Jesus said, “Keep awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” Amen, come soon, Lord Jesus! The first candle is lit and this response is used, “Jesus is the light of the world. A light no darkness can ever put out.”
Advent candles tell their story
As we watch and pray.
Longing for the Day of Glory,
“Come, Lord, soon,” we say.
Pain and sorrow, tears and sadness
Changed for gladness on that Day.
During Advent let us pray to God for:
We remember all those with birthdays this week, and especially Mark Griffiths and Mick Perrier (3rd), Nathan Light and Robert Mackie (7th), and Joan Farrand and Helen Collett,(9th).
The church is open every morning between 10:00 a.m. and 12 noon, but to enable us to keep the church open in this way, we need more people to offer an hour one morning a week to be available in church. If you can help, please have a word with Jonathan Hodgson.
Gift Aid: If you are a taxpayer, please maximise your giving in the Offertory Plate by using the Gift Aid envelopes provided.
St Mary’s notices can be sent to the Parish Office at (info@stmarysmoseley.co.uk), or by phone: 0121 449 2243 (mornings) by 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday. Voicemail messages can be left at any time. Also see http://www.stmarysmoseley.co.uk.
St Anne’s notices can be sent to Revd Rosemary Donovan at info@st-annes-moseley.org.uk, or by phone: 0121 449 1071 by Thursday. Also see http://www.st-annes-moseley.org.uk.
St Mary’s has a loop system for the hard of hearing, in the centre block of seats. Turn your hearing aid to the “T” setting.
During the Advent season there will be four advent prayer stations within the churches for people to pray for individuals, places, our work and leisure time as well as our dreams and aspirations for our world. Please follow the self explanatory notes and keep alert during Advent.
At our Joint Advent Carol Service on Sunday 3 December we will be encouraging people to commit to inviting friends and neighbours to our Christmas services and praying for them throughout the year. This is a mission initiative supported by CMS and involves buying an Advent candle to give away. The candles available from the back of both churches cost £2. Please pick up a flyer about our Advent and Christmas services and use them to invite your friends and neighbours.
This includes photographs and design work by Nigel Blakey and Karen Gray. We need help distributing them. Please see either Liz Blakey or Rosemary Donovan. Thanks in advance
Given by Birmingham University Choir: Saturday 9 December at 7:30 p.m. at St Mary’s: Tickets £4 or £2.
Tickets £1. Main prize: two tickets to Paris. Draw 16 February. Please see John Carey or adult choir members.
Friday 22 December at 7:30 p.m. at the Crescent Theatre, Brindley Place. Tickets £10. Contact Jenny McTiernan (07809 641991) or Mark Askew (07764 656049).
This is part of the joint project with All Saints on “Remembering”. The youth group produced a three-part icon as a centre piece. This will be displayed for two weeks in each church.
These are now available to order from the cathedral price £5. Please sign the order sheet at the back of St Mary’s.
Order yours for just £6 from Craig Donovan.
This event will again take place in the Parish Hall, Park Hill. Please support this community outreach project in whatever way you can. Please see the lists at the back of both churches and sign up to help.
Instead of individual presents this year we are asking for gifts of money to be used for purchasing communal gifts of sweets and flowers for the residents in our Care Homes. Donations of about £2 please to the Ministry Team or Parish Office by 10 December.
There will be a Christmas traidcraft stall after all the services (both morning and evening) on Sunday 3 December at St Mary’s and the following week Sunday 10 December at St Anne’s. The stall will have cards, wrapping paper, and lots of potential Christmas gifts. If you aren’t at church that Sunday and would like to order anything please contact Kathy Carter on 444 2755.
Many thanks to all who had any part in the success of this annual event. Special appreciation to Claire Johnson who organised the event, to all stall holders and those who supported us on the day.
Message from Claire: Thank you to everyone who helped to make the Fair a great success, including stall holders, those who helped with refreshments and those who helped with setting up and clearing away. Thanks especially to Jan and Martin who braved the elements to hand out fliers at the Farmers Market! Preliminary total is approximately £880
New edition available today.
| Time | Service | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 a.m. | Holy Communion Order One traditional language followed by Parish Breakfast | Preacher: The Revd Joan Griffin |
| 10:00 a.m. | Family Service | Led by The Revd Rosemary Donovan and Cathie Carey |
| 11:15 a.m. | Choral Communion followed by the interment of the ashes of Marjorie Finney | Preacher: The Revd Joan Griffin |
| 6:30 p.m. | No service at St Mary's | Joint Advent Carol Service at St Anne's |
| Time | Service | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 10:15 am. | Parish Communion | Preacher: Eric Dwyer |
| 6:30 p.m. | Joint Advent Carol Service | Led by The Revd Rosemary Donovan |
| Day | Morning Prayer | Holy Communion | Evening Prayer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday St Mary’s |
9:15 a.m. | 4:45 p.m. | |
| Wednesday St Anne’s |
9:15 a.m. | 4:45 p.m. | |
| Thursday St Anne’s |
7:30 a.m. | 4:00 p.m. Children's Service |
|
| Friday | 9:15 p.m. St Anne’s |
4:45 p.m. St Mary’s |
| Time | Service |
|---|---|
| 8:00 a.m. | Holy Communion Order Two |
| 10:00 a.m. | Parish Communion |
| 6:30 p.m. | Evensong |
| Time | Service |
|---|---|
| 10:15 a.m. | Family Service |
| 6:30 p.m. | Holy Communion |
| Date | Time | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Fri-22-Dec | 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. | Carol Concert in aid of World Vision, a charity working to make an impact on poverty. Crescent Theatre, Brindley Place. Tickets £10. Contact Jenny McTieman (07809 641991) or Mark Askew (07764 656049). |
Today’s Gospel passage forms part of Luke’s version of Jesus’s apocalyptic discourse, and can be divided into three sections: a prophecy of the coming son of man, an object lesson from a fig tree, and instructions to be alert at all times. This is an intensely complex passage, in which past, present and future all coincide in this one passage. Luke’s intended audiences were Christians facing difficulty, danger, fear and struggle. This passage assures them that the world will not always be as it is today, and that their present anxieties are not a cause for losing heart and giving up. In a storm the advice is to take shelter; in times of social unrest, “keep your head down” is the motto. This is the key to self-preservation. Jesus’s instruction to “stand up and raise your heads” suggests that individual salvation is not what he is about. Jesus calls us to be alert—aware that time is limited.
How alert are we? How aware are we of Jesus’s call to action in our everyday lives? How we spend our time matters. The key to coping with time limits and the pressures that often emerge at this time of year is prayer. In what sense is prayer a state of alertness? How would being alert at all times change us, what we do and how we see the world? How would it enable us to keep our heads up?
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility; that on the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.