THE PARISH CHURCH OF STOKE                
DAMEREL (ST. ANDREW & ST. LUKE)

Email:   info@stokedamerel.church                                          
www.Stokedamerel.church
www.facebook.com/StokeDamerelChurch

Please note: Stoke Damerel Church does not divulge
personal information to third parties.

Sunday 24th August    10th Sunday after Trinity

THIS WEEK'S READINGS
Sunday 24 August            10th Sunday after Trinity Merciful God,
we entrust to your tender care
those who are ill or in pain,
knowing that whenever danger threatens
your everlasting arms
are there to hold them safe.
Comfort and heal them,
and restore them to health and strength;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

PLEASE PRAY FOR:-
The sick:-
Maureen, John and Shirley, Margaret, Graham, John.
The long term sick and infirm:-
George, Peter, Diana, Liz, Keith, Rob, Clive.
The Ministry Team:-
Wendy, Ruth, Marilyn and Rhona.

BLESSED SACRAMENT CANDLE

If you would like to have the candle lit for a week
for a particular prayer / thanksgiving /
commemoration, etc., please send a £5 donation to
Debbie Smith, clearly marking your donation as
being for the candle. Details of your intention can
be emailed to:- sarah.lundstrom@virginmedia.com
so that a mention of the commemoration, etc., can
appear in the Sunday Sheet.

SERVICES THIS WEEK
Stoke Damerel Parish Church is a hybrid church
open for public worship and private prayer and all
services will be live streamed.
By attending a live streamed service, you give
implied permission to have your image captured
on CCTV and to be broadcast as participant in the
liturgy.

Watch our livestreamed services
Please follow the link to make your way to our YouTube page: 

 STOKE DAMEREL YOUTUBE CHANNEL 

Sunday 24 August            10th Sunday after Trinity
0800 Morning Prayer
Led by Ruth Sayers
1000 Sung Parish Eucharist
Celebrant: Rev’d Dr Sacha Pearce

Wednesday 27 August
1000 Morning Prayer

Sunday 31 August            11th Sunday after Trinity
0800 Holy Eucharist
Celebrant: Rev’d Sue Nicholas
1000 Sung Parish Eucharist including Baptism
of Ella Faith Howden
Celebrant: Rev’d Sue Nicholas

RUTH'S REFLECTIONS
The first shall be last and the last first.
One of my bible readings for this past week was
the story of the man and his vineyard (Matt. 20 v
1-15). He needed workers and offered a denarius
for working for him. Finding his workers in the
marketplace, he invited them to come and work in
his vineyard. He realized that by lunchtime there
were still more men needing work and even at the
end of the day he found a few more. Being a just
employer, at the end of the day, he called them
together and paid them for their service. You may
remember that all those who worked for him were
paid an agreed price regardless of when they
clocked on. Those who had worked a whole day
were paid the same rate as those who had worked
for just an hour at the end. At a first reading you
may cry “it’s not fair” and yes, in human terms it is
not fair. Those who had worked the longest surely
deserved pay that reflected the hours worked. But
of course, Jesus was trying to illustrate a point, and
he can and does often shock us into understanding
his way of thinking.
This is one of those passages which begins “the
kingdom of heaven is like”. Jesus often illustrates
the concept of the kingdom of heaven with
parables, and this is one of them. As with many
illustrations that Jesus uses, they are relevant to
his audience, and they can appreciate the
circumstances surrounding the story. One of the
important phrases in this story, is “the last shall be
first and the first will be last”. How many times
have you heard people use this phrase? This
principle occurs throughout the gospels and
reminds us that “latecomers or outsiders” are
welcomed into the kingdom of God with the same
grace as those who have been on the road a long
time. There should be no spiritual pride or jealousy
amongst those who have been followers of Christ
since the beginning.
Another lesson that we can learn is that some may
respond to the call of God early in their lives. The
invitation to serve God comes at different times
and circumstances in our lives and for some it is
a lifetime of commitment and for others it comes
later. The point here is that whatever time the call
to follow Jesus is given, all are embraced with love
and grace to enter the kingdom of God.
This parable illustrates that the gospel is open to
all. We should not resent those who “come late to
the party” and we should celebrate every blessing
that is given to others without resentment. I think
this passage also speaks about welcoming all, even
if they are not “like us”. As churches we need to
invite all and welcome all. There is no hierarchy in
God’s kingdom, and we are equally precious in his
eyes. However long we may have been on the road
to faith, God’s grace is for all regardless of
circumstances or who we are. Perhaps the question
we may need to ask ourselves is where are we on
that journey?
Ruth Sayers

MARILYN'S MEMOS
THANK YOU to ROBERT
A really big thank you to Robert, who was in
church last Sunday with his wife Joanna and
family for the baptism of his daughter Lily.
After my request, he volunteered to take all the
boxes from the north porch to a charity shop, as
he felt he would like to give back something
following the welcome he and his family had
received last weekend. He returned on Wednesday
to take all the left over items from our summer
fair.





Last weekend's baptism of Lily

GARDENING HELPERS NEEDED
IN ADDITION TO TONY’S REQUEST
13TH SEPTEMBER
We have an invasion of ivy on our brick posts
and walls in the front garden, as well as other
gardening jobs to be done.
Since we are hoping for a good turn out of
helpers for the Heritage Open Day plus Devon
Historic Churches Trust Open Day on Saturday
13th September, Kelly and I thought it a good plan
to encourage team Stoke Damerel to help out in
the garden as well. We usually have these
gardening mornings twice a year so please do
come along between 10am and noon. Many hands
make light work.
Thank you in advance.

WENDY and EMMA’s OUTING PLANS
Wendy will be organising separate visits to the
local Muslim worship centre and the synagogue
for those who are interested. Dates and times to be
announced.
Emma has some ideas up her sleeve for further
outings to places of interest, including time for
contemplation and prayer. Again, places and dates
to be organised.
Many thanks to both for extending our horizons.
Marilyn

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN AUGUST
Jack Price, Penny Barnard, Maureen Wilson,
Catherine Gillhespy, Emma Bell, Ann Pitt.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Sep 13 Heritage Open Day        10am – 3pm
Oct 5 Harvest Thanksgiving and lunch
Oct 19 St. Luke’s Service            10am
Nov 9 Remembrance Sunday 10.30 Eucharist
Nov 21 Christmas Fair                11am - 3pm
Nov 22 Christmas Fair                11am - 3pm
Nov 28 St Andrew’s Night Supper 6.30pm
Nov 30 World Aids Day Celebration 12.00pm

These dates are just some of the special occasions
coming up in the next few months. There will also
be various concerts, details to follow.

A MUSICAL WEEK
At the beginning of last week, we travelled up to
London to attend a trio of Proms. Over the
previous 25 years we had been frequent visitors to
the Albert Hall, even joining the ‘Prommers’,
standing in the Arena for the Last Night festivities,
on no less than 10 occasions. With the passing of
the years, and even though the atmosphere is
unique, I do not think either of us would want to
stand in one spot for so many hours anymore. Now
we would rather pay the extra to sit in a
comfortable seat.
This was to be our first trip for several years, so we
made sure we had good seats. Some years ago, we
had a winter holiday in the Austrian lakeside resort
of Steinbach, where we saw the summerhouse
where Mahler had composed his first symphony.
Having never listened to any of his work, we
searched out that one and found it very enjoyable
to listen to. Since then, we had heard some of his
other works, but did not know the third symphony,
which was the first Prom we had booked to see. A
huge orchestra and a choir of about 150 performed,
what is the longest symphony by any classical
composer, to a packed hall. It was a formidable
work which we thoroughly enjoyed, as did
everyone else in the Albert Hall. One to remember
for many years to come. The second night we were
amongst another packed house, to hear the world
premier of Anoushka Shankar’s sitar work,
‘Chapters.’ Another powerful work, combining the
Indian sitar with many instruments in a western
orchestra, which we felt very privileged to have
witnessed.
As we were already at the venue, we had decided
to also attend the late-night prom later the same
evening, featuring two Nigerian brothers known as
‘The Cavemen.’ This was billed as being
“highlife fusion” and described as “a joyful good-
times Ghanaian music style.” Intrigued, we
thought it would be worth attending. The Albert
Hall was about half full for this Prom and we
noticed that we were probably a few years older
than most of those in the audience. Our seats in the
stalls were on the extreme right of the auditorium,
in line, if not slightly behind, the two performers.
The brothers arrived on stage, one on electric bass
guitar, the other on a large drumkit. We had an
excellent view of his back! He was a very
energetic drummer, to the extent that at one point,
between numbers, a member of staff had to creep
on stage to tape down some equipment which had
been dislodged by his frantic drumming. At times
they were accompanied by a young lady flautist
and a very serious looking string quintet. On
reflection, we may not choose to attend this type of
performance again, but it is certainly another
experience to remember.
At the end of the same week, we attended some of
the performances in the Enys Chamber Music
Festival in Cornwall. Various localities host
performances by young musicians, mostly
graduates of the Northern College of Music in
Manchester. This is all on a much smaller scale
than the Proms, but all the musicians are very
talented. We thoroughly enjoyed the various
combinations performing around the grounds of
Enys House.

There was also a duo of harp and violin, which
were enjoyed by all inside the large entrance hall
of Enys House.

The final performance, by various combinations of
about fifteen musicians, took place in the church of
King Charles The Martyr, much appreciated by a
large audience.
After that performance I spoke to one of the co-
directors and he would be happy to consider
organising musicians for a performance at Stoke
Damerel church at some time in the future. (Rest
assured that I did not previously speak to “The
Cavemen” – the drumming might cause more roof
damage !!)
Tony Barnard