Visit the church web site at www.ststephensw12.org. You can read all the latest news about the parish. You can also read the sermons which are posted each week

Good news and bad news. It is lovely to be able to baptise Nerrisa’a grandson Jahmai. We welcome him, his parents Philip and Maxine and the rest of the family.

The saddest thing I have had to do since arriving in Shepherds Bush is to announce that the funeral for Ron Smith will be held on Thursday 25th October at 2.30 in St Stephens Church. Ron and Ivy were married for 66 years. They are special members of the congregation and are very dear to all of us.

There are 17 separate references to Jesus prayer life in the gospels. Jesus prayed, early in the morning and late into the night; he prayed often. He prayed before he went to the cross and while he was on the cross. He prayed for people; he prayed at the beginning of His ministry and during his ministry. He withdrew away from people to pray at all the significant points of his ministry (transfiguration, choosing his disciples, teaching his disciples, Peter confessing him as the Christ).

Processional Hymn     380 At the Name of Jesus     

Collect of the Day
God, the giver of life, whose Holy Spirit wells up within your Church: by the Spirit’s gifts equip us to live the gospel of Christ and make us eager to do your will, that we may share with the whole creation the joys of eternal life; 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.

First Reading                 2 Timothy 3.14-4.5                          (p.1018)
Continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Gradual Hymn               386 Be thou my vision

GOSPEL                         Luke 18.1-8                                      (p.1019)

• The sick and suffering: especially Felix Okike, Lucilda Bernard, Joan Andrew, Elizabeth Dorsett, Ivy Smith, Susie Leach, Norbert Edwards, Brother Paul Anthony, Sylvia Steed, John Asbridge, Caroline Nevill, Tracey Davies, Esmay Young, Roger Cox.
• The recently departed: especially Ron Smith, and his family and friends who mourn him.

Offertory Hymn                            376 And Can it be

Communion Hymn                     383 Be Still

Post Communion Prayer
God our Father, whose Son, the light unfailing, has come from heaven to deliver the world from the darkness of ignorance: let these holy mysteries open the eyes of our understanding that we may know the way of life, and walk in it without stumbling; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Recessional Hymn                     377 Angel Voices

Coffee in church after the service

2 Timothy 3.14-4.5 ©  1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Pub. Hodder & Stoughton. Post Communion (20th after Trinity) ©  1980, 1986 Mowbray, a Cassell Imprint: Prayers for the Alternative Services comp. David Silk. Some material included in this service is copyright: ©  1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ, USA. Some material included in this service is copyright: ©  The Archbishops' Council 2000

NOTICES

THIS WEEK:

Interfaith Week of Prayer for World Peace www.nfpb.gn.apc.org

NEXT SUNDAY:        28 October 2007        Last Sunday after Trinity

10 am SUNG EUCHARIST
Celebrant and Preacher – The Reverend Dr Bob Mayo
2 Timothy 4.6-8,16-18 (p 1025), Luke 18.9-14 (p 1026)

Sunday School meets in St Stephen’s school
Sunday Youth meets in the Glebe Maisonette
Small Children are welcome to  play in St Thomas’s Chapel, near the porch
Baptised Communicants of other Churches are encouraged to receive communion
Children and other non-communicants are invited to come to the altar for a blessing
The Ministry of Healing is offered in the Chapel, after Communion is given

Dates for your Diary
Confirmations at St Paul’s, 11am, 3 November
St Stephen’s Christmas Party – 8 December
United Nations Day, 24 October www.un.org
Landmine Action Week, 29 October – 11 November www.landmineaction.org
Prisons Week and Prisons Sunday, 18-24 November www.prisonsweek.org
World Aids Day Service, 25 November; 6.30pm at Southwark Cathedral

For other Diocese and Kensington Area events please visit the church web site www.ststephensw12.org

Home Communion – Available to any unable to come on a Sunday.  Talk to Father Bob (8743 3166) if you or anyone else might be interested.

Any enquiries about pastoral concerns, baptisms, weddings or funerals please get in touch with Father Bob. The only time that Bob will be unavailable is between Friday pm and Sunday am.