St James The Great

​Old Milverton, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire

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Please join us in the Parish room for Coffee & Chat over the summer and catch up with everyone’s news: we are getting together on July 30th and August 27th .

We will be celebrating St James Day with our Patronal Festival Service on 27 th July: come and join us for our annual celebration of all-things St James, followed by drinks and nibbles in the churchyard.

Please continue to support the Foodbank over the summer months. This can be a particularly difficult time for families: with children on holiday from school there is often an extra strain on family finances. Remember that you can leave donations in the collection bins at all the local supermarkets as well as bringing them up to church.

The next churchyard clearing morning will be on Saturday 16 th August – come along and help if you are free. Please bring your own tools with you. Dates for the rest of the year are:

• 16 th August
  
• 18 th October
  
• 13 th December
  

Diary Date: Bishop Sophie, our new Bishop of Coventry, will be visiting Leamington & Warwick Deanery on Wednesday 17th September. There will be an evening event to which everyone is invited – more details to follow nearer the time

Thought for the month: God helps us to flourish and blossom

As you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Colossians 2.6-7

My garden is doing well so far this year. With the good weather in May and the mix of sun and a little rain this past month, everything is growing and flowering nicely and there is the promise of a good crop of both blackberries and pears later in the summer.

One of the lessons I learnt early on in my gardening life was that things will only grow well if conditions are right: there’s absolutely no point expecting something that comes from a very different climate to ours to survive for long out in my garden. Instead, I’ve learnt to grow things that blossom naturally in the sort of soil and the micro-climate that exists in my particular space.

I suspect we are much the same. Some of us thrive in the hustle and bustle of city life whilst others need regular contact with quiet, green spaces. Are you someone who needs to feel under pressure, working to deadlines, for you to give of your best? Perhaps you prefer to work in a calmer environment to achieve your true potential? Whichever kind of person we are, we also need to be rooted in Christ, as suggested by my opening quote from Paul’s letter to the Colossians.

One of my favourite ‘I am’ sayings in John’s gospel is Jesus’ description of himself as a vine and us as the branches on that vine. It reminds me that I will not thrive if I try to go it alone; I need to be connected to the life-affirming love and grace that Jesus offers me. Of course there are times when I may feel I am being ‘pruned’, when life feels tough or Jesus feels a long way away, but if I stay rooted in Christ through regular prayer, reading my bible and coming to worship, then my spiritual roots will be deep enough to carry me through the hard times and allow me to blossom once again as times improve.

As well as thinking about ‘what’, we need also to think about ‘where’ we need to be to thrive? We are not often called to move away into a new place to become the person God knows we can be: more often than not we are called to blossom and flourish exactly where we are, with the people who know and love us.

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. (Jeremiah 29.11).

Isn’t that a lovely thought? God know me and has plans for me that he will help me to achieve if I just open my heart and life to him.

I hope you all feel that St James offers you the opportunity to flourish – if not, please come and talk to me and let’s see how we can help to make that happen.

With love, Sue

Lord Jesus Christ, I want to grow my roots down deeper into you

and draw up my nourishment from time spent with you. Fill me with

your grace, that I may blossom and flourish in this place and know

you to be with me each day

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Father God,

however young or old, big or small we are,

we are all your children.

Help us all to see you more clearly,

love you more dearly,

follow you more nearly,

day by day

We may not know what the future holds

But we can trust the One who holds the future

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Clergy

Revd. William Smith      316475      wms.smith@btinternet.com

Revd. Sue Fairhurst      735254       sue@fairhursts.me.uk

Churchwardens

Michael Rayner       831522

Jane Marshall         831680

Website & email

www.stjamesoldmilverton.co.uk       churchwardenstjames@outlook.co

​​​Parish News​