“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

(2 Corinthians 8:9)

This week, the sections of the email are:

• Opening reflection: Rich Regret
• Key notices: CTiR Prayer Breakfast, Thanet Winter Shelter, Myriad Visiting Speaker, Harvest Update
• Coming Up: The Birth of St. George’s, Samaritan’s Purse Coffee Morning, Flamenco, Light Party, Christianity Explored
• Interesting Blogs: Hea Woo at Spring Harvest, Quiet Revival Podcast
• Weekly Calendar
• Online Forms: Event application, Submit a notice, maintenance report, access Safeguarding training

Scroll on…

Opening Reflection

When it comes to the issue of money, we live in a society where the mantra seems to be: “Gain all you can to spend all you can!” Many of the heroes of modern society are those who through skill (e.g. footballers), talent (e.g. pop stars) or ingenuity (e.g. entrepeneurs) have had enormous success and amassed incredible wealth.

Jesus is different. He had everything, but became poor for our sakes. As the Son of God, he had access to what ever he wanted, but by becoming human to live the life of a villager in 1^st century Israel and ultimately die a gruesome and humiliating death on the cross he became poor in every sense. Why did he do it? So we might become rich. He died so that we might join him in God’s eternal and luxurious home. Isn’t this the kind of hero you want to worship?

But, if we worship such a hero, then we are called to imitate him. Following his example we will be willing to give up our wealth to help others become rich. To live in the opposite way is to deny the fundamental story of the one we claim to worship. Yet, many people today still love money more than God.

Jesus tells a parable to challenge the Pharisees of his day, who were themselves lovers of money. In the story, there are two characters, a rich man and a homeless man who sleeps at this gate, called, Lazarus. The rich man has clearly lived a life that is all about gaining all you can and spending all you can. He did nothing to help Lazarus, he did not take seriously the teaching of the Bible to be generous, he was nothing like Christ. Jesus is blunt. The rich man ends up in hell. Let’s not make the same mistake. Rather than, ‘Gain all you can to spend all you can,’ let’s be those who, ‘Gain all we can, to give all we can.’

Paul Worledge

Key Notices:

Churches Together in Ramsgate Prayer Breakfast

The Ramsgate Churches Together Prayer breakfast has been cancelled for this Saturday. So we will hold a normal Daily Prayer. 9:30-10:00am at St. George’s this Saturday.

Thanet Winter Shelter

Some of you will remember that in 2016 the churches in Thanet under the leadership of Ramsgate Salvation Army provided a winter shelter for rough sleepers. This was eventually taken over by the council with government funding. However, there is now a need for the churches to step up again and plans are in place to set up a winter shelter for rough sleepers at St. Laurence Church Hall from 6^th October. Volunteers are urgently needed. If you want to offer some kind of support please go to the Volunteer Portal to sign up: https://portal.thanetsheltersupport.org  

Myriad – Visiting Speaker

Part of our Vision 2030 is to create new Worshipping Communities. One way that could happen is through the support of Myriad, which trains small teams of lay people to start small new worshipping communities.

This week we welcome Shiela Porter to our services, who will be giving a talk about this exciting work and how we might be involved.

Harvest Collection

Thank you to all those who generously donated food and money at our harvest service last week. The food has now been transferred to the Salvation Army food bank.

We haven’t yet a total for the collection for Christian Aid, but it is not too late to give. We will also be having a special collection, which will go towards Christian Aid. Either put the money in an envelope labelled, ‘Mercy Ships’ in the collection or give by bank transfer: St Georges Parochial Church Council/ 30-99-50 / 48005763 / Ref.: ‘Harvest2025’ .

Coming Up:

The Birth of St. George’s – Saturday 4^th October, 3pm

A great chance to learn more about both the history of the town or church. An illustrated talk by Margaret Bolton looking at how Ramsgate developed up to the Regency period and what prompted people to build a church. Why did they call it St George’s? Where did the money come from? Why was it designed to look as it did? Who worked on the project? How has it changed since?

Tickets are £5 on the door or in advance from the website. All proceeds to the St. George’s Restoration Fund. Fliers available at the back of church.

Samaritan’s Purse Coffee Morning, Saturday 11^th October

There will be a Coffee morning to promote and raise funds for the Samaritans Purse shoe box appeal. There will be coffee, tea and cake and books and gifts for sale. St Lukes Church Hall, 11th October at 10am – 12. All welcome.

Flamenco – St. George’s, Friday 17^th October, 7:30-9:00pm

Performing artists include Rebeca Ortega, an elegant and accomplished dancer based in Seville, maestro gutarrista Ramon Ruiz from Granada who trained in Seville, and Natalia Marin, renowned puro flamenco singer from Seville. Tickets, £20 on door or through EventBrite.

Light Party – Friday 31^st October, 4:30-6:00pm

Our alternative to Halloween. A party event for all ages. This annual event is great fun and a good way to provide a positive alternative to the darkness that is the focus of Halloween celebrations. Do come and encourage both church and non-church friends to come. Everyone welcome and all is free.

If you would like to volunteer with running an activity or providing food, then please speak to Tonya or sign one of the lists at the back of church.

Christianity Explored – Starting – November

We are planning to run a trial version of the soon to be published new Christianity Explored in November and early December. This course is for you:

• if you are interested in Christianity or new to faith
• are looking to be baptised or confirmed
• have questions about faith or want a refresher of the basics

Filling in this form will help us to plan at what time of the week it is best to run the course or courses. It expresses and interest not a commitment to attend.

Interesting Blogs to Share:

Hea Woo at Spring Harvest

Chrissie Retallick shares hearing from Hea Woo a Christian from North Korea at this year’s Spring Harvest. Read More…

The New Quiet Revival Podcast

What do you think of the Quiet Revival? It’s been discussed across the media. People who have no idea what goes on inside a church know that the Church is expanding.

But is it true? If you’ve seen it in your own church, you’ll have a good idea, but if you haven’t then you might be wondering if we can trust the data. Dr Rhiannon McAleer, Bible Society’s Director of Research and co-author of The Quiet Revival report, says the results were a shock.

In the first episode of the new podcast<https://biblesociety.cmail19.com/t/r-l-tkykvjt-kumldyhm-j/> exploring the revival, Rhiannon explains why we can trust the report’s findings. With Dr Andrew Ollerton, author of The Bible Course, Rhiannon discusses the opportunities and challenges that the Quiet Revival presents to churches.

Weekly Calendar

Sunday 5^th October – Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

Eucharist – (St George’s, 9:30am), Reading: Luke 16:19-31

Monday 6^th     

Prayer Meeting (St. Luke’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am

The Bible Course (St. Luke’s Hall) – 7:30-9:00pm

Tuesday 7^th        

Prayer Meeting (St. George’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am

Community Meal (St. George’s Hall) – 5:30-7:00pm

Wednesday 8th

Community Soup (St. George’s Church) – 12:00-2:00pm

Thursday 9th         

Prayer Meeting (St. Luke’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am

The Bible Course (St. Luke’s Church) – 11:30am-1:00pm

Men’s Group Pool Night (Frames Snooker Club) – 7:00pm

Saturday 11^th    

Prayer Meeting (St. George’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am

Community Soup (St. George’s Church) – 12:00-2:00pm

Sunday 12^th – Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

Eucharist – (St George’s, 9:30am), Reading: Luke 15:11-31

Sunday School (St George’s, 10:30am)

Online Forms

Under the ‘Contact’ tab on the website, there are now three forms that you can use to help us in managing the church:

• Events Application Form. Use this if you are organising a church event that needs a church room booked, advertising or ticketing.
• Submit a Notice. Use this if you want to ask us to include a prayer request or other notice in the church notice sheet or email.
• Maintenance Reporting Form.Use this to report any non-urgent issues with our buildings or grounds.

St. George’s Website

• What’s On – a page which lets you know what is happening this week and gives information about upcoming events.
• Notices – You can read the latest notices on this page.
• Sermons – Read a transcript of a recent sermon or watch the YouTube version recorded at St. Luke’s. There are now videos for all the sermons over the summer.

Safeguarding Training

If you volunteer in anyway at church the national authorities are strongly encouraging you to take at least the Basic Module in safeguarding training once every three years.

If you have not completed the training in the last three years, then the module can be completed online and takes about ninety minutes. You can access the training by following this link. You will need to first register, to access the training. Once the training is completed, you will be sent a certificate. Please forward that certificate to James (office@churchramsgate.org), so that we can keep records of who has done the training.

Finally, let’s be generous as Christ is generous,

Yours in Christ

Paul Worledge

(Priest in Charge, St. George’s Ramsgate)