Monthly Archives: October 2020

From Father Iain, All Saints Chiang Mai

When the Saints go marching in…

Special Zoom Service at 7 p.m.!
Click here to join the Zoom service on Sunday

Dear Friends,

This Sunday we will celebrate All Saints Day, the Patronal Festival of our church! I am really excited to be preaching at both the 7 p.m. Zoom service and the 10 a.m. service in the church!  The 10 a.m. service will see me preach via a recorded video (it will be 3 a.m. in the UK!), and then I will be leading and preaching live at 7 p.m. via Zoom!

The Zoom Eucharist will be at 7 p.m. Thai time, which is midday in the UK and 1 p.m. in Europe due to the end of daylight saving here!  It will be at 7 a.m. on the East Coast of the US.  Click here to join the service on Sunday and have your bread and wine ready if you want to share in the Eucharist. 

All Saints, Chiang Mai, is called All Saints because that is who we are!  Not that we are all especially good people, that’s not what saints actually means.  Saints are people who have chosen to follow God and that is who we are, even though we often fall short in our ambitions.

Please join us at one, or better both, of our services this Sunday!  I would love to see you!  And by the way, singing is now allowed again in the morning service! Our scripture readings for All Saints Day will be Isaiah 56:3-8, 1 John 3:1-3, and Matthew 5:1-12, and our hymns will be For All the Saints, Sing With All the Saints in Glory, Let us Build a House, and O When the Saints!

Lots of things are coming up in November and December, so please read below!

November Services

On 8th November we will mark Remembrance Sunday, when we remember those killed in war.  We will also join the wider Chiang Mai community on November 11th at the Foreign Cemetery to mark Remembrance Day.

Then on November 22nd we will be joined by people from MPlus and the Young Pride Club to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance, when we remember the hundreds of Trans people from around the world who were killed in 2020.

Both services signify how we reach out in our concerns to those beyond the walls of All Saints.

The Christmas Season

Celebrations for Advent and Christmas begin on 29th November when we will mark Advent Sunday.  This will be followed by decorating the church for Christmas and a potluck lunch.

Then on Saturday 19th December we will hold our Festival of Christmas Carols at Tham Pratheep Church.  We will be led by Lannacapella and some of the children from the Youth Charity Foundation.  The event begins at 7 p.m.

On Christmas Eve, Thursday 24th December, we will have Midnight Mass beginning at 11:30 p.m., and on Christmas Day we will have our Morning Worship at 10 a.m. followed by lunch!

Please join us if you can!

Our Harvest

Last week All Saints had a wonderful Harvest Festival at the Youth Charity Foundation.  Video of the service can be seen here.  Thanks to all involved in making this possible!

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Space

All Saints Mission Statement

Yesterday, Mark Crawford, Chris Tananone, Tarntip Aldis, and I, met to begin developing our Mission Statement.  We will meet again next week to develop our Vision Statement.  Both processes depend on your feedback – both from the survey which was taken over the last two weeks and from individual conversations.

Chris suggested that our Mission Statement should be based on the words which appear on our bulletins and website: An inclusive, liturgical community for all people!

The three suggestions are:

All Saints is an inclusive, liturgical community for all people!

All Saints is an inclusive, Christ-centred, liturgical community for all people!

All Saints is an inclusive, God-centred, liturgical community for all people!

Which do you prefer?  Share your choice with Mark, Chris, Tarntip, or me!  We want to decide this together!

All Saints’ Wednesday Lunch

The Wednesday Lunch this week

This is a weekly event!  On Wednesday, a group from All Saints again gathered for lunch!  Why not join next week?  (You don’t need to be a member of the Gymkhana Club to attend!)  We will be meeting at the Gymkhana Club at midday every Wednesday!

My News

I have now applied for a visa to return to Thailand.  Please pray that this will be successful.  Once I have my visa I can apply for a Certificate of Entry and then I can return!

I hope to be back in January.  Until then I am continuing to work for All Saints: maintaining the website and Facebook page, writing the weekly emails, producing the bulletins, posters, and other publicity, choosing the hymns, and working with Mark and the Trustees to keep things going and plan our programmes, and, of course, praying for you all!

I am also helping out at my mum’s church, Carterknowle Methodist, and preaching there three times each month.  They have a huge building, but fewer people than All Saints, and would value your prayers too, as they don’t currently have a minister.

Click here to watch me leading and preaching last Sunday!

The Degler Family

Meanwhile, the Degler family finally got their visas and certificates of entry and are now in quarantine in Bangkok.  Please hold them in your prayers!  They should be back in Chiang Mai in a couple of weeks and we look forward to welcoming them back to church.

So, whether you are worshipping face-to-face or watching online we will all worship God together and give thanks for all of God’s many blessings!

God bless,

Father Iain

From Father Iain, All Saints Chiang Mai

Harvest Time!

Meet at All Saints at 9 a.m.
Dear Friends,

As modern urban dwellers we are more cut off from the rhythm of the seasons than our forebears, but we will be celebrating harvest with the Youth Charity Foundation who still harvest their own rice, and keep pigs, chickens, and geese.  They know the back-breaking work which harvesting rice entails and also the difference between a good and a bad harvest!

But harvest is a time for thanksgiving for all God has given us, especially are food, but everything that we get from God’s creation.  I am sure it will be a wonderful time this Sunday. 

This Sunday, the All Saints Harvest Festival will be held at the Youth Charity Foundation this Sunday. People should meet at the church at 9 am on Sunday, if they need transportation, or to caravan together to the YCF House of Hope.  The service is scheduled to start at 10:15 am.

Here is the location link if you want to travel there independently!

The main dish and drinks will be provided, we are just bringing the side dishes. If you have not already signed up for transport or to say what you will bring, you can email Rebecca Burkholder (rebeccaburkholder@mcc.org)
with what you would like to contribute to the meal.  

Our scripture readings for harvest will be Deuteronomy 8:7-18, 2 Corinthians 9:6-15, and Matthew 6:25-33, and our hymns will be Come Ye Thankful People Come, Give thanks with a grateful heart, and We Plow the Fields and Scatter!

All Saints Day – Sunday 1st November

As we are All Saints, All Saints Day is our patronal festival – this makes it our church birthday and a time for celebration!

In order to celebrate, I will be preaching – via video – to the Sunday morning service in church, and we will also have a special Zoom service, for people in Chiang Mai and around the world, at 7 p.m. Thai time.  (For people in the UK, Europe, and the US, daylight saving will have ended so the service will be at midday GMT, 1 p.m. CET, and 7 a.m. EST.)

It will be a time to thank God for our church and to renew our vision once again!

Congregational Survey!

We are not now going forward with joining the Church of Christ in Thailand, but many of the actions this required are still worth doing.  A couple of these were the developing of our Vision and Mission statements.  Our vision should be one shared by the whole church, and as part of the process we would like you to fill in this very short survey.

 There are only five short questions:

1. How long have you been attending All Saints?
2. In the past few months how have you been interacting with All Saints?
3. What attracted you to All Saints?
4. What are five words that describe All Saints?
5. How can All Saints improve?  

Click here to complete the survey now!

All Saints’ Wednesday Lunch

The Wednesday Lunch!
This is a weekly event!  Yesterday, a group from All Saints again gathered for lunch!  Why not join next week?  (You don’t need to be a member of the Gymkhana Club to attend!)  We will be meeting at the Gymkhana Club at midday every Wednesday!

Weekly Offering to All Saints

You can still donate online, or place your money in the basket during the service. Alternatively, you can donate with PayPal or with any debit or credit card via the All Saints Website on the Donate Page. Please email me if you would like a receipt.

So, whether you are worshipping face-to-face or watching online we will all worship God together and give thanks for all of God’s many blessings!

God bless,

Father Iain

From Father Iain, All Saints Chiang Mai

All are Welcome?
Dear Friends,

I once conducted a wedding on top of Doi Intanon.  The only people present were myself, the couple, and the wedding planner and photographer!  In these socially-distanced times, that sought of exclusive event may become the norm, but normally lots of people are invited to “the big day”! In this week’s Gospel reading Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a king giving a wedding banquet for his son: he invited all the important people, but they failed to show up – to busy to bother with the king.   In the end he invites the ordinary people who are found out in the streets!

At All Saints, we aim to welcome those who are not welcomed by other churches!  Of course, most churches will “welcome” everyone, but what does this “welcome” really mean?  Often it means you can attend but you have to change who you are to really be welcome, and you certainly would not be welcome to be in a position of leadership. I pray that we will continue to really welcome all people – even if it gets us into trouble at times!

In person worship continues and this Sunday you can again join the congregation in person at 10 a.m., or watch later via the All Saints Audio-Visual page.  Our scripture readings for this Sunday will be from Isaiah 25, Philippians 4:1-9, and Matthew 22:1-14, and our hymns will be Be Still for the Presence of the Lord and Lord and and Let Us Build a House!

Details of the practical arrangements for Face-to-Face worship are below.

Face-to-Face Worship at All Saints

The following measures have been implemented to ensure the safety of those attending: The chairs have been rearranged to ensure that social distancing is maintained, people’s temperature will be taken on arrival, masks will be required, and hand gel supplied.  Names and contact details will be recorded.

All the doors and windows will be open and fans will ensure maximum air circulation.  No singing will be permitted but we will be able to listen to the hymns being played on the organ and sing along in our heads. There will not be a coffee time following the service, but people are invited to lunch, out-doors, at Green O’Clock following the service.

The services will be shared on Zoom so that those who cannot, or do not feel happy to, attend in person, can still join!

The protocols can be viewed here!

Harvest Festival – Coming Soon!

This year the All Saints Harvest Festival will be held at the Youth Charity Foundation on Sunday 25th October.  More details to follow!

All Saints’ Wednesday Lunch

The Wednesday Lunch!
This is a weekly event!  Yesterday, a group from All Saints again gathered for lunch!  Why not join next week?  (You don’t need to be a member of the Gymkhana Club to attend!)  We will be meeting at the Gymkhana Club at midday every Wednesday!

Weekly Offering to All Saints

You can still donate online, or place your money in the basket during the service. People in Thailand can transfer directly to the church bank account.  (Which is in my name, but managed by our treasurer, Don Williams.)  Thanks to all those who have already given – we are receiving approximately our normal monthly offering!

The details are:

Account Name: Iain Girvin Baxter
Bank: Krungsri Bank
Account Number: 7181-05586-5
SWIFT Code: AYUDTHBK

Those in the UK, or with UK banking, can donate via All Saints Chiang Mai Mission.  Their account details are:

Bank: Coop Bank
Account Name:  All Saints Chiang Mai Mission
Account Number: 65877142
Sort Code:  08-92-99

Alternatively, you can donate with PayPal or with any debit or credit card via the All Saints Website on the Donate Page. Please email me if you would like a receipt.

So, whether you are worshipping face-to-face or watching online we will all worship God together and give thanks for all of God’s many blessings!

God bless,

Father Iain