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 17TH SEPTEMBER 2023
HARVEST FESTIVAL
Sunday 17th 08:00 Holy Communion (Pagham & Aldwick)
TRINITY 15 09:30 Parish Eucharist
13:00 Harvest Lunch (Church)
Monday 18th 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 19th 18:00 Evening Prayer (Pagham Church)
19:00 Tuesday@7 (Pagham Church)
Wednesday 20th 18:00 Evening Prayer (Pagham Church)
John Coleridge Patteson
Thursday 21st 09:00 Morning Prayer (Pagham Church)
St MARK 10:00 Holy Communion (Pagham Church)
Friday 22nd No public worship today
Saturday 23rd 12noon Holy Matrimony
Nigel Purdy & Sarah Levey
Sunday 24th 08:00 Holy Communion (St Richard’s only)
TRINITY 16 09:30 Parish Eucharist followed by coffee.
Hymns
Introit: 558 Praise & Thanksgiving
Gradual: Sheet Good Gifts for all (Tune: ‘We Plough the Fields and Scatter)
Offertory: 559 Praise God for the Harvest (Tune: When a Knight won his spurs)
Final: 133 Come ye Thankful
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.
The Collect (Opening Prayer) for Harvest:
Creator God, you made the goodness of the land, the riches of the sea and the rhythm of the seasons; as we thank you for the harvest, may we cherish and respect this planet and its peoples, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Old Testament reading: Deuteronomy 8: 7- 18
For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.
Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today. When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid waste-land with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock, and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you, and in the end to do you good. Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and the might of my own hand have gained me this wealth.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.
Psalm 65 The response to the psalm is as announced.
New Testament Reading: 2 Corinthians 9: 6- end
The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. As it is written,
‘He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever.’
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others, while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Gospel Reading: Luke 12: 16- 30
Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’
He said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.
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, Emilia Hogan, Julie Green and Lucia.
Recently departed: Nicola Simpson, Jeanne Outred, Ellen.
Anniversary of death: Lynette Mitchell (15th); Jack Pickett, Joyce Potter, (18th); Frank Goldsmith (19th); Doris Howell (20th); Alan Swan (21st); Thelma Hughes, Dorothy Denyer (22nd); Ethel Baldwin (1975) Evelyn Jenner (1993), George Harrison (23rd).
For those to be married among them for Rob Madden and Lydia Everett married here on Friday and Nigel Purdy and Sarah Levey to be married on Saturday.
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.
For urgent prayer, contact Gillian Purvis (267597) or Pat Rush (262561) to start the Prayer Chain.
Post Communion Prayer: Lord of the harvest, with joy we have offered thanksgiving for your love in creation and have shared in the bread and the wine of the kingdom: by your grace plant within us a reverence for all that you give us and make us generous and wise stewards
of the good things we enjoy, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Next week’s readings: Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
Jonah 3: 10- end of 4; Psalm 145: 1- 8; Philippians 1: 21- end; Matthew 20: 1- 16.
Meditation
The Meditation session scheduled for Wednesday evening (third Wednesday of the month) has been postponed until 27th September at 19:30, due to Mthr Lucy attending compulsory diocesan training. Sorry for the inconvenience. All are very welcome to join us next week- please see the website for more details.
2022 Link to Hope Shoebox Appeal
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 announce appointment times for completing church Support Letters shortly, once she has received details from the schools, please keep an eye on the pew sheet.
Confirmation Courses
Dates for the adult confirmation course are as follows: Mondays 18th, 25th September and 2nd, 9th October 19:30- 21:00 at the Pagham Parish Church Centre on Nyetimber Lane. This is in preparation for Confirmation with Bishop Ruth on the 17th October at St Mary’s Clymping. If you are interested in exploring this, please contact Mthr Lucy- details on the front page.
Admission to Holy Communion 2023
Mthr Lucy will be running a course for children in yr6 and above who wish to be admitted to Holy Communion. Sessions will run on Saturday mornings 10:00- 11:00 at Pagham church, on the 23rd & 30 th September, 7th, 14th, 15th and 21st October. The children will be admitted to Holy Communion in a special service at 16:30 on All Saints’ Sunday – 5th November. Please have a chat with Mthr Lucy if you think this is something that your child is ready for, and do get the dates in your diary! Sign-up sheets no available at the back of church.
Pints of View
The Rev’d Clive Ashley (retired priest in the parish) extends an invitation to all men who would like to meet up for a pint (or whatever) and an opportunity to discuss current issues and concerns. On the second Thursday of the month, Thursday 12th October 7.30pm at The Lamb. Just turn up. BYO Pint!… (A group for women will be announced later in the month.)
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 Sundays 15th & 22nd October and 12th & 19th November, at 16:00 in St Andrew’s Chapel at Pagham Church. The first session will look at the writings of Paul and provide an introduction to traditional readings of these writings, while the second and third sessions will share two 21st Century books by Paula Gooder – Pauline Scholar and Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral. These books are Phoebe A Story (Hodder & Stoughton 2018) and Lydia A Story (Hodder & Stoughton 2022) available online and from all good book sellers. You might like to get reading now!
SUPPORT FOR THE FOODBANK IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER.
Urgently needed this week: Durable plastics bags, 1ltr UHT Fruit Juice, 1ltr UHT Milk, Tinned Fruit, Pasta Sauce, Tinned Fish, Tinned Custard, Tinned Rice Pudding, Pasta, Tinned Meat, Cereal, Shampoo/ Conditioner, Nappies- size 4/5.