Dear Friends, In medieval times the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings was popular – especially with kings! A king was seen as receiving authority from God and could do whatever he wanted – he was literally above the law!
But who has authority in our church, in our lives? As Christians we should give the answer “God”, but what does this mean in practical terms? How do we govern our church and our lives?
In this week’s Gospel reading, Jesus’ authority is questioned by the chief priests and elders. His response seems to indicate that authority is given rather than claimed. Who and what do we give authority to?
The readings for this Sunday will be from Ezekiel 18:1-4, Philippians 2:1-13, and Matthew 21:23-32, and we will be singing the hymns At the Name of Jesus; A Mighty Fortress is Our God; Be Still for the Presence of the Lord; and Crown Him with Many Crowns!
We again held out Harvest Festival at the Youth Charity Foundation’s House of Hope! We had a great worship service followed by an excellent potluck. It was great to worship together!
The whole of last week’s Harvest Festival Thanksgiving Service can be seen here! It includes the sermon, “I just Thank you Father, for making me, me!”, in English and Thai.
Preaching the Word – in English and Thai
Our Choir leading the Singing
Celebrating Communion
Calling forward
Sharing Communion
Presenting the new YCF Piano
All Saints Foundation Banking
We are still working on this – it is proving very complex. Thanks to Khun Tasnee and Khun Knot from YCF for all their hard work!
Church Pool Day
The Center of the Universe Pool
On Saturday 14th October, we will go to the Center of the Universe Pool for the day. We will buy lunch at the pool where most dishes are around THB 100. Later we will share a barbecue at the vicarage, which is nearby.
The cost to use the pool is THB 100 per person. More details to follow.
Events for your Diary
October 14th Church Pool Day October 29th All Saints Day Celebration and Potluck November 12th Remembrance Sunday November 18th Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil November 19th Transgender Day of Remembrance Service December 3rd Advent Sunday December 9th Festival of Christmas Carols
Chili Night continues!
Some of the group this week!
Chili Night continues at the usual time of 6 p.m. Come and join us at the vicarage as we share chili followed by ice cream!
This week nine Maejo students missed their 10 p.m. curfew and had to spend the night at the vicarage!
Sleeping on the Floor and Sofas!
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!
NO SERVICE AT ALL SAINTS THIS SUNDAY! JOIN US AT YCF FOR OUR HARVEST FESTIVAL
Dear Friends, Whilst the Lord’s Prayer contains the line “Give us this day our daily bread”, a popular greeting in Thailand is “Did you eat rice?” Rice is the staple food in much of Asia and Jesus may have shared sticky rice has the last supper been in Thailand. Here, the Bread of Life is the Rice of Life. It’s hard for most Thai farmers to make much money from growing rice, but rice will keep you alive whatever else you have to eat with it.
This Sunday we will again travel out to the Youth Charity Foundation for our Harvest Thanksgiving. (Directions below!) It is a time when we can all, rich and poor, give thanks for what we have.
The readings for this Sunday will be from Deuteronomy 8:7-18, Philippians 1:21-30, and Matthew 20:1-16, and we will be singing the hymns Come, Ye Thankful People, Come; Bless the Lord oh my soul; We Plow the Fields and Scatter; and Days of Elijah! The Choir will be singing Still!
We will again be holding out Harvest Festival at the Youth Charity Foundation’s House of Hope!
The service will begin at 11 am, so we will meet at 10am at All Saints for those who can give or need a lift out to YCF. This will also be a change to formally present YCF with the new piano we have bought them.
Please bring food to share along with the food that YCF will also provide!
All Saints Foundation Banking
On Thursday afternoon Khun Tasnee, the YCF Director, and I will be going to the Kasikorn Bank at Central Festival in order to open a bank account for the All Saints Foundation. We will also be meeting on Friday, along with Father Peter, to discuss the new YCF Child Protection Policy.
Please pray that both activities will proceed smoothly.
October Church Retreat – Change of Plan
The Center of the Universe Pool
Our church retreat at the RungNara Pool Villa Resort in Maejo proved to be too expensive for quite a few people so we have decided to have a day out instead.
On Saturday 14th October, we will go to the Center of the Universe Pool for the afternoon and then share a barbecue at the vicarage, which is nearby.
More details to follow.
Events for your Diary
September 24th – This Sunday!!!! Harvest Festival at the Youth Charity Foundation October 14th Church Day Out October 29th All Saints Day Celebration and Potluck November 12th Remembrance Sunday November 18th Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil November 19th Transgender Day of Remembrance Service December 3rd Advent Sunday December 9th Festival of Christmas Carols
Chili Night continues! Some of the group this week!
Chili Night continues at the usual time of 6 p.m. Come and join us at the vicarage as we share chili followed by ice cream!
This week the Maejo students treated us to homemade Thai deserts! They spent about two hours in the kitchen!
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!
Dear Friends, Jesus was asked how many times we should forgive our brothers and sisters. Was seven times enough? His answer was seventy times seven!
So the answer to 70 x 7 is not 490 in Jesus’ maths, it is how many times we should forgive! Have you ever forgiven someone 490 times and stopped at 491? I doubt it, I’m sure we would lose count first and that is the point. We are to forgive without keeping count, it is the key to the Gospel and the centre of our life together!
The readings for this Sunday will be from Genesis 50:15-21, Romans 14:1-12, and Matthew 18:21-35, and we will be singing the hymns Praise to the Lord, the Almighty; The Servant King; Will you come and Follow Me?; and Born in Song!
We will again be holding out Harvest Festival at the Youth Charity Foundation’s House of Hope!
The service will begin at 11 am, so we will meet at 10am at All Saints for those who can give or need a lift out to YCF. This will also be a change to formally present YCF with the new piano we have bought them. Please bring food to share along with the food that YCF will also provide!
October Church Retreat
Our next church retreat will be from Friday 13th to Sunday 15th October. It will again be held at the RungNara Pool Villa Resort in Maejo. There are a limited number or rooms available, so please sign up on Sunday if you are planning to come.
St. Paul’s, Bangkok – Another New Church
Our friends at St. George’s, Pattaya, have planted a new church in Bangkok. St. Paul’s held its first service last Sunday. Former attendees at All Saints who live in the Thai capital will be helping to support this new congregation which, like All Saints, will be liturgical and inclusive! Please hold them in your prayers!
They will meet at The Work Loft Silom 281/19-23 3F-6F NST One Building Soi Silom 1, Silom Rd, Bangrak Bangkok, Thailand 10500 Right next to BTS Sala Daeng Station 5-min walk from MRT Silom.
Events for your Diary September 24th – Next Sunday!!!! Harvest Festival at the Youth Charity Foundation October 13th-15th Church Retreat October 29th All Saints Day Celebration and Potluck November 12th Remembrance Sunday November 18th Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil November 19th Transgender Day of Remembrance Service December 3rd Advent Sunday December 9th Festival of Christmas Carols
Chili Night continues!
Some of the group!
Chili Night continues at the usual time of 6 p.m. Last week we had another good attendance. Come and join us at the vicarage as we share chili followed by ice cream!
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!
Dear Friends, In this week’s Gospel reading, Jesus says:
Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
What does this mean? Well, there are many interpretations, but at one level at least it confirms our ministry to set people free, to proclaim liberty to the captives! That is what we seek to do at All Saints. You are free to be who God made you to be whatever your race, gender, or sexuality!
Exciting things are happening! All Saints has now achieved foundation status and we are exploring starting All Saints South! Meanwhile, our friends at St. George’s, Pattaya, are beginning St. Paul’s, Bangkok, with their first service this Sunday.
God is good, but elsewhere Christians are suffering. You can read about the situation in India and how you can help below. We are one body – and when one part suffers, all suffer!
The readings for this Sunday will be from Exodus 12:1-3, 7-14, Romans 13:8-14, and Matthew 18:15-20, and we will be singing the hymns All People that on Earth do Dwell; Blest Be the Tie That Binds; Jesu, Jesu, Fill us with Your Love; and Called as Partners in Christ’s Service.
We will again be holding out Harvest Festival at the Youth Charity Foundation’s House of Hope!
The service will begin at 11 am, so we will meet at 10am at All Saints for those who can give or need a lift out to YCF. This will also be a change to formally present YCF with the new piano we have bought them.
Please bring food to share along with the food that YCF will also provide!
All Saints Foundation Established Great news!!!! The All Saints Foundation has now been registered! This means we will be able to open a bank account in the name of All Saints and rent our building in the name of the foundation. It will provide an official basis for our multiplication to All Saints Central and All Saints South.
Thanks to all who worked so hard to make this happen!
Urgent Need in India
You may or may not know what is happening in Manipur right now to brothers and sisters, please read some of the links below for context into this life and death moment:
Some members of All Saints are partnering with the local Chennai fellowship to evacuate as many refugee families (mostly the women and children) as financially possible from Manipur. They are currently hiding for their lives in the jungle and have lost everything – family members, houses, clothing, personal documents – literally everything is gone. Things have escalated over the last few days to the point where women and children are actively being targeted and harmed; many will not survive.
The fellowship wants to take responsibility for these families – from urgent needs over the next 5-6 months (evacuation flights, emergency housing, food, etc.), to long-term equipping for a new life in Chennai (jobs, training, long term housing, etc.). The fellowship has relational connections to provide many of these things, but they need help funding flights and initial emergency housing.
National restrictions on foreign donations into the country make it very difficult for the local community to fund this project alone and make it nearly impossible for most international aid organizations to offer any assistance either. However, we are uniquely situated legally because of our contacts.
Our members invite you to help them support the local fellowship and serve our brothers and sisters in crisis while very few others can. They are anticipating that $12,000-$15,000 will evacuate and provide for a handful of first families. Time is absolutely vital, and they need to be able to evacuate these first families by the end of the month.
See me or any of the clergy to find out how you can help.
October Church Retreat
Our next church retreat will be from Friday 13th to Sunday 15th October. It will again be held at the RungNara Pool Villa Resort in Maejo. There are a limited number or rooms available, so please sign up on Sunday if you are planning to come.
St. Paul’s, Bangkok – Another New Church
Our friends at St. George’s, Pattaya, are planting a new church in Bangkok. St. Paul’s will hold its first service this Sunday at 10 a.m. All are welcome!
Former attendees at All Saints who live in the Thai capital will be helping to support this new congregation which, like All Saints, will be liturgical and inclusive! Please hold them in your prayers!
They will meet at The Work Loft Silom 281/19-23 3F-6F NST One Building Soi Silom 1, Silom Rd, Bangrak Bangkok, Thailand 10500 Right next to BTS Sala Daeng Station 5-min walk from MRT Silom.
September 24th Harvest Festival at the Youth Charity Foundation October 13th-15th Church Retreat October 29th All Saints Day Celebration and Potluck November 12th Remembrance Sunday November 18th Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil November 19th Transgender Day of Remembrance Service December 3rd Advent Sunday December 9th Festival of Christmas Carols
Chili Night continues!
Some of the group!
Chili Night continues at the usual time of 6 p.m. Last week we had another good attendance. Come and join us at the vicarage as we share chili followed by ice cream!
Campervan News!
Thanks to everyone who has been asking! My campervan is finally fixed! Paddy and I have flown down to Surat Thani to drive The Elephant back to Chiang Mai. Please pray that we have a safe and uneventful journey!
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!
All Saints' Chiang Mai 