Patronal Festival
Sunday 25th July

In recent years the churches of St James at Sutton and at Gawsworth have joined to celebrate their Patronal Festival, and this year it is the turn of the Gawsworth congregation to visit their neighbours in Sutton.

Please do come to support this service of Choral Evensong at 6.30pm on Sunday 25th, which will be led by the combined choirs of the two churches. The preacher will be Revd Roger Scoones, Rector of St Mary & St Andrew at Stockport.

Please note that there will be NO EVENING SERVICE at Gawsworth

It is hoped that some of the able bodied will join in a  Pilgrimage to Sutton, by walking from Gawsworth. If you are interested, ask the Churchwardens or the Bishop for details.

Introduction to July
For the first half of each year (Advent to Whitsuntide) our focus is on what God has done for man, particularly through Christ.
But in the second half of the year (from Whitsuntide back to Advent) we focus on Man's response to God - through faith and deeds. And here the smaller festivals can really come into their own - as we recall the lives of different saints down the     centuries.
The festival of St James the Apostle, falls on Tuesday 25th July
James and his brother John were sons of Zebedee and fishermen from Galilee - the 'sons of thunder', as the gospel writers describe their impetuous characters and fiery tempers.
James stands out on three accounts: he was one of the three disciples who        witnessed the Transfiguration of Christ. Jesus took him, along with Peter and John, to 'watch' with him in the garden of Gethsemane. Finally, he went on to be the first apostle to die for the Christian faith, when in AD 44 King Herod Agrippa put him to the sword in Jerusalem at Passover time.
In the centuries following his death, James became associated with the          evangelising of Spain, and as a powerful defended of Christianity against the Moors. The heyday of the cult of Santiago de Compostela was from the 12th to the 15th       century, and the pilgrimage to Compostela became one of the most important of medieval Christendom. This in time transformed the iconography of James, and his emblems became the pilgrim's hat and the scallop-shell of Compostela. Over 400 English churches have been dedicated to James.

CHURCH STUDY GROUP
Monday 12th July at 8 pm in the St James’ Church Meeting Room
– Brief, possibly humorous, history of Ecumenism led by Revd Alan Morris.
If you would like to join us we should be delighted to welcome you.
Jennifer and David Hardman, 01260 252165

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bank Holiday Weekend

A very big thank you to all who gave their help and support during the Open Weekend.  It was greatly appreciated.
The amount raised towards the Church is £1,587.
Frances Nixon

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Travelling Story Teller
returns...

Friends of St James benefited from an evening entertainment "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" last year and I am pleased to learn that Peter Carrington-Porter is willing to return with another production in the autumn.

By kind permission of the Rector and Churchwardens the Friends of St James are pleased to advise that Peter Carrington-Porter will return to Gawsworth on the evening of Saturday October 2. In his role as the travelling story teller he will perform his latest   production, another dramatised telling of an old and stirring legend........

All proceeds will go to Friends’ funds.
Please mark your diaries!

.......................................................................................................................................

ST JAMES’ CHURCH
GAWSWORTH
MEETING ROOM
The Meeting Room is available for hire for £20 per session, a session being    approximately four hours.  This includes the use of the kitchen.
The room is suitable for birthday parties, meetings, receptions, etc.
Enquiries 01625 267342

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WANTED –  for St James’ Church, Gawsworth

CAN YOU HELP ???
We are rather short of Church cleaners.  Would anyone like to join the cleaning rota?  The current rota runs on an approx. 8 week cycle.  
 Further details from Jane Robertson, 01625 267342.
Volunteers to make coffee on Sunday after church and also to help clean the Meeting Room.  If any person is willing to help, please put name on list on notice board at the back of the Church or speak to  Frances Nixon.
All help will be  greatly appreciated.

..........................................................................................................................................


Helpers to make coffee on Sunday mornings after Church.
No references or diplomas
required.
The rewards – ‘A privilege to serve’, as Bishop William tells us.