Monthly Archives: November 2014

From Rev Iain Baxter, All Saints Chiang Mai

Welcome to Advent at All Saints!

Dear Friends,

This Sunday, 30th November, will be the First Sunday of Advent.  We will gather for our usual 11am Eucharist, which will include the lighting of the first candle on our Advent Wreath. Following the service we will share festive snacks, as together we decorate the church and put up our Christmas tree.  All are welcome to share in this festive activity!

Thanks again to all who helped with the All Saints stall at the City Life Garden Fair last Saturday, the day went very well.  It was good to let people know that we are here and to invite them to our Christmas services.  Last week I received a telephone call from India.  A British man who lives there wanted to know if we will be having a service on Christmas Eve.  I told him that we will have Midnight Mass beginning at 11:30pm.  “That’s all I wanted to know,” he said, “I will be there!”  Our fame is spreading around the globe!

Choir practices for our candlelit Nine Lessons and Carols service, on the 21st December, begin this Wednesday.  If you’d like to be part of the choir, contact me or Harvey before Wednesday evening!  Our Wednesday Night Bible Study on women in the Bible also continues at the church at 7pm.

This Sunday our Advent readings are Isaiah 64:1-9, 1 Corinthians 1:3-9, and Mark 13:24-37, and we will be singing the hymns O come O come Emmanuel, God You Alone Know, Sing we the King who is Coming to Reign, and Come Thou Long Expected Jesus!  You can find the readings via this link.  Our sermon will be reflecting on Christ’s coming.

Video and audio of our major services can be found on the Audio-Visual page of the All Saints website and as always, directions can be found on the Where and When page.  Most people get to hear about us via the internet or by word of mouth, so please feel free to pass on this email to others.

All are welcome to join us as we share the presence of the risen Jesus in our lives!  We hope to see you soon and that you will enjoy worshiping with us,

God bless,

Iain

From Rev Iain Baxter, All Saints Chiang Mai

First Sunday of Advent Sunday 2013

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Dear Friends,

We have an exciting and busy week ahead.  As well as our Wednesday night bible study, many of us will be at JJ Market on Saturday to staff the All Saints’ stall at the City Life Garden Fair.  The fair lasts from 10am to 5pm, and last year over 3,000 people, mostly expats, attended.  It is a great place to make our presence known.  Many people had asked what we could give out on the stall.  We have flyers advertising our Advent and Christmas events, but somehow that did not seem enough.  Some people suggested that we give out free cup-cakes or mince pies.  However, that is not really what All Saints is primarily about.

Instead, on Saturday, we will be giving out Jesus.  That is what we are about as a church.  Our table will be set up as an altar, and every hour we will have a short five minute act of Communion. Anyone who wishes to receive the bread and wine – and so receive Jesus – will be welcome.  I hope this will show, in a significant way, both who we are as a church, and that we truly seek to share Jesus with all people. With this in mind, we could do with a few more volunteers to staff the stall, especially in the morning. If there are two or three of us, then people can have a break and wander around the other stalls. We would particularly value someone with a car to help carry stuff from the church at 9am.  Let me know if you can help!

This Sunday we will have our last Eucharist of the Church year, and then on 30th November we will celebrate the First Sunday in Advent.  Our service will include the usual Advent hymns, and the lighting of the first candle on our Advent Crown.  It will be followed by a light festive pot-luck (please bring Christmas snacks) and then we will decorate the church and Christmas tree together.

This Sunday our readings are from Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, Ephesians 1:15-23, and Matthew 25:31-46, and we will be singing the hymns All Creatures of our God and King, Whatever You Do, God We See What You have Given, and Called as Partners in Christ’s Service. You can find the readings via this link.  Our sermon will be asking Are you a sheep or a goat?

Video and audio of our major services can be found on the Audio-Visual page of the All Saints website and as always, directions can be found on the Where and When page.  Most people get to hear about us via the internet or by word of mouth, so please feel free to pass on this email to others.

All are welcome to join us as we share the presence of the risen Jesus in our lives!  We hope to see you soon and that you will enjoy worshiping with us,

God bless,

Iain

From Rev Iain Baxter, All Saints Chiang Mai

Dear Friends,

Last week we had a very meaningful and moving Remembrance Sunday service.  Thanks are due to Harvey for playing the Last Post, and to Peter and Father Ian for our Remembrance reading. Father Ian was able to take our wreath and lay it, on behalf of the church, at the war memorial in the Foreign Cemetery as part of yesterday’s Remembrance Day observances.

The previous Sunday we celebrated All Saints Day, and last Thursday Elena and I took the cards which we had signed in the service with the names of loved ones, and launched them into the air and on to the water as part of the Loi Kratong celebrations.

Meanwhile, Christmas will soon be upon us.  The City Life Garden Fair is only a week on Saturday, on the 22nd November, and we will be celebrating the First Sunday of Advent on 30th November.  We are also planning a Carols by Candlelight service for 5pm on Sunday 21st December.  This will be a traditional service of Nine Lessons and Carols. Please see Harvey if you would like to be involved.

This Sunday our readings are from Judges 4:1-4, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, and Matthew 25:14-30, and we will be singing the hymns O for a Thousand Tongues, Beauty for Brokenness, For the Bread, and What a Friend we have in Jesus. You can find the readings via this link.  Our sermon is entitled “Seeing Both Sides!”

From Rev Iain Baxter, All Saints Chiang Mai

Dear Friends,

This coming Sunday, 9th November, is Remembrance Sunday.  At All Saints we will be remembering those who have been the victims of armed conflict throughout the world during the 20th and 21st centuries.

This year is the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War,  the war which was suppose to have been the war to end all wars.  Sadly we still live in a world striven with conflict, often now occurring not between nation states, but between different ideological groups within and across borders. We will remember those who have died, and pray for peace.

For Remembrance Sunday our readings will be from Joshua 24, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, and Matthew 25:1-13, and we will be singing the hymns O God our help in Ages Past, Abide with Me, All my Hope on God is Founded, and The Day Thou gavest Lord is Ended. You can find the readings via this link.  The service will include The Last Post and a two minutes silence.

Our sermon will be reflecting on war and the Christian hope.

Last week we celebrated All Saints’ Day and were reminded that we are part of the church universal.  A great service was followed by a short meeting and an excellent pot-luck lunch.  Thanks to our great musicians who played Oh When the Saints, and to all who contributed to the lunch.

Last night, Thursday, we met at the church at 6pm to join the Loi Kratong celebrations.  The cards, upon which were the names of loved ones on All Saints’ Day, were taken down to the river to launch them on the water and into the air.

God bless,

Iain