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Leaves of all Shapes and Sizes

Every Friday, I take my Children to the Boys’ Brigade at Hayes End, where I volunteer as a helper. Every day comes with engaging devotions, activities and experiences. I must say that being part of the development of children from all walks of life is very fulfilling and a huge privilege because it is not a one-way traffic but a two-way one where you learn a lot from them, and they also learn from you. This week’s theme was ‘Leaves of all Shapes and Sizes’ with a Bible quotation from Psalm 139:14 and Luke 12:7.

Psalm 139:14 says, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.” Leaves have different colours, shapes, sizes, and smells and are used for various things. These leaves come from multiple trees that bear different fruits and are all unique in their way. Every individual has been created differently and meticulously by God. He has bestowed on each of us varying abilities that make each of us unique, and he knows us very well. “But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:7). It is essential to note that we may be like our brothers and sisters; we may be very identical twins nevertheless everyone one is different in our ways. 

God made us different so that we can complement each other; where you are weak, someone is strong, and it does not make this person better than you. It should encourage us to work together for the greater good of all. A symphony orchestra is made up of different musicians with different musical instruments. Because they work and play together, they produce harmonious music pleasing to the soul. Let us come together, complement each other’s effort, play our part and leave the rest to God, who has fearfully and wonderfully created us.

Notices

Live Stream of Morning Prayer and Mass have started, so please join us on YouTube (St. Anselm Hayes) during the weekday offices.

All Saints Day is on 1st November but will be moved to Sunday 3rd November, and All Souls’ Day, which falls on the 2nd of November, will be moved to Monday 4th November.

Please take note that the launching of the Boys’ Brigade and Girls’ Association has been moved to 5th November.

We need volunteers to work as sides people to support the Church Wardens before, during and after worship by welcoming people to church.

Please sign up to read the scriptures during divine worship.

Please support the church generously through your giving at stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/giving

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Harden Not Your Heart

Those of us who are familiar with the 1662 Second Edition of the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) of the Church of England will still have this quotation ring a bell in our minds because it is one of the verses in Venite, Exultemus Domino (Psalm 95), “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,  as on that day at Massah in the wilderness…” This Psalm is also quoted in Hebrews 4:7: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” 

Every Christian hears the voice of God, and it is always important to listen and obey; we must not pretend that we are not hearing His voice. It is important to note that temptation is always there for us to set aside the voice of God and do what we feel is right, but it will lead nowhere because it is not from God.

 We hear the voice of God in different ways, and we must always discern that voice. The voice of God can be heard through the devotional study of His word, through constant prayers, through our sisters and brothers in the Lord, through our fellowships, experiences, prophesies, etc. The question worthy of meditation is whether we are allowing the voice of God to impact our actions, decisions, and way of life. If we accept God as our shepherd, we will hear His voice, and He will also listen to ours.

 Jesus did nothing without listening to the voice of the Father and being always obedient to Him. He could have done his own thing, but he listened and humbled himself to death on the cross. This is the example that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ presents to all of us: to listen to and obey the voice of God, open our hearts to it, and not harden our hearts.

Notices

There is a PCC Meeting immediately after Mass.

Please take note that the launching of the Boys’ Brigade and Girls’ Association has been moved to 5th November.

We will start Live streaming of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer on Monday.

We need volunteers to work as sides people to support the Church Wardens before, during and after worship by welcoming people to church.

Please sign up to read the scriptures during divine worship.

Please support the church generously through your giving at stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/giving

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Mens Sana In Corpore Sano

One of the advantages we have in this parish is that we have two priests! And this advantage is increased, I believe, because Fr Josiah and I come literally from different places, with different life experiences, different cultural backgrounds, different perspectives. And all these differences inevitably result in differing theological and spiritual emphases. Not better or worse, just different. Next week’s pew sheet notes will be written by Fr Josiah, and I don’t know – and probably he doesn’t yet know! – what he might want to write about. So, I’ve rather jumped the gun by writing this week about St Lukestide even though St Luke’s day is not until the week after next, on 18th October.

My title for these notes is a famous Latin phrase which is usually translated as ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’. You might wonder what this has got to do with St Luke, but Luke has traditionally been thought of as a doctor, and so he has become associated with health and healing. As an example, our bishop is having a special service in St Andrew’s Holborn on Wednesday 16th October which will incorporate the ministry of healing. I hope that some of you might want to come with us to this service.

The idea of a healthy mind in a healthy body comes, not from a Christian source, but from a Roman poet named Juvenal, who wrote a poem, 200 years after Jesus’s ministry, which includes the phrase ‘mens sana in corpore sano’.

The danger of this way of thinking about our health is that it might seem to suggest that our minds and our bodies are two separate things, and that one of them is inside the other one! In turn, this might lead us to think that we can either work on our mental health, or we can work on our bodily health, or both, but that these two aspects of our overall health are independent of one another. I’m not at all sure that is a good way of thinking about it.

 The reality, I think, is that mental health and bodily health are just two ways of thinking about the same thing. We cannot have a healthy mind if we neglect our physical health, and we can’t have a healthy body if we neglect our mental health.

This, I think, is how we should understand the message of St Lukestide. Our health is one, God-given thing, and we have a duty to look after it. Looking after our health is an aspect of the gratitude that we owe to our creator, that attitude of thankfulness which is part and parcel of the Christian way of life.

Notices

Our next PCC Meeting is on 13th October, immediately after Mass.

Please take note that the launching of the Boys’ Brigade and Girls’ Association has been moved to 5th November.

We need volunteers to work as sides people to support the Church Wardens before, during and after worship by welcoming people to church.

Please sign up to read the scriptures during divine worship.

Please support the church generously through your giving at stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/giving

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Have Your Way LORD

Sometimes, we ask this question, “What is the will of God?” This is a huge theological question that many theologians have looked at. Our dear St. Thomas Aquinas, an astute theologian in his ‘Summa Theologiae’, says that God is “the highest good” and posits that “God alone is good essentially”. James 1:17 is clear, “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” Only God can give us what is good, and this is the reason why we are all admonished to ask God to have his way continually. We do not know what is best for us, so we must always leave everything before the throne of grace so that the one who possesses all perfect things will give us what is best.

How often do we ask God to have His way after we have prayed and presented our petitions to him? Ending our prayer with ‘Have your way, LORD’ is always a joy. It is not only to let him know that he knows best but also to let him know that it is through him that we live, move, and have our being; it is to accept the authority of God in our lives and to proclaim to Him that we depend on Him and not on our strength and abilities. It is to show that his council and decisions are the best for our lives.

In our lives, let us tell God to have his way; in our marriages, let us invite him to come in and have his way; in our workplaces, let us ask him to go and have his way; in our difficult times, let us call him to have his way, in our relationships let us pray to Him to have his way, because he is the ‘highest good’, he alone is good essentially. If we allow God to have his way, we are relieved of all the burden because he will take it from us.

Notices

Our next PCC Meeting is on 13th October, immediately after Mass.

Please take note that the launching of the Boys’ Brigade and Girls’ Association has been moved to 5th November.

We need volunteers to work as sides people to support the Church Wardens before, during and after worship by welcoming people to church.

Please sign up to read the scriptures during divine worship.

Please support the church generously through your giving at stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/giving

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“No one Comes to The Father Except Through Me”

These famous words from our Lord in St John’s gospel (chapter 14:11) would seem to be crystal clear. They follow immediately after Jesus’s assertion that “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. ” End of discussion, you might say. No wriggle room, no possibility of differing interpretations.

 So, it’s hardly surprising that the Holy Father, Pope Francis, has caused a bit of a stir in remarks he recently made to a gathering of young people from different faiths during his visit to Singapore.

 “All religions are a path to God,” Francis said. “There is only one God, and we, our religions, are languages, paths to God. Some Sikh, some Muslim, some Hindu, some Christian, but they are different paths.”

 But surely, Jesus’s words in John’s gospel mean exactly the opposite? Jesus did not say, “I am a way” – he said, “I am the way. ” If no-one can come to the Father except through Jesus, how can these different faiths all be paths to God as Pope Francis declared them to be?

 To try and find an answer to this difficult question, I think we must re-examine our

understanding of the incarnation – that fundamental doctrine which teaches us that the man Jesus is also God incarnate, or in other words, God made flesh.

 Jesus is recognised as God made flesh because Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, as we heard in Peter’s words from last Sunday’s gospel reading. But the Christ and the man Jesus are the same and yet different – just as the Word, the second person of the Holy Trinity, is God, but not the same as God the Father. The Word is both before and after the man Jesus: indeed, before and after have no meaning when we talk of God because God is outside and beyond time.

 Human pathways to the divine have developed both before Jesus and after Jesus – yet because Jesus is the Word made flesh it is possible for paths that are different in time to still be the same path.

In our world in both the past and the present, these different paths have been used to justify violence and destruction. That cannot be right. Let us pray for a clearer and more generous interpretation that can ultimately bring all our paths together as we strive to understand God’s mysterious revelation of himself to the human race.

Notices

Please take note that the launching of the Boys’ Brigade and Girls’ Association has been moved to 5th November.

We need a person to volunteer as our Children’s Champion, if you would like to take up this role, please speak to Susan.

We need volunteers to work as sides people to support the Church Wardens before, during and after worship by welcoming people to church.

Please sign up to read the scriptures during divine worship.

Please support the church generously through your giving at stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/giving

Downloads

Serve one Another with Your Gift.

Our scripture reading was profound during last Thursday’s Morning Prayer, and I have been meditating on it ever since. This week, I would like to share some thoughts that came to mind. The scripture reading is from 1 Peter 4:10-11, and it says,

“Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.”

God, in his infinite mercy has bestowed on us numerous gifts which differ from each other. Different levels of gifts have been given to each of us so that we can use them to serve; these gifts must benefit others through service so that, by and large, we will be serving one another for God to receive the glory. We must always accept that we will all account for the gifts God has given us. That is why it is always essential to stir up the gifts in us by using them to serve one another.

We must do whatever we do with every strength to the best of our abilities because it is for the glory of God and not for man. The moment we begin to think that we are doing it for man, we miss the mark. When we do it for God, we do not count the cost; even when we are vilified, we still do our best because it is for the glory of God. Let us also be joyful in every service we offer because working for God is always a privilege. It is challenging, but God will always be there for us, and blessings will be our portion.

Notices

We need a person to volunteer as our Children’s Champion. If you would like to take up this role, please speak to Susan.

We need volunteers to work as sides people to support the Church Wardens before, during and after worship by welcoming people to church.

Please sign up to read the scriptures during divine worship.

Please support the church generously through your giving at stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/giving

Downloads

You Have a Role to Play

“For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.” (1 Corinthians 12:14-15). This first letter to the Corinthians is an admonishment for all of us to play our part in the body of Christ. Each of us has a specific role in the church, the body of Christ. God has given all of us gifts and must be stirred up to enhance the growth and development of the Body of Christ. We need the hands to work, the eyes to work, the ears to work, the legs to work, etc., and we must accept that we all have different abilities and roles to play in the same Body of Christ. It is incumbent upon each family member to avail himself to do something in the church.

You may be wondering what you can do to support the church’s activities, but be assured that we have a lot of things that will need fresher hands or more hands. We are currently advertising for a volunteer to be our children’s champion; you can also volunteer to become a sides person, a reader and a leader for the Boys’ Brigade and Girls’ Association. Please be assured that you will never be alone because we are all here to support and learn from each other. Feel free to sign up if you would like to volunteer in any capacity.

It will be an honour and a privilege to have you join the team, ensuring the development of every facet of the church’s life. God wants us to stay together as one unit and avail ourselves of doing things in the church. May God help us do our part for the glory of His Holy Name.

Notices

Please be reminded that we are launching the Boys’ Brigade and Girls Association in September, so please pick a form at the back of the church or speak to Susan.

We need a person to volunteer as our Children’s Champion, if you would like to take up this role, please speak to Susan.

We need volunteers to work as sides people to support the Church Wardens before, during and after worship by welcoming people to church.

Please sign up to read the scriptures during divine worship.

Please support the church generously through your giving at stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/giving

Downloads

“No Other People is as Wise and Prudent as This Great Nation”

“No other people is as wise and prudent as this great nation.”

With these words, taken from our first reading today, Moses promised the people of Israel that this is how they would be regarded by other nations if they kept the commandments that they had been given by God.

 I wonder whether the same could be said for the modern state of Israel, or for our own country or, for that matter, any country in the world today?

Whether we look at the United States, at Russia, at North Korea, at our European neighbours, at China, nowhere does wisdom or prudence seem to be very much in evidence.

Wisdom is in short supply wherever nations are more concerned in extending their influence and power over others than they are in ensuring that all their citizens have access to the necessities of life.

 Prudence is in short supply wherever nations are exploiting their natural resources beyond their sustainable capacity, and where nations collectively are failing to deal with, or even acknowledge, the mounting crises of climate change, loss of biodiversity, and pollution.

What, you might wonder, has this got to do with the “the commandments of the Lord your God just as I lay them down for you”?

Well, quite a lot, I think.

We may think that the 10 commandments and the vast number of other elements of the Jewish law as detailed in the bible or through tradition (613 of them!) are mainly or only concerned with individual behaviour. But that would be to misunderstand them. Of course, they do apply to individuals, but they also apply to how societies should work. The 10 commandments, especially, have social as well as individual implications.

Adultery, for example, is condemned not just as a personal sin, but because it threatens the stability of the family unit; lying is condemned because it threatens social cohesion; honouring parents is important because it symbolises the obligations that one generation has to others.

If our society could live according to these laws, then maybe our country would be

considered by others to be “wise and prudent”!

Notices

Our next PCC Meeting is today immediately after Mass, so please take note. 

Please be reminbed that we are launching the Boys’ Brigade and Girls Association in September, so please pick a form at the back of the church or speak to Susan.

We need a person to volunteer as our Children’s Champion, if you would like to take up this role, please speak to Susan.

Please support the church generously through your giving at stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/giving

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Be Still … I Am God

We are all called to be still, wait and rely on the direction God would want to take. It is always tricky when we are called upon to be still and wait on the Lord. There are situations in our lives where we know what to do, and there are times we find ourselves in a state of dilemma, times where we cannot find solutions to some challenges we may have. It is important to note that being still means we must sometimes stop everything we are doing, stop our human activity so that we can quiet our minds and put aside the notion that we can control everything with hard work or through our strength. This admonishes us to stop worrying too much and always present our case to God Almighty. God simply tells us in Psalm 46:10a, “Be still and know that I am God…”

It is a declaration to all of us of the power, sovereignty, authority, and control over everything. God is the creator, and we are his creatures, so we should allow Him to have His way in our lives because he knows what is good for us. We are reminded of the importance of acknowledging, recognizing, understanding, and believing that he is limitless.

This Psalm moves us to a place of peace, a place of calm, a place of hope, a place of solace, a place of harmony and a place of constant hope. In all the difficulties, chaos, challenges, and storms, God tells us to rely on him, leave everything to him, “be still and know that I am God”. Why have we let ourselves be overwhelmed with things we cannot control? God says be still and know that I am God. Just cease-fire and ask him to take charge.

Notices

Our next PCC Meeting is on 1st September, so all PCC Members should please take note.

Please remember that we are launching the Boys’ Brigade and Girls Association in September, so please pick a form at the back of the church or speak to Susan.

We need a person to volunteer as our Children’s Champion, if you would like to take up this role, please speak to Susan.

Please support the church generously through your giving at stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/giving

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Then I am Strong

It is great to be back from holiday. I believe most of you would love to hear from me how things went, so I was thinking of sharing the beautiful moments and the awful ones as well in this week’s edition of the pew sheet, but on Friday, the scripture reading for morning prayer touched my heart, and I would like us to meditate on it. It was from 2 Corinthians 12:9b-10, which says, “… So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”

We are all weak; we sometimes become overwhelmed, tired, and stressed, and we will need a place of rest where we pause and ask God to have his way in our lives. Through this weakness, we realize God is the only source of dependence. There may be friends, family, and work colleagues, but God is the only dependable one; he does not leave us alone but strengthens us to move on with renewed energy. We must always acknowledge our weakness before God and not be ashamed because He alone is perfect and faultless.

We must always be ready to experience difficult situations that belittle, humiliate, make us feel unwanted, and overwhelm us. We should regard them as part of the process that will strengthen our faith in God and acknowledge that it is part of our Christian journey. Therefore, we must not be sad and act like people without hope because when we are weak, then comes strength from God Almighty.

Notices

Our next PCC Meeting is on 1st September, so all PCC Members should please take note.

Please remember that we are launching the Boys’ Brigade and Girls Association in September, so please pick a form at the back of the church or speak to Susan.

All Brigade Volunteers should see Fr. Josiah to get their DBS sorted.

Please support the church generously through your giving at stanselm.matthewcashmore.com/giving

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