Keep us, good Lord,
under the shadow of your mercy.
Sustain and support the anxious,
be with those who care for the sick,
and lift up all who are brought low;
that we may find comfort
knowing that nothing can separate us from your love
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Prayer from the Church of England website
Today’s lectionary reading is from 1 John 4: 7-10
7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love… 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
Here are some prayers from Inclusive Church for Epiphany, which we celebrated on Sunday:
You share your love with every people;
we draw limits of race and creed.
Lord have mercy
You immerse yourself in love of life;
we hold back in fear and shame.
Christ have mercy
You change the water into wine;
we refuse to let our hearts be moved.
Lord have mercy
Christ has broken down the dividing wall that made us strangers to one another;
he has made us one humanity
that God might be all in all;
he is our life, our hope, our peace.
A poem
by Christopher Herbert, entitled Hedgehogs:
The hedgehogs
come snuffling and scuffling
through the garden
like old men walking along a path
Lord, thank you for the strangeness of hedgehogs.
At the beginning of this new year, we thank God for all that comes from the edges of our understanding and experience; and for all that challenges us from the highways and along the hedgerows, pointing us to deeper ways to love and pray. May we walk a wiser path and delight in your presence with us O God. When we feel our own prickliness to difference and put limits on your love, speak to us by your Spirit and immerse us in your love for all you have made and all who seek you. Christ, be our peace. Amen.
Steven Shakespeare, Prayers for an Inclusive Church, Canterbury Press 2008, p.149
Christopher Herbert, Prayers for Children, The National Society and Church House Publishing, 1993, p.48
” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16
Our Carol Service is this Sunday in the evening, so our next Healing and Wholeness Service will be in January. As we look forward to celebrating the birth of the Christ Child, we pray for all in need of healing – body, mind and spirit – over this Christmas time.
In Church, at the entrance to the Chapel, we have prayer cards and lights for anyone to bring their requests to our Lord, at this time when we can all experience sadness and worry as well as joy. We offer our thanks for the gift of Jesus, and for answered prayer. We also remember loved ones no longer with us on earth, and pray for their eternal rest in God’s Kingdom; and for the tender mercies of our God to touch and heal all those who struggle at this time.
If anyone has prayer requests or would like to talk, please ask our Vicar or a member of the ministry team.
May the Lord Jesus, Wonderful Counsellor and Prince of Peace, bless and us and keep us, and those we love and pray for, over the coming weeks. Amen.
“This is the homely heart of Incarnation, this meeting of God with men and women, this simple face of divine graciousness in ordinary life”
Eugene Kennedy, Joy of Being Human
We were very privileged to welcome Hilary, former chaplain at the Croydon University Hospital, to lead our meditations for Advent. We were able to spend time reflecting on how wholly present in our earthly lives is our incarnate God.
Awaken us, Lord
To your presence in the ordinary,
Open our eyes
To the wonder of your incarnation.
May the Lord make us ready for his coming in glory
“But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.”
Malachi 4:2
Monday 2nd December, 8pm at West Wickham and Shirley Baptist Church, Wickham Road, Croydon, CR0 8EH. Then the first Monday of every month.
St John’s is pleased to be part of Churches Together in Shirley, sharing opportunities for prayer, and working to bring the Gospel of Peace to our varied communities in Shirley.
West Wickham and Shirley Baptist Church is offering an opportunity to join in prayer for our young adults – specifically our teenagers, those in their twenties, and those who may be older but in need of our prayers still. This initiative is part of an international prayer movement, a response to the Holy Spirit in our family and community lives, called Mothers’ Prayers.
Everyone is welcome to come. Although many will be mothers, others will be carers, foster parents, grandparents, people significant in a young person’s life and anyone with the ‘heart of a mother.’ God is our father and mother, and whatever our gender or role, we all reflect part of that divine desire to nurture and protect those in need of healing, guidance and grace.
Mothers’ Prayers follows a simple set format, aimed at leading those who gather to pray to entrust their young adults to the Lord. If you have a mother-heart for young people making their way in life, please do join in with this prayer group.
It meets on the first Monday of the month, in the Lounge at West Wickham and Shirley Baptist Church, arrive 8pm for a 8.15pm start. The next meeting will be on Monday 2nd December.
For more information, or if anyone is interested in setting up a Mothers’ Prayer Group for younger children, please contact Fay at [email protected]
Yesterday was All Saints’ Day, and our sister Church, Shirley Methodists, marked the day with the first of the Revd. Dr Leslie Griffiths’ talks on faith, hope and love. This was a fascinating journey through reflections on the recently canonized John Henry Newman’s life, to the whole of the Christian community St Paul greets and commends at the end of Romans 16 for their friendship and service to others.
St John’s and Shirley Methodists have a long-standing friendship and commitment to work together in faith and mission in Shirley, and it was a pleasure and privilege to share in this exploration together. The series of talks runs throughout November (Fridays at 8pm), and everyone is welcome.
The Revd. Griffiths had that morning led the BBC Daily Service on the same theme, and you can listen to his thoughts and prayers here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0009td5
Tomorrow, Sunday 3rd November, St John’s will celebrate All Saints’ Day with a Eucharist at 10am. We will give thanks for the women, children and men in whose lives we have seen the grace of God powerfully at work; and we will pray that we may all grow together in the love and maturity of Christ in both the ordinary and extraordinary ways of our human living.
At 5pm tomorrow, everyone is also welcome at St John’s for our Commemoration of the Faithful Departed for All Souls’ Day. Here we will remember before God those we have known and loved, who have been with us along our spiritual journey, and who have now departed this life to rest in our Father’s eternal arms.
One family, we dwell in him,
one Church, above, beneath;
though now divided by the stream,
the narrow stream of death.
(Charles Wesley)
Our next service of healing and wholeness is on Sunday 27th October at 5pm. Come for peace and prayer, for ourselves and those people and situations on our hearts
Croydon Churches Floating Shelter offers guests (who are homeless people living on the streets) a hot meal, a bed for the night and valuable companionship in a warm, safe and caring environment.
The Shirley Floating Shelter will again operate this winter from Shirley Methodist Church on eight Sunday evenings, 10th November – 22nd December. As part of our long-standing partnership, St John’s works with Shirley Methodists to help with these nights. Other Croydon churches will be covering other nights, and yet others will be open from January to March, thus covering the five coldest months of the year.
Once more volunteers are needed. Can you help at Shirley?
Those volunteering before have found it a happy, interesting and rewarding experience. We would love to welcome new volunteers – do think about it and contact Brian or Jonathan (details below) to find out more.
The help we need is:
Provisioners – to bring in a pre-cooked main meal
Cooks and servers – to come in and cook the prepared food and serve our guests
Overnighters – to stay with our guests. Four overnighters are needed each night. Two beds are set up in a separate room. There are two shifts of four hours (allowing two to sleep while two while two are awake helping.) Overnighters welcome the guests and spend time with them, eating, talking and listening; playing games, and helping to make it a pleasant evening.
Clearers and cleaners – arrive as the guests leave at 8am
Launderers – to collect a bag of laundry (sheets, towels and flannels) to take home to wash, iron and return by the next Sunday
Reception – sometimes overnighters cover this but it is good to have additional cover during the evening.
There are lists in at the back of Church at St John’s, and in the Welcome Area at Shirley Methodist Church, to sign with offers of help
Trustee: Jonathan Baxter 020 8777 3158
Co-ordinator: Brian Cantrell 07468 618553
The streets are especially cruel in the winter months. Please help if you can.
Thank you
We give thanks for God’s gracious provision in our own times of difficulty and distress, and we pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who will need support and shelter in the coming months:
“You have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat.”
Isaiah 25:4