28/7/24
Your weekly update from the Benwell & Scotswood Team.
Click below to read this week's information and latest news.
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Services this week
Sunday 28 July
9.30am - St John's Holy Communion
11am - Hub service at St James (Parish Eucharist
4pm - St Margaret's Evening prayer
Tuesday
9.30am - Morning Prayer at Venerable Bede
4.30pm - Bible study with Farsi translation at St James
Wednesday
9.30am - Morning Prayer at Venerable Bede
Thursday
9.30am - Morning Prayer at Venerable Bede
10.30am - Holy Communion at Venerable Bede
Sunday 28 July
9.30am - St John's Holy Communion
11am - St James' patronal festival
4pm - St Margaret's Evening prayer
Dates for your Diary
Sat 3 Aug
Benstock Festival at St James
3pm - free family friendly art activities
5.30pm - doors open for music festival
Sat 11 Aug
4pm - David's final service at St James'
News
GET YOUR TICKETS FOR BENSTOCK '24!
It's back! On Saturday 3rd August at St James' Church.
Buy your tickets at benstock.org
Benstock 24 is the biggest music festival in Benwell this year. Stacked with the best up-and-coming talent and established names, this is the place to feel the beats and dig the vibes. Chill with the music and enjoy a night to remember.
Bands, licensed bar and more!
Free family friendly art and activities from 3pm.
Bands from 5.30pm - tickets £10 (or £5 for those who are unwaged).
All proceeds will go to the 'Something Wonderful' project, working with the vulnerable and isolated and strengthening the community of Benwell. More info at benwellscotswood.com/somethingwonderful
David's farewell celebration
A celebration of David’s ministry of over 39 years, and farewell to David and Elspeth as they prepare to leave Benwell and Scotswood.
Sunday 11th August 4 pm at St James, Benwell
Farewell Eucharist to mark David’s retirement
Preacher: Revd Yvonne Greener, Area Dean of Gateshead
Followed by Celebration Supper in St James Church Hall until 8pm
(food will be provided but all contributions welcome!)
St James' patronal festival
Join us at this Sunday's Hub service to celebrate St James' feast day together at 11am. (this is usually on 25th July but we have transferred it to the Sunday)
During this most special occasion there will be 6 people being baptised, please pray for Amin, Amir, Arya, Divine, Helen, and Leili as they take this big step in their journey with God.
St John's Coffee Morning
Saturday 3rd August 10am - 12pm.
Homemade Cakes and Scones. Also grab a bargain with rails of new and nearly new Clothes.
Dogs are not only allowed but are welcome!
Embrace - Gaza appeal
The people of Gaza are living through an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Israel’s response has led to indiscriminate civilian suffering, with residents forced to move from place to place in search of safety. Food and medical supplies have all but run out; water, electricity, and fuel have been cut off.
The people of Gaza were already on their knees with 80% of residents reliant on humanitarian aid to survive. Please, can you make a donation into help in their hour of need?
You can donate online, by clicking below, or by calling 01494 897950. Your gift will support Embrace’s Christian partners in the immediate aftermath of this humanitarian crisis and to help to heal the wounds it’s caused across Israel – Palestine.
Sunday Worship
Sunday 28 July 2024
St James
Red
Readings
2 Corinthians 4.7–15
7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. 8We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. 11For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. 12So death is at work in us, but life in you.
13 But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—‘I believed, and so I spoke’—we also believe, and so we speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. 15Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
[NRSV]
Matthew 20.20–28
20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favour of him. 21And he said to her, ‘What do you want?’ She said to him, ‘Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.’ 22But Jesus answered, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?’ They said to him, ‘We are able.’ 23He said to them, ‘You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.’
24 When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. 25But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 26It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; 28just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’
Intercessions
Prayers for others:
John Nicholson
Malcolm Smith
Paulette Thompson
John Peterson
Maria Hawthorn
Herbert Agbeko
Ellis Nelson
Pauline Nelson
Michelle Wilson
Peter Wilson
Alan Taylor
Maureen Taylor
Irene Foskett
Lorraine Atkinson
Pat Law
Moe and Mary
Hilary Dixon
Lynn Mosby
Nelly
Irene Scaife
Baby Alice Rose, Jodie and family
Other
The ongoing situation in Russia, Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, Sudan and all other places at war.
Those preparing for baptism.
If you would like to add someone to the prayer list please email church@benwellscotswood.com
The name will stay on the list for 1 month unless requested to be long-term.
Sermon
Revd Chris
Today we remember St James the Great. So called ‘great’ not because he was any better than the other disciple, ‘James the less’, but because he was probably bigger and/or older. And our Gospel today dispels any illusions of James’ moral or social ‘greatness’.
James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee, were both Jesus’ disciples and their mother asks Jesus if they may sit either side of his throne when he enters his heavenly kingdom. Jesus says ‘no’ to this request. They are put firmly in their place, and all it achieves is making the other disciples very grumpy.
However, James and John were among Jesus’ closest friends. Jesus himself gave them the pretty cool nickname of “sons of thunder” - we presume because of their hot-headedness, and their rash decision making. From the very beginning we get a sense of their spontaneity and determination. They were amongst Jesus’ first followers, they follow immediately when Jesus’ asks, leaving behind their fishing boats and their father without question. They set out on an incredible journey not knowing what lay ahead. They travel with Jesus’ throughout Judea and, along with Peter, are among the few to witness the incredible events of the raising of Jairus' daughter and the Transfiguration of Jesus. They are also with Jesus on that most terrible of nights in the Garden of Gethsemane, falling asleep while Jesus prays in his last moments before his arrest.
Today our focus is on just one brother, James, who surely has one of the most dramatic and unexpected journeys in death and life. He went from fisherman to the leader of the church in Jerusalem and presided over a council that made the incredible shift from Christianity as a Jewish sect, to being a religion open to both Jews and gentiles. Eventually he was murdered by King Herod Agrippa for his faith.
The legend goes that, after his death, his followers took his body and escaped in a boat. They were set adrift until they landed in Spain where they buried his body. The relics were lost for 800 years until a shepherd, guided by the light of stars, rediscovered them. A city grew around it called Santiago de Compostela, which (possibly) means “Saint James of the field of stars”.
Since then Santiago de Compostela has become the destination for probably the most famous Christian pilgrimage route in Europe. There are still thousands upon thousands of people each year who set out over mountains and along coasts to pay their respects to James. This is why, more than any other saint, James has become associated with pilgrimage and journeys.
The scallop shell has become his symbol because pilgrims would pick up scallop shells from the Galician coast, pinning them to their hats and cloaks as proof they had made the journey. Shell symbols are still used as markers along the pilgrimage routes today. The shell’s ridges and grooves are said to symbolize the many different routes, from all corners of the world, converging at the tomb of Saint James. It has become a symbol of rebirth, hospitality and nourishment- the scallop being served as food on the journey, and the shell acting as a cup or plate.
It is a particularly important symbol for us today. On this celebration of St James’ 5 people will be baptised in the font under the great stained-glass window depicting our saint holding his pilgrim’s staff with a scallop shell pinned to his hat. The candidates will even be baptised using a scallop shell to scoop the water onto their heads and as soon as they have been baptised, we will say the prayer:
within the company of Christ’s pilgrim people [may you] daily be renewed by his anointing Spirit, and come to the inheritance of the saints in glory.
The shell symbol has been borrowed from St James for baptism for centuries to signify the beginning of a pilgrimage through life. It reminds us that baptism is where we set out on the most exciting journey even though we do not know what lies ahead. It is a journey as mysterious as following the paths of stars, but with the very real support, hospitality, and nourishment of fellow travellers along the way.
We go forward open to God’s transformation, open to his guidance, and ready to accept God’s generous gift of new life, without knowing where it might take us. But if we follow our own grooves of the shell towards the same heavenly destination, then those grooves will also represent the rays of Christ’s light extending out into the world.
Amen.