Welcome to St.Nick’s for Sunday 26th April and Sunday 3rd May
Dear Friends,
23rd of April marks the feast of Saint George the Martyr, Patron Saint of our Blessed England, Chivalry, Courage, the Scouting Movement, Christian Virtue and all round good egg. There’s a lot of ‘whoo ha’ about Saint George, popular myths and fairly dryer less romantic truths. But I would like to imagine that reality is somewhere in between the two. After all, History is often more about the impact and interpretation of the event, as opposed to the simply facts and figures.
George was likely born in in Cappadocia (modern-day Turkey) in the 3rd century AD, Asia Minor being a hotbed of early Christianity. George is believed to have been a high ranking Roman Soldier and that he was martyred in AD 303 after refusing to renounce his Christian faith to the then anti-Christian Roman Emperor, Diocletian.
Being a hopeless romantic, I like the story of St George riding in to rescue the princess who was being sacrificed to satisfy the evil appetites of a dragon that was harassing a village, eating their cattle, poisoning the water etc. Needless to say George slays the frightful beast and frees the princess. The king being so pleased offers George a great deal of money (even the princess’s hand in marriage!) but the virtue of the deed was enough for George, no reward needed.
In our lives there aren’t many actual dragons about (though I’m sure we’ve all met a few!), but we are all plagued by spiritual dragons that plague our lives, sadness, depression, dependency, dark times, temptation. gossip. But like St George we are not alone, we have upon us the armour of God! He is our strength and our shield as Psalm 46 says. So whatever dragons we are facing in our lives at the moment, remember that we are not alone, Christ stands before us, and he has conquered death and promised unto us forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting. And may our entire nation follow the example of George’s faith and trust in God.
In the name of Christ,
Amen.
Revd Joshua Mark Gaskell
Assistant Curate
St Paul’s Parish Church, Withington, Lancashire.
Sunday 26th April
‘Cafe church’ will start at 10.45am with refreshments followed by a Service of the Word delivered by the Worship Group. Christian our organist and MD will accompany the hymns and chants. Members of St.Nick’s team will deliver readings and prayers.
Sunday 3rd May
Our All Age Worship service will begin at 10.45am. Rev Josh Gaskell will preside and preach for the last time. Christian will provide the accompaniement with prayers and the gospel reading delivered by St. Nick’s team. There will be chance to say farewell to Josh and Phil after the service.
Team Farewell to Rev Josh
We have all been invited to join with the congregations of our new team of churches, to say farewell to Josh and Phil at a Choral Evensong.
