This Sunday 6th December 2020 Online: YouTube (from 6am Sunday) We are in church this Sunday at 10:30am: Register to attend On Zoom : Sunday 11:30am until 1:00pm " Comfort, comfort my people, says your God . " (Isaiah 40:1) Today's newspaper headlines featured the approval of the first Covid-19 vaccine. We can now look forward to the end of the pandemic as eventually everyone can be vaccinated. It is a promise that the end is in sight. What a comfort! When Isaiah wrote the words, "Comfort my people," he was writing to a people in exile with a promise: God will bring them out of exile and back to the promised land. There is a sense that this time of pandemic has been an exile for us all from the normality of life. We have been denied many things we took for granted. Now we look forward to the end of exile and the promise that the vaccine brings. Christmas too brings tidings of 'comfort and joy' - the strapline that the Church of England has chosen for its Christmas publicity. The birth of Christ did not bring an end to suffering in the world, but it did show that far from abandoning us to a world of evil and pain, God has stepped in and is acting to save us. If we trust in his salvation, he will rescue us from the ultimate exile, our exile from God's presence and life itself. Even more reason for comfort and joy. We are still waiting for a large number of people to respond to the letters about giving financially to the church and to re-registering. Please do not forget - click here to re-register. Our Bible passage for this Sunday's service is: Revelation 3:1-13 We urgently need some contributions for this Sunday's online service... please see below. Please read on... Prayer: Information about a couple of prayer meetings this weekend. Care: Information about Open Christmas. Share: Details of our Christmas services this year. Contribution for this Sunday - URGENT It would be great to have a large number contributing to our opener this week. Please send the very short video in by Friday 10am. This week the response is very simple. I am going to say: "Your God says..." And you need to record yourself saying: " ...Comfort, comfort my people!" Please send responses in by 10am tomorrow morning (Friday) via Whatsapp (07769 871520) or to
[email protected] via wetransfer . Churches Together Prayer Meetings: Ramsgate Churches Together have a prayer meeting this Saturday at 9am. It is being led by me! Join us on Zoom for up to 1 hour: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/8651865167 Note, this is not the St. Luke's normal Zoom link. Thanet Wide Prayer Meeting on Sunday at 7pm to pray for Thanet and the current situation we're in with Covid19 & also for God to draw people to Him this Christmas time. It'll be on Zoom and mainly praying in small groups in Break-Out rooms with a short introduction & a space to share the things we're doing together across Thanet this Christmas. Join on Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/99094930945 (Note that this is also not the normal St. Luke's link!) Prayer Requests: Be assured I will do my best to check that people are happy for the requests to be shared before including them. Please pray for: Pray for our Christmas services and plans this year - inside, outside and online. Pray that the good news of Jesus will bring people comfort and joy. Nancy Brown, who fell and had to have an operation on her hip. Give thanks that she is now at home and pray for improving health. Shirley Crabb that an appointment for a hip operation would come soon. Thanet Winter Shelter that started up this week. Barb - Gloria's daughter's friend as she continues chemotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer. Services Restarting in Church - 6th December As we are not expecting as many to return to church after lockdown as before, there will only be one service in church on a Sunday morning. There will be the same restrictions as before. Please check out the restrictions and if you are planning to come it would be really helpful if you could book online first to speed up the check in for 'test and trace'. Please note that because we are now in Tier 3 we will have to be stricter about encouraging people not to 'meet' with others not in their household or bubble whilst in church. Thanet Open Christmas Normally, a meal is provided at Christmas at St. Paul's in Cliftonville. This year as that is not possible, so they have decided to offer a Christmas Hamper. For more information on how to book a hamper or donate check out their the Thanet Open Christmas Facebook page . Last Week's Talk: Fantastic Feast (Matthew 22:1-14) Jesus’s parable emphasises that God invites everyone to the great wedding banquet of His Son. But the parable also warns us that if we do not respond correctly we will miss out on this fantastic opportunity. Our Christmas Service - something to share... This year there are obviously restrictions on what we can do. We cannot sing inside and there needs to be social distancing. However, we plan to offer a combination of events inside church, outside in the church garden and online. Below is a list of the events and a link at the end to our the page on our website where there are fuller details and links to register to attend. Service of Remembrance - Saturday 19th December, 6:30pm. Inside and Online. Family Carol Service - Sunday 20th December, 3pm. Inside and Online. Crib Service - Christmas Eve. Online - Cut out crib characters available on request. Carols and Reading in the Church Garden. Christmas Eve, 6:30pm. Outside. Christmas Day All Age Service and Holy Communion. Christmas Day, 10:30am. Inside and Online. Find out more about our Christmas Services Look to the God who keeps his promises for real comfort and joy. Yours in Christ, Paul Worledge Vicar, St. Luke's Ramsgate www.stlukesramsgate.org
