St Margaret of Antioch, Ilford Notices & Events Welcoming, transforming and growing together in God’s love Children's Society. If you haven't already, could you please bring in your children's society boxes for me before the end of the year. If you do not have a box but would like one to collect loose change, please let me know. Thanks. Sharon Daughters Free Will Offering envelopes. A new set of envelopes for 2015 is now available for those who are members of the FWO scheme. They are at the back of church today. The envelope scheme is a good way of planning your regular giving to the church. If you have not used envelopes before, and would like to join the scheme or to hear more about it, please speak to me. Ann Edwards Thursday 1 January - Eucharist at 12:00. Begin the new year in church! Please bring a piece of cheese with you to share; biscuits, and wine and fruit juice provided. Marjorie Tarran wishes everyone at St Margaret’s a ‘Happy Christmas, and says thank you to everyone who has sent her cards, which she greatly appreciates. Weekly News Sheet for Sunday 28 December 2014 The Holy Innocents Welcome to St Margaret’s. We hope you enjoy worshipping with us. If you are here for the first time please make yourself known to the Churchwardens or one of the sidespeople. Do take this sheet home with you. Please use the time before each service for your own spiritual preparation and help each other by maintaining the silence in the church. If you will be giving your donation to the church in cash, and you pay tax, please use a Gift Aid envelope, writing your name and address on the front. This allows us to claim an additional 25p for every £1 donated, at no cost to you. At the Sung Eucharist this morning: Setting: Gathering Mass : Paul Inwood Readers: Ann Edwards and Terry English Intercessions led by Fr Stephen St. Margaret’s The Eucharist this week: Tuesday 7.30pm Thursday 12noon (The Holy Name of Jesus) Next Sunday: The Epiphany of the Lord 10.30am Sung Eucharist For our prayers this week Among the sick and in need: Monica Martin, Joergen Nielsen, Ric Olphonce, Auvril Sangowawa, Anne Warden, Ludwik Wegrzyn, Roy Young Massacre of the Innocents, Nicolas Poussin 1629 Musée Condé de Chantilly Parish Priest: Fr Stephen Pugh 020 8554 7542 [email protected] The recently departed, including Mary LeVoi and Doris Willcocks Those whose anniversaries of death fall this week: 31st: Nellie Crofton, David Cooper, Lesley Morris; 1st January: Frank Linford, Albert Green; 2nd: Edith Wells, Beatrice Lakin-Phillips; Gladys Still Collect: Heavenly Father, whose children suffered at the hands of Herod, though they had done no wrong: by the suffering of your Son and by the innocence of our lives frustrate all evil designs and establish your reign of justice and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Indeed thus shall be blessed those who fear the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion all the days of your life! R Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1: 26-29 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. First Reading: Jeremiah 31: 15-17 Thus says the LORD: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more. Thus says the LORD: Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for there is a reward for your work, says the LORD: they shall come back from the land of the enemy; there is hope for your future, says the LORD: your children shall come back to their own country. Gospel Acclamation Alleluia....... May the peace of Christ reign in your hearts; let the message of Christ find a home within you. Alleluia...... Gospel: St Matthew 2: 13-18 Psalm: 128 R: O blessed are those who fear the Lord. O blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways! By the labour of your hands you shall eat. You will be happy and prosper. R Your wife like a fruitful vine in the heart of your house; your children like shoots of the olive, around your table. R Reflection on the Sunday Gospel Here we encounter death in the midst of birth. There is no reasonable society that tolerates the torture of children. And yet, it happens, often because adults are frightened of the children who are destined to follow them. Macbeth tried to kill the son of his rival Banquo, but succeeded only in having the father killed. Herod killed for the same reason - these little babies are a threat to him, not because of who they are, but because of what one of them might become: a rival. Prayer over the Gifts At your table, O God, let all be remembered who suffer for your name, even as they are numbered among those you have redeemed through Christ our Lord. Amen. Post Communion Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, in your humility you have stooped to share our human life with the most defenceless of your children: may we who have received these gifts of your passion rejoice in celebrating the witness of the holy innocents to the purity of your sacrifice made once for all upon the cross; for you are alive and reign, now and for ever. Amen.