St Thomas à Becket
Pews News
Priest-in-Charge: The Reverend Lucy Sullivan
Tel: 01243 941 551 Email: mthrlucy.pagham@gmail.com (Rest day: Friday)
Licensed Lay Minister: Mrs Rosemary Towse
Email: rosemarytowse@talktalk.net
Churchwarden: Mr Alex Brockhurst
Tel: 07792 544259; Email: alex.brockhurst@hotmail.co.uk
Churchwarden: Mrs Sue O’Neill
Tel: 07867 904780; Email: suesdesignservices@gmail.com
Safeguarding Officer: Mrs Jan Brockhurst
Email: safeguarding@paghamchurch.org
Find us online: www.paghamchurch.org // StThomasPagham@gmail.com// @StThomasPagham
Registered charity number 1134842
SUNDAY 8tH OCTOBER 2023
EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
Sunday 8th 08:00 Holy Communion (St Richard’s only)
TRINITY 18 09:30 Parish Eucharist followed by coffee
14:00 Holy Baptism – Rupert Knight
Monday 9th 09:00 Morning Prayer (Pagham Church)
17:30 Evening Prayer (St Richard’s Church)
19:30 Adult Confirmation Class-
(Pagham Church Centre, Nyetimber Lane)
Tuesday 10th 10:00 Eucharist (St Richard’s)
Paulinus 18:00 Evening Prayer (Pagham Church)
19:00 Tuesday@7 (Pagham Church)
Wednesday 11th 13:30 Funeral- Jean Cooke
14:30 Tea & Chat for Macmillan
18:00 Evening Prayer (Pagham Church)
Thursday 12th 09:00 Morning Prayer (Pagham Church)
St Wilfrid 10:00 Holy Communion (Pagham Church)
Friday 13th No public worship today
Edward the Confessor
Saturday 14th No public worship today
Sunday 15th 08:00 Holy Communion (Aldwick and Pagham)
TRINITY 19 09:30 Parish Eucharist followed by coffee
14:00 Holy Baptism Maxwell and Olivia
16:00 Getting to know St Paul (Pagham church)
17:30 Evening Prayer (Pagham church)
The Collection plate– If you would like to make an offering, please use the contactless Payaz machine or the collection plate, both can be found by the door. Thank you for your generosity.
Hymns
Introit: 97 Christ is made the sure foundation
Gradual: 18 All I once held dear
Offertory: 463 My song is love unknown
Final: 32 And can it be
The Collect (Opening Prayer) for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity:
Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us your gift of faith that,
forsaking what lies behind and reaching out to that which is before,
we may run the way of your commandments and win the crown of everlasting joy; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Old Testament reading: Isaiah 5: 1- 7
Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watch-tower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!
Psalm 80: 9- 17 The response to the psalm is as announced.
New Testament Reading: Philippians 3: 4b- 14
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 21: 33- end
‘Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watch-tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They said to him, ‘He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.’
Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes”?
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.’
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
Prayers of Intercession
The sick and those who care for them: Barbara & Alan Crew, Karen Cox, Sheila King, Dawn Spurway Pearson, Mike Hatzfeld, Elizabeth, Pam Browning, Julie Green and Lucia.
Recently departed: Jean Cooke, Sheila Ridgewell.
Anniversary of death: Albert Piper (1st); James Sage (2nd); Charles Major (3rd); Daisy Major (4th); Ashley Courtenay, Nancy Courtenay, David Grout, Vera Barnes (7th).
For those to be baptised among them Rupert, for his parents and Godparents.
We pray for peace and especially for and with the people of Ukraine. We pray for all those caught up in conflict, and for those seeking safety and refuge on these shores.
We pray for Ford Prison: for prisoners, staff and their families, in Prisons week.
For urgent prayer, contact Gillian Purvis (267597) or Pat Rush (262561) to start the Prayer Chain.
Post Communion Prayer: We praise and thank you, O Christ, for this sacred feast: for here we receive you, here the memory of your passion is renewed, here our minds are filled with grace, and here a pledge of future glory is given, when we shall feast at that table where you reign with all your saints for ever. Amen.
Next week’s readings: Dedication Festival
1 Kings 8: 22- 30; Psalm 122; Hebrews 12: 18- 24; Matthew 21: 12- 16.
2022 Link to Hope Shoebox Appeal
Are you able to provide empty shoeboxes for us to fill- please? boxes can be left at the back of church. Many thanks!
Leaflets are now available at the back of the church. Please bring boxes to church by Sunday 5th November. Pick up a leaflet and fill a box – or if you feel that you cannot fill a whole box, perhaps you could supply some items or money towards the transport costs. Every little helps. Details – Trudi Kearsley 263597/07703597353
Yr7 Church Support Letters for 2024 admissions
Mthr Lucy will be available to meet with children and parents seeking Yr7 admission church support on Saturday 7th October from 11am- 12noon at Pagham Church. Please let Mthr Lucy know you will be attending. If you have missed this session, please contact Mthr Lucy.
Tea & Chat
Join us on Wednesday 11th October for this month’s gathering. This time in aid of Macmillan please do spread the word and invite your friends.
Friends of Pagham church
On Saturday 14th October at 14:30 the Friends of Pagham Church invite you to ‘A Walking tour of Pagham Church followed by tea and refreshments’. Hosted by David Smith comprising a short talk followed by a walk around the Church. Price £8 per head. Please sign-up in church- there are a maximum of 30 places for this event.
Confirmation Courses
Please pray for our candidates preparing for Confirmation with Bishop Ruth on the 17th October 19:00 at St Mary’s Clymping. Suzi, Natalie and Michelle. All are welcome to join us on the 17th to support them.
Admission to Holy Communion 2023
Sessions continue on Saturday mornings 10:00- 11:00 at Pagham church, on the 30 th September, 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th October. The children will be admitted to Holy Communion in a special service at 16:30 on All Saints’ Sunday – 5th November. Please pray for our candidates.
Getting to know Paul
In the autumn we will be running a study course on the writings of St Paul- the dates of these sessions are Sunday 15th & 22nd October and 12th & 19th November, at 16:00 in St Andrew’s Chapel at Pagham Church. Do pick-up a flyer for these sessions which include details on how sessions will run suggested pre- reading. A sign-up list is now available.
Christmas Fair
We hope to run something of a Christmas Fair on Saturday 2nd December at the Church Centre. If you are able to help with the preparations for this, please speak to Sue O’Neill (details above).
News from our schools
Nyewood Infants and Juniors schools are in consultation with parents, carers and all stakeholders; including the Diocese and the local community, about joining the Bishop Luffa Learning Partnership (BLLP). You can learn more about the BLLP here https://www.bishopluffalp.org.uk/
Please do continue to pray for the school communities as they give time and prayerful consideration to this consultation and the best path forward for the children, staff and families.