From the Vicarage - 14/01/2022

Dear Friends,

I commend to your prayers and reception our new teaching series starting on Sunday mornings and evenings at All Saints Church. I know of no better way for Churches and Christians to be healthy and happy than by depending on and learning from God’s word – this of course is always our creed for day to day living and the bed rock of all neighbourly and Christian service to the community. In this era I felt it particularly pertinent to focus on Practical Christian Living – how our faith affects our day to day living which of course in COVID times has become so disrupted. We will therefore be considering the epistle of James at morning services. In the evening we will allow the Spirit to refresh us with some “good news words” from Mark’s gospel. Do please pray for regular members of the preaching team and others I am seeking to deploy for them to be inspired.

As the new year gets underway I have been most encouraged to see so many still feeling safe to gather, encourage and learn. This of course inspires all those who teach and preach – thank you. May we all be those who seek to apply the faith we hold to daily life and hold out the good news of Christ to others. If you are unable to attend do note that sermons are recorded or livestreamed.

With prayers and good wishes,
Mark

From the Vicarage

As a New Year starts there is no better way to do this than with prayer. Whilst the prayer is longer than most (God it seems to me should not be short changed!) it is valuable in its scope, sincerity and simplicity of faith. I commend it to you that we seek to be the Lord’s followers together in this place for the sake of our local community, many networks and city.

A New Year Prayer 

Our Father and our God, as we stand at the beginning of this new year we confess our need of Your presence and Your guidance as we face the future.

We each have our hopes and expectations for the year that is ahead of us—but You alone know what it holds for us, and only You can give us the strength and the wisdom we will need to meet its challenges. 

So help us to humbly put our hands into Your hand, and to trust You and to seek Your will for our lives during this coming year.

In the midst of life’s uncertainties in the days ahead, assure us of the certainty of Your unchanging love.

In the midst of life’s inevitable disappointments and heartaches, help us to turn to You for the stability and comfort we will need.

In the midst of life’s temptations and the pull of our stubborn self-will, help us not to lose our way but to have the courage to do what is right in Your sight, regardless of the cost.

And in the midst of our daily preoccupations and pursuits, open our eyes to the sorrows and injustices of our hurting world, and help us to respond with compassion and sacrifice to those who are friendless and in need.

May our constant prayer be that of the ancient Psalmist: “Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end” (Psalm 119:33).

We pray for our nation and its leaders during these difficult times, and for all those who are seeking to bring peace and justice to our dangerous and troubled world.

We pray especially for Your protection on all those who serve in our armed forces, and we thank You for their commitment to defend our freedoms, even at the cost of their own lives. Be with their families also, and assure them of Your love and concern for them.

And our greatly valued public servants in the NHS who we especially remember with thanksgiving.

Bring our divided nation together, and give us a greater vision of what You would have us to be. Your Word reminds us that “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12).

As we look back over this past year we thank You for Your goodness to us—far beyond what we have deserved. May we never presume on Your past goodness or forget all Your mercies to us, but may they instead lead us to repentance, and to a new commitment to make You the foundation and centre of our lives this year.

And so, our Father, we thank You for the promise and hope of this new year, and we look forward to it with expectancy and faith.

This I ask in the name of our Lord and Saviour, who by His death and resurrection has given us hope both for this world and the world to come.

Amen

I shall be gathering teams to see we develop in the following areas, if you have an interest and would like to let me know then please drop me an email at mark.brown@allsaintsecclesall.org.uk

1. Our digital marketing footprint
2. Our pastoral care and seeking to re connect with members who we have lost touch with
3. Our forthcoming Lent course
4. Our work with young families
5. Our strategic and evangelistic outreach
6. Welcoming publications and packs (DTP and friendly writing skills needed)

Yours in Christ,

The Revd Canon Mark Brown

From the Vicarage - December 2021

Christmas future

Here is one thoughtful reflection upon the timeless gift given by our God and Father at Christmas time. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The words to be still and steadfast surely connect with us during these busy, anxious days. The pandemic once again is slowing down our walk as communities and churches. We pray for ourselves and all once again disrupted and disturbed by the new virulent variant.

May we also be invigorated by that sense that Mary Oliver captures well with her words “love deeply and without patience.” The spirit of God is not hindered by any restrictions and can create within us and those for whom we pray gratitude for the gift that has been given.

I am so grateful to be sharing my first Christmas with you at All Saints. I pray we may all find steadfastness during this unprecedented season to “give thanks to God for his indescribable gift.” Jesus, the word made flesh.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9: 15

The Gift

Be still, my soul, and steadfast.
Earth and heaven both are still watching
though time is draining from the clock
and your walk, that was confident and quick,
has become slow.

So, be slow if you must, but let
the heart still play its true part.
Love still as once you loved, deeply
and without patience. Let God and the world
know you are grateful.
That the gift has been given.

By Mary Oliver

We have all heard of Christmas past but what to do when Christmas is over and the New Year beckons ?

Here are some thoughts with some actions for you if you feel so inclined and prompted by the Lord to respond.

1. At the heart of Christmas – these simple but attractive booklets will be offered at many of our Christmas gatherings. Do avail yourself of one and use them for your own reflection everyday over Christmas and more importantly as the days roll over into the new year. They are also good gifts for those who might value some Christian reflection and prayer in a neighbourly way. Christmas sees many visitors despite Covid anxieties and this simple tool which I commend is a low key but important way that God’s people can witness to Christ’s birth on into the New Year.

2. A Rule of Life – I hope you have booked the date! We have had one good meeting and we are looking forward to a repeat showing on Tuesday 25th January at 7:30pm with Hannah Sandoval. I shall be opening our doors to other churches so they can share in the blessing. Something to look forward to and if it is done well as many would want it to be, the impulse to grow spiritually will extend beyond Christmas into the future. If you would like to attend then please sign up here.

3. Watch this space – “New Year New Teams” – look out for news of these and sign up with any capacity and willingness that you have once we have enjoyed Christmas celebrations and resolved to make the most of all that the New Year will bring. (News to follow in our 2nd January news sheet).

I wish you a happy, healthy and Merry Christmas.

The Revd Canon Mark Brown

From the Churchwardens

Here we are, half way through the wonderful season of Advent and hasn’t it been wonderful to see more people back in church?  Even before Advent, we had some wonderful occasions, with baptisms, confirmations, even being joined by the Bishop for one service!  We also had the Memorial Service and a very special Remembrance Sunday’s service, joined by young people from the Scouts and Guides. 

We are looking forward to the Christmas services and to once again filling the church with singing, with joyful children and celebrating this very special time of year. 

We look forward to 2022 when new members of staff will be joining the team, when Mark, our Vicar, will have been with us for a whole year and we can move forward with confidence in our walk with God at All Saints.

Dave, Alison, Richard and Sue

From the Children's Minister

If you have been in our church building in the last week I hope you have enjoyed the beautiful advent banners made by some of our church family children.  The Advent and Christmas season is such a special time and often a very busy one so it is wonderful to take a moment to look at them, to pause and reflect.  

There are plenty of child friendly services to invite people to over the coming weeks, beginning with our Christmas Messy Church this Sunday at 4pm. 

The following Sunday (12th) is our Christingle service at 11am and the week after we have our carol services.  Children are welcome to attend our carol services but, at 4pm, there is also an opportunity to watch a fun film about the true meaning of Christmas instead, whilst parents/carers attend the service in church.  After that will be our fantastic nativity services on Christmas Eve and finally our Christmas Day All Age service.  Do have a think about who you could personally invite to one or all of these and pray for those who will come and may hear Jesus’ personal call for the first time.  

Please also pray for those who attend our Baby group and Toddlers as the children receive a copy of the Christmas story from a special visitor.

For me, there is also the wonderful privilege of leading Clifford All Saints’ carol service on the evening of Wednesday 8th December and jointly leading a Christingle service for the school with St Andrew’s Psalter Lane. I am also thrilled that the Y3 children from Ecclesall Primary are coming to church to record a Christingle service for the rest of the school and their family and friends. 

It truly is a busy but wonderful time of year and that’s without mentioning things like the angels who are starting to appear…. 

Rosie Blackett
Children’s Minister

Christians Against Poverty

On Sunday 5th December we are delighted to have Clare Hague from Christians Against Poverty (CAP) with us at our 9:15am, 11am and 6pm services.

Clare has detailed below the work that she does with CAP.

CAP partners with over 300 churches across the UK to bring freedom from unmanageable debt to the poorest in our communities and to bring hope for the future.  It’s a fantastic charity, CAP has now been running over 25 years and during that time we have seen tens of thousands of people go debt free and lives transformed.  Our services are free and available to all.  As an organisation, we are unashamedly Christian (the clue is in our name and we only work through the church) and we are upfront about that in everything we do and from the moment someone makes an appointment with us.  As part of our service, we offer to pray with people, look to share the love of Jesus with them and invite them to church - we find many people are open and respond positively - and many have found Christ through working with CAP, as well as becoming free from debt.  With CAP there’s ‘Always Hope’ and it’s ‘Always through the Church’.

Here in Sheffield, the CAP debt centre is run out of St Thomas Philadelphia church, but we are a team of 5 debt coaches from different churches across the city (e.g. from Crookes, Hillsborough) supported by further volunteers from the churches who we call ‘befrienders’.  We currently have over 50 clients and bookings up to a couple of months ahead.

As you can imagine, the need for our services is great and has increased massively since the pandemic and we are always looking to grow our team of supporters.  I’d like to ask if you would be willing to get involved as a befriender?  A befriender is someone who ‘becomes a friend’ of one or more of our clients and supports them on their CAP journey.  For example, by coming on appointment visits with a debt coach (when we see people in their homes, we always go in pairs),  regularly phoning a client to make sure they are ok or meeting them for a coffee, lending a listening ear, encouraging them and offering prayer as they go through their challenging journey to becoming debt free, perhaps inviting them to church or a church event, doing an emergency food shop for someone.   It could be for a couple of hours a month or half an hour/an hour a week, whatever you feel would be right for you.  

You won’t be thrown in at the deep end, there is a bit of training.  The most important thing is to have a caring heart, a willingness to help and to share the love of Christ here in our community with those who really need it.

To find out more information about the work that CAP does please watch the below video.

CAP Changing the nation together with the Church

If you would like more information then Clare Hague would love to speak to you after our 9:15am, 11am or 6pm services on Sunday 5th December. If you would like to get in touch with Clare directly please get in touch with the church office and we can put you in touch. For more information about CAP and it’s work you can see here

From the Vicarage

Dear Friends,

I commend the Advent prayer to you and suggest we use this for many who will connect with us during the month of December. Having had some time recently with our various partnerships that are connected to the All Saints family can I commend the prayer for their blessing too.

Almighty God,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life,
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Amen

We pray for:

Whirlow Spirituality Centre that wonderful place of hospitality, welcome and prayer to many from All Saints and further afield.

St Gabriel’s as we give thanks for Alistair, Catherine and the team that went from All Saints – we join them to give thanks for all that God is doing.

Clifford All Saints we are grateful for increasing connections back into our church building and sterling work done by a team to support it through a time of change.

Our partnership in prayer and support extends of course to our mission partners at home and overseas and the Diocese of Sheffield.

May you sense Christ coming to you with light and love during this Advent season.

Mark

The Revd Canon Mark Brown

From the Vicarage

Announcing Advent

Yes it is nearly here! The season of Advent has nearly come and of course we all know what follows a month later! Whilst famous for the four last things (I am currently reimagining these for today  - so watch this space!!) it is also a time of preparation. Here are things we can be expectantly looking forward too and preparing for. This is for you and to share with others around you, for whom the Lord always seeks to come close to and bless.

A walk

We enjoy fellowship again with friends from St Gabriel’s. Alistair will be speaking at All Saints at 6pm and we will enjoy familiar advent tunes and hymns together. Light or torch in hand we will walk to St Gabriel’s for hymns prayers and another sermon from me! Yes a carol service is going on Safari – join in with the joy and pray for the local community as we go!

A read

I have chosen a recently published and popular advent read to unite our thoughts during this season, ‘The Whole Christmas Story: An Advent adventure through Genesis, Revelation, and points in between’ by Jo Swinney. If you would like to order a copy of this book please sign up in Church or contact the Church Office.

A rule

This could be for you if you are interested or even if you feel it really is not for you. God can work through challenges and this is a modest challenge that is being offered to our membership. A rule for life adopted by many across our Diocese and recently shared with us by Hannah Sandoval. The Sunday Service - 11am Morning Worship -07/11/2021 - YouTube.

The workshops will run on both 9th December 2021 and 25th January 2022. To book a place at one of the workshops please click here.

A card

Please use these cards which we have ordered in quantity to distribute to friends, neighbours and acquaintances nearby. We are seeking in traditional ways to mark our Saviour’s birth. Many outside our committed core would like to know when and where they can do that during this soon to arrive festive season. Why not be their postie and pick up a few to share?

if you would like an A4 poster to display in your home please do contact the Church Office.

Wishing you all a blessed start to Advent,

The Revd Canon Mark Brown