“For just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”
(Romans 5:19)
This week, the sections of the email are:
- Opening reflection: Lent
- Key notices: Confirmation Cake, Charities, St. Luke’s 150th
- Coming Up: Thanet Churches Together Prayer Gathering, Confirmation Service, ACTS Preparation for Easter Cracked, Men’s Group Games Night
- Interesting Blogs: Childen’s emotions and behaviour, staying human in the age of AI
- Prayer Requests
- Weekly Calendar
- Online Forms: Event application, Submit a notice, maintenance report, access Safeguarding training
Scroll on…
Opening Reflection
This week we began Lent. For many Lent is reduced to the time when you give something up, whether it be chocolate, alcohol, coffee or something else, but traditionally it is meant to be much more than that.
The aim of Lent is to reflect on our lifestyles and ask ourselves whether we are truly living the way God called us to live. It is a time to focus afresh on God, to acknowledge our sin, give thanks for his grace and mercy and seek to live in obedience. Giving something up or taking on new spiritual habits may help with that, but they are not the ultimate aim of Lent.
Lent is inspied by the forty days Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness. During that time, Jesus was preparing for his ministry and was tempted by the devil. The big question for Jesus was whether he would take the hard route and obey God or the easy route and give in to temptation. It was a preparation for a ministry of obedience, which climaxed in his ultimate act of obedience: dying on the cross to bring us forgiveness of sins.
All this is in contrast with Adam, who famously disobeyed God’s one rule not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We are all descendants of Adam, and like our ultimate father we all continue to disobey God. The Bible calls that sin.
Yet, God sent Jesus as a second Adam, a new humanity. In contrast to Adam, Jesus obeyed. Now, we have a choice of which humanity we want to belong to. The disobedient one founded by Adam or the obedient one launched by Christ, through whom we can be made righteous in God’s sight.
Paul Worledge
Key Notices:
Confirmation Cake
There will be four candidates from St. George’s being confirmed at St. Luke’s on Saturday 28th at 5pm. For after the service refreshments we want to provide hot drinks and cake. If you can make a cake for the service, then please sign the list at the back of church.
Charities
At our PCC, we agreed to support the three following charities:
- Active Christianity in Thanet Schools, a local charity that seeks to bring the Christian message to children where they are.
- Christians Against Poverty, a national charity that helps people break free from debt.
- Christian Aid, a charity that seeks to alleviate poverty around the world.
If you are interested in being a representative for any of these, then please see Paul.
Coming Up:
Thanet Churches Together Prayer Gathering
Sunday 22nd February, 6:30pm, St. James’ Church, Westgate, CT9 5JU
Confirmation Service
Sat. 28th Feb., 5pm, St. Luke’s Church
Please come and support candidates from St. Luke’s, St. George’s and other local churches being confirmed and baptised at the end of February. There will be around nine candidates from St. Luke’s and four from St. George’s. Bishop Rose will be taking the service.
ACTS preparation for Easter Cracked
There is going to be a training and resource making session for all the Easter Cracked events across Thanet on Wednesday 25th February, 12pm at St. Peter’s Baptist Church, run by Active Christianity in Thanet Schools.
Men’s Group Games Night
The next event is a Games night at St Lukes, 12th March.
Interesting Blogs to Share:
Children’s Emotions and Behaviours
A short video (90seconds) helping parents to consider how to work with their child to understand how they are feeling and why. Find out more…
Staying Human in the age of AI
With the growth in AI and its use, questions are raised about what it means to be human and how not to lose our humainty in the face of being replaced by AI. Read more…
Weekly Calendar
Sunday 22nd February – The First Sunday of Lent
Eucharist (St. George’s Church) Romans 5:12-19 – 9:30am
Confirmation Course (St Luke’s Vicarage) – 5:00-6:30pm
Churches Together Prayers (St James’ Church, Westgate) 6:30pm
Monday 23rd
Prayer Meeting (St. Luke’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Tuesday 24th
Prayer Meeting (St. George’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Community Meal (St. George’s Hall) – 5:30-7:00pm
Wednesday 25th
Ash Wednesday Service (St. George’s Church) – 11:00am-noon
Community Soup (St. George’s Church) – 12:00-2:00pm
Joint PCC Meeting (St Luke’s Hall) – 7.30pm
Thursday 26th
Prayer Meeting (St. Luke’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Confirmation Course (St Luke’s Vicarage) – 11:30am-1:00pm
Saturday 28th
Prayer Meeting (St. George’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Community Soup (St. George’s Church) – 12:00-2:00pm
Confirmation Service (St Luke’s Church) – 5pm
Sunday 1st March – The Second Sunday of Lent
Eucharist (St. George’s Church) Galatians 5:13-26 – 9:30am
Life Groups
Will you dare to share the Christian life with others? Life groups are a great way to meet together regularly with a small group of other Christians, for mutual support, to share in reading God’s word and to pray for one another.
Please see Paul if you are interested in joining one. There are groups at the following times:
- Monday evenings
- Tuesday afternoons
- Wednesday mornings
- Wednesday evenings
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.
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 align ourselves with the new humanity of Jesus.
Yours in Christ
Paul Worledge
(Priest in Charge, St. George’s Ramsgate)
St. George's Church Ramsgate 