A chance to ask your questions about the good news of Jesus. Starting April
John wrote his gospel so that we could believe in Jesus. Discover more on Sundays, 10.30am.
Meet John. He’s got a card. And he’d love to give it to you.
A memorial to four WWII servicemen was unveiled at St George’s at our Remembrance Sunday service this week.
The memorial was original displayed in Farm Road Church, which closed in 2014. The Church Management Committee asked St George’s to take the memorial when their building was threatened with demolition.
The plaque commemorates Gerald Rodgers, Laurence Frost, Percy Brown and Derrick Wood who lived on the St Helier Estate in Morden. All of the men were of a similar age and knew each other well. Rodgers was only 19 years old.
The plaque is said to have been made from materials from one of the WWII battlefields. Made from dark wood and metal, it has been hung next to a framed short biography of the men including photos of three of them (view).
Major Phil Shannon (above) unveiled the memorial at the St George’s Church Remembrance Sunday service. He spoke of the bravery of the men and hoped that the memorial would be a reminder of their sacrifice for our country.
We were delighted to be joined by members of Laurence Frost’s family, who laid wreaths at the memorial in loving memory of the men. One of the bouquets of flowers was from Rosetta, Laurence’s sister, who is still alive aged 95 years old.
Her hand-written card read, “To my dear brave brother Laurie so sadly missed. From your loving sister, Rosetta. R.I.P.”
(Click on photos to view)
The family contacted the church after it ran a campaign to try to find the relatives of the four servicemen. Over 18,000 people saw the church’s social media post and the South London Press and Church Times ran a story on the search.
A short video tribute to the men was played at the service (below). You can read more about the men and our search here. We are grateful for any further contacts with information about the other men and their families.
Watch again our week of ‘Life’ events with Roger Carswell and guests.
Like many, we have been horrified by the events in the Ukraine and have been looking for ways to help the people. Here’s some ways in which you can provide support:
Donations
There are lots of good charities working with refugees from the Ukraine providing emergency assistance. We have chosen to support the Tearfund campaign, which is providing food, bedding and temporary accomodation. We will be donating our Easter church collections to the relief effort. You can donate online here.
Sponsorship
The government is seeking people to sponsor families from the Ukraine fleeing the country, providing assistance and accomodation. We are supporting the Global Sanctuary Foundation as a church, which is seeking to offer assistance to Ukrainian families arriving in our country.
If you are a UK citizen and would be willing to host a family for at least 6 months, you can register on the site.
Prayer
We’ve been seeing in our Sunday services from Luke’s gospel that Jesus talked about wars and rumours of wars in our times. He told people not to be alarmed, but to watch and pray (Luke 21: 9-36).
We will continue to pray for peace and the people of the Ukraine in our weekly Sunday services from 10.30am and at our monthly prayer meeting on the third Sunday of every month at 7pm in church. Do join us. Visitors are most welcome.
To inform your personal prayers, here’s some background information about the church in the Ukraine from Operation World. See the Facebook page of Christ Church, the Church of England Church in Kyiv, which meets in a German Lutheran Church.
We are delighted to announce our new Outreach Worker.
The tongue reveals a lot about your health. I discovered this some years ago when helping a friend revise for her medical exams.
Take the colour. A white tongue can show Candidiasis, a yeast infection cause by stress or medication. A raspberry-coloured tongue can show Kawasaki disease, cause by a vitamin deficiency. A black hairy tongue…I will spare you further details.
The Apostle John wrote to his Christian friends of his prayer “that you may enjoy good health…just as you are progressing spiritually” (3 John v2).
The signs of physical health are obvious but how can you know whether you are in good spiritual health? What does spiritual progress look like in practice?
Some of us maybe anxious about our relationship with God when we have no reason to be. Others of us maybe confident when there is cause for concern.
The booklet, ‘Spiritual Healthcheck’ by Carl Laferton addresses these questions. It consists of 16 short reflections with a Bible reading.
We will be sending out a copies to families at St George’s, and will be encouraging the church to work through it this term.
There are two ways you could take part:
The Private Consultation
You could work through the reflections yourself on your own. Set aside time. Do no more than one reflection a day. Read the Bible passage. Answer the application questions. Then pray. 15 minutes a day, that’s all it takes. But like physical exercise, a little, regular and often can make a big difference to your spiritual wellbeing.
The Group Work Session
Alternatively, you could go through the book this term with our Growth Group. From this Wednesday, every week from 8pm to 9.30pm, you can take part over the phone or online through Zoom. This is ideal if you are flagging in motivation and you’d benefit from other people’s insight. You won’t need to read anything in advance. We’ll discuss a chapter and end by sharing prayer requests. You are welcome to try it out to see if it is for you. (Get in touch for the Zoom details)
So go on. Open wide. Say ‘Ahhh.’ And see what God can do through a bit of spiritual exercise this term.
Watch the video for more details. You can get more copies of the booklet at the Good Book Company, if you want to send a copy to a friend or family member (www.thegoodbook.co.uk, 0333 123 0880).
What can Alzheimer’s teach us about love? We asked Robin Thomson a few questions about his book on the subject.
Our church buildings are temporaily closed until 28 Feb. Services will continue online.