All Saints' Chiang Mai

From Father Iain, All Saints Chiang Mai

Power

Dear Friends,

There’s an old children’s song which you probably know.  It goes like this:

Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning.
Give me oil in my lamp, I pray.
Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning,
Keep me burning till the break of day

Sing hosanna, sing hosanna,
Sing hosanna to the King of Kings!
Sing hosanna, sing hosanna,
Sing hosanna to the King!

It is based on this week’s Gospel Reading and the parallel passage in Matthew.  We also used to sing another “modern” verse – well, modern in the 1970s!

Give me batteries in my torch, keep me shining.
Give me batteries in my torch, I pray.
Give me batteries in my torch, keep me shining.
Keep me shining till the break of day.

Ever ready, ever ready,
Ever ready for the King of Kings!
Ever ready, ever ready,
Ever ready to serve the Lord!

Ever Ready batteries, with their distinctive red logo and blue body, were the ubiquitous source of portable power long before the invention of rechargeable devices and USB leads!  If you were going somewhere with a radio or torch (flash light for Americans!) then you’d better take some spare batteries for they could suddenly run out!  I suppose powerbanks are the modern equivalent.

The line ‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit’ from our Gospel reading, could be rendered ‘Be dressed for action and have your phones charged.’ as a present day metaphor.

The underlying question is the same: are we ready for the Lord’s return?  You don’t have to believe in a literal second coming to ask the question.  Are our lives up to God’s standard?  Would we be ready to meet our maker if we were hit by the proverbial bus tomorrow?

Are we ever ready for the King?

Our scripture readings for this Sunday will be from Genesis 15:1-6, Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16, and Luke 12:32-40, and we will be singing the hymns Praise my Soul the King of Heaven; Men of Faith; Be Still for the Presence of the Lord; and Onward, Christian People!

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

Last Week’s Service!

Video of last Sunday’s service is available on the All Saints YouTube channel! 

Welcome Back Service & Potluck – Next Sunday 17th August!

We will have a special “Welcome Back” service on Sunday 17th August as international schools begin the new school year.  Our choir of children from the Youth Charity Foundation will be leading our worship and the service will be followed by a potluck lunch at the vicarage.

Chili Night – A Week’s Break!

No Chili Night next week!  It will return on Tuesday 19th August!

Weekly Offering to All Saints

You can still donate in person or online – and now you can use our QR code!.  Thank you for your support and love for All Saints and all we are trying to do together.  God has shown that God is mighty and we are in God’s hands!

God bless you,

Vicar Iain _{^{(he/they/she)}}

From Father Iain, All Saints Chiang Mai

Our Lady of Gaza

Dear Friends,

Two years ago armed men burst out of the relatively comfortable prison camp that was Gaza, and killed hundreds of Israeli citizens – some of them innocent civilians – and took over a hundred captive.  Undoubtedly, war crimes were committed and any death is a tragedy, but since then the Israeli military has killed over 100,000 people – the majority women and children – and made 2,000,000 people homeless.  Now many of them are starving to death.

The picture above is an icon of mother and child based upon a photo of a starving child in Gaza, held in his mothers arms.  His name is Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, a child in Gaza City. He has a muscle disorder that requires physical therapy and specialized nutrition, and he faces life-threatening malnutrition as the humanitarian situation worsens due to ongoing Israeli attacks and the blockade. Having dropped from 9 to 6 kilograms (approximately 20 to 13 pounds), he struggles to survive in a tent and wears a diaper made from a trash bag.  I hesitate to show the actual photo, but we must not look away.

What makes this famine different is that it is deliberate, with mountains of food just a few miles away, and the regime engineering mass starvation continues to receive practical support from our western countries.

What can we do?  We can pray – and prayer changes things!  But we must act too – we cannot stay silent.  Those of us who live in Thailand cannot march in the streets – if we’re not Thai then they’re not our streets to march in – but we can lobby our own governments, we can share on social media, we can be a “voice in the wilderness, declaring ‘Prepare the way for the Lord!'”

As I said in my sermon last week, the second line of the Lord’s Prayer is “Your Kingdom come” and we’re called upon not just to pray for the coming of God’s kingdom, but to work for it – a place where the blind see, the sick are healed, and the hungry are fed!

As we work and pray, our voice is slowly being heard by those in power.  Let us continue to build God’s Kingdom and prepare the way for the Lord!

Our scripture readings for this Sunday will be from Ecclesiastes 1 & 2, Acts 8:26-35, and Matthew 2:13-18, and we will be singing the hymns All People that on Earth do Dwell; O Lord, the Clouds are Gathering; Beauty for Brokenness; and Christ, be our Light!

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

Last Week’s Service!

Video of last Sunday’s service is available on the All Saints YouTube channel! 

Cassandra’s Baptism

It was a great joy to witness Cassandra’s baptism at All Saints last Sunday.  Please hold her in your prayers.

Goodbye to Clay

Last Service

Also last week, we said goodbye to our intern, Clay.  God willing, he’ll be back!

At the Airport

Welcome Back Service & Potluck – 17th August

We will have a special “Welcome Back” service on Sunday 17th August as international schools begin the new school year.  Our choir of children from the Youth Charity Foundation will be leading our worship and the service will be followed by a potluck lunch at the vicarage.

Chili Night

Chili Night continues!   Every Tuesday everyone in Chiang Mai is invited to Chili Night in the Vicarage. Chili con Carne, rice, chips, ice-cream, and drinks are provided.  Just come along! (But let me know in advance if you can!)   All are welcome.  Food is served at 6 p.m.

Please make a THB 100 donation.

Weekly Offering to All Saints

You can still donate in person or online – and now you can use our QR code!.  Thank you for your support and love for All Saints and all we are trying to do together.  God has shown that God is mighty and we are in God’s hands!
God bless you,

Vicar Iain _{^{(he/they/she)}}

From Father Iain, All Saints Chiang Mai

Youth Charity Foundation Rice Harvest

Dear Friends,

Last week the children of YCF were working hard gathering their rice harvest.  In this week’s Gospel Reading, Jesus says to the disciples: 

“‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.”

What did he mean?  Was this about “saving souls”, gathering people in from the “wrath to come”?  Or is it about gathering a community of people who actually follow the teaching of Jesus?  A community who will transform society with Jesus’ message of love?

Our scripture readings for this Sunday will be Isaiah 66:10-14, Galatians 6:1-16, and Luke 10:1-11, 16-20, and we will be singing the hymns Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah; I will offer up my life; King of Kings, Majesty; and Go forth and tell!

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

Last Week’s Service!

Video of last Sunday’s service is available on the All Saints YouTube channel! 

Maejo Pride 2025

A few of us took part in Maejo Pride last Sunday afternoon.  This was a very local event hosted by Maejo University and it was good to see local high schools taking part.  Good to see the Officer Cadets carrying Pride and Trans flags!

Army Cadets at Pride

On the Stage

Chili Night Continues Next Week!

Chili Night returned last Tuesday!   Every Tuesday everyone in Chiang Mai is invited to Chili Night in the Vicarage. Chili con Carne, rice, chips, ice-cream, and drinks are provided.  Just come along! (But let me know in advance if you can!)   All are welcome.  Food is served at 6 p.m.

Please make a THB 100 donation.

Weekly Offering to All Saints

You can still donate in person or online – and now you can use our QR code!.  Thank you for your support and love for All Saints and all we are trying to do together.  God has shown that God is mighty and we are in God’s hands!

God bless you,

Vicar Iain ^{_{(he/they/she)}}

From Father Iain, All Saints Chiang Mai

Freedom!

Dear Friends,

I’m just back from France – where I used my Irish passport which entitles me to live and work in France as an EU citizen.  One of the “triumphs” of the vote for Brexit was the ending of “Freedom of Movement” – as if that was a good thing!  Of course, people were only concerned to stop the freedom of movement of foreigners – not their own freedom of movement!

This week’s New Testament reading declares how we are called to freedom: freedom to be ourselves, and freedom to make a positive difference in the world.  We are called in our freedom to exercise the the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

Our scripture readings for this Sunday will be 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14, Galatians 5:1,13-25, and Luke 9:51-62, and we will be singing the hymns O Worship the King, God is Love, Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart, and Now Thank We All Our God!

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

Last Week’s Service!

Video of last Sunday’s service is available on the All Saints YouTube channel! 

Chili Night Resumes Next Week!

Chili Night will return on Tuesday 1st July!   Every Tuesday everyone in Chiang Mai is invited to Chili Night in the Vicarage. Chili con Carne, rice, chips, ice-cream, and drinks are provided.  Just come along! (But let me know in advance if you can!)   All are welcome.  Food is served at 6 p.m.

Please make a THB 100 donation.

Weekly Offering to All Saints

You can still donate in person or online – and now you can use our QR code!.  Thank you for your support and love for All Saints and all we are trying to do together.  God has shown that God is mighty and we are in God’s hands!

God bless you,

Vicar Iain ^{_{(he/they/she)}}

From Father Iain, All Saints Chiang Mai

Dear Friends,

After the three seasons of Lent, Easter, and Pentecost, the church colour changes back to green all the way until the start of Advent! 

But, it is not called Ordinary Time because everything is ordinary, or even boring!!!  Ordinary comes from the root ordinal meaning counting, and it is called Ordinary Time because we now count the weeks since the Feast of Trinity!

God is with us – so how can anything be ordinary – let alone boring?  Let us open our hearts to God’s love and see God working in our world once more!

Our scripture readings for this Sunday will be 1 Kings 19:1-15, Galatians 3:23-29, and Luke 8:26-39, and we will be singing the hymns Now Thank We All Our God, Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart, You laid aside Your Majesty, and When we walk with the Lord!

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

Last Week’s Service!

Video of last Sunday’s service is available on the All Saints YouTube channel! 

Chili Night is on Vacation!

There is no Chili Night this week.  It will return on Tuesday 1st July! 

Weekly Offering to All Saints

You can still donate in person or online – and now you can use our QR code!.  Thank you for your support and love for All Saints and all we are trying to do together.  God has shown that God is mighty and we are in God’s hands!

God bless you,

Vicar Iain ^{_{(he/they/she)}}

From Father Iain, All Saints Chiang Mai

God in Three Persons!

Dear Friends,

I am still away, but meanwhile, a whole team of people are doing a great job with three preachers standing in for me!

It’s appropriate that three persons are doing the preaching while I am away, as this Sunday is Trinity Sunday – when we speak of God in three persons (although it doesn’t mean quite the same thing!)

God is one, but is not a lonely, solitary, God.  God is a God of love and community and we are called to be a community of love too!

Our scripture readings for this Sunday will be Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31, Romans 5:1-5, and John 16:12-15, and we will be singing the hymns Holy, Holy, Holy; Father we love you; Mothering God; and Tell Out My Soul!

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

Last Week’s Service!

Video of last Sunday’s service is available on the All Saints YouTube channel! 

Chili Night is on Vacation!

There is no Chili Night this week.  It will return on Tuesday 1st July! 

Weekly Offering to All Saints

You can still donate in person or online – and now you can use our QR code!.  Thank you for your support and love for All Saints and all we are trying to do together.  God has shown that God is mighty and we are in God’s hands!

God bless you,

Vicar Iain ^{_{(he/they/she)}}