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion & baptism MM
10.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion RV

Notices: St Editha’s Church Summer Lunch
Sunday 21st August - 12.30pm for 1.00 pm
In aid of St Editha’s Church Tickets from David on 01952 691586 and Michael 822586, or other members of the PCC
Tickets: £15 for adults and £5 for children under 12.
Tables of 10, but please talk to us if you just want to come and we will help fit you on to a table.

Notes from the Archive
Matthew 11.16–19, 25–30
They can’t do anything right.
John and Jesus get criticised whatever they do.
Eat and you’re a glutton; or don’t eat and you’re a fraud;
drink and you’re a drunkard; or don’t drink and you’re a spoilsport.
Stay in the desert and you’re anti-social;
or visit the people and you’re a populist.
It doesn’t matter. There are always those prepared to complain. Those who stand in the market place and call the tune; who expect everyone to join in their games and who despise anyone who is different.
So Jesus just gets on with it. He reaches out to those who need him; those that others shun.
He takes the gospel to people and to places others would avoid.
It doesn’t make sense to the educated – “why waste time with the feral underclass?” They are the ones Jesus criticized earlier for standing on street corners looking pious and throwing stones at the poor.
Paul recognises the tension. Wanting to fit in, to do what others do, to join in their mockery of the poor. To be seen as one of the elite, better than others.
But for Jesus it is those with nothing who are more likely to receive the gospel because they have less to lose, less to give up, fewer barriers to faith.
They haven’t yet surrounded their faith with religion and lost sight of its true meaning. But, Paul adds, “Thanks be to God” who in Jesus has shown us that God’s love is open to all and can be offered to all.
Peter G Ashby (retd)

2011-06-24T16:43:00.002+01:00

1st Sunday after Trinity
June 26th 2011

Today:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PS
10.00am St Matthews Derrington Morning Prayer WG
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion & baptism RV
11.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion RV

This week:
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary & All Saints
Friday: Church Eaton Festival opens in St Editha’s Church at 8pm
Saturday & Sunday - Church Eaton Festival - see below for details

Next Sunday - Trinity 2 (Proper 9)
(Romans 7.15–25a, Matthew 11.16–19, 25–30)

8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service WG
10.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion RV
6.30pm St Editha’s Church Eaton Songs of Praise - Bishop Geoff

Notes from the Archive
Matthew 10.40–42
Our reward from God comes as a result of our response to God. What difference have we made to others as a result of our faith in Christ?

Christ has no body now on earth but yours,

No hands but yours,
No feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion is to look out on the world.
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good.
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless people now.

St Teresa

How have we been Christ’s eyes and ears and hands in the world?
The need is out there. Not only in distant countries but closer to home too. And its not just a cup of water that the children of the world need. There has never been a greater need of spiritual growth in the world.
A spiritual hunger fills the land, yet the people of God are silent. If we have been set free by Christ then let us share that freedom with others.

Peter G Ashby (retd)

Notices
Church Eaton Village Festival
Friday 1st July Opening the Village Festival in St Editha’s Church at 8pm
THE FLAMIN’ DAMES in “LUCK BE A LADY”
Tickets from Justin 01785 824788
Opera, Comedy and Cabaret Tickets £5 per person – cash bar

Saturday July 2nd & Sunday 3rd
Procession, Scarecrows (some may be live) , ferret racing, Gaunts Retinue, Birds of prey, horse show, dog show, Childen's Fayre, Morris men, street musicians and dancers and much more, including previewing and filming "A Portrait of a Village" plus A GRAND DRAW
(Grand Draw Tickets from Rose 822789 and Irene 822882 ).

St Editha’s Church Summer Lunch
Sunday 21st August - 12.30pm for 1.00 pm
In aid of St Editha’s Church Tickets from David on 01952 691586 and Michael 822586, or other members of the PCC
Tickets: £15 for adults and £5 for children under 12.
Tables of 10, but please talk to us if you just want to come and we will help fit you on to a table.

2011-06-04T10:59:00.001+01:00

The Sunday after Ascension Day
June 5th 2011

Today:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion GS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
10.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion GS

This week:
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
Saturday: 2pm Summer Fete - Derrington Village Hall

Advance Notice:
Sunday 19th June - 3-6pm - Strawberry Tea with Pimms in a lakeside marquee at Priory Farm, Bradley. The tea will close with a short act of Worship. Tickets £10 from Doreen 780723 or Anne 822467
(This replaces the Sunday evening service at St Mary’s Bradley)

Sunday 3rd July 6.30pm - St Editha’s Church Eaton
Songs of Praise service with Bishop Geoff

Archdeacon’s Visitation
June 12th Pentecost Sunday Stafford Showground.
Admission of Churchwardens 3pm to 5.30pm (Arrive from 2pm, tea at 4pm).
In the evening: ‘In the Spirit’, a Pentecost evening celebration (7pm for 7.30pm - ending c 9pm). Choir members welcome from 6.00pm to share in the singing.

Next Sunday - Pentecost
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion CS
11.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion & Baptism GS

Notes from the Archive

John 17.1-11
Jesus prays to the Father that they (his disciples) “may be one as we are one.”
At the heart of the gospel is the call to unity. United the disciples could convert the world. And they were united. At a fundamental level. They were all one in Christ.
Just a little later they agreed to disagree, as the Synod of Jerusalem (Acts 15) broke up and Paul and Peter went their separate ways. Much later the churches broke up even further into denominations, sometimes even at war with each other but certainly in competition.
Then two things happened. People the world over realised that it was disunity that was preventing the spread of the gospel and came together in the great missionary movements of the past hundred years which led to the formation of the World Council of Churches. And also a new outpouring of the Spirit produced a Pentecostal revival that has seen a renewal of every denomination and in many cases a sufficient blurring of the boundaries that denominations have become irrelevant.
All it needs is for Christians to agree that they have a common agenda. That that agenda is more important than personal differences. And that together we can achieve more than we can achieve apart.
Of course everyone will still experience God in their own way and want to worship in their own way.
But the underlying unity of all being part of the Body of Christ and all being given a share in His Spirit transcends all differences of approach and practice.
Peter G Ashby (retd)

2011-05-28T15:05:00.001+01:00

Easter 6
May 29th 2011

Today:
United Service for Peter's Retirement
St Mary's and All Saints Bradley 10am

This week:
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Next Sunday - Sunday after Ascension
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion GS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
10.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion GS

Archdeacon’s Visitation
June 12th Pentecost Sunday Stafford Showground.
Admission of Churchwardens 3pm to 5.30pm (Arrive from 2pm, tea at 4pm).
In the evening: ‘In the Spirit’, an opportunity for a group from the churches to join the Bishop of Stafford for a Pentecost evening celebration (7pm for 7.30pm - ending c 9pm). Choir members welcome from 6.00pm to share in the singing.

Notes on the readings
Acts 17.22-31
The question the OT sets is “What do we know of God?” and the answer is in what God has done for us (listed in the psalm).
The NT asks a different question: “how do we know God?” So God is personal and not mathematical – which is why maths can’t answer the question.
So maybe the x-factor is the personal bit. (Is the TV x-factor personality?) The Athenians were looking to hear about something when they should have been looking to meet someone.
Which fits in with last weeks “Way, the truth and the life”; and also this week’s “he lives in you and will be with you”.
John 14.15-21
“If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
Devotion is prior to obedience. We don’t slavishly follow the commandments because we think we ought to.
Love leads you to obey – obedience, as we realise we are doing God’s work in the world, leads us to love God more, as we see the fruits of his love. Real love is living out obedience willingly given – the natural consequence of our love of God is to do what God asks of us.
We show our obedience in proclaiming God in glory through our witness and by denying self and following Christ
“I am in God, you are in me, and I am in you”
– repeated next week in John 17
That eternal presence is the promise of glory
Peter says you should always be able to give an answer to the hope that is in you. It is simply that we are in God and God in us.
So we have no fear of death, or of what people might say to us
We set up barriers to protect ourselves because we fear. If there is no fear there is no need for barriers.
That is also what unites us. Despite our differences and disagreements. We are one in Christ
God’s promise – Because I live, you live, because I love I will…
Should be reflected in our promise – because I love God I will…
And also shown in our present experience
Jesus (but not the lectionary) closes the passage: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”
Peter G Ashby

2011-05-20T20:29:00.002+01:00

Easter 5
May 22nd 2011

Today:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion PA
6.30pm St Matthews Derrington Celtic Service PA

Banns at St Mary’s (3) Kerry Davies and Alison Jane Machin

This week:
Monday: 7.30pm Ministry Team The rectory
Tuesday: 7.30pm Bradley Trust
Wednesday: 10.15am School Assembly
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Next Sunday - United Service for Peter's Retirement
St Mary's and All Saints Bradley 10am

All too soon we reach Peter Ashby's retirement, he has given so much to many of us and I for one am both happy and sad to see him retire. Join us at 10am at St Mary's and All Saints, Bradley to say happy retirement. After the service there will be a presentation and toasts at the Bradley village hall followed by a buffet lunch,
Paul

Archdeacon’s Visitation
June 12th Pentecost Sunday Stafford Showground.
Admission of Churchwardens 3pm to 5.30pm (Arrive from 2pm, tea at 4pm).
In the evening: ‘In the Spirit’, a Pentecost evening celebration (7pm for 7.30pm - ending c 9pm). Choir members welcome from 6.00pm to share in the singing.

Notes on the readings
Acts 7.55-60
John 14.1-14
The mad irrationality of the mob take control.
Stephen has given one of the best summaries of God’s history in the world. This is supposed to be a court but there is no summing up and no judgement. Just a crowd baying for blood and taking over.
The accusers cover their ears.
They don’t want to hear anything but their own point of view.
And they don’t want to hear the crowd as it moves in on Stephen to exact summary justice.
And standing by watching there is Saul, soon to be Paul.
It would have been this scene that was on his mind as he travelled the road to Damascus. What he had thought was a clear cut case of blasphemy which should be brought to trial had been hijacked by the fundamentalists.
Trained as a Pharisee he would have wanted reasoned argument, rebuttal and a decision by a properly constituted court, not this mayhem.
And so it is on the way that he meets the one who is the way.
Jesus didn’t want to bring in a new set of propositions,
no new tablets of stone,
no new legalism to be engineered by the rulers to their own ends.
He came to introduce himself as companion, as guide.
Truth is not in doctrine, still less dogma.
It is seeing God on the road.
There with us.
And then accepting that we share the road with him.
And accepting that sometimes, if we are true to him
it will be a road of suffering.
But that it is also always a way of life: the whole of life given up for God.

Peter G Ashby

2011-05-07T09:25:00.001+01:00

Easter 3
May 8th 2011

Today:
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion PA

Banns at St Giles (2): Craig Leslie Taylor and Emma Louise Tipper
Banns at St Mary’s (1) Kerry Davies and Alison Jane Machin

This week:
Monday: 10.30am Haughton Worship group at the rectory
8.00pm Church Eaton PCC Dolphin House
Tuesday: 11.00am Doreen Gee funeral at St Mary’s
1.30pm Haughton PCC start with communion in St Giles
7.30pm Derrington Worship group 25 Castle View
Wednesday: 2.30pm St Matthews Church open
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
Saturday: 3.00pm Christopher Peach and Kate Manning wedding rehearsal
at St Giles

Next Sunday (Easter 4)

8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
(Including dedication of the plaque)
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
6.30pm St Mary’s Bradley Holy Communion PA

Notes on the readings
Luke 24:13-35
Jesus seems to always be either on a journey or eating. And it is at those moments when he is closest to his friends, pointing out what they have missed.
For many though all they can do is walk. One step enough for me. If we look up someone will catch our eye and add to the burden we already carry. How narrow is our focus? No reference to outsiders, or the environment. Maybe their family sometimes but everything else is a nuisance or a threat.
Some manage a bit more, the neighbourhood, or even the nation, though that often descends into a petty nationalism masquerading as patriotism. When Shakespeare’s Scottish play was performed by local people amidst the dereliction of Ladywood it gave new meaning to Macduff’s line “Alas poor country almost afraid to know itself”
But if we walk with God: He will explain what we already regard as familiar but which we have not yet seen. They knew the facts of the events in Jerusalem, but couldn’t see their meaning. They had some of the context in place, the scriptures, but were reading them with their eyes closed.
And it is only at the point where companionship becomes community, when they break bread together, that it all makes sense. Without community there is no meaning.
But paradoxically, it is when they see for themselves that they no longer need to see him and he fades from their sight. It is in sharing with one another that they find that Christ remains present to them.
No longer followers but witnesses and disciples. No longer alone on the road but able to open up to others who share the road with us and who we know in the breaking of bread.

Peter G Ashby

2011-04-30T11:03:00.000+01:00

Easter 2
May 1st 2011

Today:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion GS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service GS
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
10.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion GS

Banns at St Giles (1): Craig Leslie Taylor and Emma Louise Tipper

This week:
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
Saturday: Eccleshall Singers Derrington Village Hall.

Next Sunday : Easter 3
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion PA

Eccleshall Singers May 7th Derrington Village Hall Details and tickets from Josephine Hughes 242968
Archdeacon’s Visitation June 12th Pentecost Sunday Stafford Showground. Churchwardens 3pm to 5.30pm (Arrive from 2pm, tea at 4pm). ‘In the Spirit’, an opportunity for a group from the churches to join the Bishop of Stafford for a Pentecost evening celebration (7pm for 7.30pm - ending c 9pm). Choir members welcome from 6.00pm to share in the singing.

Notes on the readings
John 20:19-31

Thomas was practical – not for him the gossip of women, or even hearsay from others.
He needed proof. Something he could get his hands on.
He needed to see for himself.
He was looking for a tangible sign of Jesus presence.
And when it comes it is so ordinary, almost an anti-climax.
Just Jesus among them, as he had been so many times before.
It’s not the intervention of an alien god, something outside of their experience. But the continued presence of the God they knew, who a short time before had walked with them, who had often met them in that same upper room.
Then they could see Jesus alive among them and experience the continuity with all that had gone before.
It was Thomas, you remember, who had asked “How can we know the way?” Only by Jesus leading, or rather by Jesus beside us. Only by the touch of Jesus in the darkness.
Then we know we are on the right road. Faith is always a personal encounter. It can’t come from any amount of intellectual argument. But by meeting Jesus, in a room, on the road, beside the sea.
Then it becomes real. Then it becomes true. And the truth will set you free.
Believing leads on to understanding, which deepens belief. Acceptance of the experience can lead on to love and growth.
Faith leading to worship – “My Lord and My God!”
Worship leads to prayer and a growing relationship with Jesus and prayer to service – a closer walk with God.
So life is begun afresh with Jesus as our guide.
Peter G Ashby

2011-04-23T10:34:00.000+01:00

Easter Sunday
April 24th 2011

Today:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion MM
11.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Service PA

Banns (3) at St Mary’s: Daniel John Glenister and Felicity Caroline Farmer; and Richard James Griffin and Rachelle Lee North

This week:
Wednesday: 7.30pm House Fellowship 25 Castle View

Next Sunday : Easter 2
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion GS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
10.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion GS

Bishops Lent Appeal. Envelopes in today please.
Eccleshall Singers May 7th Derrington Village Hall Details and tickets from Josephine Hughes 242968
Archdeacon’s Visitation June 12th Pentecost Sunday Stafford Showground. Churchwardens 3pm to 5.30pm (Arrive from 2pm, tea at 4pm). ‘In the Spirit’, an opportunity for a group from the churches to join the Bishop of Stafford for a Pentecost evening celebration (7pm for 7.30pm - ending c 9pm). Choir members welcome from 6.00pm to share in the singing.

Resurrection Faith
“For whom are you looking?” Jesus asked, grammatically correct.
If you are looking for a living Lord then the empty tomb is not the best place to start. If we spend too much time on the history we may miss out on the present reality. The New Testament emphasis is elsewhere.
Paul doesn't mention the empty tomb though reports of it must have reached him. His vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus is the same as the experience of the disciples who were with Jesus before the ascension.
The Gospels use the empty tomb not to prove the resurrection but to illustrate the lack of faith of the disciples - who required concrete evidence before they would accept what was happening. Even when faced with the evidence their first reaction is fear, “where have they taken him?” – they don't see the significance of it till later.
It is the appearance of Jesus that is important:
to the women, to the disciples, to Paul;
and it is the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost that stirs them into action.
The life of Jesus continued beyond his death on the cross.
Death, the final barrier that separates us from God, has been overcome. Life has a continuity that death cannot break. The tomb cannot prove that Jesus lives: the living Christ can prove that the tomb was empty.
The continued personal relationship with Jesus is what is central to the disciples faith, it is that that is crucial for our faith too, if we are to experience resurrection.
That relationship grows through prayer, through reading his word, and by worshipping alongside others who share this journey of faith with us.
It always begins anew at Easter.

Peter G Ashby

2011-04-15T19:41:00.001+01:00

Palm Sunday
April 17th 2011

Today:
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
Includes Commissioning Sheena Davis as a Street Pastor
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
6.30pm St Mary’s Bradley Celtic Service PA

Banns (2) at St Mary’s: Daniel John Glenister and Felicity Caroline Farmer; and Richard James Griffin and Rachelle Lee North

This week:
Tuesday: 8.00pm Derrington PCC
Maundy Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
2.30pm Lent course at Shredicote House (Sharon Hiley)
Good Friday: 9.30am Young People’s workshop Bradley Village Hall
1.00pm Procession of witness from St Matthew’s Derrington
2.00pm Procession of witness from Ash Drive Haughton
Saturday: 9.00pm Lighting the New Fire

Next Sunday - Easter Sunday
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion MM
11.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Service PA

Bishops Lent Appeal.
This year's appeal is 'Transforming Communities'. Money for the Appeal will go to the 'Street Pastors' scheme which operates or is planned to be introduced into a number of areas within the diocese. Overseas, money will be divided between three projects in the companion dioceses: HIV/AIDS training in Matlosane, South Africa; teaching English in South East Asia and reconciliation in Canada. Envelopes and details are in the churches.

Archdeacon’s Visitation
June 12th Pentecost Sunday Stafford Showground.
Admission of Churchwardens 3pm to 5.30pm (Arrive from 2pm, tea at 4pm).
In the evening: ‘In the Spirit’, an opportunity for a group from the churches to join the Bishop of Stafford for a Pentecost evening celebration (7pm for 7.30pm - ending c 9pm). Choir members welcome from 6.00pm to share in the singing.

Notes on the readings
Carrying Jesus
We always think that it was a sign of Jesus’ humility that he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. But the donkey is not as lowly as it appears to us now. It was the normal mode of transport for the time.
Abraham and Joseph used them; Saul is sent to find them for his father;
Abigail uses them to take gifts to David – she was included in the package.
After the exile in Babylon the exiles return to Israel with 6720 donkeys. That is regarded as sufficiently interesting to be noticed.
They are the family transport; the farm cart; the removal van. Specially suited to off-road activities: the SUV of their time. No doubt the school gates of the posh Jerusalem schools were clogged with them at home time.
Horses on the other hand were scarce: they were associated with war. Someone arriving on a horse would be regarded with suspicion. They would represent authority.
Jesus chose to be carried in the normal way. The method everyone else would use. Once again he chooses the ordinary to express the extraordinary. No state entrance, no victory parade, no chat show appearances or sound bites. It was the best way to place him among the people.
So now too he uses ordinary people to carry the message. Not the war-horses or the racehorses. Not the leaders or the experts. But the donkeys, the ordinary. Those used to working. Those used to carrying others burdens. Those who find their place out in the community, not above it.
They are the people who are prepared to do the work and take God out into the world. And who are best placed to do it among their friends and neighbours. In the ordinary world of men and women and children where the message of God’s love is so badly needed.

Peter G Ashby

2011-04-08T19:04:00.001+01:00

Lent 5
April 10th 2011

Today:
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion CS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion and APCM PA

Banns at St Mary’s:
Daniel John Glenister and Felicity Caroline Farmer;
and Richard James Griffin and Rachelle Lee North

This week:
Monday: 7.30pm Bradley Worship Group
Tuesday: 11.30am Memorial service for Anthea Sharman at St Giles
Wednesday: 7.30pm Lent Course Billington Bank
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
2.30pm Lent course at 2 Spur Lea

Next Sunday - Palm Sunday
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
Includes Commissioning Sheena Davies as a Street Pastor
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
6.30pm St Mary’s Bradley Celtic Service PA

Notes on the readings
John 11:1-45
There are some stones that we have to remove to get to God,
like the roof of the house in Capernaum.
And there are some stones we have to remove to allow God to get to us.
No use taking down the barriers we wall God up in
if we have encased ourselves in enough self defences to repel an army.
Sometimes the barriers seem insurmountable.
The way forward blocked and confused.
Getting through the day is all we can manage.
As fast as God demolishes one wall we erect another.
Some of them are the way we think, or act, the attitudes we have.
Even sometimes our ideas of God.
Martha was always the practical one.
She had been making supper while Jesus talked theology with Mary.
And she is the one who acts when Lazarus dies – she goes to find Jesus.
She is the one who adds,
“But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
God is a god who acts; and Lazarus means – “whom God helps”
God there for us, to help us,
to help us live without walls,
protective barriers around us.
If we let him.
Peter G Ashby

2011-03-31T22:27:00.000+01:00

Mothering Sunday
April 3rd 2011

Today:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
10.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion and Baptism PA

Welcome to Joshua and Alexander Conley baptised today at St Giles, and Lily Grace Conley received into the church.

This week:
Monday: 7.30pm Ministry Team at the Rectory
Tuesday: 8.00pm Finance meeting at Haughton St Giles School
Wednesday: 7.00pm Haughton School Governors
7.30pm Lent Course St Giles Haughton
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
1.15pm Haughton School Easter Service in St Giles
Friday: 2.30pm Church Eaton School Easter service
Saturday: 2.00pm – 4.00pm Derrington Gift Day St Matthews

Next Sunday (5th Sunday of Lent)
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion CS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion and APCM PA

The Annual Church meetings are:
Bradley – 10th April after the 11.30am service in church.

Bishops Lent Appeal.
This year's appeal is 'Transforming Communities'. Money for the Appeal will go to the 'Street Pastors' scheme which operates or is planned to be introduced into a number of areas within the diocese. Overseas, money will be divided between three projects in the companion dioceses: HIV/AIDS training in Matlosane, South Africa; teaching English in South East Asia and reconciliation in Canada. Envelopes and details are in the churches.

Archdeacon’s Visitation
June 12th Pentecost Sunday Stafford Showground.
Admission of Churchwardens 3pm to 5.30pm (Arrive from 2pm, tea at 4pm).
In the evening: ‘In the Spirit’, an opportunity for a group from the churches to join the Bishop of Stafford for a Pentecost evening celebration (7pm for 7.30pm - ending c 9pm). Choir members welcome from 6.00pm to share in the singing.

Notes on the readings
Mothering Sunday was never a part of Lent. It was a refreshment break in the middle of the forty days of rigour. A day to give the servants the day off (so who is making lunch then?) so that they could go home to their mothers, taking with them a simnel cake and a bunch of violets. And a day to invite the family round.
And so it is a day to celebrate the family.
That is not always easy. In these days of multiple families and complex relationships; of childless couples and mothers who have long lost contact with their children.
But Jesus knew about that too. At the cross, he didn’t leave his mother alone, unprotected. So he turned to John and offered him the task to be responsible for her. And in return he would have a mother too. Someone to care for him in the same way his own mother might have done.
So the new family of the church complements and renews the concept of family. It fills in the gaps where families are dysfunctional. There should be no loneliness or isolation here. No feeling of being left out. Everyone is included, everyone is related. All are responsible for the others.
But historically it was also a day to return to church. Parish churches would process to the mother church – the cathedral or local collegiate church. So the new Christian family was celebrated together with our interdependence as we share a common inheritance of faith. Ensuring that we never consider what we have in the local community to be all that there is in the family of God, and seeing all Christians everywhere as our brothers and sisters.
So look around you. Here is your mother, here is your sister and brother. All are one family in Christ Jesus.
Peter G Ashby

2011-03-25T16:44:00.000Z

Lent 3
March 27th 2011

Today:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion PA
6.30pm St Matthews Derrington Celtic Service PA

Banns at St Editha’s: Thomas Stephen Cox and Lucy Dawn Moss

This week:
Tuesday: 7.30pm Derrington APCM
Wednesday: 7.00pm Haughton Charities at the Rectory
7.30pm Lent course at St Matthews
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Next Sunday (Mothering Sunday)
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
10.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion and Baptism PA

Notes on the readings
Romans 5.1-11

Paul was writing to the Roman Christians.
They were suffering for the faith.
Emperor Claudius had ordered the Jews to leave Rome
- some among them had started talking about someone called Chrestus
and, according to Suetonius, this had caused trouble.
Not that Claudius’ rule was without its own political turmoil,
persecution, even death for some.
And anyway Paul was hoping he would eventually get to Rome himself.
So he wants to encourage them,
but at the same time to make it clear that faith
is not an evasion of suffering but gives meaning to it.
God’s grace works in real events and among real people.
They can then respond to the times creatively;
knowing that whatever happens they will always have God there for them.
Out of the suffering and endurance there was as always hope.
He clearly knew of the trouble between the Jews and the Christians,
as he has spent much of the previous chapter talking about Abraham.
The continuity with history is important
but what Christ was doing was something new.
God’s grace, the living water is freely available to all;
The Spirit makes God’s guidance available to all who seek it;
and his wisdom too so they were brought to a new unity.
But it is not just about understanding, it is about relationship.
Seek God’s truth in every encounter.
Through the Spirit we can share the very life of God for ourselves
and for others who come to God through us.

Peter G Ashby

2011-03-18T17:13:00.001Z

Second Sunday of Lent
March 20th 2011

Today:
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion & APCM PA
4.30pm St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion PA

Banns at St Giles: Christopher Hardy Peach and Kate Elizabeth Manning.
Banns at St Editha’s: Thomas Stephen Cox and Lucy Dawn Moss

This week:
Tuesday: 7.30pm Derrington Worship Group
Wednesday: 7.30pm Lent Course meeting St Giles
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
2.30pm Lent Group at 3 St Mary’s Close Bradley
Saturday: 2.30pm Wedding of Matthew Tovey and Sara Bach at St Editha’s

Next Sunday
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion PA
6.00pm St Matthews Derrington Celtic Service PA

The Annual Church meetings are:
Haughton – 20th March 12.15pm in Haughton Village Hall
Derrington – 29th March 7.45pm in Derrington Village Hall
Bradley – 10th April after the 11.30am service in church.

Bishops Lent Appeal.
This year's appeal is 'Transforming Communities'. Money for the Appeal will go to the 'Street Pastors' scheme which operates or is planned to be introduced into a number of areas within the diocese. Overseas, money will be divided between three projects in the companion dioceses in South Africa, South East Asia and Canada. Envelopes and details are in the churches.

Notes on the readings
John 3.13–17
God wants nothing less than the salvation of the world and he gave himself freely to achieve it. We then should freely give and be open to the salvation of others through us - bringing them into God's love
Jesus was lifted up. He forecast his death on the cross but also resurrection: exaltation through suffering. We gain eternal life through the death of Jesus – he came from heaven to take us to heaven.
God didn't want us to perish under own selfishness, he gave his Son to bring us back to himself.
God doesn't want to condemn the world - it condemns itself by its own actions - condemned to loneliness and despair and ultimate destruction. Always prepared to kill for what it wants, seldom prepared to die for what it believes.
Even Christians try to condemn others – it’s the main preoccupation of some: to condemn those who are different. They feel that they are in the light but that the darkness lies only a short distance away and must be kept at bay at all costs or it will overwhelm them
But God seeks to save the world, and a few respond with love and openness.
Our idea of God is always too narrow, our worship conditioned by our limited experience of God. Jesus enables us to recover our spiritual health by refocusing our lives on God
What do we love so much and what would we give up for it? No longer needing to protect ourselves by holding others at arms length but protected by God; so that in that security we can reach out in God's love to others.
By our actions others will come to know God at work in the world and God's love which saves the world.
Peter G Ashby

2011-03-12T09:42:00.000Z

First Sunday of Lent
March 13th 2011

Today:
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Commuion GS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion and Baptism PA
11.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion PA

Banns at St Giles: Christopher Hardy Peach and Kate Elizabeth Manning.
Banns at St Editha’s: Thomas Stephen Cox and Lucy Dawn Moss

This week:
Monday: 10.30am Haughton Worship Group
Tuesday: 7.30pm Lent Group meeting St Matthews
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
Saturday: 3.00pm Rehearsal for Matthew Tovey and Sara Bach at St Editha’s

Next Sunday
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion & APCM PA
4.30pm St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion PA

The Annual Church meetings are:
Haughton – 20th March 12.15pm in Haughton Village Hall
Derrington – 29th March 7.45pm in Derrington Village Hall
Bradley – 10th April after the 11.30am service in church.

Notes on the readings
Matt 4.1-11
Evil is the corruption of goodness.
Doing good for the wrong reasons or doing wrong for the best reasons.
Having the best of intentions
but being none too particular about the means employed.

With friends in high places Jesus would have made a perfect circus performer.
Thrills and spills galore as he showed off to the crowd.
But testing is not trusting. Certainty is not faith.
Lead us not into the temptation of testing God.

Jesus could have fed the world. We know we need it.
He did after all later make bread in the desert. And who could argue with that.
But even there it led some to follow simply because they ate their fill.
The task is left to us as the world cries, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Then of course Jesus could have ruled the world,
calling down the legions of heaven in a fight to the death.
But it is only a human desire – to resolve every dispute by force.
God works in more subtle ways.
His kingdom is built on sacrifice;
his power is shown in weakness,
his glory through service of the poor.

It’s not possible to bypass the cross: to get to heaven by an easy route.
We need to face our temptations, however often we fail.
Lent is a time that makes that possible.
Don’t give up what you won’t miss.
Instead give time. Spend time with God. Spend time in prayer.
Then God will lift us up and give all that we need for his service.

Peter G Ashby

2011-03-03T21:45:00.001Z

Sunday before Lent
March 6th 2011

Today:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service PA
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
6.00pm St Mary’s visit to St John’s Methodists Wolverhampton.

Banns at St Giles: Christopher Hardy Peach and Kate Elizabeth Manning.

This week:
Monday: 8.00pm St Editha’s Annual Parochial Church Meeting
Ash Wednesday: 7.30pm Holy Communion and imposition of ashes at St Giles
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
2.30pm Lent House fellowship at 14 Malthouse Lane Bradley

Next Sunday
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Commuion GS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion and Baptism PA
11.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family Communion PA

The Annual Church meetings are:
Church Eaton – 7th March at 8.00pm in Church
Haughton – 20th March 12.15pm in Haughton Village Hall
Derrington – 29th March 7.45pm in Derrington Village Hall
Bradley – 10th April after the 11.30am service in church.

Notes on the readings
Matt 17.1-9
Peter never gets it right. In the previous chapter he had confessed Jesus as the Messiah; only for a few verses later Jesus to be saying of him, “Get behind me Satan”. Here he is at the most significant moment of the gospels up to this point and he wants to talk about buildings. Typical churchwarden. Perhaps he thought that is what Jesus meant by, “on this rock I will build my church”.
They had just seen what was denied to Moses, he only saw God from a cleft in a rock; Elijah had to hide in a cave and only saw the reflected glory. The disciples were on an open hillside. But here was seen in clear sight the glory of God on Jesus. And all Peter can come up with is “Let us make three dwellings here”.
The glory of God comes at a turning point in Christ’s life as he changes direction – no longer going out into Galilee but facing Jerusalem where he knows his life will end.
The disciples, according to Luke, went to sleep, they wake up only when it is all over. Matthew ever ready with an excuse says they fell to the ground in fear. Peter in his letter makes out he knew what was going on all along. And they have missed a treat – Moses and Elijah talking to Jesus about all that is about to be fulfilled. No wonder they didn’t understand when it happened, they had slept through the briefing. But then we’ve all been there.
The light for them would dawn only slowly as they begin to understand what God has in store for them too. And it only then that they remember the voice, “This is my son, listen to him as you didn’t listen to Moses and Elijah”.
It’s the same call that we have. If we allow it the day will dawn when the light of Christ will shine through us too, as the morning star shines in our hearts. The glory of God shown in us as we gather in his name and draw others in to the love shown amongst us, transforming communities and building hope.
Peter G Ashby

2011-02-23T19:52:00.000Z

Second Sunday before Lent
February 27th 2011

Today:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA
2.00pm David Ryde, Interment of ashes at St Matthews
6.30pm St Matthews Derrington Celtic Service PA

This week:
Monday: 7.00pm Parish Profile meeting for all PCC members with the Archdeacon. Church Eaton Institute
Tuesday 10.30am – 12 noon Fair Trade Fortnight Coffee Morning Haughton Village Hall
Wednesday: 7.15pm Deanery Synod
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
Friday: 3.30pm Interment of ashes St Mary’s

Next Sunday
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion GS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion GS
6.00pm St Mary’s visit to St John’s Methodists Wolverhampton.

Notes on the readings
Romans 8.12-25
There is no condemnation, Paul tells the Romans at the beginning of chapter 8. But there is an obligation, a responsibility. Once led by the Spirit we are set free from the past and owe allegiance only to God; we are free to take up the tasks of God.
We are set free to be children of God. But that gives us the responsibility to act like the children of God. We have the benefit of being able to approach God as Father but we also take on the family business of turning the world around.
So we can no longer cling to the world’s values. We have to turn ourselves around to focus on God’s kingdom where the Spirit is at work. And the same Spirit is at work not just in Christians, not just in us too, but in the whole of creation; though we might not always see it and sometimes we may ignore it.
We share in the divine, but also in creation – we are part of the “groaning”, perhaps even a cause of it.
Creation is struggling to break away from all that binds it. And if we are not careful that might include us. But the Spirit gives creative power to the children of God to work together at the transformation that is taking place. It may appear to be small, not yet formed. We may have to suffer for a bit yet. The task of clearing the past is not always easy.
We are aware of the interconnectedness of all things; we are dependent on the health and well being of the planet as much as on the health and well being of each other.
But the promise is there that the changes are real and they will bear fruit.
Peter G Ashby

2011-02-19T09:11:00.001Z

Third Sunday before Lent
February 20th 2011

Today:
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion and Baptism PA
4.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Celtic Service PA

This week:
Monday: 7.30pm Ministry Team at the Rectory
Tuesday: 7.45pm Derrington Finance and Planning at Peter Hughes
Wednesday: 7.30pm House Fellowship at Billington Bank
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
Saturday: 10.00am – 12 noon Gift Day Haughton

Next Sunday - 2nd Sunday before Lent
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA
2.00pm David Ryde, Interment of ashes at St Matthews
6.30pm St Matthews Derrington Celtic Service PA

Electoral Roll revision
We are revising the electoral rolls in advance of the annual meetings. If you are not already listed please fill in a form at the back of church.

Notes on the readings

1 Cor 3.10-11, 16-23
We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And not just us, all people. They may not know it and they certainly may not act like it, but they are. It reflects the comment in Genesis that we are made in the image of God. And people should be treated as such.
This is of course foolishness to the wise of this age, who think it is best to take vengeance on those we disagree with, or those who contravene the arbitrary laws we impose on them. But Jesus knows that if we continue with “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, then we will end up in the kingdom of the blind, fighting over the dentures.
And everything else follows from this. If we are the temple of the Holy Spirit we will look after ourselves, keep fit, stop smoking, not overeat or drink to excess. If others are made in the image of God then we will not dehumanize, degrade or abuse them regardless of what they might have done.
So the whole of morality and ethics becomes clear. Treat others, not just as you would like to be treated, but as you would treat God. If you find God’s spirit in them, then they might begin to see that too. If you see them as objects, to be used or labelled, then that is how they will see themselves and act accordingly.
And all social and political ethics follows too. We will not go to war on the grounds of our own pride, still less attack the weak simply because someone else has attacked us. And if as a nation we regard violence as a normal way of resolving disputes we should not be surprised if our young people follow suit.
And the way to change is to recognize that we are Christ’s and allow the Spirit of God to grow in us through prayer and a life focused on God.
Peter G Ashby

2011-02-09T19:46:00.000Z

Fourth Sunday before Lent
February 13th 2011

Today:
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA

This week:
Monday: 10.30am Haughton Worship Group
Tuesday: Church Eaton Worship Group
Wednesday: 12 – 2.00pm Derrington Village Hall Low Carbon Launch
7.30pm Bradley PCC
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Rector’s Retirement
Peter Ashby has announced he is to retire at the beginning of June. His last Sunday will be the United Service at St Mary’s Bradley at 10.00am on 29th May.

Next Sunday - 3rd Sunday before Lent
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion and Baptism PA
4.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Celtic Service PA

Electoral Roll revision
We are revising the electoral rolls in advance of the annual meetings. If you are not already listed please fill in a form at the back of church.

Notes on the readings

Matt 5.21-37
Jesus cuts through to motives and not just actions. It is a call to perfection, but Jesus also offers the possibility of making it real. The Sermon on the Mount was preceded by the Beatitudes. You are blessed if you.... It is only with the blessing of God that we have any hope of living up to what follows.
Here Jesus contrasts the old view of the prescriptiveness of the law with the new way of the spirit.
Morality is not about obeying the law, but about aligning our lives with God. No longer about what we do wrong, but what we do right. Only Jesus could say, Love those who persecute you, be generous to the undeserving.
We live in a polarised society where people spend a lot of time in judgement over others. The divisiveness of labels, the adversarial nature of politics and the law. All work to separate and produce conflict.
Paul points out that as long as there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, you have not yet fully found God. You are God’s garden: a work in progress, but it still looks like winter out there. God’s building: The foundations have been laid, the walls up but it still need a bit of work to insulate it from the storms ahead.
Christ is a symbol of grace and forgiveness, but he doesn’t leave it there: instead he calls us to follow him. Set aside anger and judgement and reach out to others.
In faith we are accepted in our weakness, acknowledged as children of God, given the Spirit of God in our hearts, and sent out as members of the kingdom to show kingdom values to others.
Peter G Ashby

2011-01-27T22:26:00.000Z

30th Sunday of Epiphany
January 30th 2011

Today:
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton United Service PA

Welcome to Liz Goddard from Mercy Ships

Mercy Ships is a global charity that has operated hospital ships in developing nations since 1978. Mercy Ships brings hope and healing to the forgotten poor by mobilizing people and resources worldwide, and serving all people without regard for race, gender, or religion. John Elton from Haughton is part of the surgical team for Mercy Ships.

This Evening
6.30pm Week of Prayer for Christian Unity service at St John’s Littleworth with Bishop Geoff

This week:
Monday: 7.30pm Joint wardens meet at the rectory
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Next Sunday - 5th Sunday before Lent
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion GS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
10.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion GS

Notes on the readings
John 2.1-11
Jesus didn’t want to be the centre of attention.
After all it was the bride’s big day.
But his mother felt he should do something.
Everyone was getting upset.
The groom getting embarrassed for running out of wine.
And it’s too late to buy more.

So he couldn’t help himself.
And it seemed such a small matter. A bit of wine. And not a little, a lot.
Two or three measures, it says, that’s twenty to thirty gallons,
how many units is that!
And then what came was not just wine, vin ordinaire,
a bit of plonk to keep the drunks happy.
They’d been on the sauce so long they wouldn’t have noticed.
But the best wine they had ever tasted;
wine like they had never imagined.

Jesus wants the best for us.
Caring for people, being involved in the everyday lives of everyday people.
At moments of triumph and celebration,
as much as pain and sadness.
He doesn’t want us to make do, to put up with second best.
To go through this world thinking that this is as good as it gets.

So he gives us glimpses of the kingdom every now and then.
An insight into how it ought to be.
How it could be if we used our imagination
and stopped chasing the dreams that don’t matter.
And drank real wine that only he can give.
Peter G Ashby

2011-01-21T18:02:00.001Z

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
January 23rd 2011

Today:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA
6.30pm St Matthews Derrington Celtic Service PA

Banns at St Edithas: Matthew William Tovey and Sara Elizabeth Bach

This week:
Monday: 2.00pm Cynthia Huxley Funeral at St Editha’s
7.30pm Bradley Worship Group
Tuesday: 7.15pm Deanery Synod St Bertelin’s
7.30pm Bradley Trust
Wednesday: 7.30pm House Fellowship 25 Castle View
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
Saturday: 7.30pm Burns Night Church Eaton Institute

Next Sunday
United Service 10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton:
One service for the benefice with Liz Goddard speaking about Mercy Ships
Mercy Ships is a global charity that has operated hospital ships in developing nations since 1978. Mercy Ships brings hope and healing to the forgotten poor by mobilizing people and resources worldwide, and serving all people without regard for race, gender, or religion. John Elton from Haughton is part of the surgical team for Mercy Ships.

Next Sunday: 30th January
6.30pm Week of Prayer for Christian Unity service at St John’s Littleworth with Bishop Geoff

Advance Notice
Monday 31st January 7.30pm Joint wardens meeting at the Rectory

Notes on the readings
Matthew 4.12-23
Unity is not a concept that is very popular at the moment. People are much more interested in individualism. The rich have always got richer at the expense of the poor and nobody worried. Now they are doing so at the expenses of those in the middle there are complaints.
In the churches too, the impetus to unity of the sixties and seventies has largely dissipated. Leaving congregations competing for members and even clergy induced to transfer their allegiance.
There is one thing we can be sure of: God will not leave himself without witnesses. If we don’t take up the challenge of witness and mission God will appoint others to do so. If we close the door on God he will go elsewhere.
As we bear witness to the truth of God's message of love and reconciliation, our witness must include a prophetic demand for justice and honesty in public life together with practical action.
But first we need to recognise our need of God, then God’s call to us to return to him. Then make the change in us and in our institutions that God requires. Constantly responding to Jesus prayer to “become one that the world may believe” (John 17.21).
The promise of God is that if we do open ourselves to him he will be generous towards us. He will give us the power and the resources to fulfil his kingdom. He will come and share our supper - but only when we learn to eat together. We cannot expect God to choose between us. When we join and share then he will be with us. Then he will become one with us and we will be perfectly one.
Until then our lives will be the poorer, not just because we follow them alone, but because they will only imperfectly reflect the path God has chosen for us.
Peter G Ashby

2011-01-15T14:10:00.000Z

2nd Sunday of Epiphany
January 16th 2011

Today:
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
4.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Holy Communion PA

This week:
Monday: 8.00pm Church Eaton PCC at Wheaton Aston
Tuesday: 2.00pm Haughton PCC
Wednesday: 7.30pm Derrington Worship Group
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Next Sunday - 3rd Sunday of Epiphany
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA
6.30pm St Matthews Derrington Celtic Service PA

Advance notice:
30th January United Services 10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton:
One service for the benefice with Liz Goddard speaking about Mercy Ships
Mercy Ships is a global charity that has operated hospital ships in developing nations since 1978. Mercy Ships brings hope and healing to the forgotten poor by mobilizing people and resources worldwide, and serving all people without regard for race, gender, or religion. John Elton from Haughton is part of the surgical team for Mercy Ships.

Advance notice: 30th January
6.30pm Week of Prayer for Christian Unity service at St John’s Littleworth with Bishop Geoff

Notes on the readings

John 1.29-42
This is a week of transition. We pick up from last week the theme of John the Baptist in the wilderness with his disciples and we go on to next week’s theme of the call of the disciples of Jesus. And we find out today that some at least were the same people.
Andrew had heard John say that this was the Lamb of God and he knew what he had to do – go and tell his brother. He couldn’t keep the news to himself. So what had begun as a set of individuals going into the desert to hear John and to be baptised by him only to resume normal life; became a missionary fellowship going back into the towns taking the message that God had come among them. In Christ they discovered community.
And they ask Jesus “Where are you staying?” They want to know more about him – where he was from, what were his plans.
Jesus invites them to see for themselves. And they stay with him the rest of the day and follow him for the rest of their lives.
Jesus starts by asking them what are their needs – “what do you want?” He is simply offering friendship, it is only later that they begin to deepen their commitment to him and his mission. But even at this early stage, when they are still unsure of themselves they want to bring others to share the excitement they have found.
They may not quite know what they want if truth were told. Or even be able to formulate their own questions to him but whatever the question, they knew that Jesus was the answer.
So we don’t need to have all the answers before we bring people to Christ. Just bring them and allow him to do the calling. Once they find out how to spend time with him, commitment will follow.
All it needs is genuine friendship, a concern for others and their needs and a willingness to see that Christ can make a difference to their lives.

Peter G Ashby

2011-01-08T11:50:00.000Z

The Baptism of Christ
January 9th 2011

Today:
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA

Banns at St Edithas: Matthew William Tovey and Sara Elizabeth Bach

This week:
Monday: 10.30am Haughton Worship Group
Tuesday: 1.00pm Hubert Grattage funeral in St Giles
8.00pm Derrington PCC
Wednesday: 7.30pm House Fellowship 6 Station Road Haughton
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
2.30pm House Fellowship 9 Elm Drive Bradley

Next Sunday - 2nd Sunday of Epiphany
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
11.30am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
4.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Holy Communion PA

Notes on the readings

Matthew 3:13-17
John had spent his life in the desert waiting, preparing. And calling others to prepare and wait. He had had plenty of time to try to work out what kind of person he was expecting. He knew that it would be a powerful figure.
Someone whose presence was enough to convince people that God was with them. He wouldn’t simply pour water on their heads. He would pour the Holy Spirit into their hearts.
He was careful to point out to those who came that he was not the one they were looking for. John thought he himself was so unworthy that he would simply offer himself as the newcomer’s servant. All he could do was point them in the right direction. Give them the message. Get ready. The promise will soon come true.
Then Jesus turns up, his second cousin. They may have grown up together. Certainly Mary had chosen her cousin Elizabeth as the first person to visit when she knew she was pregnant.
And Jesus comes to John, not to take over, not to push John into the background, especially not to treat him like a slave; but to be baptised with everyone else.
Jesus is going through everything we go through and then makes it his own. Baptism had been an annual ritual. Something that people went through and then went back to their old lives as if nothing had changed. After Jesus it would become the beginning of a new life. The water of baptism was itself baptised by Jesus. Going down into the water with Jesus meant rising with him into a new world.
By his Spirit granted to us in Baptism we can live the new lives to which God calls us. Nothing can be the same again. With Jesus in our hearts we have the best guide we can find to lead us back to God as he says to us “This is my child, whom I love.”

Peter G Ashby

2011-01-01T13:45:00.000Z

Epiphany
January 2nd 2011

Today:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service PA
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
4.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Christingle PA

This week:
Tuesday: 2.00pm Haughton Social Committee at 4 Brook End
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Next Sunday - Baptism of Christ
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA

Notes on the readings

Matthew 2.1-12
For much of history Christianity has been a well guarded secret. Along with the other mystery religions, it had its own rituals, language and codes that were only explained to the initiates. Outsiders were kept away. Everyone was encouraged to keep their faith to themselves, lest it got into the hands of the unworthy. Only those chosen to be invited to join could take part. And only a select group from them could lead the rituals themselves.
Shame they never read Paul, or thought about the meaning of the wise men.
If they had they would have known that the keynote of Christianity is its openness, inclusivity and the community nature of its worship.
The mystery was made known in Christ, open for all to see. Now God’s plan is accessible to all. All are participants in the gathering of his people. There is no hierarchy of the elect and the rest. All are equal before God, all equally able to represent God to the people and the people to God.
The Zoroastrian stargazers from Iran or Iraq were drawn by the stars they thought determined their future. They discovered that the stars don’t matter any more, the power of determinism is broken. They can have minds of their own. They can choose to go back another way; they can choose to lead another life.
God’s plan is to unite all things, so it would be bizarre to do that by separating them afresh. All are together as co-heirs of the promise, even leaders from Iran; sharers of the gifts that God gives to his people; and members together of His people.
And it is for the church to declare to all people that God has included them in his plan, his love is open to them all; and he calls all to go out with that message of the rich variety of faith which he offers to them.

Peter G Ashby

2010-12-23T09:55:00.001Z

Christmas 2010
December 24/25th 2010

Happy Christmass

Christmas Eve:
4.30pm Carol Service St Mary’s Bradley PA
11.30pm Midnight Service St Giles Haughton GS
11.30pm Midnight Service St Editha’s Church Eaton PA

Christmas Day:
9.30am Family Communion St Matthews, Derrington PA
11.00am Family Communion St Giles Haughton PA
11.00am Family Communion St Mary’s, Bradley MM

Sunday: No Services in the Benifice - You may wish to attend:-
9.30am St Mary’s Stafford or 10.30am St Lawrence Gnosall

Sunday January 2nd: (Epiphany)
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service PA
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
4.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Christingle PA

2010-12-17T23:05:00.001Z

Advent 4
December 19th 2010

Today:
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Carol Service PA
4.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Nativity Play GS
4.30pm St Matthews Derrington Christingle PA
6.30pm St Editha’s Church Eaton Carol Service PA

This week:
Wednesday: 7.00pm Carols at the Royal Oak Church Eaton
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
Christmas Eve
4.30pm Carol service St Mary’s, Bradley
11.30pm Midnight Service St Giles, Haughton (GS)
11.30pm Midnight Service St Editha’s, Church Eaton
Christmas Day
9.30am Family Communion St Matthews, Derrington
11.00am Family Communion St Giles Haughton
11.00am Family Communion St Mary’s Bradley (MM)

Next Sunday - 1st Sunday of Christmas
There will be no services in the benefice but you may wish to attend:
9.30am St Mary’s Stafford
10.30am St Lawrence Gnosall

Notes on the readings
Matthew 1:18-25
There are no shepherds, no stable, no animals, no census, and no angels making a fuss. Just Mary and her fiancé Joseph. And Mary is pregnant. So Joseph takes her home to Bethlehem. They only settle in Nazareth after the exile in Egypt.
This is the incarnation according to Matthew. The human story. In a very ordinary village in Palestine extraordinary events take place. A very ordinary couple are having their lives transformed by the actions of God. That is God’s plan. To take the ordinary and do extraordinary things with it. To show what could happen if people put their lives in the hands of God. The baby is to be no ordinary baby, even his names are symbolic: Jesus, or Joshua in Hebrew, means “Saviour”; and Emmanuel means “God is with us”.
Matthew has spent the opening chapter filling in the gaps. Through Joseph, Jesus is descended from Abraham. With some very strange characters in between. The whole history of the Jewish people will be transformed, by the love of God which is about to come into the world.
So Joseph marries Mary. He faces the threat of violence to his child and takes them into exile, and finally returns to settle in Nazareth. The life he had hoped for, of a quiet country carpenter, is gone for ever.
Human lives touched by the presence of God. Just as, through Jesus, human lives are still touched by God.
The glitter and the tinsel and the magic of the story often blind us to the simplicity of the truth. This is a world to which God comes, it is our world, the world of village gossip, of scandal, of fragile relationships, of hopes and fears.
It is our world that God chooses to enter, our life that God chooses to share. God comes to us, and transforms us into something extraordinary, his children.

Peter G Ashby

2010-12-11T10:34:00.000Z

Advent 3
December 12th 2010

Today:
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion and baptism PA

Welcome to Charles William Thornton baptised at St Mary’s today

This week:
Monday: 11.30am Steven Spiers funeral at St Editha’s
4.00pm Bradley Fellowship Christmas tea
Monday to Friday: Carol singing in Derrington
meet outside the Village Hall at 6.00pm
Tuesday: 1.15pm Christingle Service for Haughton School in St Giles
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
Friday: 7.30pm Carols at Bradley Village Hall

Next Sunday Advent 4
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Carol Service PA
4.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Nativity Play GS
4.30pm St Matthews Derrington Christingle PA
6.30pm St Editha’s Church Eaton Carol Service PA

Notes on the readings
Matthew 11:2-11

John is facing death. He is at the end of his life knowing Herod cannot release him. He had been successful; people had come from miles around to hear his preaching. Some had stayed with him. Some were carrying on the tradition even while he was on death row. But even for him the doubts set in. Has it all been worth it? Has anyone really taken any notice?
And he had come to prepare the way, but his successor seemed to face the same conflicts he himself had faced. Would anyone ever listen?
So he sends some of his disciples to ask what is going on. The reply isn’t a theological argument about the existence of God, or even about the birth of Christ. Instead Jesus says, “look around you: the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, lepers are healed, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” What does that tell you about who I am?
It is in practice that we experience God. In action that God makes himself known. And he calls us to the same path. In action we make God real.
Don’t grumble, endure suffering. Think of the prophets and all they had to put up with.
So how willing are we to live the Gospel life? Or will we just continue with our desire to put ourselves first no matter whom we hurt, and consume as much as we can while millions starve and the world heats up?
And not just the prophets, we have the saints down the ages to inspire us and those anonymous saints who work now throughout the world trying to embody gospel values.
And we have the Spirit of God active amongst us, still helping us to see Jesus at work in the world.

Peter G Ashby

2010-12-03T20:33:00.002Z

Advent 2
December 5th 2010

Today:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion - PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service - PA
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service – WG
10.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Service – WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion – PA

This week:
Monday: 8.00pm Church Eaton PCC
Tuesday: 10.30am Christmas Coffee Morning Haughton Village Hall
7.30pm Deanery Synod – Meeting with Bishop Geoff at Doxey
Wednesday: 7.00pm WI carols St Giles
7.45pm Carols at Little Onn
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
1.45pm Church Eaton School nativity
Friday: 6.30pm Church Eaton School nativity

Next Sunday Advent 3
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion and baptism PA

Notes on the readings
Matthew 3:1-12
John’s voice cries in the wilderness of a society that has lost its way. With no bearings visible all sense of purpose is lost, people simply exist. Politics has become a power struggle between personalities and religion a fossilised tradition that has long ago lost touch with its origins.
Into this comes John. His call is to repent. Not just a cry to feel guilty and miserable about it in sackcloth and ashes. But to change lives: to turn again to eternal truths and to make them a reality; to turn away from a jaded society of division and conflict to unity, honesty and integrity.
Paul reminds his readers that Jesus came to glorify God by bringing together Jew and gentile. But this is not the supremacist reading of the Old Testament where the gentiles would come and pay homage to the Jew. It was a cosmopolitan gathering of all people to God. If the Jews truly gave glory to God then the gentiles would follow their example. They too would come to know Christ at work in them just as he worked through the Jews. People of all religious and political backgrounds would come together to glorify God “with one heart and mouth”.
So accept one another – give each other a true welcome because we in turn were welcomed by Christ. And what we proclaim in worship we should practice in the world as we seek and work towards a coming together of all peoples in the wider community.
John reminds us that this is not easy. It is a baptism of fire where we need to purge away the past and challenge what we are. Malachi compared it to the refiner’s fire. He issues a warning to those who insist on holding to past prejudices. John was the voice but Jesus was the Word. The one they would come to call the Christ was about to come into the world, but the world, if not prepared, would not be able to see him and the Spirit would be unable to work in them.
So repent and watch and pray.

Peter G Ashby

Advent Sunday

2010-11-27T09:18:00.000Z

November 28^th 2010

Today:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion - PA

10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion - PA

11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA

6.30pm St Matthews Derrington Celtic service PA

This week:

Monday: 7.30pm Bradley PCC

Tuesday: 7.30pm Bradley trust

Wednesday: 7.30pm House fellowship 7 Oak Gardens Haughton

Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Next Sunday Advent 2

8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion - PA

9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service - PA

10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service – WG

10.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Service – WG

11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion – PA

Advance notice

Deanery Synod – Dec 7^th 7.30pm Extra meeting with Bishop Geoff at Doxey

Notes on the theme

Friday was Sophie’s birthday. And many people were celebrating, including those at my son’s pub in Bristol. Except she wasn’t around to enjoy it. She was murdered three years ago because she was a “goth”.

Dressed differently from others, she and her boyfriend Robert were walking home from an evening out when they were attacked in a park in Bacup. The attackers took pride in their work, inviting others to go and see what they had done. One laughed and joked with his mother as the police interviewed him.

They got between five and fifteen years each. The judge said they didn’t seem to realise that they were doing anything wrong. Perhaps more worryingly, he said, neither did their parents.

We live in a diverse society, some call it multi-cultural. But it is more than the differences of faith and race that we see around us. Even among the white “tribe” there are many cultures. Different lifestyles. Ways of being human.

Yet so often we want people to be like us. Expect them to conform to our “standards”. We exclude those who are different. I have seen it many times over the years in the churches I have worked in. Ok, most of the time we don’t resort to murder. But the intolerance that is accepted, even in the churches, simply gets magnified and extended in the community until some take it to extremes. Some would feel Sophie and Robert brought it on themselves.

Jesus made a point of spending time with those who were different and attacking those who called for conformity. Where would he be this weekend. In the monochrome churches bemoaning “feral” youth. Or down the pub with Goths, moshers, metalheads, and trannies as together they celebrate Sophie’s life and raise funds for http://www.sophielancasterfoundation.com/ to promote a more tolerant society. If only he could be in both.

Peter G Ashby

Christmas Services

2010-11-22T09:47:00.002Z

December

8^th 7.00pm WI Carols at St Giles

8^th 7.45pm Carols at Little Onn (tickets 822586)

9^th 1.30pm Church Eaton School nativity in St Editha’s

10^th 6.30pm Church Eaton School nativity in St Editha’s

14^th 1.15pm Haughton St Giles School Christingle in St Giles

17^th 7.30pm Carols at Bradley Village Hall

19^th 11.00am Carol service, St Giles, Haughton

19^th 4.30pm Nativity Play, St Mary’s, Bradley (GS)

19^th 4.30pm Christingle, St Matthews, Derrington

19^th 6.30pm Carol service, St Editha’s, Church Eaton

22^nd 7.00pm Carols At the Royal Oak, Church Eaton

Christmas Eve

4.30pm Carol service St Mary’s, Bradley

11.30pm Midnight Service St Giles, Haughton (GS)

11.30pm Midnight Service St Editha’s, Church Eaton

Christmas Day

9.30am Family Communion St Matthews, Derrington

11.00am Family Communion St Giles Haughton

11.00am Family Communion St Mary’s Bradley (MM)

January 2^nd

4.30pm Christingle St Mary’s Bradley

Christ the King Sunday

2010-11-20T08:43:00.001Z

November 21^st 2010

Today:

8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion & Baptism GS
4.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Celtic service PA

Banns at St Giles: Daniel Rowley and Amanda Colman

Welcome to Harvey Andrew Hall and Jamie Wayne Hall baptised today at St Giles

This week:

Monday: 8.00pm Church Eaton Relief in Need

Tuesday: 7.15pm Deanery Synod Doxey

Wednesday: 7.00pm Haughton School Governors

Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Saturday: 10.00am Haughton Christmas fair

2.00pm Derrington Christmas Fair

2.30pm Michael Haycox and Nicola Wood wedding at St Giles

Next Sunday Advent 2

8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion - PA

10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion - PA

11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA

6.30pm St Matthews Derrington Celtic service PA

Advance notice

Deanery Synod – Dec 7^th 7.30pm Extra meeting with Bishop Geoff at Doxey

Notes on the readings

Christ the King Sunday

For many people church is barely about Jesus at all.

It is a medieval re-enactment society or an extension of English Heritage;

and Jesus clearly spoke seventeenth century English.

So it is appropriate that today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King.

It is the end of the Christian Year.

And so we sum up all those other festivals of the year – Easter, Ascension and Pentecost.

We celebrate Christ, risen, ascended and glorified – the living Christ amongst us.

We give thanks to God for all he is doing for us through Jesus and for the difference Jesus makes to our lives.

Kings these days tend to be ceremonial figures who only appear on special occasions with no real power or influence. In the medieval era they were autocrats who dictated their people’s every move.

So when we celebrate the kingship of Christ what sort of king is it that we’re celebrating?

Here is no mere puppet, but a king who is prepared to share our lives and even suffer alongside us.

This is not a king who abused his power by separating himself off from ordinary people.

He experiences betrayal, injustice, cruelty and at some times almost despairs of us.

But still he stays with us.

He lived life and shared death, as we must do, but now he lives a resurrection life and calls us to join him.

So we can have a vision to give meaning and purpose to our lives and a companion for the journey.

His presence with us can make all the difference when we feel alone and isolated.

Paul encourages us to live and work in the strength of Christ.

It is the same power that created the universe. It is not simply symbolic.

Now it is available to us if we are prepared to submit to his kingship.

And it is made known in our coming together.

He reassures us that we are already reconciled to God

and welcomes us into that unity of all things

where we will know the healing and wholeness for which we search.

Peter G Ashby

2010-11-12T20:20:00.001Z

Remembrance Sunday
November 14th 2010

Today:
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Remembrance service GS
10.15am St Editha's Church Eaton Family Communion PA
10.45am Haughton War Memorial and then service in St Giles GS
11.30am St Mary's Bradley Family Communion PA

At 6.30pm on Sunday evening there will be a Memorial Service at St Editha's Church Eaton
We will remember all those who have died over the past year but you might like to add others to the lists as you arrive.

Banns at St Giles: Daniel Rowley and Amanda Colman

This week:
Monday: 10.30am Haughton worship group
7.30pm Bradley Worship group
Tuesday: 8.00pm Haughton School Finance
Wednesday: 7.30pm House Fellowship 6 Station Road Haughton
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary‟s
11.15am Bradley Standing Committee in church
2.30pm House Fellowship 2 Spur Lea Bradley
6.30pm Church Eaton School Governors
Saturday: 11.00am Wedding rehearsal Michael Haycox and Nicola Wood at St Giles

Next Sunday:
8.00am St Editha's Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion & Baptism GS
4.30pm St Mary's, Bradley Celtic service PA

2010-11-05T17:37:00.001Z

3rd Sunday Before Advent
7th November 2010

Today at:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service PA
10.00am St Editha's Church Eaton Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
Bradley Quilt Festival
4.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Songs of Praise PA

Banns at St Giles: Daniel Rowley and Amanda Colman

Events This Week:
Monday: 8.00pm Church Eaton PCC
Tuesday: 8.00pm Derrington PCC
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
12.30pm Funeral of David Ryde at St Matthews
Saturday: Deanery Challenge Quiz Doxey

Next Sunday (Remembrance Sunday)
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Remembrance Service GS
10.15am St Editha's Church Eaton Family Communion PA
10.45am Haughton Memorial Remembrance Service GS
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA
6.30pm St Editha's Church Eaton Memorial Service PA

On remembrance Sunday there will be a Memorial Service at St Editha’s at 6.30pm to remember all those who have died. Peter will list those who have died over the past year but you might like to add others to the lists at the back of the churches.

Notes on the Theme
Luke 20:27-38
The autumn is a time for clearing the dead wood. Having bonfires of the debris of the past and making room for new growth. We can then spend the winter preparing the soil: Letting the frost break up the lumps of clay; allowing the air in to renew the fertility of the land; ready for the seeds to be planted in the spring.
God is a God not of the dead but of the living. Those alive now who work to create the kingdom as a living reality among us; but also those who have lived in the past whose memories and work are still alive in us.
But we cling to the past – to what was once meaningful to us but is long past its sell by date; or to former glories in what we see as a previous golden age. We hoard our memories and woe betide anyone who questions them. It might be a way of hiding from present realities, but by looking over our shoulder all the time we fail to see what is around us now.
We are in danger of missing out on what God has prepared now for those who love him. The work done in his name across the world that reaches out in his love to those in need. He continues to work in the world and continues to invite us to share in that work.
God chose us for his saving work- the work is ours to do. We can’t simply sit around waiting for the second coming – letting God do all the work.
The labourers in the vineyard didn’t stand at the gate looking at the owner’s retreating footsteps waiting for him to return. They got on with the job to ensure that when he returned they could present to him the harvest.
As we turn from death to life, clearing out the past to make room for God, he does, by his grace, strengthen us for the work and encourages us in it.

Peter G Ashby

2010-10-22T19:27:00.001+01:00

Bible Sunday
24th October 2010

Today at:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha's Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion and Baptism PA
12.30pm Derrington Harvest Lunch
6.30pm St Matthews Derrington Celtic Service PA

Welcome to Alexander Bruce Lee baptised at St Mary’s

Events This Week:
Tuesday: 8.00pm Bradley Trust
Wednesday: 12 noon Ivy Clay funeral at St Matthews
7.30pm Derrington Worship Team 25 Castle View
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
8.00pm Church Eaton Carols planning

Next Sunday (4th Before Advent)
9.30am St Matthews Derrington United Service with Jackie Dew speaking about Katherine House Hospice.

Notes on the Theme
Luke 4.14-21
Jesus knows his Bible. He picks up Is 61.1-2 and merges it with Is 58.6 and makes it his manifesto. He could have quoted Amos and Micah as well. The Bible it is a handbook for life, and a commentary on our world.
Here is God’s plan for the world. It is a Gospel for the poor. He exposes the financially and politically corrupt, who protect their riches in tax havens while taking from the poor the little that they have. Remember Dives and Lazarus a couple of weeks ago. Jesus has come to oppose that sort of evil, to command his followers to do right and to see justice prevail. Those held captive – to fear, to debt, to hunger should be set free. And the oppressed and lonely should find acceptance and love among God’s people. The rich, even if they attempt to come to his altar, will be sent empty away.
That’s the task that Jesus has handed on to us. And to ignore it is to accept the grace of God in vain. To accept grace is to accept responsibility: to take up the unfinished tasks of God. Isaiah 58.6 is about the true fast that God requires - to oppose injustice, to feed the hungry and open your homes to the homeless. Jesus warned the Corinthians that they shouldn’t share communion if some went hungry. The Kingdom is not a theory or a distant future event. It is here and now, among us. The disciples of John asked Jesus if he was the messiah; he answered in Mt 11.4:
“Tell what you see: The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news preached to them”
In other words the manifesto is being carried out. We are commanded to do the same. Not as charity but as restitution. In obedience to God, restore to God’s people what has been taken from them. God's gifts for all people.
And the time for action is now. Now is the day of salvation. So don't wait for God to sort it out when he comes back. It will be too late then
Peter G Ashby

2010-10-15T21:17:00.002+01:00

The 20th Sunday after Trinity
17th October 2010

Today at:
8.00am St Editha's Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion and Baptism PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
6.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Holy Communion PA

Welcome to Angelica McHugh and Amber Chatfield baptised today at St Matthews

Events This Week:
Tuesday: 7.30pm Deanery Synod
Wednesday: 7.30pm House fellowship Billington Bank
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s - GS
7.30pm Bradley Chronicle (sold out)
Friday: 7.30pm Bradley Chronicle (sold out)

Next Sunday (Bible Sunday)
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha's Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion and Baptism PA
12.30pm Derrington Harvest Lunch
6.30pm St Matthews Derrington Celtic Service PA

Advance notices:
31st October 9.30am United Service St Matthews Derrington with Jackie Dew speaking about Katherine House Hospice.

Notes on the Theme
Timothy 3:14 - 4:5
Timothy was brought up to the faith – we heard two weeks ago about his grandmother and mother and how they had brought him up in the faith. From infancy he has known the stories of God. More recently they would have told him of the new story in Jesus.
The trouble with being brought up that way is that it becomes ordinary. It can be taken for granted. So Paul reminds Timothy that it is not the faith of the past that he is following but the present reality of God at work in him. A new encounter with the spirit of God. And that requires a response.
When we bring our children to baptism, what are we doing? Just repeating a pattern that happened to us some years ago? Or is it to bring them to a fresh meeting with the living God: so that they might be equipped for God’s work in the world.
The scriptures have everything that we need to learn about God and to live our lives in his world. The word of God is not hidden in a book, to be read as and when we can. To be dipped in from time to time. Instead the word of God is to be lived each day of our lives. It provides a running commentary for all that we do. How have we kept the faith? It’s not enough simply not to do wrong. We have to actively work for what is right.
God’s word spurs us into action. But it is God’s spirit that empowers us. Received at our baptism and renewed each day through our prayer and reading of the scriptures. God doesn’t leave us alone. We always have the strength to go on, because God is with us.
But will God find us faithful? What have we done with the faith we are given. Can we pass on to future generations a church that is vibrant with praise and full of people who have come to know God’s love through us in a community united in the service that God calls us to?

Peter G Ashby

2010-10-06T22:30:00.000+01:00

The 19th Sunday after Trinity
10th October 2010

Today at:
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.15am St Editha's Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Service PA
(Harvest Festival followed by lunch in the Village Hall)

Events This Week:
Please note - Peter is away until Saturday
Tuesday: 7.30pm Church Eaton Educational Foundation
Wednesday: 2.30pm Last open day at St Matthews until the spring
5.30pm Noel Rhodes interment of ashes St Matthews – GS
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s - GS

Next Sunday (20th Sunday after Trinity - Proper 24)
8.00am St Editha's Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
and Baptism
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
6.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Holy Communion PA

Advance notices:
Bradley Chronicle - Sold Out
Christian Resources Exhibition Oct 21st to 23rd in Telford
Advance tickets now available £4 instead of £7 if there are 5 or more of us. Names please.

Notes on the Theme
Luke 17:11-19
Leprosy was a social as well as a medical problem and it covered many different skin diseases. The lepers were in a group because no-one else would go near them. They had to live separate lives. It was seen as punishment for past sins. Either they had sinned or their parents had. Either way the punishment was deserved and so remained unforgiven until they were certified clean by the priests.
Some lepers though were able to be part of society – Jesus eats at the house of Simon the leper. It is there he is anointed before his crucifixion.
These lepers wanted Jesus pity but not his gospel. They took what they needed from him and went away. They accept their healing and do nothing with their new lives. Only the foreigner, the Samaritan, turned back and gave thanks. He had received, so he could give.
Healing is not enough. There needs to be a response. A choice has to be made. To follow the old life – the one that had led to this place. Or to start again. A new life with God.
The old law gave a pretext for suffering. It excluded. It enabled the righteous to stay away from sinners. It needed the sinners to enable the system to work. It made the righteous feel good about themselves to see the bands of lepers moving around – “Thank God I am not as others are”.
The law of Jesus is inclusive. It is defined by those it includes. The weak, the poor, those of no account. God has room for them all. He forgives first and asks questions later.
The church too should be defined by its openness to others. By the way it welcomes and receives those who are different. God’s word is not chained. Be faithful to its proclamation. Receive your healing and then go, reach out to others, and bring them in to find that healing for themselves.

Peter G Ashby

2010-10-02T10:28:00.000+01:00

The 18th Sunday after Trinity
3rd October 2010

Today at:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service PA
(Harvest Festival) (N.B. parish lunch is on 24th Oct)
10.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion MM
11.00am St Editha's Church Eaton Family Service PA
(Harvest Festival followed by lunch at the institute)

Events This Week:
Monday: 10.30am Haughton Worship Group
7.30pm Bradley PCC
Wednesday: 7.30pm House fellowship 25 Castle View Derrington
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
2.30pm House Fellowship 3 St Mary’s Close, Bradley
8.00pm Haughton School SIAS follow up
Saturday: Harvest Auction Royal Oak Church Eaton

Next Sunday (19th Sunday after Trinity - Proper 23)
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.15am St Editha's Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Service PA
(Harvest Festival followed by lunch in the Village Hall)

Advance notices:
Bradley Chronicle October 21st and 22nd in St Mary’s
Tickets are selling fast. Available from Anne Wilkinson 822462
Christian Resources Exhibition Oct 21st to 23rd in Telford
Advance tickets now available £4 instead of £7 if there are 5 or more of us. Names please.

Notes on the Theme
2 Timothy 1.1-14
I imagine Lois would be surprised to think that her faith would be remembered 2000 years later. Yet for Paul the passing of faith from generation to generation was an important part of evangelism. Lois to Eunice; Eunice to Timothy. No doubt Timothy would be encouraged by this to nurture the faith in his own family. Prayer and Christian teaching at home form the start of the life with Christ. Belief and trust in God become second nature as the family shares together the experience of God’s love.
Now each generation has to be evangelised afresh as faith has become an individual activity even within families. The old pattern of family prayer has long gone and even churchgoing is just an occasional chore. Paradoxically for some families, faith is something offered to the children who are sent to Church schools, Sunday School or church organisations; but is derided by their parents who simply drop off and pick up their offspring, showing by example that faith is something to learn and then grow out of.
Jesus answers a question about faith with a parable about duty. We think faith is a gift for us alone. We want to be able to move mountains and to grow mulberry trees from mustard seeds. For some faith is a vaccination against illness or a protection from troubles. It soon falls away when the difficulties start. But Paul reminds Timothy, “fan into flame the gift of God”. The spark is in you. It just needs a bit of encouragement.
And true faith gives responsibility. We have faith in order to bring light to the world, the good news of new life and immortality in Christ. So fan into flame the gift in others too. The Bible gives all we need to know. You have been appointed as a herald, an apostle, a teacher. Jesus has chosen us for the gift of faith because he has faith in us not to keep it to ourselves but to share it with others.

Peter G Ashby

2010-09-25T11:58:00.001+01:00

The 17th Sunday after Trinity
26th September 2010

Today at:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion (Harvest Festival) and lunch PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion MM
6.30pm St Matthews Derrington Celtic Service PH

We regret the event at Church Eaton has been cancelled

Sunday night Harvest Auction at the Bell 8.00pm

Events This Week:
Monday: Training ministers day Shallowford
Wednesday: 7.00pm Haughton Charities
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
1.15pm Haughton School Harvest in St Giles church
Friday: 6.30pm Church Eaton School Harvest in St Editha’s church
Saturday: 11.00am Monica Wood’s ashes interred at St Giles

Next Sunday (18th Sunday after Trinity - Proper 22)
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service (Harvest Festival) PA
(N.B. Derrington parish lunch is on 24th Oct)
10.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion MM
11.00am St Editha's Church Eaton Family Service PA
(Harvest Festival followed by lunch at the institute)

Advance notices:
St Mary’s Harvest Festival will be at 11.30am 10th Oct followed by lunch in the Village Hall
Bradley Chronicle October 21st and 22nd in St Mary’s
Tickets are selling fast. Available from Anne Wilkinson 822462
Christian Resources Exhibition Oct 21st to 23rd in Telford
Advance tickets now available £4 instead of £7 if there are 5 or more of us. Names please.

Notes on the Theme

Luke 16.19-end
“The rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate; God made them, high and lowly”. So far so good. God made them both. But then Mrs Alexander gets it wrong – “and ordered their estate”. Their estate was ordered by the injustice of the world. And in reminding the rich man that he too was made by God – not a self-made man as he might suppose – Jesus is reminding his hearers that they have the greater responsibility for redressing the imbalances of the world.
We are made by God for a purpose. The root of all evil, as Paul puts it, is to suppose that we have somehow made our wealth for ourselves and can use it for ourselves alone. Instead God has entrusted us with some of the resources of the world so that we can use them for the good of all.
Not just to give a tenth, and think we are generous, but to use all we have and all that we are for the ending of poverty and injustice. The tithe is a bare minimum, not a maximum. Those who would like us to return to the Prayer Book should read the rubric on giving. The collection in church is all to be distributed to the poor. Church expenses are paid for by the parishioners tithe.
Many people are content with what they have and do give regularly. But Paul reminds us that there is more to life than that. Be rich in good deeds – that doesn’t cost anything; and be generous and willing to share what you are as well as what you have.
We don’t come to God for ourselves, but for the salvation of the world.
Reach out to others. In generosity, sharing what we have; in faith, sharing what we know.
Who is sitting at our gate looking to us for help, and how can we draw them into the kingdom?

Peter G Ashby

2010-09-18T08:50:00.002+01:00

The 16th Sunday after Trinity
19th September 2010

Today at:
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
6.00pm St Mary’s, Bradley Joint service with St John's Methodists PA

Banns at St Giles: Nicola Wood and Michael Haycox

Events This Week:
Tuesday: 7.30pm Bradley Trust
Wednesday: 7.30pm House Fellowship Billington House
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
1.15pm Haughton School Harvest in St Giles church

Next Sunday (17th Sunday after Trinity - Proper 21)
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion and lunch PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion MM
1.00pm Church Eaton Old Rectory Summer Fizz Event MM
6.30pm St Matthews Derrington Celtic Service PH

Today marks the 10th birthday of the in-patient unit at Katherine House Hospice. Please remember the hospice in your prayers.

Back to Church Sundays will coincide with our harvest services
St Giles Haughton 26th September 11.00am then lunch in the Village Hall
St Matthews Derrington 9.30am 3rd October (parish lunch October 24th)
St Edithas Church Eaton 11.00am 3rd Oct then lunch in the Institute
St Mary’s Bradley 11.30am 10th Oct then lunch in the Village Hall
Numbers for lunch to the respective wardens please.
There are cards to invite friends to the harvest services on Back to Church Sunday at the back of the church.

Notes on the Theme
Luke 16.1-13
The current debt crisis has produced a lot of advice. Daytime TV (so I’m told) has adverts for debt companies who will manage your debt. One way is to approach your creditors and ask them to accept a lower payment, maybe only half what you owe. If they themselves are short of cash they will agree. Better to get half than to lose it all.
So we know how to run our finances. We know how the world works. Much in the same way that it always has. Jesus says the same thing was happening 2000 years ago.
But he then asks: “if you are that clever, why don’t you see how the Spirit works?” If we know how to steward our resources to benefit ourselves on earth, why are we incapable of using those same resources for God?
Because we understand the world, we try to run our churches as businesses, based on management, instead of using them as a spiritual resource for Christ.
God has forgiven you your debts, not just half but all of it. And what have you done? Ignored him. Left him out of your lives. When in reality if we use our resources for God we are building up a far greater wealth than we can ever imagine. Not in this world but in eternity.
God’s intent is to bring all things, all people and all places together. Our task is to enable that by overcoming the barriers we create which prevent people coming to God. Do we put others in our debt to keep them in their place? Or do we offer them forgiveness – even if it is only 50%! Release them, Jesus says, so that a new start can be made.
Pray for the world – remain rooted in reality, but keep your eyes fixed on God, your heart open to the Spirit.
Then get alongside others to bring them to God. By our example, by our prayer and by the welcome we offer them as we share with them what we have found. Together with your debtors seek the kingdom: which is found not through wealth or power or self-righteousness, but through humility and faith.

Peter G Ashby

2010-09-10T23:03:00.002+01:00

The 15th Sunday after Trinity
12th September 2010

Welcome to Charlie Hill baptised today at St Mary’s

Today at:
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion MM
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion & BaptismPA

Banns at St Giles: Nicola Wood and Michael Haycox

Events This Week:
Tuesday: 7.45pm Derrington PCC
Wednesday: 2.30pm Derrington Open Church
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Next Sunday (16th Sunday after Trinity - Proper 20)
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
6.00pm St Mary’s, Bradley Joint service with St John's Methodists PA

Back to Church Sundays will coincide with our harvest services.
St Giles Haughton 26th September 11.00am
St Matthews Derrington 9.30am 3rd October
St Edithas Church Eaton 11.00am 3rd Oct
St Mary’s Bradley 11.30am 10th Oct
Please note the harvest service at St Giles is at 11.00am on 26th September. The posters are right, the magazine rota is wrong. Sorry.
There are cards to invite friends to the harvest services on Back to Church Sunday at the back of the church.

Notes on the Theme
Luke 15.1-10
There is usually an assumption that the church people are the righteous and everyone else is beyond the pale. Far from it: the church is full of sinners. The only difference is that they know (or should know) they are sinners.
Some people never change – so we say. But for God there is always the possibility of change, renewal and restoration.
There is never a person or a situation that is beyond redemption. All that is needed is the vision to see beyond our own narrow perspective and enable God to make the changes necessary.
What Jesus is saying is not just that there is infinite patience in God as he waits for the process to start. But he will also be active in prompting the change to take place. It is the prompting of God that makes us as unsettled as we are, that calls us into a new relationship with him and with one another. And then he stays with us for the ride, as we change into his image.
So two responses are called for.
Firstly to acknowledge just how far we have come from what God requires of us. To turn back to him and seek to know his will for us. Then to allow him to work within us to make effective the change needed.
And also to reach out to others in love. Especially those who we feel don’t fit in. Who don’t measure up to how we imagine people ought to be; and to see them through God’s eyes. Accepting them and inviting them to know God too. As people for whom Christ died.
Then we can relate to them not from a position of false superiority. But as equals – as people sought and loved by God that together we might find him and together grow into his kingdom.

Peter G Ashby

2010-08-27T20:06:00.000+01:00

Trinity 13
29th August 2010

Today at:
10.00am St Giles Haughton United Service PA / SF

Welcome to our speaker today Simon Foulds, Regional Manager of the Bible Society

Events This Week:
Wednesday: 2.30pm Derrington Open Church
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
Saturday: 2.00pm Haughton Garden Show

Next Sunday (14th Sunday after Trinity - Proper 18)
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service PA
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
10.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton WI 90th Anniversary service Everyone welcome .PA

Notes on the Theme
Luke 14.1, 7-14
Hospitality seems to relate to culture. In Africa I was always given food regardless of when or why I called. In fact it was bad manners to discuss anything until after food had been shared. In Britain it is not unusual to be kept on the doorstep. I have often been greeted, even by church families, with “What do you want?” Some don’t even come to the door. But in other places it was taken for granted that I would turn up to the baptism party or even wedding receptions, invited or not.
Both Jesus and the writer to the Hebrews take hospitality for granted. But the fact that they raise the issue shows that in the community it seems it was reserved for friends, who would know how to behave. The stranger, the outsider, was not welcome. And even within the invited guests there was a hierarchy. Those on the high table and the rabble at the back.
For Jesus there is another paradox. Why invite those who don’t need to eat? If you are providing a feast it’s better to invite those who are hungry. If our churches are full of arcane ritual and use a private language that only the initiates understand, those hungry for faith will feel pushed out. Do our visitors feel that they are being fed?
Yet it is often the outsider who brings much needed perspective. Communities that keep themselves to themselves become isolated, introspective and feel threatened when a stranger appears. But the threat is only to their own narrowness. And that always needs to be challenged.
“Open up” is the message. Be aware of the world around you and you will find it an enriching experience. Try new things, welcome new people, listen to new insights and awake to the goodness in all things.
There is no need to be afraid of change. God is there in it with us. And he will never leave us.

Peter G Ashby

Trinity 12

2010-08-21T14:09:00.001+01:00

August 22^nd 2010

Today:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion - PA

10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion and baptism PA
11.30am Family Communion St Mary’s, Bradley PA
6.30pm St Matthews Derrington Celtic service PA

Welcome to Eloise and Isla Whittick baptised today at St Edithas

This week:

Wednesday: 2.30pm Derrington Open Church

Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Friday 7.00pm Cheese and Wine evening at Billington Bank: Bill and Trina Busby’s

Next Sunday

10.00am United Service at St Giles Haughton

with Simon Foulds Regional manager of the Bible Society to talk about their work

Advance Notices:

Haughton WI 90^th Anniversary service Sept 5^th 11.00am in St Giles. Everyone welcome

Notes on the readings

Hebrews 12.18 – 29

Why do you come to church? – To meet your friends, to sing your favourite hymns, to gossip about what you heard about someone during the week, or because you feel a duty to keep the tradition going and it’s your week on the rota. What have you come to?

Or have you come to a place where the living God is seen to be active, where worship is real; where people gossip about how good God has been to them this week, and to find out what they can do for God next week.

The Lord present in a place of prayer – where people have gathered to make prayer real. Pouring out our praise and thanksgiving and bringing God to the centre of our lives. Where the prayers are from the heart and to the heart; and where songs and words lift us out of our daily lives into the life of God.

You have come to the living God. You are in his presence. His angels surround you together with the spirits of all those who have gone before you and who are now with God. The great cloud of witnesses surrounds you as you offer God’s peace to those around you, even those who work against you.

Lives which may at times appear blighted by poverty, hunger, tears, and conflict; become rich beyond measure because God has our names in his heart. You are blessed because God loves you: lonely, fragile, vulnerable, hurting, you. And then you can go out to face the world with its divisions and indifference; knowing that you are not alone. God has chosen you to be living stones in his temple. Without you the building will fall but those whom God loves can never be defeated. Come to God with an acceptance of the need of his grace and the intention to change and he will change you. Confession and receiving the sacrament are the agents of that change.

Once more God comes to shake the earth, the churches, and the people out of their complacency and into the kingdom.

Peter G Ashby

Blessed Virgin Mary

2010-08-14T15:57:00.001+01:00

Blessed Virgin Mary August 15th 2010

Today:
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion & Baptism PA
6.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Holy Communion PA

Welcome to Eliza Busby, baptised today at St Giles.

This week:

Monday: 7.30pm Bradley PCC

Wednesday: 2.30pm Derrington Open Church

Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Next Sunday

8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion - PA

Advance Notices:

Friday 27^th August 7.00pm

Cheese and Wine evening at Billington Bank: Bill and Trina Busby’s

Sunday 29^th August United Service 10.00am

at St Giles Haughton with Simon Foulds Regional manager of the Bible Society to talk about their work

Notes on the theme

St Mary

Back in the 1970’s a school hymn book was banned on the basis of one song. OK, Fred Kaan was being controversial in giving it the first line “Sing we a song of high revolt” and set it to “Tannenbaum” which has other connotations. But the words were from Mary. The Magnificat.

Mary, in accepting God’s call to be the mother of Jesus, immediately relates it to the social transformation she expects as a result of his coming. Peace would reign; justice prevail at last; and no-one would go hungry. Her praise of God for his action in the world was also a recognition that the world is not as God wants it to be and that the life of Christ would be first and foremost socially transformative. Salvation will be personal but never individual.

And to follow Christ is to take up that call. We can’t praise God and at the same time fail to care for others. For her there would be no debate about whether our churches are “Fair Trade”; or whether we give at least 10% of our wealth to the poor: if they don’t, for her, they are not churches of Christ.

It is as we care for others that we discover that for God there are no others, all are one in God. We are joined by that “yes” to God of Mary as the Body of Christ on earth. We have become the people through whom God’s blessing will enter the world for all generations.

Because we recognise that “the Mighty One” has done great things for us, it is up to us to show that blessing of God: to feed the hungry, lift up the fallen and transform the systems of power which place wealth and justice in the hands of the few at the expense of the many.

These are the things that make our spirits rejoice in God our Saviour.

Peter G Ashby

Trinity 10

2010-08-07T17:06:00.000+01:00

Trinity 10 August 8th 2010

Today:
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA

Happy birthday to Roland Jackson 90 years young

This week:

Monday: 10.30am Haughton Worship group

Wednesday: 2.30pm Derrington Open Church

Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Next Sunday

8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion & Baptism PA
6.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Holy Communion PA

Notes on the readings

Hebrews 11.1-3, 8-16

They admitted they were aliens and strangers on earth. The key figures of the Old Testament were never able to settle down. They were restless and insecure among the things of the world. Their attempts to find a home and put down roots always ended in disaster – wars, exile, family disputes.

In fact most of them had extremely dysfunctional families. Abraham tried to kill his son and pretended that his wife was his sister because the pharaoh was attracted to her; Jacob married one sister but wanted the other and spent most of his life running from his brother who he had cheated out of the family inheritance; David made war on the king and killed his son; and never let your wife cut your hair.

Yet their vision was undimmed. They knew that this world is not the whole truth. Whatever they built, whether temples or palaces they knew it wouldn’t last. God was calling them to a better life.

Their faith took them to places that couldn’t be seen. The kingdom of God was not of this world. And they were always ready to leave the things of this world all behind and move on.

Our history is one of trying to make everything permanent. To build bigger and better houses and churches out of stone. To fix for all time the prayers we use or the liturgy we follow. Yet God is constantly calling us to a different life. Sitting lightly to the things of this world. Always prepared to respond to the call. Opening our hearts to the spirit moving within us.

Constantly changing, ever new.

The only fixed point is our faith in God and God’s faith in us.

Peter G Ashby

2010-07-22T14:15:00.001+01:00

The 9th Sunday after Trinity
1st August 2010

Today at:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion GS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
10.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion & Baptism GS

Welcome to Oliver Charles Howe baptised at St Giles

Events This Week:
Wednesday: 2.30pm Derrington Open Church
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Next Sunday (10th Sunday after Trinity - Proper 14)
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion & Baptism PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA

New Bishop of Stafford.
Applications are now invited for tickets for the welcome to the diocese for the new Bishop of Stafford on Sunday 26th Sept at 3.00pm in Lichfield Cathedral. If anyone would like to go please let me know in the next couple of weeks.

Archbishops visit tickets now available
Saturday 6th Nov Telford International Centre
11.00am Lecture on Heresy 2.30pm Diocesan Service
Numbers please

Notes on the Theme
Luke 12.13-21
We want to have it all. The love of God and the possession of material things. Sometimes we think if we have one the other will follow. That God will reward us with earthly goods if we follow him. And sometimes we are none too fussy how we acquire them. As if following God gives us immunity from an ethical life.
But God requires of us to be scrupulous in our honesty. We have to hold ourselves up as examples of fair dealing and trustworthiness. Those loopholes that everyone else finds to cheat the taxman or to gain an advantage in trade are not open to us.
Money is not the primary purpose of our lives and so we are free to offer what we have to others and not to gain at the expense of others. Think instead of things that are above – the ultimate concerns; all else will follow
And what is true for individuals is true of churches too. That is why all churches should use only fairly traded products. Cost is not an option. Fairness and justice are. Things may cost a bit more but producers get a fair deal. That after all is what we want for our farmers too.
Once you choose to make a quick profit, or claim an unwarranted tax rebate you have lost sight of the gospel and tied yourself inexorably to the world.
What is interesting is that those who tithe find themselves richer in every sense than those who only give away what is left over. Those churches that choose to give away a fixed part of their income find that their overall income quickly increases to cover it. Generosity is always rewarded.
We are called to account, not just for what we have, but also for our attitude to what we don’t have. Once we have put aside the world for God we can want for nothing, because we want nothing except the love of God.
Peter G Ashby

The Festival of St James
25th July 2010

Today at:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion GS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion MM
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion GS
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion GS

Banns at St Mary’s: Dean Derek Walker and Katherine Lucy Sheward

Events This Week:
Tuesday: 7.30pm Bradley Trust
Wednesday: 2.30pm Derrington Open Church
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Next Sunday (9th Sunday after Trinity - Proper 13)
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion GS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
10.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion & Baptism GS

New Bishop of Stafford.
Applications are now invited for tickets for the welcome to the diocese for the new Bishop of Stafford on Sunday 26th Sept at 3.00pm in Lichfield Cathedral. If anyone would like to go please let me know in the next couple of weeks.

Archbishops visit tickets now available
Saturday 6th Nov Telford International Centre
11.00am Lecture on Heresy 2.30pm Diocesan Service
Numbers please

Notes on the Theme
Matthew 20.20-28
Aren’t parents embarrassing? Mrs Zebedee drags her sons, James and John, along to Jesus. “Well if you won’t ask him, I will.” Let them sit at your right and your left. At least it’s better than fishing, what with cod quotas and all.
Jesus doesn’t deny them, but points to the consequences: If that then this. If they want the place at the right and the left they must also be at his right and the left in his suffering.
Remember Mark 10.30: all will be given to you – and persecutions; ending for James in martyrdom at the hands of Herod. (The Herod family had always caused problems. Herod Agrippa was grandson of the Herod of Jesus’ birth and nephew of Herod Antipas who had killed John the Baptist.)
Do we know what we are asking for? And what the consequence would be if we got it? We pray for the Holy Spirit each week, but what if the spirit really appeared in our midst? Are we prepared for Jesus to actually answer our prayers? And are we prepared to offer the service he calls us to?
Jesus never thinks in terms of preparing for his throne in glory: he is more concerned about service in the present.
He didn’t come as the sort of high priest who kept himself above everyone else – six feet above contradiction up in a pulpit somewhere. He was down among them. Dealing gently with those who were ignorant and going astray. He could relate to the people and empathise with them. He knows their needs before they ask and can separate what they need from what they want.
And because he did not regard himself as better than anyone else on this earth he didn’t see hierarchies as appropriate for heaven either. There are no special people; there are no reserved seats. Sit where you like. Well, preferably near the front.
Peter G Ashby

2010-07-16T20:13:00.001+01:00

The 7th Sunday after Trinity
18th July 2010

Today at:
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion & Baptism PA
6.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Celtic Worship PA

Banns at St Giles: Trevor Lee Lock and Rebecca Joanne Robson
Banns at St Mary’s: Dean Derek Walker and Katherine Lucy Sheward
Welcome to: Beatrice Rose Palmer baptised today at St Giles

Events This Week:
Monday: 8.00pm Church Eaton PCC Dolphin House.
Tuesday: 2.30pm Leavers service Haughton
Wednesday: 2.30pm Derrington Open Church
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
Friday: 2.45pm Leavers service Church Eaton

Next Sunday (Festival of St James)
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion GS
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion MM
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion GS
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion GS

New Bishop of Stafford.
Applications are now invited for tickets for the welcome to the diocese for the new Bishop of Stafford on Sunday 26th Sept at 3.00pm in Lichfield Cathedral. If anyone would like to go please let me know in the next couple of weeks.

Notes on the Theme
Luke 10.38-42
Mary sits at Jesus feet while Martha does all the work.
But Mary is working:
Prayer is work, and we need to work at prayer.
Not just sitting passively at Jesus feet:
but actively listening and taking in what Jesus says;
and turning it over in the mind till it forms action.

Martha was too busy to think.
There was too much to do.
There were guests in the house.
No time to pray.
But if she stops for prayer then her activity might be more focussed.
For Mary, her time with God empowers her life for the week.
Gives it meaning.

We suffer from a guilt of idleness and a market view of the world
– if we are not doing, we are wasting time.
If we are not practical, we are useless.
But not doing can be enabling;
reflection is essential.
If we pray as God would have us do
then we might live as God would have us do
(to paraphrase Coleridge - as you would have spotted).

Instead we evade prayer by filling our time with busyness
– and think we are doing what matters.

Colossians is a reminder that God is the beginning
and centre
and end of our existence.
God in prayer should be the centre of our lives.

Peter G Ashby

2010-07-08T20:44:00.000+01:00

The 6th Sunday after Trinity
11th July 2010

Today at:
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion & Baptism PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA

Banns at St Giles: Trevor Lee Lock and Rebecca Joanne Robson
Banns at St Mary’s: Dean Derek Walker and Katherine Lucy Sheward
Welcome to Alexander Bruusgaard Billington baptised today at St Editha’s

Events This Week:
Monday: 10.30am Haughton worship Group
Wednesday: 2.30pm Derrington Open Church
7.30pm House Fellowship 6 Station Road Haughton
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
2.30pm House Fellowship 14 Malthouse Lane Bradley

Next Sunday (7th Sunday after Trinity - Proper 11)
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion & Baptism PA
6.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Celtic Worship PA

Notes on the Theme
Colossians 1:1-14
Live a life worthy of the Lord, is Paul’s prayer. Do good, keep the faith, and bear fruit: because that is what God has put you here for.
The priest and the Levite thought they were here to boss people about. They were important; others were put on earth to serve them. Jesus tells them they had missed the point. If they have any power, any skill, any ability it is to be used to serve others and to help the kingdom to grow.
It came naturally to the Colossians. They were the least ‘important’ church in Asia Minor.
They had heard the faith and taken it to heart.
They knew they were being prayed for, that God might fill them with understanding and knowledge of his will.
Their faith then led them to love all the ‘saints’. From what Paul writes elsewhere we know he means all God’s children.
Their love for all bore fruit in service – they helped those in need and cared for the weak and helpless.
The more they did for others the more they discovered of God – they found that God was actually with them as they helped other people.
And as they experienced God with them, strengthened by God’s power, so they grew stronger in faith, in love and in hope that their work was making a difference.
All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing.
But it begins with a simple step of faith.
“Here I am Lord, I don’t know everything yet. I want to know more.
I can’t do much, but what I can do I offer to you.
Come into my life as I try to do your work in the world.
Take me and use me for your kingdom.”

Peter G Ashby

2010-07-03T09:25:00.001+01:00

The 5th Sunday after Trinity
4th July 2010

Today at:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service PA
10.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion & Baptism PA
6.30pm St Editha’s Church Eaton Festival Service PA

Welcome to Jessie Sayers and Jacob Smith baptised today at St Giles

Events This Week:
Monday: 7.30pm Bradley Worship Group
Tuesday: 11.00am Cyril Ponting funeral at St Giles
2.00pm Haughton PCC at the Rectory
Wednesday: 2.30pm Derrington Open Church
7.15pm Deanery Synod Milwich
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Church Eaton Festival – Full programme in the magazine
Scarecrows all weekend; Arts and Crafts in the church; ending with a festival service at 6.30pm on Sunday

Next Sunday (6th Sunday after Trinity - Proper 10)
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion & Baptism PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA

Notes on the Theme
Galatians 6:1-16
Luke 10:1-11
How do we grow the church? Not through spiritual pride that’s for sure. Paul warns against those who think they are something. The ones who love to take charge, to be seen in control. Instead – carry one another’s burdens. Don’t make comparisons.
We think we can fool God with our power struggles and our half hearted and casual approach to worship and churchgoing.
But God is not fooled. He calls us to true faith. The outward appearance of our faith disguises the fact that we remain firmly tied to the world.
Jesus points out a different way. Jesus sent the disciples out. He didn’t let them stay around him. He didn’t ask for volunteers as he knew they would all look at their feet or point at someone else. He didn’t pick out leaders and tell the crowd to follow them and let them do the work. Putting them on a pedestal so that they could be knocked down if they failed.
Instead he sent them all out. And he sent them out untrained and unprotected. Lambs among wolves. But he sent them out in faith. And he told them that their faith, poor though it was, shallow, incomplete; would be enough to protect them. Snakes, scorpions and demons would be no match for them.
When they returned to worship the next week they told their stories of faith. How people were healed, how the demons of fear and loneliness were overcome by their visits, how through them people came to know God. Maybe they brought with them some of those they met in the week so that they too could meet Jesus face to face having heard so much about him.
And, we are told, the Lord added to their number day by day. Through love and acceptance, openness and inclusion the fellowship will grow.

Peter G Ashby

2010-06-26T10:32:00.002+01:00

The 4th Sunday after Trinity
27th June 2010

Today at:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion & Baptism PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA
6.30pm St Matthews Derrington Celtic Service PA

Welcome to Edward Rutherford at St Editha’s

Banns at St Editha’s: Alexander James Young & Rachel Vera Cox

Events This Week:
Tuesday: 7.30pm Haughton School Finance
Wednesday: 2.30pm Derrington Open Church
7.30pm House Fellowship 35 St Matthews Drive
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Church Eaton Festival This Week – Full programme in the magazine

Friday – “Talking Heads” with Cotton Grass Theatre
Scarecrows all weekend; Arts and Crafts in the church;
ending with a festival service at 6.30pm on Sunday

Next Sunday (5th Sunday after Trinity - Proper 9)
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service PA
10.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion & Baptism PA
6.30pm St Editha’s Church Eaton Festival Service PA

Notes on the Theme
Luke 9:51-62
Jesus has just had his greatest moment. He has come down from the Mount of Transfiguration where he appeared in glory. God had affirmed him as his son. The stories of his success would have been doing the rounds, popularity was assured, next stop the Sunday afternoon slot on the pyramid stage at Glastonbury.
It was a moment of celebration. The disciples geared up, ready to go to convert the world.
And then Jesus starts talking about Jerusalem. He turns to Jerusalem, not to enter in victory, but to accept his fate. He talks of the isolation of vocation, his sense of exile. There is nowhere he can call home; nowhere where people accept him unconditionally. The time of triumph becomes the time for rejection, loneliness and death.
He rejects, as he had done in the wilderness, the temptation to power: to use his celebrity to manipulate people; to use his ability to destroy the unwelcoming, however much they deserve it; or to get the crowd behind him to overthrow the temple authorities.
Like all those who seek celebrity, or build empires, or refuse hospitality and turn away strangers, the village that rejects him, faces not destruction by fire, but God passing by. They had their moment, the time to welcome God. And they blew it. He’s not going to waste energy by burning them. They will notice soon enough the absence of God in their lives.
They would have felt at home in the world. Regarded themselves as a friendly place, and perhaps they were – to themselves. But they knew nothing of true hospitality. The welcome to the stranger; the offer of aid to those in need; the inclusion of those who have been rejected.
Jesus calls people to centre their lives on God, focus only on him. Not to secure success in this world, but to build the community of his kingdom.

Peter G Ashby

2010-06-18T18:02:00.001+01:00

The 3rd Sunday after Trinity
20th June 2010

Today at:
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
6.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Holy Communion PA

Banns at St Editha’s: Alexander James Young & Rachel Vera Cox

Events This Week:
Wednesday: 2.30pm Derrington Open Church
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
6.30pm Church Eaton School Governors

Next Week:
Strawberry teas Haughton Village Hall June 27th 3.30pm

Next Sunday (4th Sunday after Trinity - Proper 8)
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion & Baptism PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA
6.30pm St Matthews Derrington Celtic Service PA

Notes on the Theme
Luke 8.26-39
He is occupied by the legion, occupying forces who must be driven to destruction in the lake.
The reference would not have been lost on the crowd.
Occupied by the legions of Rome, they were praying that the Messiah would free them – driving the Romans back into the Mediterranean.
They would have enjoyed the transformation into pigs too. Interesting that referring to occupying forces as “pigs” has such a long ancestry.

Expelling the Legion frees the person; which neatly reverses the usual political pattern of expelling the people to preserve the legion. Ethnic cleansing used to create space for settlement. And that of course still continues in many parts of the world, not least, paradoxically, in Palestine where olive groves and farms are regularly destroyed to make way for Israeli settlements.

What are the demons that exclude – Paul says we are held prisoner by the law. That rigid mix of doctrine and morality that we cling on to as if our life depended on it, and which appears as nationalism masked as patriotism. But which in fact possesses and destroys us. Paul describes it as “principalities and powers”, but that excuses us, allows us to blame the system, as if we are outside of it.

Paul is clear; his revelation has opened his eyes: God has no favourites; no special people; not even any rigid doctrine.
If you are one in Christ then you are one with all people.

Jesus tries to show that, by his inclusion of even the madmen living in the caves along the lake shore. But the people think that is a miracle too far. And, perhaps egged on by the pig owners, Jesus is himself given outcast status and driven out.

But the man was not so easily silenced and told everyone of the God who includes and makes whole.

Peter G Ashby

2010-06-12T08:27:00.001+01:00

The 2nd Sunday after Trinity
13th June 2010

Today at:
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA

Banns at St Editha’s: Alexander James Young & Rachel Vera Cox

Events This Week:
Monday: 10.30am Haughton Worship Group at the rectory
Tuesday: 8.00pm Church Eaton Foundation
Wednesday: 9.00am Haughton Foundation governors in school
2.30pm Derrington Open Church
7.30pm House fellowship 25 Castle View Derrington
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

Advance notice:
Strawberry teas Haughton Village Hall June 27th 3.30pm

Next Sunday (3rd Sunday after Trinity - Proper 7)
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
6.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Holy Communion PA

Thanks:
On behalf of the Standing Committee of Stafford Deanery Synod I would like to extend thanks to all those PCC members from all four parishes in the United Benefice who came to the County Show last week and worked so hard on behalf of both Stafford Churches and the Diocese. Peter Hughes

Notes on the Theme

Luke 7:36-8:3
Moses cried over the people of Israel in the desert;
Jesus cried over Jerusalem;
Paul cried over Corinth. In fact as he leaves Ephesus he tells them that for three years he has cried day and night over them.
The people refuse to hear what they have to say, they won’t turn back to God. And so the prophets cry tears of frustration, knowing what the people are missing by their intransigence; and in sorrow for the sufferings they have brought on themselves.
Ezekiel on the other hand refuses to cry.
He has warned the people and they must now take their chances.
And now a woman cries, washing Jesus’ feet with her tears.
She cries for herself, her past, perhaps her future.
She alone recognises that here is the one who will wipe away our tears.
She is not afraid to admit where she has been at fault; though perhaps she can see no way out except recourse to this preacher she has heard of,
who has a great concern for the poor and those in any kind of need.
It is Jesus who is to wash the feet of the disciples,
who tells us we must be washed, made clean.
Even Peter, who thought he didn’t need it and wouldn’t let Jesus serve him, has to accept his need in the end.
And Jesus too is not too proud to accept the ministry of the woman who comes to him. He won’t reject even the simplest offer of service made out of genuine love.
For the promise is, not that we would cry no more, but that it is God who will wipe away the tears. Tears come in the night, but joy comes in the morning.

Peter G Ashby

Trinity 1

2010-06-05T10:08:00.000+01:00

June 6th 2010

Today:

8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA

9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service PA

10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG

10.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Service WG

11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA

This week:

Monday: 7.30pm Bradley PCC

Wednesday: 2.30pm Derrington Open Church

Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s

2.30pm House Fellowship at 2 Spur Le a Bradley

Saturday: 10.30am Clergy Spice Photography at the rectory

2.00pm – 4.00pm Haughton School Summer Fair

Next Sunday

9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion

9.30am St Matthew Derrington Family Communion – GS

10.15am St Editha Church Eaton Family communion and baptism

11.30am St Mary’s Bradley Family communion

Advance notice:

Strawberry teas Haughton Village Hall June 27th 3.30pm

Notes on the readings

Gal 1.11-24

Tradition is destructive - Paul should know.

He had followed the rules that he had been brought up to believe,

and it led him to destroy God’s people.

The old ways led to death.

But God can change people.

He chooses and sets apart; he calls;

he reveals the truth to them; and then he sends.

After his call Paul discovers that the gospel is spiritual

– not man-made for their own convenience, or to exercise their own power.

And, like Jesus and Moses before him,

Paul needs to get away, to go off somewhere he is not known and get his head together.

To clear out the clutter of the past and welcome in the spirit of the present.

Then he goes back to Jerusalem and stays with Peter and meets with James.

So the new is linked with the old. But in a new way.

Peter has already had his own experience with the gentiles in Caesarea.

And Paul is going to new unreached areas – Syria and Cilicia.

New life comes from the death of the old.

Just as Jesus had come to bring new life.

He too broke the rules – by touching the bier he made himself unclean

And he didn’t ask for faith, let alone membership.

But by doing so he turned the weeping into laughter.

Our testimony can never be about our joy, our peace

as if the spirit rests with us;

But only about our sending.

Our commission from God to do his work in the world.

Peter G Ashby

The struggle for the serpent's egg

2010-06-05T09:59:00.003+01:00

The serpent's egg is mentioned by Pliny in his "Natural History". It was the size of a small apple and was secreted by intertwined snakes. When the creatures hiss some is thrown in the air. This has to be caught in a cloth and carried away on horseback as the serpents would pursue you until you could cross a river. Pliny is describing what he has heard of the Druid beliefs of Britain in the early years of the first millennium. (Although the legend also appears among the Lapps.)

The egg represents new life, the serpents the forces of evil. The material had the unique property of floating against the current of a river. More cynical historians suggest that some naughty Romans had taken pumice stone from Europe and tricked the British priesthood into believing an unlikely tale. As if British priests are that gullible: more probably they were sea urchins worn to ward off evil.

Other societies, with rather less decorum, would fight over a skull to represent the struggle between the powers of good and evil after death. The skull again had to be carried across a river representing the river dividing this world from the next, or even kicked into a goal.

In time the serpent's egg became a more mundane Easter egg; the battle for good or evil became football - the life and death struggle it still is.

On the way it has taken many forms. Most commonly there is the account of a ball that is fought over and carried over water. There are still villages in Britain which have very much a free-for-all fight over such a ball. In Ashbourne the battle still goes on on Shrove Tuesday. The goals are three miles apart. It lasts all day and the risk to life and limb is considerable. In Derby the battle took place between the parishes of All Saints and St Peters.

So the church took over the game which in Catholic countries took place on Easter Monday and became Pelota. A large ball would be presented at the altar for blessing and then the clergy would dance and throw the ball about.

Various kings tried to ban the practice. At least seven proclamations from 1314 to 1581 denounced the sport. Those of 1447 and 1491 ordered that "Football and golfe be utterly cryed down and not to be used". But by the seventeenth century even the kings joined in and the Duke of Albermarle pitted his servants against King Charles' team.

More recently a football match ended in the deaths of 6000 people. It had started with a needle match between Honduras and El Salvador at the Honduran national stadium in June 1969. After being kept up all night by fireworks and horns outside their team hotel, El Salvador lost. One of their fans then shot herself. That set the scene for the return match in San Salvador. This time it was the Honduran team who suffered with rotten carcases thrown into their rooms in the middle of the night and the Honduran flag ceremonially burnt in the stadium before the match. In the chaos afterwards several people died but the real trouble started the next day when a plane bombed the Honduran stadium triggering a full scale war.

Then there is the Colombian international player, Andrés Escobar, who was murdered shortly after returning home from the 1994 World Cup. He scored the own goal which eliminated Colombia from the competition.

In the late 1970s I was involved in counselling some “football supporters” who had taken to stoning the coaches of visiting fans at Watford football club (owned at the time by one E John – whatever happened to him?). They were little interested in the game – they rarely watched – but were taken up by the notions of good and evil and the need to take sides.

So no point in telling them that it was only a game. Bill Shankly was right: “Football's not a matter of life and death ... it's more important than that,” It’s a substitutionary ritual: the battle of good and evil. After all it started as part of the ancient pre-Christian traditions of northern Europe to represent the battle for the soul. And now you can have a football funeral if you want. A failure to take their side meant I was siding with the opposition. And if I didn’t stand for what they saw to be good, then I must be evil. To try to intervene just means that both sides will throw stones at you.

Which reflects our polarised, adversarial society. It can be seen not only in the tribalism of football but in the legal system, the churches and communities; and until last month in politics. Can they really work together for the good of all? We shall see. After all you can’t tell the football teams that all 22 of them on the pitch should work together for the good of the game.

But the serpent’s egg was supposed to be protection against the evil that spawned it. It meant that evil could be overcome, conflict resolved and peace restored.

We should keep our battles where they belong, 90 minutes long on a sports field as a substitute for the battles around us. For the rest we need to leave our conflicts behind and work together for the good of all.

Peter G Ashby

2010-05-29T12:15:00.001+01:00

Trinity Sunday
30th May 2010

Today at:
10.00am United Service at St Mary’s Bradley
Welcome to Allan Baldwin of the Children’s Society who will talk about the work they do with young people.

Events This Week:
Wednesday: 2.30pm Derrington Open Church
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
Saturday: 2.00pm Derrington Fete
3.00pm Marriage of Karen Beardmore and Garry Smith at St Giles

Next Sunday (1st Sunday after Trinity)
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service PA
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
10.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA

County Show June 2nd and 3rd.
If you plan to go make a point of looking in at the churches tent.

Notes on the Theme
Romans 5.3-4
Suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character,
and character produces hope,
and hope does not disappoint us

Paul was writing to the Roman Christians.
They were suffering for the faith.
Emperor Claudius had ordered the Jews to leave Rome
- some among them had started talking about someone called Chrestus
and, according to Suetonius, this had caused trouble.
Not that Claudius’ rule was without its own political turmoil,
persecution, even death for some.
And anyway Paul was hoping he would eventually get to Rome himself.
So he wants to encourage them,
but at the same time to make it clear that faith
is not an evasion of suffering but gives meaning to it.
God’s grace works in real events and among real people.
They can then respond to the times creatively;
knowing that whatever happens they will always have God there for them.
Out of the suffering and endurance there was as always hope.
He clearly knew of the trouble between the Jews and the Christians,
as he has spent much of the previous chapter talking about Abraham.
The continuity with history is important
but what Christ was doing was something new.
God’s grace is freely available to all
The Spirit makes God’s guidance available to all who seek it And his wisdom too so they were brought to a new unity.
But it is not just about understanding, it is about relationship.
Seek God’s truth in every encounter.
Through the Spirit we can share the very life of God for ourselves and for others who come to God through us.

Peter G Ashby

2010-05-22T12:42:00.002+01:00

The Day of Pentecost
23rd May 2010

Today at:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA
3.00pm Millennium Green Parish Picnic PA

Today:
3.00pm Rogation service and picnic at the Millennium Green Derrington Gather at 3.00pm.
Bring a chair and some food.

Events This Week:
Tuesday: 7.45pm Derrington PCC
Wednesday: 2.30pm Derrington Open Church
7.00pm Haughton School Governors.
7.30pm House fellowship 6 Station Road Haughton
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
Saturday: 10.00am Rehearsal for Karen and Garry at St Giles
1.00pm Marriage of Natalie Holt and Thomas Williams at St Mary’s

Next Sunday
10.00am United Service at St Mary’s - Allan Baldwin of the Children’s Society will talk about the work they do with young people. Come and hear where the Christingle and box money goes.

County Show June 2nd and 3rd.
I think we are now covered for tea makers but if you are able to help contact Peter Hughes for details as I am sure more help is welcome. If you plan to go make a point of looking in at the churches tent.

Notes on the Theme

The Spirit is a Spirit of Mission
Your sons and daughters will prophecy, young men will see visions, old men will dream dreams, even on servants I will pour my Spirit
When the people heard this, they said, "What shall we do?"
Peter replied, "Repent and be baptised, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, as promised to all whom the Lord our God will call."
And then they became the church:
All the believers were together and had everything in common. They gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together. They broke bread together. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. (Acts 2.43-47)
As they became the people God wanted them to be so their lives became filled with God’s power.
When he pours his Spirit on us he is giving us a promise that we are his people and we can be his church. So what sort of church is God calling us to be?
We are all witnesses in our daily lives whether we like it or not. What people see in us, they take to be a Christian life. So do we witness to the hope that is in us, to the wonders and miraculous signs of God in our lives?
And then how do we share what we have for the needs of the world, care for people at their point of need, or seek to change unjust structures? Do we care for God's world: the integrity of creation amid the dangers of human misuse?
Or have we received the Spirit of Christ in vain?

Peter G Ashby

2010-05-13T22:04:00.002+01:00

7th Sunday of Easter
16th May 2010

Today at:
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
6.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Celtic Worship PA

The 6.30pm service will look at the work of Christian Aid at the end of Christian Aid Week. Thanks to all those who helped out by delivering and collecting envelopes.

Events This Week:
Monday: 7.30pm Bradley Worship Group The Old Smithy
Tuesday: 7.30pm Bradley trust
Wednesday: 2.30pm Derrington Open Church
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
Saturday: 5.00pm Farewell service for Bishop Gordon Stoke Minster

Next Sunday (Pentecost)
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
10.00am St Giles Haughton Family Service WG
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion PA
3.00pm Millennium Green Parish Picnic PA

County Show June 2nd and 3rd.
I think we are now covered but if you are able to help contact Peter Hughes for details. We needed four volunteers from each parish to staff the churches tea tent at the County Show for three hours. Free entry and an opportunity to advertise our churches

Notes on the Theme

John 17:20-26
May they also be in us so that the world may believe.
There is a search for spirituality at the moment.
But it is in danger of passing the churches by.
There have never been so many spiritual options open to people.

Yet the church is a mystery to many.
It seems a closed book to outsiders:
the ritual strange, the language impenetrable.
The churches have become imprisoned in their own tradition and can’t break free.
But at the time things are darkest then the chains will fall away.

The challenge to the churches is not to be relevant but to be open:
To let the people come that all of them may be one.
To respond to the questions that concern them
instead of expecting them to accept the answers we give
to the questions we think they should ask.
Then the world might believe

Jesus prayer is not just for us but for those who will hear through us.
So we all have a commitment to proclamation.
That all may be one
– not just “the saved” but the searchers too.

Jesus prayer is for unity and inclusiveness for the whole of creation.
Jesus invites all of humanity and the whole creation
into the unity he shares with God.
The church is called to be a sign of that calling:
That all may be one

Our unity and inclusiveness are signs
that we too truly represent God here on earth.
It is then that we begin to discover our own unity with God

Peter G Ashby

2010-05-07T22:18:00.000+01:00

6th Sunday of Easter
9th May 2010

Today at:
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion & Baptism PA

Welcome to Thomas Oliver Busby baptised at St Mary’s

Events This Week:
Monday: 10.30am Haughton Worship Group
Tuesday: 1.30pm Haughton PCC in church
Wednesday: 2 - 4pm Derrington Open Church begins for the summer
7.30pm House Fellowship Billington Bank
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
2.30pm House Fellowship at 3 St Mary’s Close Bradley
7.30pm Ascension Day service St Editha’s

Next Sunday (7th Sunday of Easter)
8.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion PA
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
6.30pm St Mary’s, Bradley Celtic Worship PA

This is Christian Aid week - May 9th to 15th. There should be lists of roads in each of the churches for you to sign up to deliver and collect envelopes

County Show June 2nd and 3rd.
Help needed. We need four volunteers from each parish to staff the churches tea tent at the County Show for three hours. Free entry and an opportunity to advertise our churches. Contact wardens and deanery synod reps or Peter Hughes for details.

Notes on the Theme

Acts of the Apostles 16:9-15
How do we welcome our visiting preachers today? – We issued the invitation, come over and help us. Now we are excited to have you – thank God you’ve come, lead us to new adventures of faith.
And what response will they get? Eager listeners open to new insights? Seeing every new encounter, each new service as an opportunity to learn more of the faith?
Lydia had an immediate response to Paul’s arrival – she and her household were baptised. This is what they have been waiting for. Having heard the news of God’s love from Paul they wanted to be part of it.
They will not alone. Once their hearts are open to God, then Father, Son and Spirit will be with them. The Spirit of peace will be present in their lives. Healing of the wounds of the past is taking place.
We are all a reflection of the gospel as we discover together the good news for ourselves in our own life in our own way. But it doesn’t end there (well it usually does but it shouldn’t). That good news is something you have to create for others too. Invite them in – they need to be part of the good news too.
And others cry out to us: Come over and help us. Sometimes across the world, often across the garden fence.
So what good news do we have to share – what is it that excites us about our faith at the moment? Or our Church? What new things are happening? – that people feel more loved, people are coming together; there is hope in a world of turmoil, we are creating community.
“If you love me keep my word” and God’s word is active, not to be kept buried but to be planted, tended and nurtured to bear fruit. And God’s word is promise: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.

Peter G Ashby

2010-05-01T10:21:00.001+01:00

5th Sunday of Easter
2nd May 2010

Today at:
8.00am St Giles Haughton Holy Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Service PA
10.00am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Service WG
11.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
6.00pm St Mary’s Bradley join St John’s Methodists in Parkfields Wolverhampton

Banns at Haughton (3) Karen Beardmore and Garry Smith

Events This Week:
Tuesday: 7.30pm Archdeacons visitation Bradley
Wednesday: 7.30pm Millenium Green picnic plannning Derrington
Thursday: 10.30am Midweek Communion at St Mary’s
Saturday: 2.00pm Jean Bracewell interment of ashes St Edithas.

Next Sunday (6th Sunday of Easter)
9.00am St Giles Haughton Family Communion PA
9.30am St Matthews Derrington Family Communion GS
10.15am St Editha’s Church Eaton Family Communion PA
11.30am St Mary’s, Bradley Family Communion & Baptism PA

Bishop Gordon’s last service at Stoke Minster, 22nd May, 5.00pm – there are up to three tickets per parish. Names today please

Christian Aid week - May 9th to 15th. There should be lists of roads in each of the churches for you to sign up to deliver and collect envelopes

Notes on the Theme

Acts 11.1-18
Peter has been called to account.
He has gone off message
and James and John want to know what he thinks he is doing.
The faith was supposed to be for the Jews, the chosen people,
here he has been caught out going to the gentiles.
So what does he have to say for himself?

He simply tells his story,
omitting to mention that he had been staying with Simon the tanner –
and therefore unclean – at the time.
While there he saw a vision;
perhaps prompted by his surroundings.
Don’t call anything unclean:
Who God has chosen, he has purified.

And Peter is sent, reacting to events, to Cornelius in Caesarea.
There he sees the Work of the Spirit on those he is meeting.
The mention of Jesus name is enough to set things alight.
God has come to the gentiles.

The Spirit works where the cultures meet.
They need the stimulus of that contact to keep them fresh.
Alone they were unable to respond or became tired and jaded.
Together they can move on – the spirit gives them a push into new life.
Peter has to play catch up, he can only baptise them afterwards.

The turning point for the church is when it acknowledges
that it needs to open up to new people, new cultures, new expressions.

Only then is the Spirit truly free.

Peter G Ashby