Thank you
Deacon Mike wishes to share a heartfelt "Thank you" for your prayers, cards and gifts on the occasion of his 25th Anniversary as Deacon.
We had a lovely Mass and celebration on the day.
Fr Jim, Fr Barnabas and the Parish Pastoral Council invite us all to join our AGM on Saturday 13th September at 10am in the Parish Hall.
A wonderful write-up from Philip McWilliams, following the Cream Tea afternoon in aid of both our Parish Projects - raising a wonderful £652 in total to be split between the charities.
"We thank everyone for coming along and supporting the Cream Tea afternoon in the Parish Hall on Sunday, Aug 3rd at 3pm.
It included a live link-up with members of the Chhanv Foundation, one of our Parish projects for 2025, who as you know are an India-based charity which works to improve the lives of acid attack survivors. The event was such a success and is worth dwelling on what that means and why it was so.
First off, the hall was full and that generated its own ambience. Secondly, the decor in the hall was sweet, and the tea and scones and cream and jam were delicious.
But the live link-up added something new and unusual, a connection of some kind.
There was a technical connection, of course... a 'Google Meet' run from a laptop, video projected onto a screen for all to see, with automatic voice-to-text rendering for all to read. All very ably set up and managed by Tim Johnston.
70 of us and about 14 of them: Akriti, the charity representative, Ajeet the charity leader, and a dozen survivors of grievous crime linked in from multiple locations. At one location, a little noisier than the others, they were travelling to hospital with a co-worker who had become suddenly unwell.
Akriti managed the Indian end of the line with great confidence and, above all, translated the words of the survivors with clarity and care.
And what words they were... Kajul who talked about how she had finally reached a point in her recovery where she wanted once more to wear bright clothes - only to find that, such was the length and severity of her trauma, she no longer remembered her favourite colour. And Rainu, who announced that after so, so many years of recovery, rehabilitation, resistance and re-integration, not only was she now married but that, just last year, she had had a baby.
Ajeet, the CEO, explained some of the history of the organization and how, before 2014, there was not even a law against acid attack in India. Thanks to the Chhanv Foundation and the bravery of many of its damaged members, however, the Indian Parliament had enacted new legislation, describing it as "the most heinous of all crimes".
And the charity's and the survivors' message to the world was that, in the care shown by a group of people in a faraway place, for another group of people whose beauty shines anew through layers of disfigurement, we are reminded once more of the goodness that lies at the heart of our common humanity.
In some sense, I think nearly everyone in the hall picked up and took away a small slice of that message. Charity is a two-way street and, give as we do, we received something precious on Sunday - from a bunch of ladies in India, under whose burnt skin a glorious message burns yet more brightly.
Lucky us."
Finance and Fabric CommitteeThe minutes from the latest Finance and Fabric Committee meeting are on the website to view, along with a copy of the 'Premises Maintenance Work' list, which shows all the various items of expenditure being planned for, to keep the church 'running' and for investing into the future. This might be an interesting thing for parishioners to see...?
The Annual Accounts will continue to be posted up at the back of church each January when the Financial Reports are concluded.
You can find this on our website, under the 'Parish Groups and Links' tab, 'Finance and Fabric Committee'.
Or use this link: http://www.staugustinesbristol.co.uk/2011/11/parish-finance-committee.html
If there are any questions, please speak to Fr Jim or a member of the committee.
Reflections for Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C from Deacon Vincent.
1st Reading from the Prophet Jeremiah 38: 4-6, 8-10.
The book of Jeremiah concentrates upon how to cope with disaster. The disaster is the destruction of Jerusalem that the Jews thought was the city of God, now in ruins. The Temple was where God reposed, but that was in ruins, so where was God? Jeremiah is there to inform the people who were despairing of their God, that he was still in charge and would work things out for the nation, when it had re-discovered its’ Faith in God. In this selection Jeremiah has been preaching against the policies of the rulers, and they decided to drop him down a well so he would die and that would stop him ruining the morale of the fighting men. Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian warns the King that Jeremiah will die in the well unless he is lifted out. The King decides to rescue Jeremiah, the implication is that the King had nothing to do with Jeremiah’s persecution. (But one wonders). God gave Jeremiah a task to try and save the people from destruction, but the authorities continued to pursue a policy of alliances that would bring the destruction upon Jerusalem and the Temple; this brought Jeremiah into direct conflict with the rulers, hence he was living very dangerously and courageously for God’s word.
Psalm 40(39): 2-4, 18.
A lovely “Thanksgiving Prayer for help in time of need.” It might have been written because of Jeremiah’s plight. It shows that there is a pattern of those who would oppose God’s way. They will attack the one who dares speak the word of truth and try to shut down God’s voice. We need to learn from the Jeremiah’s of this age and try to discover the Word of God for today before they too are shut down.
2nd Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews 12: 1-4.
A timely warning for us to be on our guard against the wickedness of those opposed to the Word of God. We continue with the theme of discerning God’s word for today and having the courage to follow it even to the point of bringing harm upon ourselves. We are challenged to be courageous in the face of Opposition to the Word of God. Jeremiah and the Prophets all testify to this truth, that those who oppose God will try to silence his Word.
The Holy Gospel according to Luke 12: 49-53.
Jesus is trying to explain that although he has brought “Peace” to those who follow him. There will always be opponents who will try, as the Prophets of old had discovered, to silence that “Word”. It will split families and communities; we need to be ready and steel ourselves to face trials and tribulations for the “Truth”.
May God grace us with discernment and the courage to follow Christ.
Deacon Vincent.
