“We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
( 1 Thessalonians 1:12)
This week, the sections of the email are:
- Opening reflection: Amazing Grace
- Key notices: Light Party, Christianity Explored, Life Groups, Remembrance Day
- Coming Up: Men’s Group film and Chippy, Christmas Baroque
- From the Wider Church: Prayer Breakfast, Thanet Winter Shelter, World Day of Prayer
- Interesting Blogs: Pathways to Faith, Living Virtuously with AI chatbots
- Weekly Calendar
- Online Forms: Event application, Submit a notice, maintenance report, access Safeguarding training
Scroll on…
Opening Reflection
Newton’s past was far from the respectable life you would expect of a clergyman. Having rejected his childhood faith, he openly mocked those who believed. He spent many years working on ships involved in the transatlantic slave trade and gained notoriety as being one of the most profane and insubordinate men amongst crews of unruly sailors who habitually swore.
Yet, after crying out to God for mercy in the midst of a storm that threatened to engulf the ship he was on, he began to wonder whether God could indeed have mercy on someone like him. He discovered that God’s grace was great enough to save even someone like him and so, Newton began to change. Initially, he gave up swearing and became more submissive to authority, but over time he realised that the slave trade was wrong and took a lead in the campaign against it, which eventually led to the abolition of slavery.
The hymn he wrote, powerfully expresses the immensity of God’s grace towards him, “Amazing grace! (How sweet the sound) That saved a wretch like me!”. But it also reflects on how God’s grace protected him before he became a Christian: ‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far…’. Furthermore, it is by God’s grace that he had a future hope: ‘And grace will lead me home.’
Jesus’ name was certainly glorified through John Newton’s life. And the ugliness of his early unruly life was transformed into the glory of someone wholehearted for God. Have you learnt to trust in God’s amazing grace?
Paul Worledge
Key Notices:
Light Party – Friday 31st 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. Please join us!
Christianity Explored – Starting this week
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
We will be running small groups at St. Luke’s vicarage at the following times:
- Sundays, 5:00-6:30pm, (13-18s only)
- Mondays, 7:30-9:00pm
- Thursdays, 11:30am-1:00pm
Please speak to Paul if you are interested in joining one of these groups or fill in the online form.
Life Groups – Small Groups starting this week
We are renaming our small groups, ‘Life Groups’. These groups, for up to twelve people, are to enable regular meeting outside of normal services to support and encourage each other in our day-to-day Christian lives. When the groups meet there is the opportunity to show care for one another, to pray with and for each other and to share encouragements as we dig into the Bible together. Why not think about joining one starting this week?
They will be meeting on:
- Monday evenings
- Tuesday afternoons
- Wednesday mornings
- Wednesday evenings
Have a chat with Paul to find out more or fill in the online form.
Remembrance Day Service – 9th Nov., 11am
Next Sunday is our Remembrance Day service. This starts with a parade arriving outside the church and the Last Post and minutes silence at 11am. The wreaths of poppies will then be laid, and people will be invited into the church for our service. This year we are being joined by the Thanet Big Sing Community Choir, who sang at the Dunkirk Service in May.
Helping set up chairs for Remembrance Service
If you can help set out chairs for the choir from about 10am next Sunday (9th November), then please let Paul or Mark know this Sunday.
Coming Up:
Men’s Group: Film and Chip Night, Wed. 12th Nov., 6:30pm
This one will be in church. The cost is £10 to cover a meal of fish and chips. Please contact Bruce Stokes… 07708 682464 bruce.stokes@btinternet.com for more information.
Christmas Baroque at St. George’s – 18th December, 7pm
The Baroque Collective warmly invites you to the fifth annual Christmas Baroque Concert at St George’s on 18 December at 7pm. This much-loved tradition brings together exquisite seasonal music and community spirit as a part of Christmas tree festival. Tickets: £13 in advance, £15 on the door; free admission for children under 16. Purchase online.
From the Wider Church:
Churches Together in Ramsgate Prayer Breakfast,
This Saturday, 1st November, 9:00-10:00am is the Churches Together Prayer Breakfast at the Salvation Army on Ramsgate High Street.
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. On Monday 6th October, a winter shelter for rough sleepers at St. Laurence Church Hall was started. Numbers attending are small at present, but expected to grow. 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
World Day of Prayer Planning
If anyone is interested in representing St. Luke’s to help plan for the World Day of Prayer service in March 2026, alongside other churches in Ramsgate, then please let Paul know. There is a meeting on Monday 1st December to begin to plan for this.
Interesting Blogs to Share:
Pathways to Faith
This gives a summary of recent research from the Evangelical Alliance about how people are coming to faith in the UK today. Find out more… The full report can be found here.
Living Virtuously with AI chatbots
AI chatbots have become part of our everyday lives, whether on our smartphones, in the workplace, or even on a church website. They are an impressive simulacrum of human cognition and their seeming endless knowledge, authoritative outputs and friendly behaviour is alluring and sucks us into deeper engagement. This paper explores the strength and weaknesses of AI chatbot technology, how it may shape us and how we can live virtuously as Christians with these applications and avoid being nudged into unhealthy habits by our vices.
Issues raised by AI chatbots with respect to pursuing virtue, and avoiding being drawn toward our vices, are explored in the paper across six aspects of humanness: moral agency; truth and reality; cognition and creativity; embodied relationships; freedom and privacy; and dignity of work.
Weekly Calendar
Sunday 2nd November – Fourth Sunday before Advent
Eucharist with Baptism – (St George’s, 9:30am), Reading: 2 Thes. 1.1-12
Christianity Explored Youth (13-18s) (St Luke’s Vicarage) – 5:00-6:30pm
Monday 3rd
Prayer Meeting (St. Luke’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Christianity Explored (St Luke’s Vicarage) – 7:30-9:00pm
Tuesday 4th
Prayer Meeting (St. George’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Community Meal (St. George’s Hall) – 5:30-7:00pm
Wednesday 5th
Community Soup (St. George’s Church) – 12:00-2:00pm
Thursday 6th
Prayer Meeting (St. Luke’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Christianity Explored (St Luke’s Vicarage) – 11:30am-1:00pm
Saturday 8th
Prayer Meeting (St. George’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Community Soup (St. George’s Church) – 12:00-2:00pm
Sunday 9th – Third Sunday before Advent
Remembrance Day Service – (St George’s, 11am), Reading: Job 19:23-27a
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. Luke’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. You can also listen to the sermon through the podcast website castbox.
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 keep celebrating God’s amazing grace.
Yours in Christ,
Paul Worledge
(Priest in Charge, St. George’s Ramsgate)
St. George's Church Ramsgate 