Royston Parish Church (Herts)

Royston Parish Church News - Sunday 6th September - Creationtide

2026-09-06 Notice sheet - updated.docx Download

ROYSTON PARISH CHURCH - where all are welcome and God's love is shared

You can download the paper copy of our news sheet from the link at the side of this page.

If you would like regular copies of the Notice Sheet emailed to you please email the parish office at admin@roystonparishchurch.org.uk.

Diary

Saturday 5th September

10:00-11:30 Church Café (Tea / Coffee / Hot Chocolate only £2 - Free Biscuits)

CREATIONTIDE BEGINS

Sunday 6th September

09:00-09:45 Communion Service that is quiet and reflective. Guest speaker: Madela Baddock ("Take the Jump")

10:30-11:40 Communion Service with guest speaker: Madela Baddock, (ambassador for "Take the Jump")music/choir, children's groups/toy area, followed by refreshments

11:45-12:15 Treble Makers

15:30-17:00 Tea Time Praise

Tuesday 8th September

09:00-09:30 Morning Prayer (incorporating prayer requests that have been left in church)

10:00-12:00 Service Rota meeting in church

Wednesday 9th September

11:00-11:25 Communion Service that is quiet and reflective, followed by refreshments

13:00-15:30 Knit and Natter (where all are welcome to meet and chat)

18L00-19:30 Chorister Practice

18:45-20:00 Choir Practice

Thursday 10thSeptember

09:00-11:00 Tots in Church

13:00-15:00 Church Cleaner

19:00-21:00 Bell-Ringers Practice

Saturday 12th September

10:00-16:00 Heritage Open Day / Historic Churches Bike Ride. Refreshments available all day (Tea / Coffee / Hot Chocolate only £2 - Free Biscuits; also scones can be purchased)

Sunday 13th September

09:00-09:45 Communion Service that is quiet and reflective

10:30-11:40 Communion service with music/choir, children's groups/toy area, followed by refreshments

11:45-12:15 Treble Makers

Intercessions

We pray for all Christians worldwide:

For all Christians in Benin, Ivory Coast, Togo
For all who worship at Trinity Life Church; Peter Chapman
For the work of our mission partners, Royston Home Start

Pray for the community of Royston:

For our local health centres
For our local road sweepers and those who empty our bins

We pray for our world and ECO projects:

The first week in September is "Zero Waste Week" (see zerowasteweek.co.uk) in which we are encourage to reduce our waste and set goals to reuse, recycle and repurpose.

We pray for the sick and suffering:

Emma Thompson
Jackson Herbert
Marion
Paula Walker
Peggy Dawes
Pat Tidey
Mike Brown
Keith & Elaine Edwards
Val Brown
Angie & Ken Rushall
Peter Coates
Peter Foster
Max Elliott
Clare Rice
Sandra Landells (nee Cornwell)

We pray for those who have died in the faith of Christ:

Deceased Bereaved
Sylvia Penn Family and friends

We pray for those whose anniversaries fall at this time:
John Salmon, Dorothy Priest, Herbert WIlliams, Revd. John Gardiner

NOTICES

ROYSTON PARISH CHURCH GAINS “ECO CHURCH SILVER AWARD”!

Royston Parish church has been participating in the A Rocha Eco Church scheme since 2021. This includes completing a survey to consider what actions our church is taking to care for creation and reduce our carbon footprint. The survey covers five categories: worship & teaching, buildings & energy, land & nature, community & global engagement, and lifestyle. We achieved the bronze award in 2022, and since then have been using the survey as a framework to inspire us to take further action. We are excited to announce that our church community has just been awarded “Eco Church Silver”. Our speaker for creationtide, Madela Baddock, will be presenting us with the plaque to celebrate this achievement on Sunday 6th September.

PLASTIC BOXES: Chris would be very pleased to receive any plastic boxes, that fruit come in, the size used for grapes. Please just leave on the Jam table. Thank you

SPEAKER FOR CREATIONTIDE: MADELA BADDOCK FROM "TAKE THE JUMP"

Our Creationtide speaker this year is Madela Baddock, an ambassador for "Take the Jump", a grass-roots climate-action movement that encourages people to adopt six practical shifts for a more sustainable lifestyle. She will be speaking to us at both the 9am and the 10:30am services on Sunday 6th September. Creationtide is the period in the church calendar from 1st September (the World Day of Prayer for Creation) to 4th October (the Feast of St Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology). Our previous guest speakers for this season have included Oliver Franklin-Wallis speaking about his book, "Wasteland", and Professor Rachel Warren who spoke on "Climate Change: Science and Solutions". We look forward to welcoming Madela on 6th September.

For more information about "Take the Jump", see their website: www.takethejump.org

SAVE THE DATES: We have:

a HERITAGE OPEN DAY in Church on Saturday 12th September 10 am – 4 pm. Free entry. Join us for a day of discovery about where we live. The Royston Tapestry on full display at the Parish Church, as well as demonstration of the organ and bells and tours of the church and refreshments. Donations welcome on the day.

ALSO : FRIDAY 25TH SEPTEMBER 7.30 PM – 9 PM, ARTS FESTIVAL ORGAN RECITAL: in Church, with Steven Sivyer playing the Organ. Tickets in advance are £10 for adults or £3 for under 18s in advance at https://bit.ly/ArtsFestivalOrgan Doors open from 7 pm, refreshments will be served.

SATURDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER 10 AM TO 4 PM, ARTS FESTIVAL BOOK FAYRE: in Church,

HARVEST SUPPER: SATURDAY 3rd OCTOBER 6:00 pm: In Church, Tickets £12 individual / £30 family. Supper includes casserole, cottage pie or vegetarian alternative, with fruit crumble for dessert. Drinks available to buy. Entertainment included. To book please go to: https://tickets.myiknowchurch.co.uk/gb/NzcwMi0zNw/t

HELP WANTED! We have 2 events coming up during September, for which we'd like donations of cakes, and help to serve refreshments. We have the Heritage Open Day on Saturday 12th, and the Arts Festival is running a book fayre in our church building on Saturday 26th, during which we'll be selling refreshments, the proceeds of which will go to church funds. If you're able to spare an hour or more to help, or can make a cake or batch of scones for either event, please can you sign up on the sheets at the back of church. Thank you from the Events Committee.

MIKE ASKEW RIP: Mike Askew's funeral/celebration of life was held on Friday August 21st in Christchurch and you can see the livestream here: https://youtube.com/live/I04iQKSNc3I?feature=share

BEDS & HERTS HISTORIC CHURCHES TRUST SPONSORED BIKE ‘N HIKE - SATURDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER 2025 Last year we in Royston raised £ 2,157 which was divided between BHHCT and our own parish funds. Only 11 churches in the two counties received the gold certificate awarded for exceeding £ 2,000, and we need both participants and sponsors this year to help us achieve another record Bike ‘n Hike total. Select your own route for cycling or hiking between the churches – there are over 600 churches to choose from, so make it as long or as short as you wish. Most churches will be open on the day. Sponsorship forms are now available online www.bedshertsct.org.uk or can be supplied by Mike Maze (245606 / [email protected])

CHILDREN’S CHURCH: During the school holidays, there will be no Children’s Church but activity sheets will be left for them on the red tables by the Toy Area. Please ensure you supervise your children. Thank you

WE HAVE A NEW BATCH OF CHURCH MUGS FOR SALE, at £10 each, sales go towards church funds. Available at Saturday coffee, or after church services.

A DAY OUT IN NORFOLK Jilly Hall, a former member of our congregation who has recently moved to Norfolk, has invited us to share in a day she is organising on Wednesday September 23rd. called "Celebrating God's Creation on Massingham Heath". The morning will be a walk in the beautiful countryside, followed by lunch, then an afternoon of creative work : drawing, painting, writing, photography. All materials provided, no expertise necessary, the day and the lunch are free.

Massingham is about an hour-and-a-half to reach by car. The day starts at 10.30. If interested, please contact Duncan Rodgers for further details.

[email protected]

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SUNDAY MORNING READING SHEET 6th September 14th CREATIONTIDE

The Reading of Prophecy of Jeremiah

The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

Judah mourns and her gates languish; they lie in gloom on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up. Her nobles send their servants for water; they come to the cisterns,
they find no water, they return with their vessels empty. They are ashamed and dismayed and cover their heads, because the ground is cracked. Because there has been no rain on the land the farmers are dismayed; they cover their heads. Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn because there is no grass. The wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail because there is no herbage. Although our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name's sake; our apostasies indeed are many, and we have sinned against you. O hope of Israel, its saviour in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveller turning aside for the night? Why should you be like someone confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot give help? Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not forsake us! Thus says the Lord concerning this people: Truly they have loved to wander, they have not restrained their feet; therefore the Lord does not accept them, now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins. Jeremiah 14:1-10

GOSPEL

Jesus told the crowd 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. Luke 12:16-30

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STAFF TEAM

Vicar: Revd Steven Sivyer (rest day MONDAY)

Telephone no. 01763 580242

Email: [email protected]

Curate: Jaime Roberts (rest day FRIDAY)

Telephone: 01763 580241

Email: [email protected]

Assistant Priest: The Reverend John Fidler

Telephone no. 01763 241886

Email: [email protected]

Reader: Emma Sivyer