20/10/24
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 9.30am - St John's Holy Communion
9.45am - St Margaret's Holy Communion
11am - Hub service (Parish Eucharist) at St James'
Tuesday
9.30am Morning prayer at St Margaret's
4.30pm Bible study at St James
Wednesday
3.45pm Evening Prayer at St John's
Thursday
10.30am Venerable Bede - Holy Communion
Dates for your diary
Sun 27th October
11am - hub service moves to Venerable Bede
Sun 3rd November
All Souls commemoration of the departed - 4pm at St Margaret's
Sun 10th November,
9.30am St John's, Holy Communion followed by an Act of Remembrance.
11 am, Ven Bede Act of Remembrance followed by Holy Communion.
4pm, St Margaret's, Act of Remembrance and evening prayer
Mon 11th November,
10.55am, St James, Act of Remembrance at the war memorial.
News
Minute silence for Archie York and Jay Laws at 11am this Sunday
The community of Benwell has been devastated by the tragic gas explosion that has caused the deaths of 7 year old Archie and 30 year old Jay.
As a mark of tribute to them, we will begin our morning worship at St James with a minute silence at 11am. We will mark the start end end of the silence with ringing the church bell.
Donations for residents of Violet Close
Please take donations to Cornerstone Benwell, Armstrong Road, NE4 7TU. Please contact them if you are unsure of what to bring. Clothing, food, toiletries are needed. Islamic clothing, for men, women and children is needed.
Sunday 27th October, 11am - Moving to the Venerable Bede
From Sunday 27th October our 'hub' service (11am parish eucharist) will move to the warmer Venerable Bede Church for the winter months.
Venerable Bede, West Road, NE4 8AP
Every Sunday at 11am
From 27 October
Don't Forget this will also be the same day the clocks change! The clocks will go back one hour, so you get an extra hour in bed.
All Souls' Service - Thanksgiving for the departed
Sunday 3rd November, at 4pm
At St Margaret's Scotswood, NE15 6AR
Every year we hold a special service on All Souls' Day (or on the nearest Sunday).
During this service we gather to remember those we have lost, to pray for them, and light a candle in honour of them.
This year the service will take place on Sunday 3rd Nov at St Margaret's. Everyone is very welcome.
During the service a list of names of those we have lost will be read out, including those whose funerals have happened in the last 3 years. If you would like to add a name to the list please send an email to church@benwellscotswood.com (alternatively a paper list will be available in our churches).
If you have any questions or would like someone to talk to, please do let us know.
Remembrance 2024
We will be holding an Act of Remembrance in each of our churches this November. This is when we remember those who gave their lives in the First World War and all other wars, and we pray for an end to all conflicts.
On Remembrance Sunday -10th November
St John's Benwell Village 9.30am
Holy Communion followed by an Act of Remembrance.
Act of Remembrance followed by Holy Communion.
Act of Remembrance and prayer
On Armistice Day - Monday 11th November
St James, Benwell, 10.55am
Act of Remembrance at the war memorial inside St James' church.
Who will our new Rector be?
The process for finding a new Rector has begun!
We want to know your thoughts to help us, it's important that everyone in the community gets their say. So we have 3 questions for you:
What is exciting in the parish that our new Rector should know about?
What do you think will be the biggest challenges for the new Rector to tackle?
What kind of person would you like our new rector to be?
Please email your responses to church@benwellscotswood.com or write on a piece of paper and hand it to a churchwarden or Revd Chris.
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
Trinity 21
Green
Readings
Isaiah 53.4–12
4 Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases;yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities;upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way,and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.8 By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future?For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people.9 They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich,although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.11 Out of his anguish he shall see light;he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.12 Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors;yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Mark 10.35–45
35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to Jesus and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’ 36And he said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’ 37And they said to him, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.’ 38But Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ 39They replied, ‘We are able.’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; 40but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.’
41 When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. 42So Jesus called them and said to them, ‘You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45For 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:
Residents of Violet Close
Merton Lodge Community Centre
Tai and Derek
Emily Watson and family
Lawrence Okonkwo
John Nicholson
Malcolm Smith
John Peterson
Maria Hawthorn
Herbert Agbeko
Ellis & Pauline Nelson
Michelle Wilson
Peter Wilson
Alan & Maureen Taylor
Irene Foskett
Pat Law
Moe and Mary
Lynn Mosby
Irene Scaife
Baby Alice Rose, Jodie and family
Christina Wilson
Diane Humphrey
Joan, Mike, Aoife, Dervla and family
Rest in Peace
Archie York
Jay Laws
Lin
Vincent Patrick Flood
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
I must name Archie York and Jay Laws, and pay tribute to the residents of Violet Close. I know some of you know the families affected. No one can prepare anyone for the sudden death of a child, a friend, a member of our family, or community, people we spend time with, laugh, play, work and mourn with. Especially in such a senseless manner of a gas explosion. There are some types of suffering that we simply cannot make sense of. There is nothing we can say or do to make this better. I do not know what faith the families have or follow, if at all, but those of us who believe in God must not ever suggest that this was God’s plan, this is an event that should not have happened, it should never happen that a child and a young man should die.
*
As people are faith, we are not called to make sense of a senseless thing. What God calls us to do is offer what we can, to respond to the need, to hold the community so that they may grieve, and to pray so that no one feels alone in their suffering. To pray for Archie and Jay, to make an offering of our faith, our belief that they are held and cherished by God until we see them again.
*
Our first reading today may feel too close to home. It is a description of someone who suffers and dies. It is a very famous passage about ‘the suffering servant’, someone who suffered who did not deserve to, someone who experienced pain and said nothing.
It is a famous passage because it has been understood as a prophecy about Jesus – God’s chosen one who was wounded for our transgressions, an innocent lamb sent to slaughter, who poured himself out to death. But the one who did so to be with us in our suffering, to make intercession for us, to pray and advocate for those who did make the mistakes, and through his suffering he has entered into light, into glory.
*
In the first reading we hear about this great one who makes himself lower than others. Whereas, in our Gospel reading we have the disciple brothers James and John, who try to do the opposite, to make a claim for the top position asking Jesus ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.’ Obviously, this annoys the other disciples, but Jesus reminds them all that their job is not to argue and jostle with each other to be the top, but to serve one another other.
*
Our readings show that the pattern throughout scripture, throughout the whole story of God’s creation, to be the greatest we must be a servant, to become first we must be last. All of us hope to be at the top, to matter in this world, but Jesus turns that all upside down, he shows us that it is through grace that we enter into glory. The power of God is shown in transformation of the weakness and pain of this world, not competing with one another and avoiding showing weakness and pain. We must race to the bottom, not the top.
*
It is through this transformative grace that the greatest good comes out of the worst of situations. The people of Benwell have shown this incredible grace this week. At a time of such devastation and pain, with many people being evacuated from their homes, and many who have lost everything. The residents and wider community immediately jumped into action to offer shelter, food, clothing, and listening ears. Merton Lodge Community Centre, Cornerstone, local businesses La Famiglia, Greggs, Asda, offering meals and more.
*
To be with others in their suffering, not to try and erase it or make it unimportant, but to walk with others, to share the load, to ease the way and offer comfort and peace so that they may grieve. The people of the immediate area have been incredible, and I want to say thank you to them, not because it is for me to say thank you, but so it has been said publicly that you have embodied true love and community. Thank you.
*
To end with, there is one thing that I have always wondered about our Gospel passage, about what Jesus says to James and John: “to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.’” Jesus does not tell us who those spaces belong to. He seems to intentionally leave it a mystery for us. I don’t know who it is that will sit in those places, but I have a theory.
*
Jesus says “whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all”. I wonder if those places belong to those who have made the greatest sacrifices in life. I wonder if the top places belong to those who had the worst position in this life. Throughout the history of this world there will be unknown, unnamed, forgotten people who have suffered more than any other. The top places belong to those like Archie, Jay, or their families. I don’t know who will be sit on thrones either side of God, but I think these people will be near the top, treasured by God for all eternity. Those who have lost so much are not forgotten by God, their lives matter to us and to God.
*
Amen.