Monthly Archives: March 2022

From Father Iain, All Saints Chiang Mai

Mary washes Jesus’ feet!

Dear Friends,

“Mary washed Jesus’ hair with her feet!”

I said this to my mum as I told her what the Gospel reading was this week.

 “I think it was the other way round.” she corrected me, “Mary washed Jesus feet with her hair.”

Of course, I realised my mistake but it made me think.  It could be quite a smelly thing for someone to put their feet on your head – quiet dirty, especially in Thai or Middle Eastern culture.  But that is what Mary did to Jesus, she put her hair all over his feet to wash them clean.

When we look at the action upside-down it can remind us again of the radical nature of the act.  In Thai and Middle Eastern culture you must not point your feet at anyone and you must not even put a hat on the floor.  Feet are seen as unclean, and heads as sacred.  Even touching a child on the head can be frowned upon.

A friend of mine did some work for the Bible Society in Egypt.  A picture book of children’s Bible stories was being translated from English into Arabic.  The text was fine, but one of the pictures was not.  Jesus was sitting cross-legged and his foot was pointing straight at people’s heads!  The offending leg had to be redrawn!

And yet, in this week’s story we see Mary throw culture and convention out of the window.  She wanted to show her devotion and worship of Jesus and gave both money – in the form of expensive perfume – and herself – though the extravagant and scandalous us of her hair! 

How much are we prepared to give to worship God?

The scripture readings for this Sunday will be Isaiah 43:16-21, Philippians 3:4-14, and John 12:1-8, and we will be singing the hymns O Worship the King, Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart, Forty Days and Forty Nights, and When in our Music God is Glorified!

Use this link to join this Sunday on Zoom at 10:30 a.m.
Meeting ID: 548 801 501

Last week’s Sermon!

Last week’s sermon “The Prodigal Son!” can be seen here! Older sermons and services can be seen via the All Saints website!

Easter Services

The Easter season is almost upon us!  

Palm Sunday Service   10th April 10:30 am 
– with parading of the palms

Good Friday Service     15th April 7:00 pm  
– a solemn tenabrae service

Easter Sunday Service 17th April 10:30 am 
– followed by potluck and Easter Egg hunt  

Palm Sunday – Next Week!

Next Sunday, 10th April, is Palm Sunday.  Our worship will include the parading of the palms, and hopefully our choir of children from the Youth Charity Foundation will again be with us!

New Small Groups

Tuesday, April 19th, 12pm– small group at Bella Goose
Thursday, April 21st, 6pm– small group at the Crawford

More details to follow!

Child Protection Training

Following the adoption of our new Child Protection Policy at our AGM in February,  we are offering training to all church members.  This will be at the church on Sunday, April 24th at 1pm, following lunch.

Chili Night 

A few of the group!

Chili night at the Vicarage continues this Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Every Tuesday everyone in Chiang Mai is invited to Chili Night in the New Vicarage.  Chili con Carne, rice, chips, ice-cream, and drinks are provided.  Just come along! (But let Father Iain know in advance if you can!)   All are welcome.  

Prayer Meeting

We have a weekly online prayer meeting.  Join us at 9 a.m. on Zoom every Tuesday.  

Use this link to join the prayer!

Weekly Offering to All Saints
You can still donate in person or online.  Thank you for your support and love for All Saints and all we are trying to do together.  God has shown that he is mighty and we are in his hands!

God bless,

Father Iain

From Father Iain, All Saints Chiang Mai

Welcome back!

Dear Friends,

This week our Gospel reading is the story of the Prodigal Son – one of the most famous parables in scripture. In the parable, the son who has gone away and squandered his inheritance is, none the less, welcomed back by his father.  This powerful story reminds us that whatever we’ve done, or failed to do, God will always welcome us back.

This is assurance – the knowledge that God will always love us, no matter what!  It is at the very heart of the good news of the Gospel – no one is so bad that they must sit at the back of the church by the door, all are fully welcome to be restored and come fully in!

The scripture readings for this Sunday will be Joshua 5:9-12, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, and Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32, and we will be singing the hymns Praise to the Lord the Almighty, Amazing Grace, Break Thou the Bread of Life, and Born in Song!

Use this link to join this Sunday on Zoom at 10:30 a.m.
Meeting ID: 548 801 501

Last week’s Sermon!

Last week’s sermon “Useful or Useless?” can be seen here! 

Older sermons and services can be seen via the All Saints website!

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Rainbows and Windmills

Many of you will have met Peter Tarleton at All Saints.  His first book, Rainbows & Windmills, will be released in Dublin this week.  It looks at the dichotomy between spirituality and religion and asks challenging questions about both.

It can be ordered online, either from Columbabooks.com or Amazon.


Chili Night 

A few of the group!

Chili night at the Vicarage continues this Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Every Tuesday everyone in Chiang Mai is invited to Chili Night in the New Vicarage.  Chili con Carne, rice, chips, ice-cream, and drinks are provided.  Just come along! (But let Father Iain know in advance if you can!)   All are welcome.  

Prayer Meeting

We have a weekly online prayer meeting.  Join us at 9 a.m. on Zoom every Tuesday.  

Use this link to join the prayer!

Weekly Offering to All Saints
You can still donate in person or online.  Thank you for your support and love for All Saints and all we are trying to do together.  God has shown that he is mighty and we are in his hands!

God bless,

Father Iain

From Father Iain, All Saints Chiang Mai

How useful are you?

Dear Friends,
In this week’s Gospel reading Jesus tells a strange parable.  It is about an unproductive fig tree.  The owner complains because it hasn’t fruited for three years and asks the gardener to cut it down.  The gardener pleads for one more year for the fig tree, but if it still fails to provide figs then it should be chopped down.

Jesus was talking to the people of Jerusalem, but how does this apply to us?  Are we useful or useless?

At this time of conflicts in Ukraine and Myanmar what are we doing?  The Chase family, who used to attend All Saints and now live in Hungary, are making sandwiches for refugees from Ukraine.  Others in our congregation are working with people from Myanmar.  All Saints is donating THB 20,000 to help the Karenni people, but what more can we all do?

The scripture readings for this Sunday will be Isaiah 55:1-9, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, and Luke 13:1-9, and we will be singing the hymns Christ is the World’s Light, Be Still for the Presence of the Lord, Give me Jesus, and Christ, Be Our Light!

Use this link to join this Sunday on Zoom at 10:30 a.m.
Meeting ID: 548 801 501

Last week’s Sermon!

Due to technical difficulties, last week’s sermon was not recorded.  Older sermons and services can be seen via the All Saints website!

Covid-19 at the Youth Charity Foundation

Our choir will now not be joining us this Sunday.  As of Wednesday, 35 children at YCF had tested positive for the corona virus.  Please hold them in your prayers.

Also pray for Khun Tasnee who is supposed to be travelling to Australia for her son’s wedding but is still waiting for her visa!

Potluck This week!
 


There will be a potluck at the vicarage following this week’s Sunday service.  Unfortunately due to the new Covid outbreak, the children from YCF will not be joining us.   We will be fewer in number, but can still share with one another.  Bring food to share!  We may eat inside if the pollution level and temperature is high!  All are welcome!
 

Chili Night 

A few of the group!

Chili night at the Vicarage recommences this Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Every Tuesday everyone in Chiang Mai is invited to Chili Night in the New Vicarage.  Chili con Carne, rice, chips, ice-cream, and drinks are provided.  Just come along!  (But let Father Iain know in advance if you can!)   All are welcome.  

Prayer Meeting

We have a weekly online prayer meeting.  Join us at 9 a.m. on Zoom every Tuesday.  

Use this link to join the prayer!

Weekly Offering to All Saints
You can still donate in person or online.  Thank you for your support and love for All Saints and all we are trying to do together.  God has shown that he is mighty and we are in his hands!

God bless,

Father Iain

From Father Iain, All Saints Chiang Mai

Dangerous Jesus, loud and strong!

Dear Friends,
The hymn says “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild”, but was Jesus gentle, meek, and mild?  He certainly could be gentle with those in need and distress, and meek means “self-controlled”, so he could be that too at times.  But was he ever mild?  He denounced the Pharisees and political leaders of his day, he condemned hypocrisy and greed, I don’t think he was ever mild!

Jesus was condemned by the powerful people of his day because he was loud and strong – that made him a dangerous man, a threat to those in authority!

Powerful people don’t kill harmless people, there is no need.  Jesus was condemned because he threatened to turn the world upside down – not just turn the tables in the Temple.  Jesus knew the danger he was in, yet pressed on – determined to fulfil his God-given mission.  Are we ready to do the same?

The readings for this Sunday will be Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18,  Philippians 3:17-4:1, and Luke 13:31-35, and we will be singing the hymns Let All the World in Every Corner Sing, Make Me a Channel of your Peace, When I needed a Neighbour, and Now Thank We All Our God!

Use this link to join this Sunday on Zoom at 10:30 a.m.
Meeting ID: 548 801 501

Last week’s Sermon!

The sermon for last Sunday will soon be available via the All Saints website!

Giving from All Saints in time of Conflict

All Saints believes in giving, and every year we aim to give 10% of our surplus away.  This year that amounts to about THB 50,000.

Last week the Church Council met and part of our discussion was how we can support the people of Ukraine and Myanmar at this time.  Both conflicts are on our minds and in or prayers, but the ongoing attacks in Myanmar are largely forgotten by the wider world so that is where the little money we have can do the most good.

The Council therefore decided to give THB 20,000 to a community-based organization already providing relief to Karenni internally displaced people in Karenni State.  They are in a very critical state and our money will be used directly with the people who need it.

We continue in our prayers for all the people of Myanmar and Ukraine at this time, and stand ready to do more as the opportunity presents itself.

Potluck Sunday 20th March!
 


There will be a potluck next week, Sunday 20th March, at the vicarage following the service.  Our children’s choir will be joining us for worship and lunch.  Please see Phyllis about what you should bring!
 

Chili Night 

A few of the group!

No Chili Night this Tuesday as I am at a wedding.  It will return on Tuesday 22nd March at the usual time of 6 p.m.

Prayer Meeting

We have a weekly online prayer meeting.  Join us at 9 a.m. on Zoom every Tuesday.  

Use this link to join the prayer!

Weekly Offering to All Saints
You can still donate in person or online.  Thank you for your support and love for All Saints and all we are trying to do together.  God has shown that he is mighty and we are in his hands!

God bless,

Father Iain

From Father Iain, All Saints Chiang Mai

Anointing with Ashes!

Dear Friends,

We are now in Lent, the season of repentance.  

This year Orthodox Easter will fall a week later than Western Easter, so Orthodox Christians in Ukraine and Russia will be marking Ash Wednesday next week on 9th March.  Repentance isn’t just personal, it can be corporate, it can be national, or international.  We are together the body of Christ, not individually.  

As we have been anointed with ashes as a sign of repentance, we all have things we need to repent of as individuals, some big some small, but as representatives of our nations we also have things that we must corporately repent of: evil acts committed, or the failure to stand up to evil in the past, the willingness to compromise for financial advantage or political advancement.

Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday

The situation in Ukraine is on all of our minds – the world is watching.   The situation in Myanmar is largely forgotten as the world has turned away.  Both nations need our prayers, the leaders of Russia and Burma need to repent, and our own nations need to repent for failure to do enough in the past and failure to accept refugees even now.

War is always a failure, and to choose war when none is needed is the surest folly.  The West has become united against Russia, and the situation has become more tense and dangerous.  “All” we can do is pray!  But prayer is a mighty and effective thing!  So let us pray for our world!

The readings for this Sunday will be Deuteronomy 26:1-11, Romans 10:8-13, and Luke 4:1-13, and we will be singing the hymns When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, Forty Days and Forty Nights, For the Bread Which You Have Broken, and God is Love!

Use this link to join this Sunday on Zoom at 10:30 a.m.
Meeting ID: 548 801 501

Last week’s Sermons!

The sermons for last Sunday and Ash Wednesday will soon be available via the All Saints website!

Ash Wednesday Service

Annual General Meeting 2022 –  Last Sunday!

We has a good meeting following last Sunday’s service.  Reports were received from Chris Tananone, our Council Chair, and from me as vicar. The budget for 2022 was approved and an auditor appointed for last year’s accounts.

The following people were elected on to the Council:

Chris Tananone
Hannah Alexander-Herrick
Katie Wierenga
Sarah Sensamaust

Minutes of the meeting and copies of the reports are available at the back of the church or on request. The meeting also approved the adoption of All Saints’ Child Protection Policy.  The General Policy can be found here and the Digital Policy here.

Chili Night 

A few of the group!

Chili night at the Vicarage recommences this Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Every Tuesday everyone in Chiang Mai is invited to Chili Night in the New Vicarage.  Chili con Carne, rice, chips, ice-cream, and drinks are provided.  Just come along!  (But let Father Iain know in advance if you can!)   All are welcome.  

Prayer Meeting

We have a weekly online prayer meeting.  Join us at 9 a.m. on Zoom every Tuesday.  

Use this link to join the prayer!

Weekly Offering to All Saints
You can still donate in person or online.  Thank you for your support and love for All Saints and all we are trying to do together.  God has shown that he is mighty and we are in his hands!

God bless,

Father Iain