St Paul's and St Mary's Harlow
However we can still use our candlestand!
Email us here: stpaulsharlowtowncentre@gmail.com to request a candle to be lit on your behalf.
Please give the name of the person you would like prayer for (it can be you or anyone else).
You can include especial needs if you wish.
The Team Rector (or someone on his behalf) will then light a candle on your behalf and pray for the person you name sometime the same week, take a photograph and email it to you.
Please note that Foodbank remains open.
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Countdown to Christmas
Good morning, CountdownIt's Advent and the countdown to Christmas has officially begun.The younger members of our family - and some of the adults, why not! - will already have eaten the first few chocolates out of their Advent calendars. My seven year old granddaughter is very excited despite the fact my daughter has told her Father Christmas has a camera behind one of the spotlights in the living room so he can see if she's naughty! It's amazing what tired, stressed parents can come up with.So how is the season of Advent for you? So how is the season of Advent for you? When we are in Lent we try to read our Bibles more or go on a course so we can spend time with God preparing ourselves for Easter. Do we have that same preparation for Christmas during Advent? This isn't a criticism, I can remember when my three children were young and I was working, there just weren't enough hours in the day.Dark and LightFor me, being blind, I miss out on seeing the decorations, the Christmas trees and all the gifts and seasonal food in the shops but I do love all the Advent bible readings about God sending Jesus to be the light of the world. Someone asked me if I get upset focussing on light as I live in total darkness but it is just the opposite. Spiritual LightI wish I could see the Advent candles but the readings remind me that although I live in physical darkness I can always see that Spiritual light of Christ, not just at Christmas but every day of the year. Advent Hope So maybe as we go through Advent and you are tired and stressed, you might have health or money issues which seem to overwhelm you, just sit for ten minutes, close your eyes and look at that light of Christ which shines through any darkness.Have a good week and remember that the light of Christ has come into the world. Amen
The Knife Angel in Harlow - A Bringer of Hope
The Knife Angel In the Christmas story, an angel appears to Mary to announce to her the gift of a son Jesus. In the Easter story, it is an angel that meets the women at the tomb of Jesus to announce that Jesus has risen from the dead. Angels bring Hope - with a capital “H”. The Knife Angel is a bringer of Hope.Hope is not optimism.There was no optimism at the tomb of Jesus on that first Easter morning. The captured Ukrainian solder was correct when he said, “Your hope should never obstruct your vision of reality”. Optimism suggests all we need do is look on the bright side of life. But life can be very black. History does not necessarily move in a good direction. We cannot say that "history is on our side". History can be ugly. Hope is not a mere emotion.Sometimes it is not an emotion at all. Bringing change can be very costly. There will be moments of saying: “I can’t go on”. We need something that helps us through those moments.Hope is not positivity.President Trump bought into the idea of “the power of positive thinking“. There can be benefits but we also need to to be honest when things go wrong. Honest assessment is a good place to start. Hope can be the fruit of deep disquiet. Hope is the opposite of despair.But perhaps we only discover hope when we have met despair. There is no buying hope on the cheap. Hope has looked into the abyss and somehow or somewhere finds strength to go on. Hope can only exist when things are “hopeless". In the Jewish scriptures the psalmist says that God is near to the brokenhearted. God is on the side of all who are poor whether that be in body, mind or spirit. When God wants to change the world he sends in the meek, the mourners, the justice-hungry. True change starts at the grass roots, with you and me.Hope is a decisionIt is the decision to work for a better future. The promise of the Bible is that you can know that God is with you, that God has conquered even death, and God, who has conquered death can help us conquer in the struggles and strains of this life. The Knife Angel: Bringer of Hope Many have already made that decision. May the message of the “Knife Angel" bring ever increasing and deepening Hope.In its profound beauty, the Knife Angel appeals to us silently and longingly, waiting for us to respond in deed and word.Martin
Precious Memories & Magic Moments
Dear friends,Magic Moments? We are sometimes sold things on the basis that “it will give you wonderful memories”. I certainly have some wonderful and precious memories. I also have wonderful hopes. Supremely, there is the hope of eternity in Christ. Magic Moments, Precious Memories, Future HopesHopes are like “future memories” - events and things we think about. The difference is that these ones have not yet happened.My “memory” stretches forwards as well as back.Such future hope helps me not dwell overmuch on the past or on myself. Future HopesFuture hope helps me have eyes more open to others around me. It helps me engage with the present. It helps me “seek first God’s kingdom and what he requires”. It helps me know that God can use even the toughest moments of life to make me more like Christ.Hence I discover not just "Magic Moments|" but life-transforming hope.Life-transforming hope Memories involve looking back. They are important – the Bible encourages us to remember God’s goodness to us.But if all they are is wonderful memories, then we are to be pitied. For one day those memories will have disappeared. But if we have hope, everything good in the past will be transformed into something even better in the future. May we do things not for wonderful memories of the past, not for "Magic Moments", but for others, for joy in the enriching and experience they bring, and in the service of Christ: whose service is perfect freedom. Eternal Riches So shall we be enriched in eternity. Love, Martin
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