Thank you for loving us.
Over the last three years of so Catherine, Edmund and I have got used to living in Hayes. It’s fair to say it’s quite different from where we were before but both Catherine and I recognise many of the things in Hayes that we experienced in our childhoods in Wales.
Poverty, hardship, things not as we may like them to be. There is crime, there is heartache and there is much to criticise and feel bad about.
However, to only focus on those things is to miss the amazing love that exists in Hayes between those of us who live here.
For every bad thing, there are lots of good things and we have to remind ourselves to look for them.
God is first and foremost a God who shows us Hope. Jesus encourages us to view the world through the love that God has for us – and in that love we have a chance to see Him at work in the world around us.
It is easy to walk through Hayes and only see the litter or the people in doorways. But if you take a step back and view those things through the love & hope God calls us to we see the work the litter picking group does, we see the love that is offered to those who have no home – of the work of the foodbank and of church larder.
You can chose to see people sitting alone at home with very few human connections, or you can chose to see the work of Thursday night Fun & Fellowship.
It is that hopeful vision that will push back the darkness and bring people into the light. And it starts with you… you get to chose how to see the world around you and in doing so encourage others to see the light, rather than fixate on the dark.
Thank you for loving us, thank you for caring for us, thank you for everything.
Fr. Matthew, Catherine & Edmund
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Fr. Matthew’s collation as Vicar will is THIS Sunday. Bishop Jonathan will be with us to celebrate and we’re going to have a lovely bring and share lunch afterwards. If you could sign up to bring food Fr. Matthew would be very grateful. We’ll have an organist and a 12 part choir to sing the Vaughn Williams Mass in G-Minor. Please invite your friends.
There is Sunday School NEXT WEEK at 11:30am-12:30pm. Please invite and encourage your children to come.
Thursday Fun & Fellowship is ON for Thursday! There are some new games to play and as always a friendly group of people ready to have a chat, share a coffee and bit of cake, and generally make the world that little bit better.
Rotas – please sign up for the tea & coffee and the reading rotas at the back of church.
Please sign up for Parish Giving (which is a wonderful way to support St. Anselm and helps us claim more money from the government) Go to www.stanselm.co.uk/giving or call the Parish Giving Team directly on 0333 002 1271 quoting our parish number, which is: 230 623 503.