Dear all,

I have a daily bible verse that pops up on my phone and today is was:

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do and he will establish your plans” Proverbs 16:3

which is a wonderfully positive verse – but it immediately put me in mind of a much more commonly quoted saying in the church “If you want to make God laugh – make plans!”

And I was reflecting on why the latter saying is much more common and well known. It comes from that acknowledgement (usually born out of challenging experiences) that we might make plans but they may not work out – especially if it turns out God had other plans.

So what do we make of that Proverb? Did the writer of Proverbs never face that experience of all the best laid plans seemingly falling to pieces? Did they really have such a simple life that they made plans – asked God to bless them and God did?! Do we just dismiss that verse as “of it’s time” or do we do what we so often manage to do as Christians which is say that we believe it to be true but live our lives in a way that demonstrates the opposite belief?

Or do we need to dig a little deeper. Those plans that we made that all fell through… did we include God in the making of those plans? Did we pray and ask for guidance? Or did we try in our own strength and our own wisdom to shape our lives? Attempting to find a sense of control over our future? Trusting in God for that future is a lot more scary and uncontrollable. It is no wonder we so often fall back on trying to make our own plans.

Now this is not to say that plans are bad. If we are to take God’s command to be good stewards of creation and to treat each other with love – planning and considering the future and how we go about these activities is very important. The difference is the starting place and motivation for the plans. To maintain our own control or to work with God in God’s plans and timings?

We have spent the last year as a church following a process of Discerning Together what God is wanting for St Philip’s in the future. And we are now at the stage of asking God to crystalise that work in to a vision for us to work towards together. With a vision comes the opportunity for many plans! But if this verse from Proverbs (and indeed that common saying) teach us anything it is that we do not make those plans and ask God to bless them. Instead, we offer up all our thoughts, fears, excitements and options to God and we ask for the Spirit of God to grow in us a sense of direction – we ask God to form and establish the plan in us – and then we trust God will help us with it!

Exciting Announcement (another one!)

This week I have the privilege of announcing that Michael Priestley has been awarded the Etheldreda Medal by Ely Diocese. This is in recognition of his decades of service to his community in many and varied ways over the years from Headteacher at St Philip’s Primary School to Chair of Governors at Ridgefield Primary School. From the foundation of Romsey Mill and the Central Language School to over 60 years as a Licenced Lay Minister in the Church. Mike has been tireless in service and it is wonderful that his decades of compassionate, wise service - all founded on his deep faith and love of Jesus – are being honoured by this award. The medal will be presented at Ely Cathedral in a special service on Saturday 26^th October, 5.30pm If you would like to come along please speak to Ruth or Mike & Barbara and we can hopefully arrange some sharing of lifts or co-ordinating train journeys.

And in case you missed it last week - we will be welcoming a Curate into the St Philip’s family next summer! Christian Osborne, who is currently an Ordinand in training, will be ordained on Sunday 29th June 2025 and will then complete her curacy training with us as a Pioneer Curate. Christian is not new to Romsey, currently working for Romsey Mill whilst she trains. She and her husband Mark and their 3 children, all have previous connections to St Philip's School where Christian once taught and where all the children attended. More information to follow but it is such an exciting prospect for 2025 and our discernment of what God is doing amongst us and with us and I hope you will join me in welcoming Christian and her family when they arrive.

News and Upcoming Events

Wednesday 16^th October – 7.30pm – at church - In person prayer meeting This month we will be focussing our prayers on the environment. **we would be very grateful for any old magazines which contain images of nature which people would be willing to donate to a creative cause. Please bring them into church, preferably this Sunday**

Thursday 17^th October - 10.30am at St Andrews Histon – Mary Walker’s Funeral - Stewart Taylor will be taking this.

Introduction to Theology Course – If you are interested in the Bible, Church and how we better understand God then the Diocesan 10 week course is worth thinking about. It is aimed at people thinking of LLM training, ALM preacher training or anyone who wants to think about more Theology for Ministry but it is open to all – I would say a stiring of interest is the clearest indication that this course might be for you! Starting on Thursday 4th November, 6.45 - 9pm Online, via Zoom Booking: Diocese of Ely Intro to Theology Course Chat to Ruth if you’d like to know more.

Eco-Bite – our new green “nugget” each week:

As the temperature drops this week and those winter winds pick up now is the time we notice the drafts! Taking time to seal drafts around our homes, such as around windows, doors, and loft hatches can reduce our energy consumption through lowering our heating demands. Focussing on increasing the insulation in our homes is the best way to tackle our carbon footprint.

Last Week’s sermon

Last week’s sermon: sermon 6.10.24.mp3 (sorry we’ve missed the beginning of the sermon in the recording!)

If you missed any previous sermons, or would like a second listen you can find them here:

The link to our sermon archive: St Philip's sermon archive

Prayers

If any of you have specific prayers you would like us to include in this newsletter do please get in touch.

Mary Walker’s family - Please pray for Mary’s family as they prepare for her funeral next week (see above for details) and for Stewart Taylor as he leads that funeral and supports the family.

Jenny Eustace - Jenny is in hospital with severe back and leg pain and immobility, please pray for wisdom for the doctors to know what course of treatment will be best and for healing and above all peace to fill Jenny.

Molly Clark & Jack Stott – Please continue to pray for Molly & Jack as they start married life together.

Kim, Kavalli and Kristian – Please continue to pray for God to grow and deepen their faith after their baptism last week.

Please pray for our Mission Partner this month:

GenR8 – GenR8 is a Cambridge-based Christian charity working with primary schools and churches in the Cambridgeshire and North Hertfordshire region. They support learning about the Christian faith in schools through a variety of different programmes including presenting assemblies and prayer spaces. And also support churches in their work with children and work in partnership with them and their local schools.

Services this week 13^th – 19^th October

Sunday:

10.30am – Holy communion with Explorers – this week we will be looking at the challenging words of Jesus in Mark 10:17-31

If you can't attend church in person you can always use this Zoom link:

meeting ID: 976 3739 9129 and Passcode: 330714

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/97637399129?pwd=TGhKWWxOcWF1S242aVhrWDlJdUkxZz09

Wednesday:

12noon - Reflective Holy Communion A quiet time to help find space and peace in the middle of the week.

Regular Weekly Prayers to join:

Monday & Friday 8.30pm – Compline on zoom

Meeting ID: 836 5965 9953
Passcode: 749968
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83659659953?pwd=btP5AjGMu1s-dE_2W9T0MMFqnnPKSS.1

Wednesdays 7.00-7.30pm - Weekly Prayers on zoom: - (Monthly in person – next in person prayer 16^th October)