October 2024 Newsletter
All Saints Church, Earls Barton
News Sheet October 2024
Sowing Seeds of Kindness:
Harvest, Generosity, and the Blessing of Animals
Revd Jenny Bland
As the leaves begin to turn and the air grows more crisp, I have to admit, I love this time of year. We’re so lucky to have the seasons, aren’t we? October is full of opportunities to be grateful too, I have such fond memories of Harvest Festival from my primary school days and I know it won’t be long until the ‘Harvest Samba’ (the catchiest song around!) sung by our lovely EBPS pupils will be in my head again. If you can’t bring the song to mind, it’s definitely worth looking up - but it is an ear worm, you’ve been warned!
I love the Harvest Samba probably because of its joyful tune (you can’t not have a little boogie to it!), but the lyrics are beautiful too: “It’s another Harvest Festival, when we bring our fruit and vegetables, cause we want to share the best of all the good things that we’ve been given. It’s another opportunity, to be grateful for the food we eat, with a Samba celebration to say thank you to God the Father.” In an ever-changing world, curriculum, society, I delight in the cause to pause and acknowledge what we have and say thank you. Gratitude makes an enormous impact on our mental health, outlook, awareness and how we feel, so I hope you’ll join me this month in keeping a grateful ‘spring in our step’ as we welcome autumn 2024.
Practicing gratitude and saying thank you to God is expressed or called for across the books of the Bible and a regular part of our worship at All Saints. In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul writes ‘rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.’ (1Thess5:16-18). How I love and long for this instruction to be manifest in my everyday! I love that this calling is God’s will or wish for us—that no matter what comes, we would know God’s closeness and connection in prayer and find ourselves rejoicing, whatever comes. Paul reminds us that our relationship with Jesus is the relationship which is the most important, a relationship which brings peace and comfort, even in the hardest of times. A relationship which doesn’t depend on ‘how good we are’ but only on how good God is. A relationship which travels with us from life into death, a relationship which never ends. I wonder what you are grateful for today? In this season, may you be regularly reminded of it and find many opportunities to offer your own prayer or thoughts of gratitude.
Optional Prayer:
Dear God, today I want to say thank you for (…). Amen.
What’s on at All Saints Church?
Every Day
We are open every day 10am - 4pm* for everyone in our parish to make use of their parish church. So pop in, have a look around, make time to pray, read from the Bible or enjoy a pit stop with your little ones as they play with the toys. We’re open for you.
*Subject to occasional offices (weddings, funerals, baptisms) and special events/circumstances.
Midweek Worship
Every Wednesday - 9:30am Holy Communion
On the first Wednesday of the month there is a short service of Holy Communion in the Church Hall at 3pm followed by refreshments - everyone is welcome, we often have new people joining us.
Sunday Services
6th - 9am Holy Communion, 10am All Together Service: Harvest Festival, 6pm Evensong
13th - 10am Holy Communion, 3pm Pet Blessing (All Saints Churchyard)
20th - 10am Holy Communion (with JaM)
25th - 10am Holy Communion
Looking ahead to November…
3rd - 4-5:30pm All Souls - drop into church to remember your loved ones passed, light a candle and join for with prayers every half an hour as we make space to grieve, remember and give thanks. Everyone welcome.
10th - Remembrance Sunday, 10am Holy Communion, 10:45 War Memorial Service, 11:15 Civil Service.
Everyone is welcome to join us for our services and we warmly encourage children. We have an area with books and toys for families and a toilet a short walk away in our Church Hall. Refreshments are served and friendship and fellowship encouraged after every Sunday 10am service in the Church Hall.
October Events and Seasonal Services
14th - Pints of View, The Stag, from 8pm
10th, 24th, 31st - Sharing Faith Course, Isham, 10-11:30am. Interested in learning about how to share your faith with others then this is the course for you! Share and learn with others, connect Rev Jenny for more information and how to sign up.
Please pray for…
Farmers and all who work in agriculture as we give thanks for our land and the hard work of those who care for it and supply our shops. Take a moment with God to consider what you’re grateful for this month, how might you celebrate and give thanks?
Messages from Charlotte Nobbs
Good News for the School
Most children in our community do not attend church but do go to the wonderful care of our teachers and the team at Earls Barton Primary School. All Saints have been cheering on the staff for all their hard work and commitment to our village children and their families by sending in cakes and biscuits about 4 times a term. We sent in ice creams to welcome them back after the summer term along with a card from us, expressing our gratefulness for all that they do. Please would you consider joining in with this effort? We need 80 snacks for each time – this could come in the form of home-baked goodies or bought biscuits, or a couple of boxes of Quality Street. It would be good to send something by the end of October, then in mid-November, then in the second week of December. Please would you contact Charlotte Nobbs 07772816990 if you would be willing to join in.
Halloween
Our grandchildren and children naturally want to join in with dressing up and collecting sweets at Halloween, but scary costumes and masks, or even ‘Trick or treating’ don’t sound like something we would want them to model. So, how can we help them to join in without the scary and the tricking?
Still dress up in bright clothes that will not frighten but will bring joy - talk about being full of light. Instead of tricking or treating, take a big box of sweets and give them out with ‘treat or treat’ as Jesus never tricks (The children will still end up with sweets!)
Don’t be afraid to talk about uncomfortable things – Children naturally want to ask questions about death, about being scared or even monsters under the bed. Listen to them and talk to them about how you understand these things. There is a great 4- minute film here that is good for sharing with our children and grandchildren from Scripture Union, that talks about where God is, even when life is difficult. It is told through the eyes of Daisy who has lost the sun, but Jesus comes with his light https://youtu.be/XVmV4woCgEY
Have fun putting out some signs on your doorstep about God loving everyone, and how he wants to treat us. If you do not want to open the door to scary visitors, leave an invitation to taking a sweet from a box of sweets that you leave on your doorstep with your sign.
Have fun carving smiling pumpkins or ones with big hearts on them
Experience Christmas
We are going to set up the church for the story of Christmas, told scene by scene on Sunday 1st December, after the Christingle service, and run the event during the week of 2nd-8th December. If you would like to be part of the team, Sarah and Charlotte will be calling a team meeting in the next few weeks. But, please let us know if you would like to join us!
Registration for Sunday Children’s groups
We are reviewing how we provide well for children who attend church on Sundays. This includes ensuring that we are keeping them safe, so we need to make sure that all parents/grandparents/guardians have filled in the registration forms so that we have all the contact information we need when their children go out to their groups. Please speak to Charlotte or Sarah if you need a form.
Reminders from our Church Administrator, Laura.
1. Harvest Festival, Sunday 6th October at 10am. Please remember to bring tins and dried foods as gifts for the Daylight Centre Food Bank. For example, toilet roll, jellies in a pot, UHT Whole and semi skimmed milk, tinned custard, pot noodles, cereals single servings. For up to date needs please go to the Daylight Centre Website. https://www.facebook.com/daylight centre
2. Sharing Faith, Thursday, 10th, 24th & 31st October, 10am to 11.30am.
You may remember back in May we had a 'Thy Kingdom Come’ deanery service celebrating who God is and how God has changed our lives as Christians in this area. Talking about how following Jesus makes us feel was moving and empowering, and so to follow up, Wellingborough Deanery is proud to present a sharing faith course aimed at getting us all a bit more confident in sharing our faith journeys and why it matters.
The course will run for three Thursdays across October, signup information is on the poster attached – everyone is welcome it's going to be a super course! Chat to Rev Jenny or Rev Jackie (details on poster) for more information.
3. Pet Blessing service, Sunday 13th October at 3pm
4. Banter supported by Earls Barton's very own Cordwainers, Friday, 25th October, 7.30pm at All Saints Church.
Banter are Nina Zella, Simon Care, Tim Walker and Mark Jolley. From traditional roots, they enjoying stretching the limits in what a lot of people refer to as 'the quirky Banter twist'. They have performed at many of the country's largest festivals including Glastonbury, Cambridge Folk Festival, Sidmouth Folk Festival and Towersey. This is a must for all folk lovers.
Fairtrade Christmas Shopping Evening **
Wednesday 23rd October From 7.30pm Just pop in to All Saints Church hall to join us and enjoy browsing our new gifts, cards & groceries *
* 10% discount on purchases on the night * Serving wine & nibbles * Tastings of products to try before you buy * AND a special treat this year… join in with Karen’s chocolate-making demo & make some tasty Fairtrade Christmas decorations!
Fairtrade Café & Secondhand book sale 12th October with ‘Animals in Need’
Do pop in & find out more about what Animals in Need do, browse our range of tasty fairly-produced groceries & beautifully ethical gifts & cards. Enjoy chatting, & fresh coffee & yummy homemade cakes… Everyone welcome!
Email: nicky_smithseb@yahoo.co.uk 07812 686944
The Tearfund Big Quiz Night 2024 is on its way…and you’re invited!
Saturday November 16th @7.15pm All Saints Church Hall
We welcome teams of up to 6 people & ask for a suggested donation of £5 minimum per person – we’re raising funds for Tearfund’s fantastic development work with some of the world’s most disadvantaged people. Please book in even if you don’t have a team, as we will work that out on the night, we’d love to have you come along!
Contact us soon to book: 07812 686944 or email nicky_smithseb@yahoo.co.uk & we’ll send the link to our Tearfund JustGiving page for your donation
Please bring your own drinks and we supply glasses, nibbles and all you need for the quiz……you just supply some answers!
Hundreds of communities across the UK took part last year, thousands of people got involved. Don’t miss out as this is your chance to gather friends & family together in teams of up to 6 people for an evening of poverty-busting, community-building fun. See you there! Martin, Sandra & Nicola