An ecumentical creationtide service at St George´s Church, as we pray together for our climate, our planet, our world. Friday 20th September, 7pm. With so much devastating news about climate chaos, biodiversity loss and pollution, it is easy to fall into despair. But as people of faith, we have hope: in the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness.”And Christian hope can be very active. To hope in a biblical context does not mean to stand still and be quiet, but rather groaning, crying, and actively striving for new life amidst the struggles.So the theme chosen for this year is: “Wait and commit ourselves to Creation.” We not only cling to faith and hope, but we commit ourselves to address the needs of our climate, for the renewal of life. As every year, our prayer for the care of creation has an ecumenical flavour, as we pray and act for our common home. Triune God, Creator of all, we confess, that we have not known how to relate to the Earth as a mothering gift from you your maternal gift; that we have not heard the groans of all your creatures, numbed by our selfishness, greed and lack of commitment. We ask you, God of goodness, that, through your Son Jesus Christ, who taught us to be compassionate and merciful, to recreate us in the Holy Spirit and inspire in us the commitment to serve you faithfully so that we listen to and heal the Creation, making flourish on this earth the first fruits of eternal hope. To you Father, we ask this through your Son Jesus Christ, Redeemer,in the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.Click here to see Look at the World, a Harvest Anthem by John Rutter, comissioned in 1996 by the Council for the Protection of Rural England, as "a widely-usable choral song or anthem on the theme of the environment and our responsibility towards it"
Matthew is regarded as one of the twelve apostles and author of the gospel bearing his name. He is mentioned in Matthew chpts 9, 10 as a tax collector who converted to follow Jesus, but other gospels relating similar passages describe Jesus's calling of a tax collector called Levi, the son of Alphaeus, and do not explicitly associate him with the name Matthew. According to early church writer, Clement of Alexandria, after the ascension of Christ, Matthew preached the gospel to the Jewish community in Judea, before taking it abroad. Church tradition has it that he visited Ethiopia, where he converted Ephigenia, the virgin daughter of King Egippus, to Christianity and admitted her as a nun. When Hirtacus succeeded Egippus as king, he asked Matthew if he would persuade Ephigenia to marry him. Matthew invited him a service the following Sunday, but then rebuked him for lusting after the girl, as she was now a nun and therefore a bride of Christ. The king was so enraged that he ordered his bodyguard to kill Matthew as he stood at the altar, making him a martyr. His tomb is located in the crypt of Salerno Cathedral in southern Italy. Most modern scholars now believe that the Gospel of Matthew was written anonymously, and not by Matthew. While there are indications that the gospel’s stories of Jesus were gathered in Hebrew and later translated into Greek, it is generally thought that much of the content drew upon the first gospel to be written, that of St Mark, though supplemented with some of the author`s material from other sources. Because of the likely connection with tax collecting, St Matthew is the patron saint of accountants, bankers, bookkeepers, security guards, and stockbrokers. Picture above: part of a painting of St Matthew by Peter Paul Rubens - http://www.artbible.info/art/topics/rubens-apostles-series, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32560018
The Campestre Arts Festival takes place over the last weekend of September, at Fr Hilary´s cortijo, Casa Campestre, in the village of Fuente del Conde, Iznájar. The festival, which runs each day from 6pm – 10pm, supports the charity Age in Spain - the first national charity in Spain to be dedicated to the welfare of English-speaking older people. We would be delighted to welcome visitors from Malaga and the costas. Campestre Arts can best be described as a pop-up art gallery, displaying paintings & sculptures by local artists. There is an opportunity to buy their works, and a percentage of the sales goes to Age in Spain. As well as the art, there are workshops, tapas & drinks, and live music every night. Last year´s Festival raised €1800 for Age in Spain. There is a short video of the event here. All the details of this year´s Festival are on the website, here. If you would like to check into a workshop you can do that here. There is more information in this month´s El Corazón magazine, here. The event supports Age in Spain, which you can learn about here, and is supported by the Ayuntamiento of Iznájar.
Generosity Week is a week set aside in the season leading up to Harvest, to thank God for his generosity to us, and help us to find ways to respond. It provides a route into thinking through how as a church we can grow a spirit of generosity and increase our giving. The national week is 29 September – 6 October 2024, but churches have the freedom to choose a week around that time that best suits them. Some of the things that churches do in Generosity Week include:➡️A Generous Church Review, to provide a baseline/starting point ➡️Plan two Sundays’ worth of services, one on gratitude and one on generosity ➡️Think about regular giving to the church, or offering our time as a volunteer ➡️Look at the church and its interests and see how we can increase our generosity ➡️Review the resources on the generosity week web page, to see what might be most helpful for us. Read the detail on the Church of England site here. Download the Generosity Week newsletter here.Quote from Rev Dr Sam Wells, vicar of St Martin in the Fields, London, to his congregation:“If you don’t give because no one’s ever asked you, I’m asking you now.If you don’t give regularly because you’ve never got round to it, I’m saying today’s the day.If you don’t give much because you think St Martin’s doesn’t need it, I’m telling you that it does.If you don’t give a lot because you don’t have a lot, I’m saying your giving something is an example to everyone else.If you don’t give more because no one’s ever said thank you, I’m thanking you right now.If you already give until the pips squeak, I’m saying that’s wonderful, and nudge the person next to you to do the same.”Listen to the song, Generous Giver, here.
