Contact OCTOBER The Diary For Oct0ber. Reaching out and loving others in the name of Christ our Saviour

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1 16 The Diary For Oct0ber Te tte n h a l l Wo 1 o d Un i te d Re f o r m e d Ch u r c h HARVEST FESTIVAL Sunday 2nd 09.00am Early Worship - Rev. Tim Mullings 11.00am Mid-AM Worship - Rev. Tim Mullings Lunch will be served after the 11am service Sunday 9th 09.00am Early Worship - Rev. Tim Mullings 10.00am Prayer Meeting 11.00am Mid-AM Worship - Rev. Tim Mullings Sunday 16th 09.00am Early Worship - Miss Helen Cook 11.00am Mid-AM Worship and Communion - Rev. Tim Mullings Sunday 23rd 09.00am Early Worship and Communion- Rev. Tim Mullings 11.00am Mid-AM Worship - Pastor Allan Penduck Sunday 30th 09.00am Early Worship - Rev. Tim Mullings 11.00am Mid-AM Worship - Rev. Tim Mullings Minister: Secretary: Contact: Hall Bookings Rev d Tim Mullings revtim@blueyonder.co.uk Mrs Jean Herrington jean.hrrngtn@gmail.com Mrs. Catie Boulton catieboulton@gmail.com Mo Knight For enquiries about Weddings, Baptisms, Funerals and Pastoral Care Support, please contact Reverend Tim Mullings - revtim@blueyonder.co.uk Mobile Contact OCTOBER 2016 Reaching out and loving others in the name of Christ our Saviour

2 From the Minister Then Job replied to the Lord, I am nothing how could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand. I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say. (Job 40:3-5) 2 The book of Job is one of my favourite books in the Bible. It deals with loss, grief and God s justice in the face of human suffering with its main question being Why do the righteous suffer? Or, as someone said to me recently, Why is it always the good ones that have the crosses to bare, but the skanks seem to be Teflon coated? The rich theology found in Job presents a variety of perspectives that are debated by the characters throughout. Attempting to answer this question, his friends tell him that his suffering has happened because he must have done something evil along the way to deserve it. Job protests his plight. As the chapters unfold he demands that God answers him. Job questions the Creator s providence and justice. However, despite all he endures he never once blames the Lord. There s an amazing verse where he anticipates the coming of the Messiah I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth (ch.19, v.25). Speaking from personal experience, I love it for the comfort it brings to those going through difficult times. I love it because it doesn't try to give trite answers to difficult questions, but rather shows godly people wrestling with age old questions. Job laments, Should we expect only good things from the hand of God and nothing bad? (ch.2, v,10). 15 SHOPPING LIST If you would like to join us in supporting those in need in our city, please donate any items on this list and place them in the garden store to the right as you enter the outside door to the Church hall passageway. Milk ( UHT or powdered ) Cereal Squash / Fruit Juice (UHT) Pasta Sauce (Jar) Pasta / Rice/ Noodles (dried) Vegetables (Tinned) Tea / Coffee Soup Instant Mash Potato Meat (Tinned) Fish (Tinned) Fruit/ Puddings (Tinned) Couscous / Pulses Sugar Biscuits/ Snack Bars Nappies (any size, sealed pack) Baby Wipes/ Shampoo / Lotion Ladies / Men's Toiletries Thank you so much - God bless you! Back and forth, ever more eloquently, for thirty chapters four friends circle around this topic. Then Almighty God shows up, speaking from the whirlwind. He doesn't answer the questions the way Job expected. He doesn't tell all that is really going on behind the scenes. Instead He simply points to Himself: Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? (ch.38, v.4). Job's humble response to this? "OK. I'll shut up now" demonstrating that faith does not demand answers. We don t always know what God is doing in our lives. There is no such thing as a trouble free life. Though unpleasant, suffering and pain can work to ultimate good: We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22). Don t

3 Our monthly 14 Sunday 9th October, at 10.00am, in the Bampfield Room. will be held on Please support this meeting, as we pray for our church, our world and ourselves. If you don't feel able to pray aloud, please come to this meeting and pray silently. Your support is important. Thank you. Jean. 3 let trials overwhelm. The Bible reminds us that we should look beyond the present and focus on the promise of eternity. And the best example of God turning evil into good is when He resurrected Jesus from the dead. He lives forever, so too will everyone who believes in Him! In Christ. Tim PRAYER BREAKFAST EACH THURSDAY 7:30am 6th October 13th October 20th October 27th October TWURC Christ Church TWURC Christ Church ALL WELCOME PRAYER LUNCHES 12.30pm pm In the Meeting Room at Christchurch. This is an opportunity to share lunch time with friends, to spend time listening to God and to pray accordingly. Please bring your own lunch. The first Tuesday of each month will concentrate on the mission and outreach of our churches. For more information contact Joy Dipple Tel Tuesday 4th October Wednesday 12th October Monday 17th October Thursday 27th October...lies the edible seed - the kernel. In a computer's operating system, it is the kernel, which ensures all parts, software and hardware function, as they should. As Christians, Jesus Christ is the central, essential kernel of our lives. Through Him, everything exists (1 Corinthians 8:6) and through Him everything functions. For the church is people. Believers are the body, arms, and legs whereas Christ is the head (Ephesians 4:15-16), in which we are united in love. We are the embodiment of Christ on earth today and we must speak the truth of the Bible, just as Jesus taught with authority (Matthew 7:28-29). He is the Bread of Life (John 6:35) who feeds the spiritually starving. He is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11) caring for His flock, willing to die for the sheep. He is the Light of the World (John 8:12) promising that He will free us from darkness. He is our Redeemer (Titus 2:14) freeing us from guilt and judgement. He is the Atonement for fallen humanity who gave His life, as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Through His suffering and death He became the perfect sacrifice, the only one good enough to earn our salvation (Acts 4:12). And God knew before creation that it would be necessary for Christ to redeem man and Jesus said that it s only through Him that we can obtain eternal life (John 14:6). Those who live as if there was no after-life will gain nothing if they are proved to be right and will lose everything if they are proved to be wrong. Those who live as if the present influences the next world, have lost nothing if they are proved to be wrong and will have gained everything if they are proved to be right. Blaise Pascal ( )

4 4 Four worms and a lesson to be learned!!!) A Minister decided that a visual demonstration would add emphasis to his Sunday sermon. Four worms were placed into four separate jars. The first worm was put into a container of alcohol. The second worm was put into a container of cigarette smoke. The third worm was put into a container of chocolate syrup. The fourth worm was put into a container of good, clean soil. At the conclusion of the sermon, the Minister reported the following results: The first worm in alcohol... Dead. The second worm in cigarette smoke..dead The third worm in chocolate syrup... Dead. The fourth worm in good, clean soil..alive! So the Minister asked the congregation, "What did you learn from this demonstration?" Maxine was sitting in the back and quickly raised her hand and said, "As long as you drink, smoke, and eat chocolate, you won't have worms!" That pretty much ended the service!! 13 BIBLE READERS FOR OCTOBER 2nd October 9th October 16th October 23rd October 30th October CHURCH FLOWERS Our thanks to the following who have donated the flowers this 2nd October 9th October 16th October 23rd October 30th October 09.00am Diana Swan 11.00am John Smith Covenanting Prayers led by Gillian Snaith 09.00am John Shinton 11.00am Sandra Morris 09.00am Sheila Henio 11.00am Agnes Hamilton 09.00am David Swan 11.00am Catie Boulton 09.00am Kay Hobbs 11.00am Doris Margetts The New Start group will be meeting at 32 Fir Tree Road, Finchfield, the home of Kathleen Herrmann for a musical evening on Saturday 19th November at 6.30pm. For more details, please ring Kathleen or Jean Morgan Family Jean Maher Bob & Merrill Fearn (Please, if you would like to donate towards the flowers, choose a date and add your name to the flower rota on the wall in the Church vestibule.)

5 12 5 Dear Lord, please make me the kind of person my dog thinks I am OCTOBER BIRTHDAYS Happy Birthday to you To Jesus be true. May God's richest blessings Be yours the year through 1st October 2nd October 13th October 20th October 21st October 26th October 30th October 31st October Robert Billing Sheila Wildsmith Sandra Morris Jonathan Carney John Francis Peter Chalstray Megan Jones Dorothy Howell Please let Catie have There will be a Coffee Morning, in Church, in the near future to raise money for Church Funds. The date has yet to be arranged. Look out for the date in the Weekly Notice Sheet and support this event if you possibly can. The Church Fayre which has taken place in past years will not take place this year. articles etc. before SATURDAY 15th OCTOBER for NOVEMBER CONTACT

6 6 11 United Reformed Church Worship and Organisations Sunday Early Worship Church Mid - AM Worship Church Communion is celebrated: Monthly Monday Tettenhall Green Kindergarten Pre School Hall Bible Study Bampfield Room Women's Institute (2nd Mon in month) Thank you, Dr Luke! By David Winter Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, bless the bed that I lie on - my grandma taught me that one. At least it meant I never forgot the names of the writers of the four Gospels. This month Luke, the writer of the third of them, has his feast day 18th October. He was, we learn from the letters of St Paul, a physician - an educated man and probably the only one of the writers of the New Testament who was not a Jew. In modern terms he was Turkish. Paul took him as one of his missionary team on a long journey around the Middle East, and they clearly became close friends. Under house arrest later in his life Paul could write, only Luke is with me. However, it is his Gospel which has established him as a major figure in the history of the Christian Church. Mark s Gospel may have more drama, Matthew s more prophetic background and John s a more profound sense of the mystery of the divine, but Luke offers us a Jesus who is utterly and believably real. This man turned no one away, re- Tuesday Tettenhall Green Kindergarten Pre School Hall Day Centre Bampfield Room Brownies Hall Wednesday Tettenhall Green Kindergarten Pre School Hall Keep Fit Hall Thursday Prayer Breakfast (alternate with Christchurch) Bampfield Room Tettenhall Green Kindergarten Pre School Hall Friday Tettenhall Green Kindergarten Pre School Hall Day Centre Bampfield Room Saturday Children s Dancing Hall

7 10 REST (Written by Daphne Perrin) Last night I was listening to the evening service on the radio, and the subject was rest. The speaker said, at the end of the day we must rest in the presence of the Father. It struck me that we do not have to wait to the end of the day; we can rest in the presence of God ALL DAY as well as all night. From the moment we wake up we can start resting; commit the day with all it s possible frets and worries into His care. (Psalm 37. vs 5 -commit and trust) Then as the day goes on we can do our various jobs and go our different ways knowing that we are in Gods care and keeping. Again in Psalm 37. vs 7 we are told to rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him and fret not. It s so easy to fret, or worry about things these days, there are so many things that get to us, but if we are resting in God s care, we may be sure that all will be well. Each evening we can commit ourselves afresh into our Heavenly Father s keeping, and go to bed knowing that by faith we are in His presence and He will watch over us. When we were young (a long time ago now) my husband gave me a little card which ever since I have kept in my Bible. It reads: - Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be, The last of life, for which the first was made: Our times are in His hand Who saith A whole I planned, Youth shows but half: trust God: see all, nor be afraid. Robert Browning And surely this is very true. We have to take so much on trust in this life, and often we are let down. But never with God. He has planned a whole life for us, only part of it here. And at the end of our earthly days, if we are trusting Him, we shall rest in the presence of our Father for we shall be with Him. So if we have this confidence, we can truly know that we are resting in the presence of our Father, here on earth and eventually in His kingdom. May I suggest that you read Psalm 37 before you go to bed tonight? 7 served his harshest words for hypocrites and religious grandees, cared for the marginalised, the poor, the persecuted, the handicapped and the sinful. His Gospel is full of people we can recognise - indeed, in whom we can often recognise ourselves. He was also a masterly story-teller. Try, for instance, the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). Read it (this time) not as a sacred text but as a brilliant piece of story-telling: subtle repetitions ( your son, this brother of yours ), believable characters, drama and profound emotion. There is the older brother, so cynical about his sibling s alleged reformation, the prodigal himself, so hesitant about throwing himself on his father s mercy after the folly of his earlier behaviour, and there is the father, of course, abandoning the dignity of his role in the family and actually running to welcome his wretched son s return. There are more women in Luke s Gospel than in any of the others, but also more poor people, more lepers, more sinners and tax-collectors, more outsiders who are shown to be inside the love of Christ. This, for many of us, is the great Gospel of inclusion and compassion. Here is a Jesus for the whole world and for every one of us. Thank you, Dr Luke! HELP US TO HELP YOU, PLEASE! The yellow card you have received from your Pastoral Carer with their telephone number is not only for you to keep but for you to please place very near your telephone. This is especially important for those living alone so that relatives or friends can find the contact number for your Christian friends, or the person who can get in touch with our Minister. We can then pray for you or help in any other way. If we don t know you are ill there is nothing we can do. Norma

8 8 HARVEST FESTIVAL SUNDAY 2nd OCTOBER Please join us for lunch after the 11am service 9 Provider God, for frozen, filleted and packaged, baked, boiled and breaded, farmed, smoked or netted- for this food we give you thanks. For fresh, juicy and ripe, all colours, smells and type, from far flung nations bright - for this food we give you thanks. For warm, floury and sliced, buttered, toasted or iced, by smell we're all enticed for this food we give you thanks. When we have eaten and are satisfied, we praise you, Lord, for all you provide. Tim Yau URC Prayer Handbook 2016