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(FIND OUR LATEST ACTIVITY SHEET HERE TOO)
The theme is encouragement. We hope you enjoy it and find it helpful. The next one will be available at the end of September.
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Keep in touch - we will continue to produce our weekly bulletin (an abridged, hard copy version of this page) available by ‘joining our mailing list’ from the link in the header above.
Please tell others about this!
May God bless you and keep you and your loved ones in His peace,
David.
Revd David Robinson, Vicar of St. Matthew’s Church, Chapel Allerton
0113 2683072 revdavidrobinson@talktalk.net
SUPPORTING GOOD MENTAL HEALTH
a booklet produced by the Church of England. You can read thirteen daily reflections written by Professor Chris Cook and accompanied by "have a go" habits developed by Ruth Rice.
The effects of mental health problems are huge. Nearly nine out of ten people with mental health problems have been affected by stigma and discrimination. Given the challenging times we are living in with coronavirus, the reflections in this booklet were updated and new resources written in March 2020. They seek to provide hope, reassurance and comfort. If you want to speak to someone, please visit the Mental Health Foundation website, which has lots of helpful resources and contacts. Visit www.mentalhealth.org.uk
PLANNED GIVING
If you would like to contribute to the upkeep of our beautiful building and make it a place for worship, meetings, drama and music. Please help by making a regular payment to our scheme this is to help with our charitable giving and payment of the various bills we have to pay to keep this building in good working order, for all that seek to find God and also help our local community and those less fortunate.
Please use the attached form by clicking the donate button this will take you to our donation form which you can then fill in. And if you are a UK tax payer please consider gift aiding your contribution this will not affect your pocket, but the Tax Man will give us .25p for every £1.00 you give us. Thank you in advance and remember click donate.
OUR WEBSITE IS STILL DEVELOPING -
This is our (fairly) new and evolving website. Thanks to Fred Rowland for setting this up. The content is still being edited and any comments welcome to Fred or David Keighley.
PLEASE LET US KNOW
if you are aware of anyone from Church who is poorly, or become housebound or in need of some support, and especially those in hospital, and if you yourselves are going to hospital, so that the Pastoral Visiting Team can arrange for someone to visit. Please contact any of the staff team.
CHAPEL ALLERTON METHODIST CHURCH
have welcomed their new Minister, Rev. Mark Stennet, He will have pastoral oversight of Alwoodley Park, Chapel Allerton and Newbourne Methodist Churches. We look forward to working with Mark and pray for his ministry.
EXPLORING PRAYER
with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. The archbishop has produced a series of five videos lasting about ten minutes each, exploring prayer from his own experience. It is honest, inspiring and will encourage you to continue exploring the wonderful gift of prayer that God has given us. The link to the videos is here.
SUDAN EMERGENCY APPEAL
Bishop Nick writes: The coronavirus pandemic has caused massive disruption across the globe, including here in England. We need no reminder of the costs of this. Imagine, then, the impact on a country such as Sudan. Our brothers and sisters in our link dioceses there have no recourse to support for very basic needs other than external agencies. Their situation is more than challenging as the Church, under the leadership of Archbishop Ezekiel seeks to feed the increasing number of poor, dispossessed and desperate people. The pandemic has led to rapid increase in unemployment and rampant inflation, pushing the purchase of even basic food beyond the reach of many people. So, I am launching an emergency appeal to support our brothers and sisters there. We are asking for funds for emergency food and supplies for those across who rely on the church for support. Please click here for more information and how to give
THRIVE LEEDS From Hannah, Helen and the trustees.
Thank you for partnering with Thrive Leeds to love and serve children, young people and families locally - it is wonderful to do this together as four churches, so thank you for being one of them!
Please visit our website where you will find a recent newsletter, which tells the story of the year so far. It has been our first year as Thrive Leeds - after 14 years as Chapel Allerton Youth Project - and it has been quite a year for all of us! Please have a read and see what we are up to together as churches locally.
It includes some things to pray for: For children, young people and families as they navigate their way, with all that there has been to mark, celebrate and grieve. For wisdom as we make decisions about how we gather and spend time together again, and that we would hear God’s voice. For those young people who have a transition to make and had a disrupted end to primary or secondary school, or sixth form.
And a particular need, which we'd love to see met so we can keep growing the WOW group: two leaders to help with WOW, as we’re welcoming a large group up from Totally Tuesday. The group are aged 12-15 and meet from 7:30-9pm on a Wednesday night, spending time hanging out and being part of a small group. No prep required, unless you’d like to – just turn up and get involved. Please get in touch if you’re interested in this.
Thank you for your support financially, prayerfully, with time and encouragement - we appreciate you.
From Hannah, Helen and the trustees.
A SEASON OF CREATION
A Jubilee for the Earth from the Tuesday 1st September until Sunday 4th October each year. The theme this year is ‘A Jubilee for the Earth’. It is based on the idea of Jubilee which we find in Leviticus, and is a time to listen to prophetic voices: ‘Then you shall have the trumpet sounded loud; on the tenth day of the seventh month – on the Day of Atonement – you shall have the trumpet sounded throughout all your land’ Leviticus 25.9
A prophetic voice for care of the earth was sounded more than 50 years ago, when the first signs of ‘the groaning of creation’ (Romans 8) were spotted by the eagle-eyed prophets of the day – groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. Today, these organisations are still going strong and have been joined by other movements such A Rocha, Zero Carbon Britain and Extinction Rebellion. Jonathan Porritt, with his early ‘Save the Whale’ campaigns, has been joined by naturalist David Attenborough and scientist Professor Brian Cox.
2020 marks 50 years since the first Earth Day when the environmental movement was born. Our churches were a little slow in taking this up, as it meant that Christians needed to see their theology in a different way, and renew their understanding of the Doctrine of Creation. However, many biblical scholars, Christian economist, thinkers and writers were soon onto the task. Most Churches now have environmental policies as caring for God’s earth becomes part of our recognised ministry.
The year of Jubilee involved release from indebtedness, when injustices of the past fifty years were to be restored. It was also a time for rest for the land. Human kind is easily ensnared in the culture of ownership and possessions; the desire for possessions can consume a person’s waking hours and dominate their dreams. In the midst of this, we are called to stop, completely, for a short period of time. To pause for breath to take a break, to experience freedom from the demands of society. The Jubilee call of justice and peace means leaving the land fallow and forgiving debts, the crops and fruit trees must be left unharvested and unpruned, so that there is food for the poor. ( Exodus 32.10).
ELECTORAL ROLL
The Electoral Roll will be revised on Monday 28th September. All those currently on the Roll will remain. If you wish to add yourself to the Roll please contact The Electoral Roll Officer
Under the Church Representation Rules any lay persons are entitled to have their names entered on the roll if the person is—
(a) is baptised,
(b) is aged 16 or over, and
(c) has made one of the following three declarations and duly applied for enrolment.
The first declaration is that the person is a member of the Church of England or of a Church in communion with it and is resident in the parish.
The second declaration is that the person is a member of the Church of England or of a Church in communion with it, is not resident in the parish, but has habitually attended public worship in the parish during the preceding six months.
The third declaration is that the person is a member in good standing of a Church which is not in communion with the Church of England but subscribes to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and is also a member of the Church of England and has habitually attended public worship in the parish during the preceding six months.
MID-WEEK COMMUNION
We will be holding a mid-week Service of Holy Communion on the first Wednesday of every month at 11am, beginning on Wednesday 7th October. We will not be able to offer transport at this time.
BIG OUTDOOR HARVEST FESTIVAL
on Sunday 11th October at 10am on the church lawn. This 30 minute service will include thanksgiving, presentation of harvest gifts, craft activities, building the rainbow of hands and prayers for God’s blessing in the future. Suitable for all ages. All done socially distanced. You need to book your place with Jenny Smith.
CHURCH ANNUAL MEETING
Due to lockdown our Annual Meeting was postponed from April. We will now hold it on Wednesday 21st October at 7pm. We will take a decision later about whether it will be in Church, or via Zoom.
CHURCH TREASURER
John Greenwood has done a great job of being our Church Treasurer for several years. He is to retire at the end of this year. This is a vital job in the administration of the Church and we are very grateful to those who have done it in the past. We are looking for the person to replace him – could it be you? To find out more about what it entails please contact either John Greenwood or David Robinson.
FABRIC COMMITTEE
As we begin to return into our wonderful Church building, we are very grateful for those who keep the building maintained. Every five years our architect produces a report on the condition of the fabric and there is a list of jobs that need doing, now or in the next few years. We need to plan to do these jobs. At the moment Fred Rowland and Colin Powell (thank you Colin) are doing this by themselves. We need others to join them. Please have a word with me or Fred. Let’s keep our wonderful building in good order now and for the future. David Robinson.
ROGER QUICK "Entertaining Saints"
Some of us remember that Revd. Roger Quick was curate of St. Matthew’s from 1996-2000. Since 2013 he has been Chaplain to St George’s Crypt, the homeless charity in Leeds which St. Matthew’s has supported for many years. Roger has now written a book about life in the Crypt, called Entertaining Saints. He describes every day as being a mixture of laughter and tears. The new Archbishop of York has written the foreword, in which he describes Roger’s book as “Vivid and engaging”. Due to be published in September, pre-publication copies can now be bought on Amazon. Please follow the link. The illustrations are by the Leeds-based artist Si Smith.
FINANCE MATTERS
We give thanks that we have received a legacy of some £12,000. This has enabled us to pay for the repairs to our central heating boiler, our organ blower motor and essential roof repairs. However we have still fallen short of the income we require to pay our full commitment to the Diocese, called Parish Share. We have made every effort in the last three years to do so but this year we will be short. This underlines our need to increase our regular giving. Thank you for all those who responded to our ‘Seeds for Growth’ stewardship. We need to continue to build up our regular giving and if you can help, please do so. Further information from Martin Smith (Head of Finance), John Greenwood (Treasurer) or David Robinson
DAILY HOPE
The Church of England has launched a free national phone line as a simple new way to bring worship and prayer into people’s homes. ‘Daily Hope’ offers music, prayers and reflections as well as full worship services at the end of a telephone line. The line – which is available 24 hours a day on 0800 804 8044.
FOODBANK
has a Collection Point at the Co-op in Chapel Allerton. It is a large blue plastic wheeled basket by the exit doors. Please can you leave an item or two from the following list. MILK (UHT OR POWDERED), LONG LIFE FRUIT JUICE, TINNED SOUP, PASTA SAUCES, TINNED-SPONGE PUDDINGS, TOMATOES & VEGETABLES, RICE PUDDING, CEREALS, TEA BAGS/INSTANT COFFEE, INSTANT MASHED AND TINNED POTATOES, TINNED: MEAT/FISH, FRUIT, SPAGHETTI.JAM, BISCUITS, SNACK BARS, CLEANING PRODUCTS, SOAP AND TOILET ROLLS.
Financial donations can be made by visiting https://leedsnorthandwest.foodbank.org.uk
PAFRAS
We continue to support Asylum Seekers through our gifts of food for PAFRAS – thank you for your donations of food.
IBY KNILL
If you would like to order Iby's book ‘The Woman with Nine Lives’ or her first book, now in it's tenth reprint, 'The Woman Without a Number', please search for Iby's publisher's website.
STRUGGLING WITH DEBT?
Free debt counselling for everyone from an award winning charity. This service has recently expanded to cover our area, with sponsorship from Chapel A Baptist Church. If you know anyone who would benefit from this expert service, please ask them to call free on 0800 328 0006.
EVENTS
If you would like to hear about upcoming social events at St. Matthew's (including Loose Women and Men on the Loose), please send your contact details to eventsatStMatthews@yahoo.com to be put on the mailing list. Thanks, Tina.
To submit a notice, please contact the Vicar, David Robinson
(St. Matthew's Church is not responsible for content of external websites)