Stewart Weaver

More Photos

For the 10th anniversary of our return into the sanctuary, lots of photos were collected.
They were then hung up in our sanctuary in grand, fun collages.

Recent Photos

We’ve gathered many photos from the church recently as part of our
celebrations of the 10th anniversary of our return to the restored church.
Here are a few.

Newsletter 30 December 2011

ST. PHILIP’S E-NEWSLETTER

30 DECEMBER 2011

COMMENT FROM THE EDITOR

Here it is: the last e-newsletter of the year!

Into your intray has whizzed almost 52 editions

of information, jokes and thoughts,

all to keep you in touch with St. Philip’s and

its dynamic, award-winning minister!

Which award is that, you ask?

The newly created Pulitzermanbookernobelgoldenbootcaluttacup Award for Creation from Nothing.

How appropriate.

THOUGHT

Another snippet from your editor’s theological flavour of the month, Hans Urs von Balthasar (since he’s Swiss, should it be chocolate?).

Love begins with the Son who traces it back at once to the source of love, the Father, and thus shows his own love as an obedient, active love, which demands in believers the obedience of sharing in his active love of neighbour. The focus of love then opens up both dimensions: that which leads to its origin

… click here to read more

Newsletter 23 December 2011

ST.
PHILIP’S E-NEWSLETTER

23
DECEMBER 2011

COMMENT FROM THE EDITOR

Not long till the big
day.

In the midst of the
activities may you find some time and space for peace and a quiet joy.

THOUGHT

Our last in a few
snippets from the Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar reflecting on the
incarnation.

Christianity makes the claim to be the ultimate
expression of God and consequently his final self-giving and
self-revelation. This cannot be
transcended because God, who is ‘all things’, here out of love goes not only
into that which is other than him,
into the creature, but also that which is contrary
to him as he gathers up the sin and the lostness and the abandonment, gathers
it up and transforms it. God does not
thereby… click here to read more

Christmas Services for 2011

ADVENT & CHRISTMAS SERVICES AT ST PHILIP’S

Sunday, 18^th December 2011 ( 4^th Sunday of Advent)

9.30am Communion
11am Nativity Service
7.30pm Quiet Advent: a time of prayer, reflection and contemplation following the Ignatian approach
The Examen.

Saturday, 24^th December 2011 (Christmas Eve)

4pm Carols for Kids: for our youngest revellers!
6.30pm Family Christmas Eve Service: for children, including a shadow nativity this year.
11pm Community Carols: Christmas songs, jokes, silliness.
11.30pm Watch Night Service: quiet welcome to the Christ child.

Sunday, 25^th December 2011 (Christmas Day)

9.30am Communion
10.30am Christmas Day Family Service: share a story and your gifts.

Newsletter 7 October 2011

ST. PHILIP’S E-NEWSLETTER

7 OCTOBER 2011

COMMENTS FROM THE EDITOR

Brrrrrr….autumn is here most convincingly.

So, what better to curl up by a warm computer,

grab a cup of coffee,

and let the pixels do the talking!!

THOUGHT

The abbot was in a mellow mood and the monks were inquisitive.

‘Do you ever feel depressed?’, they asked.

He said he did.

‘Isn’t it also true that you are in a continual state of thanks and thus appreciation and happiness?’, they persisted.

He said it was.

‘What is your secret?’, they wanted to know.

click here to read more

Unsettled God

Genesis 3.14-24

As we continue our journey through Genesis we come to the end of chapter 3 (Gen. 3.14-24). It is the description of the curse upon the snake and upon the ground, the pain of mankind in tilling the soil and the pain of woman in childbirth. It hardly makes for pleasant reading. Not a lot seems promising.

It might be a good chance to take a look back at the first three chapters before we begin to look ahead to chapter 4 and all of the issues thrown up by Cain and Abel.

One of the commentaries notes some of the larger themes. Lawrence A. Turner, in a Genesis commentary explicitly conceived and written to emphasise the interconnections in the book, notes some of the major themes after the first 3 chapters.

1. Chaos to… click here to read more

Harvest Messy Church

We borrowed an apple press from the local environmental group (Pedal) and had a great time extracting apple juice from tubs of ground up apples. Exhausting and exhilarating!

Next time: Halloween!

Divine Craftsman

Our organist recently recorded a service as part of a degree for the Royal School of Church Music. She shared with me the final 20 minutes of our service on 18 September. It included a reflection on Genesis 2.4b-14, a part of the second creation story. It includes too a few squawks from children in the congregation: baptismal families who wanted to stay to hear a few musings from the local ministers.

Download audio file (Sep-18-2011.mp3)

or…

Right click here and choose “Save as…” to save to your computer.

Listen, enjoy and let me know what you think.

Arking in the Firth of Forth

Noah’s Ark was the focus of our last Messy Church. So, we decided to do something different. We decided to make our own ark (of sorts…) and sail it on the Firth of Forth. Armed with an old church door, 6 seriously big water jugs, some rope, some scissors and some willing helpers, a remarkable construction was made. Now, all we needed was someone to sail it. Someone silly, foolish, naive. Someone with anti-freeze in their blood. Who else?