An older couple longing for a family

An older couple longing for a family, Abraham and Sarah and a divine promise that their descendants would be as numerous as the sand, as the stars in the sky! Our question this week – does God keep promise? Does God have a plan for my life?

Three years ago, who would have believed that the world would change completely.

A global pandemic wrecking the global economy; a war in Europe, pushing up the cost of living for everyone; and London in flames because of climate change. It makes us ask – what is truly valuable in life? What is enduring?

The video team are away this week, so there will be no online coverage of Sunday's servive (24th July 2022).

The service will be still be going ahead in Church, everyone welcome.

What happens when we pray? Does it make any difference? Do we change God’s mind, or does something change in us?

Is prayer a series of wishes, a shopping list of requests, an insurance policy? It may be less about asking and more about us, tuning in to the God who loves us and wants the best for us and our world.

This week we welcome the Bishop of Lichfield, Michael Ipgrave to lead our Confirmation Service.

We also give thanks for the recent Alpha Course and will be hearing about how it went! Bishop Michael will also be commissioning Kelly Hooper in her new role in the church! Hope to see you there or online!

What is eternal life? When Jesus answered this question he told the parable of the Good Samaritan!

It seems that eternal life starts now! We don’t have to wait! We can begin to live in the Kingdom of God from now this minute!
Come and join the conversation!

They called him doubting Thomas! A better name might have been questioning Thomas!

He was not afraid to ask the difficult question, he was certainly not a “yes” man!
This week we begin a sermon series on some of the questions people have asked in church about their faith.
We begin with asking “Who is God? Is my picture of God big enough?
Come and join the conversation!

This week we are joining with churches all over the world in praying for people who are persecuted for their faith.

We live in a world where so many are denied the chance to worship freely or to express their faith publicly. Sunday is also the international day for victims of torture so we also hold all prisoners of conscience in our prayers. Let’s exercise our freedom to worship together this week, in church or online!
8.00am early Church
10.30am Family Eucharist with Young Church.
Food Bank – over the past three months the Food Bank has seen a huge increase in demand. We need to restock the shelves! Can you bring some of the things needed? Please see below for details.

This Sunday we celebrate Father's Day as we give thanks for our own fathers and reflect on the changing role of fathers in our society.

Do come and light a candle and share in our celebrations today. For children, Young church meet during the service from 10.30am.

How are you at dancing? Some love “Strictly”, others love ballet or disco!

Getting to know God is a bit like learning to dance, it is a relationship that keeps moving! It is fluid, responsive and beautiful. It is Breakfast Church this week with food served from 9am and a simple all age service at 10.30am.
See you there?

This week we give thanks for the Royal Jubilee. 70 years of humble service to this nation and to the commonwealth.

Queen Elizabeth has been a unique figurehead that has held together different peoples across the globe. In a world of many cultures and languages it is easy to misunderstand one another. That is why on the Feast of Pentecost we celebrate God’s gift of communication, each person hearing Good News in their own mother tongue!
Please note our service times!
11amOutdoor Service for the Jubilee (if wet then inside!)
12.30pmJackfield Town Band and Grand Picnic in the churchyard.

Do you remember the card game Happy Families? Eagerly collecting neatly ordered smiling families of 4 cards that bore the same name and representing their occupation.

Family provides identity and a sense of belonging, but real family life can be messy, disordered and fraught with tensions!
God loves each of us just as we are and Jesus taught us that we all belong to the family of God. Can true faith bring us together as one human family, where we put aside differences and conflicts?

The world is at war! So many long for peace. Even in our own lives there is conflict and struggle. We long for peace!

You can get special relaxation apps on your phone, listen to a chilled playlist, or down a big glass of wine, but peace still evades us. Jesus said – “my peace I give to you, a peace that the world cannot give”. Today we focus on the peace of God, come and find some deep peace!

What difference does our faith make in this world? Jesus said the most important thing we can do is to love one another.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” It’s easy to love some people, but the real challenge Jesus gave us was to love our enemies too!

We are in an era of “Strongman” leadership who are willing to break the rules and shake things up!

Putin regularly appears stripped to the waist and showing off his masculinity to the world! Others around the world project a populist image of power and strength. It was the same in Jesus' day with Herod and Pilate as the strongmen of their day!

How different the way of Jesus, the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, and leads through gentleness and humility. We explore different models of leadership in our service this week. Come and join the conversation.

What do we do when we really mess up? How do we begin again?

Peter was so scared that he denied three times that he even knew Jesus, he ran away! When they met again, Jesus gave him a new chance, and showed him how to put the past behind him. Come and share breakfast from 9am, and to our All Age Service at 10.30am.

If you are building a wall, you need to dig foundations or it will fall over!

The more load bearing you want it to be, the deeper the foundations! It’s the same with faith – if we want a faith that will be load bearing we will need deep foundations.
It turns out that you dig faith foundations by asking questions! Every question another shovel full! Thomas was called the doubter, but his questions led to the deepest faith of all!
What’s your question?

What is the point? What is the point of Easter? What difference can it make?

There is a great way to find out! Come and share in our outdoor Easter service at 10:30am this Sunday. Bring a garden chair if you have one! If it's wet we will be inside!!

We long for freedom in a world that seems bound to conflict, cruelty and suffering.

Holy Week traces the story of Jesus’ last week in Jerusalem, from the crowds welcoming him with cries of Hosanna, to the same crowds calling for him to be crucified. The Easter hope , where God takes the worst of human nature and shows us the best that we can be, breaking the chains that bind us, setting us free to live! Come and join us as we walk with Jesus this week.

This week is Breakfast Church, come along for a delicious breakfast any time between 9-10.15am and stay on for our family friendly all age worship at 10.30am.

This week we will be hearing about our new Alpha Course, and about some of the big questions in life. Jesus often asked questions! His parables and teaching provoked questions! Are we curious enough to wonder why? Come and see for yourself!

They say it takes a village to raise a child.

Many of us have benefitted from the mothering love given by so many people in our lives who have cared for us, nurtured us, held us, and let us grow and go! This week we will be celebrating Mothering Sunday, giving thanks for our own mother, and for the gift of mothering. Our prayers are with the mothers of Ukraine at this time. Come and light a candle this week in church.

Please also find the link to your own copy of the Holy Week booklet with readings, reflections and prayers for each day from Palm Sunday to Easter Day. 

With all that we have witnessed in the news our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine, and we lament with them.

In the bible there is a powerful tradition of lamentation, crying out to God “Why?” Why do bad things happen to good people?

This Sunday in St Andrew’s is Breakfast Church, with breakfast served from 9am, do come and enjoy some time together.

Our All Age service starts at 10.30am and we welcome Revd David Newsome to introduce Hands at Work, supporting orphans in Africa. We live in a world where children are so vulnerable. In our bible reading today Jesus said that he longed to gather children together, like a mother hen under her wings. Come and hear how we can help create three gardens to grow food for the children.

What kind of person are you becoming? We are changing all the time! It is easy to slip into patterns of resentment, cynicism or bitterness, especially as we grow older.

Its easy to become critical of new ways, new attitudes; to look back on a golden age! But we can choose to resist those temptations and to keep open to a more forward looking path, and become the person that God has called us to be. Come and explore the path of becoming with Jesus as he was tempted in the wilderness.

The world is charged with the grandeur of God, flaming out like shining from shook foil, God’s glory is to be glimpsed beneath the most ordinary of things. Come and see!

Storm Eunice is the latest extreme weather system to batter us! Our climate is changing and the storms are raging.

In Russia, thousands of troops threaten to bring the storm of war in Europe! Even in our own selves, our homes and families, our work and communities we have to face the storms. What can we do?

When the disciples were crossing the lake and a storm blew up they thought they would drown, but when they woke Jesus he quietened the wind and waves. What can we do when the storms come? Come and join the conversation!

Sometimes we think being rich will sort all our problems! But being rich brings troubles of its own. The real solution lies at a deeper level, in our attitudes!

Jesus taught the crowds about the Beatitudes, or the “happy attitudes” that can transform the way we see our lives.

Come and share the conversation as we explore what it is we need to live and thrive.

This week at St Andrew’s we are serving breakfast from 9am to 10am with an all age service to follow at 10.30am. Why not come and join us?

We begin our celebrations for the Platinum Jubilee year this Sunday with a special service for the Accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the throne. We give thanks to God for her long reign and years of dedicated service.

We pray for our nation as we face the many challenges that the future will hold.

We look forward to seeing you in person or online at 10.30am.

Sometimes the news can be overwhelmingly dark with worries about war between Ukraine and Russia, millions starving in Afghanistan and about whether we will be able to afford to pay our heating bills.

Into the darkness of this world God sent his Son as a tiny baby. When Mary and Joseph took their child to the temple to give thanks, an old man, Simeon, recognised him to be the "light to lighten the nations."

Come to light a candle in the darkness as we celebrate Candlemas this week.

What was Jesus’ manifesto? What did he come to do? What is at the heart of the Christian faith?

He chose to read from the Prophet Isaiah, saying he had come to bring “good news to the poor, release to the captives, and freedom to the oppressed”. How far have we stayed true to his purpose? Come and join the conversation!

Will there be enough for me? Enough food, enough money, enough love?

The good things in life are sometimes hoarded by the few, the wealthy, the fortunate!
Many struggle to survive each day.
But at the wedding in Cana, Jesus showed that God’s love is not scarce, not limited for a few, but abundant and free of charge. God longs for each of us to have life in all its fulness and to know that we are loved.
What would that kind of life look like for you?

What difference does it make? God’s affirmation at Jesus' baptism “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased” is meant for all of us!

When we know we are loved we are set free to become our true selves! Come and share some breakfast before our all age morning service this week, any time between 9am-10.15am! Worship at 10.30am

Strangers from the east, Magi, bringing unexpected gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh, each pointing to who Jesus would become.

At the beginning of a New Year we look at who we might become, our purpose as a church and as individuals in our journey of becoming who we are meant to be.