Coming soon – Invited
God loves you. He has great plans for you. He wants to accompany you through all the highs and lows of your life.There will soon be an opportunity for you to explore all this and more as we journey together as a Diocese through a season of mission. Visit www.abdiocese.org.uk/invited to find out more.
You, are Invited.
Bishop Richard’s Refugee Crisis Newsletter: The latest copy of the Newsletter is now available and can be found on the Diocesan website under the Latest Publications section https://abdiocese.org.uk/diocese/news
Are you a Confirmation Catechist?
Would you like to talk to other Catechists and the Diocesan Youth Ministry Adviser about all things Confirmation?
If so, please sign up to join your Deanery Confirmation Network. These networks were launched towards the end of last year and the conversations were really helpful, particularly in this time of change and adaptation. If you have not already joined your network please contact [email protected] who will make sure that you are involved with the next round of conversations that she is holding at the end of January.
Clare Ingelbrecht who was a parishioner of St George’s for 32 years and had moved to be with her son and family in Folkestone 7 years ago. She died, aged 95 years, on 3rd January. Her funeral mass will be live streamed on Thursday, 28th January at 11am (www.churchservicestvfolkestone). Her interment will be at Willingdon cemetery at 2pm.
4 Weeks of Guided Prayer – Online Event
Sundays at 5:30pm beginning 17th January
· An opportunity to deepen your relationship with God through prayer.
· Learn new ways of praying, enjoy some input on prayer, discernment and spirituality.
Speak with a prayer guide each week for the four weeks.
More information: [email protected] or follow us on Facebook
You are still able to donate non-perishable food and money to the foodbanks over the coming months. There are opportunities to donate online, or our website to make this easier for people. Immediate food needs will probably change week to week. For more updates visit www.hailsham.foodbank.org.uk or www.eastbourne.foodbank.org.uk. Thank you.
In last Sunday’s gospel about the Baptism of Jesus, we hear that a voice from heaven says ‘You are my son, the Beloved”. These words should remind us of one of the most important truths in the whole of the Christian message. In the words of Saint Augustine: “God loves each and every one of us”.
William Barclay summed this up when he wrote: “The gospels tell us of the width of the love of God. It was the world that God so loved. It was not a nation, it was not the good people, it was not only the people who loved him, it was the world. The unlovable and the unlovely, the lonely who have no one else to love them, the person who loves God, and the person who never thinks of God, the person who rests in the love of God, and the person who spurns it, all are included in the vast inclusive love of God.”
Tessa and I wish to say a sincere thank you for the cards and gifts received this Christmas and New Year. We wish you all a Happy 2021. May you keep safe and you and your family keep well.. We are sure that we all hope that it will be a better year than 2020. God bless you all.
With our love and prayers. DJ & T
Mass at St George’s church. It is our hope to re-open for Mass on Sunday, the 17th January at the normal time of 9.00 am. To do this we need more help from people under the age of 70 years to be our stewards. Several wonderful people have already come forward to undertake this important task, but we do need more help. Please contact Margaret Piegrome 01323870990, email – [email protected] if you can help us celebrate Mass together again.
I noticed a headline on the internet about a Swedish Artist – Geert van der Vossen. He has created a floral tribute to Sweden’s coronavirus patients. He has ‘planted’ over 6000 metal ‘flowers’, which he has created himself, in a field as a memorial to the victims of the virus in the area in which he lives. This has obviously given him a lot of personal satisfaction and a feeling that he is really doing something to remember those who have died.
Sunday, Jan 10th, is the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord and reminds us of our identity. The liturgical season of Christmas is concluded with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. By Baptism, we become sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus, members of his Church, heirs of Heaven, and temples of the Holy Spirit. It is a day to thank God for the graces we have received in Baptism, to renew our Baptismal promises and to preach Christ’s “Good News” by our transparent Christian lives of love, mercy, service and forgiveness.
The Gospel today describes Jesus’ baptism, and identifies with God’s chosen people who in their turn became aware of their sinful lives and their need for God’s forgiveness. The Baptism of the Lord Jesus is the great event celebrated by the Eastern churches on the feast of Epiphany because it is the occasion of the first public revelation of all the Three Persons in the Holy Trinity, and the official revelation of Jesus as the Son of God to the world by God the Father. Today marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.
Fr.Kadavil is a recently retired priest and is now chaplain of the Sacred Heart Nursing Home of the Little Sisters of the Poor in the USA. He writes: “It is worth noting that neither John nor Jesus invented baptism. It had been practiced for centuries among the Jews as a ritual equivalent to our Confession. Until the fall of the Temple in 70 A.D., it was common for Jewish people to use a special pool called a Mikveh — literally a “collection of water” – as a means of spiritual cleansing, to remove spiritual impurity and sin. Men took this bath weekly on the eve of the Sabbath, women, monthly. Converts were also expected to take this bath before entering Judaism. The Orthodox Jews still retain the rite. John preached that such a bath was a necessary preparation for the cataclysm that would be wrought by the coming Messiah. Jesus transformed this continuing ritual into the one single, definitive act (receiving Baptism), by which we begin our life of faith.
Today I want to tell you a story about the Christmas story. I expect all of us know the Christmas story, but do you ever stop to think about how that story got to us? I think you probably know some of the words of of the song “Do You Hear What I Hear?” The song starts with the wind whispering to a lamb:
“Do you see what I see Way up in the sky little lamb Do you see what I see A star, a star Dancing in the night With a tail as big as a kite.”
The lamb then tells the shepherd, the shepherd tells the king and the king tells everyone! His message is that Christ is born!
Mary and Joseph know what’s going on because an angel told them – that’s rather like the wind whispering to you. The angels also told the shepherds who came to see. Later on there were thee wise men, or maybe kings who heard about Jesus somehow and came following the light of a star!
You see there is only this handful of people who knew what was really happening in that little stable in Bethlehem. We don’t really hear much about Jesus as a child, but then Jesus’ story gets interesting! More people hear about Jesus as a teacher and healer, they tell their friends and neighbours, who tell their friends and their neighbours. The word of God is spread all over the world now, churches spring up everywhere, books are written, songs are written, there are paintings and sculptures made, plays are performed, people are fed, baptised, blessed with God’s Word all over the world and this has been happening for about 2000 years.
How did it all start? It all started with an angel telling people to “Come and see.” Jesus, give us the courage to tell the story, and to invite others to “come and see”!
May God richly bless you all. May your celebration of His Holy Birth inspire and unite us into one family of Faith!
May the Light that is Christ shine upon you, and the peace of the Christ Child be yours this Christmas. Fr.Rory and I, wish you all a happy and holy Christmas, and may God bless everyone here, your families and your friends. Amen.
