Sunday 27^th November

Advent Sunday

A new church year. A new Bible Gospel to focus on:
Matthew; and much to do to prepare our lives
for Jesus’ coming – again and remembering his first.
(And a new church website!)

The Collect

The prayer for the week

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.

Readings for this Sunday: Romans 13: 11-end, Ps. 122 & Matt. 24: 36-44.

This Sunday:

8:00am      BCP Holy Communion at St Mary’s
9:30am      Holy Communion at St Thomas’
11:15am    Mattins at St Mary’s
11:15am    Holy Communion at St Andrew’s
4:00pm      Advent Carol service at St Mary’s
5.00pm      Discoverers

Families fellowship meal (please contact Jo for details)

New Benefice Website

The current website has served us well for more than 10 years and has been ably maintained, on a weekly basis by Toria Marshall, to whom we extend our enormous thanks.

For some while now it has been deemed ripe for major revision and so in the summer of 2021 a small team was brought together to bring this about. The fruits of their labour are released today at…

https://www.ThomAndMary.org.uk/

The website brings together the three churches in the Benefice and includes events, a calendar, service times, weekly notices, news, contacts, featured articles and more besides. It is also possible to search the website for information. There is still work to do over the coming months; completing some of the pages, making it more mobile phone friendly, updating material carried over from the old website and including more photos from around our parishes. Information on services and events over the Christmas period is already available and an Advent Calendar should appear in a few days’ time.
So why not point your web browser at the link above and have a look round. If you find things that need correcting please e-mail the office vicarofgsandss@yahoo.com and we will look into it.

Advent candles and calendars

Mark the season with a moment of stillness and thinking of our preparation for our Lord’s coming again and celebrating his first coming. Beautiful Advent Candles, with a card are available in church for £5 until we run out.

Goring Primary School Craft Fair

This weekend!

The school’s parents and friends association will be hosting the Goring Craft Fair in Goring Village Hall on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th November, 10am-4pm. There will be a huge variety of stalls, a raffle and home baked cakes and hot drinks as well as homemade soup and quiche and salad from Pierreponts & Goring and Streatley Golf Club on offer throughout the day. All proceeds from the door (£2 adult entry), raffle and kitchen will go towards supporting the school.

Care for Creation Event - Bishop Olivia

Bishop Olivia will be speaking about caring for creation at St James the Less in Pangbourne on Wednesday November 30th at 7:30pm. She has huge experience on this subject so it would be well worth hearing. All welcome!

Plan for a more Sustainable Christmas

While at Christmas we celebrate God’s gift of his Son, it is also good to obey God’s commandment to love our neighbour as ourselves and therefore try to minimise our celebrations’ impacts on our planet and our global neighbours. Consider: where any items you need to buy will come from; how long they’ll last; whether they can be recycled; how to reduce waste. There are many tips available online for a more eco-friendly Christmas. Why not explore these:

Churches Standing with Refugees

The Christian Concern for One World group is working with several other groups supporting refugees in the Reading area to hold a Churches Standing with Refugees event on Monday 5th December, 7 - 9 pm, at Abbey Baptist Church, Reading. It is an opportunity for church members who are already standing with refugees - or are interested in finding out more - to network with each other and with other local groups and organisations supporting refugees. Please do join us - all are welcome!
Further information and to register: https://bit.ly/churcheswithrefugees

Care Bus Outing to Savages, Blewbury

t was decided by St. Mary's P.C.C. to put a proportion of a bequest towards trialling the re-introduction of occasional/regular Care Bus trips from Streatley, to enable more housebound people, in particular, to have the opportunity for an outing.

The first of these outings (just confirmed by the operator) will be to Savages in Blewbury on 6th December, with a pick up in the High Street by St. Mary's at 2 p.m. This will allow for Christmas shopping at Savages, and for tea at the Style Acre cafe. There is no charge, but places are limited.

If you are interested, please contact me as soon as possible. We hope for a full bus and an enjoyable afternoon.

John Rogers

Bereavement Course

Please think who you could invite to join this very supportive group, a 4 week small group course, on Sunday afternoons beginning in January 2023 in the Canterbury Room at St Thomas’ Church.

We are so fortunate to be able to offer this, but need people committed and signed up in time for it to be prepared. In order to register or for more information please contact the church office (vicarofgsandss@yahoo.com or 875651).

Reading the Bible regularly

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path

It can be hard to get into a routine of reading the Bible each day. Why not sign up for a daily email with a suggested reading from ourdailybread.org or take one of the free booklets with daily readings for Dec/Jan/Feb that are now available in our 3 churches? Or contact Elizabeth Parkinson

Diary for the coming week

Tuesday 29th November
Noon Funeral at St Thomas'

Wednesday 30th November
10:30am    BCP Holy Communion in the Canterbury Room at St Thomas’
The readings will be Isa. 52. 7-10, Ps. 19. 1-6 and Matt. 4. 18-22.

Friday 2nd December
2.00pm Funeral at St Thomas'

Sunday 4th December
8:00am      BCP Holy Communion at St Thomas’
9:30am      Holy Communion at St Thomas’
11:15am Holy Communion at St Mary’s
11:15am    Christingle service at St Andrew’s
4:00pm      Christingle service at St Thomas’

n.b. The monthly Calendar for December is now available (also still for November).

Daily readings for the coming week

Monday am:	Ps 50	Isa. 42. 18-end	Rev. ch. 19	pm: Ps 71	Matt. 12. 1-21
Tuesday am:	Ps 80	Isa. 43. 1-13	Rev. ch. 20	pm: Ps 74	Matt. 12. 22-37
Wednesday am:	Ps 47	Ezek. 47. 1-12	John 12. 20-32	pm: Ps 87	John 1. 35-42
Thursday am:	Ps 42	Isa. 44. 1-8	Rev. 21. 9-21	pm: Ps 40	Matt. 13. 1-23
Friday am:	Ps 25	Isa. 44. 9-23	Rev. 21.22-22.5	pm: Ps 17	Matt. 13. 24-43
Saturday am:	Ps 9	Isa. 44.24-45.13	Rev. 22. 6-end	pm: Ps 27	Matt. 13. 44-end