Sunday Worship 28th April 2024 | Join us LIVE from 8:50am for the Online @9. Our Associate Vicar, Susy, will be helping us unpack John 15:1-8 and what Jesus means when he refers to... | By St Mary's Hanwell | Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Star Mind at nine. I'm Andrew. And I'm Alison. It's great to see you. Lovely to have you with us today. It is. On a very damp Sunday morning. Oh my days. It is soggy and grey and the least end of April, nearly May, Sunday. Really really disgusting. So, on the way here, I have my hood up but even the ends of my hair are still quite damp. So, it's yeah, pretty miserable out there. So, be warned if you haven't been out yet. No. Now, if anyone's wondering that it's all looking a wee bit bright, that's partly because I changed the light bulb and the only one I had was a bit brighter than the other one. So, so if you're thinking, gosh, I don't remember them being that pale. Uh it's not that we've paler. It's just that the light got accented a bit brighter. I'm glad you said that because I thought I look very tired and now I know why. No, no, no. It's, yeah, it was the only lightbulb I had. Um, so there we are. Mystery solved, my friends. It's good to know. Let's, let's, let's, where are we? There we go. Let's welcome to the people in. Who is with us? First day in is the fabulous Wendy, good morning to you. Morning, Wendy. Good morning, Ben. Morning, everyone. On a cloudy and wet day in Saltford, that's exactly the same as here. But there we go and it's even liking it in Chicago. There we are. Sympathy. Sympathetic weather. Kristen is with us. Good morning, Kristen and the Code Club. Hi, Kristen. And Kate's with us too. Good morning, Kate. Uh Ben says, welcome back, Andrew from your retreat. Hope it was lovely. I had a fantastic week. Thank you very much, Ben. And Sam, how, is that how I say it? I think so. Correct. I hope I pronounced that, okay? Good morning, everyone. And Gillian is with us as well. Uh good morning to you. Sophie joining us from all the way over the other side of the Upsbridge Road. And Keith says the lighting suits you in suits on. Okay, well, I hope that's correct. Some more blusher next week. That's good if I need to get foundation, we know we've got to touring foundation I think. Sophie's laughing really delighted. There we are. Good morning to you both. Yes good to have you with us. Yeah and we've got hey and we hope you had a good journey back. All went smoothly and you were well looked after on your flights. It did. We were missing you too. We were just saying this morning. We were having a coffee in our kitchen going man it feels like eons ago that we sitting only a week ago having lunch together so. No. Yeah. Um yeah. Missing you my friend and I'm glad you are back in in one piece. Very good. And lovely to have you joining us today. Sophie says stage makeup required. We might get to that point. I do feel slightly like that. I feel like I'm blending into the back. To be fair to balance it as well. The the lamp is oh it's blinding me. It is is is just up there on Alison's side of where we're standing. I might purchase another bowl before next week. I'm not sure I can So I think we're just going to upgrade and get a professional lighting rig in the ceiling for us. It's going to all be good. Yeah and Sophie if you want to do some makeup that's much appreciated. Yeah. Yeah. Come and join in. Gosh. There we are. Um so question of the day. Let me find it. Er I spent the last week on retreat. Went out to a lovely place in Leicestershire called Lawnde Abbey. Er for some peace and quiet and time with God. Er all of which was lovely which leads me to think about. Er you like to do that sort of stuff. Where is your favourite place to go if you want to relax or perhaps go on a retreat? Something like that. Let us know in the comments. Where do you like to go? Maybe it's somewhere local. Er without kind of like ruining your secret place for everyone. Um tell us where you like to go. Maybe it's kind of not a specific place. Maybe it's like you're a coffee shop kind of person. Whatever those places are that you like to go and chill and relax. Let us know in the comments. Yeah. Well I'm very jealous Anna. It sounds like you had a really fantastic time of just being with God and being refreshed. Indeed. In a lovely environment as well which is great. They do and it's it's so weird. I mean like all of us here in London know like we forget how busy and noisy London is. Even like Hanwell Witches at the quieter end. Yeah. In one sense of busy noisy London. It's like you're going to spend a week in the middle of nowhere in the countryside and when you wake up you can all you can hear is the bird song. Yeah. Loudly outside your window. You're like ah forget. It's like where's the Elizabeth line and he threw up. Thing for me. So, near where I live, there's a convent. I don't know if you remember Rose Convent on Anson Road and in the back, they've got a little prayer garden which is really beautiful. Um they've got a sort of a little space. I won't describe it as a shed but it's an outdoor space, a summer heights would be that's the best way to describe it and where you can sit and pray. It's really quiet, no traffic noise and you can hear the birds and it's really really lovely space to be able to go to. So, that's my kind of mini retreat space I'd say in the local area but it's always good to get into the country. I grew up in a rural area just being see the green and the sky makes such a difference. Yeah. Um. Outdoors. Full stop. I was reading a book this week. Um and and the author said actually that's a really good principle of light. Try and make sure you get out into the great outdoors at least kind of you know once a month. Er morning says Sue Costic. Hello Sue. Good to have you with us. Yeah. Er but we've got some other people sharing already. Favourite places. Yeah. Er Wendy she says near water lake or ocean. I'm with you on that. I I'm I'm a talking to one of the people I was at Lawn Derby with and they got these like amazing wooden shepherd's hats and I said the only thing that would make this more perfect was that if at the end of my hut was the sea. Um Nice. That would be the only thing that could have like topped it. Uh but yeah, there's something. I mean, I don't know what it is. It would, yeah, there's there's something godly about like great expenses of water, I guess. Yeah. Well, it just makes us feel small. It reminds us of the greatness of god because you see the water stretching in front of you and you realise that we are a tiny part of all that he has made. So, Anne says it wasn't a retreat but took your advice and listened to worship music with my headphones and did some baking. It was a happy place. Hooray. And I'm 100% with you. Sometimes you just need to kind of switch off and do some doing something with our hands. I think it's really helpful as because it helps us to think and kind of keeps us occupied and enables our brains to work in a different way. So yeah. I'm with you on that. Absolutely. But yeah another suggestion from the same book was that one of the ideas they were talking about different ways in which we relax and rest. And and they had this like list of different categories. And one of them was I forget the the heading of it but it's something like organising. And they say it's a real thing for some people. The idea of tidying up or sorting something out. Ordering something could be a genuinely very restful experience. Yeah. So but I think baking's kind of classic is that you engage in something. Your brain's yeah. And hands are doing something. Yeah. You're following a process and not underthink very hard about it. Especially if you're doing a recipe right? Just follow my instructions. All fine. Oh Sophie for her it's the Mediterranean. Very specific. Like it. Nothing like the freedom of swimming. I'm going to put a run. Where it's not busy. But I like to pray out there. Obviously this isn't a regular retreat. But no that's that's a sounds like an excellent place. I agree. You know if it didn't have the fish and the seaweed I'd be right there too. Don't like the sea. I I love the I love the sea. Just not what lives within it. Okay. And like if it was the sea was like a swimming pool that would be perfect. I'm like. I've had to feed the whole paraphernalia. No desire for fish to water. It's amazing. Oh dear. Yeah. As long as you'll be a standby jellyfish. Everything. Yeah. Exactly. It's okay. Exactly. It's all okay. Imagine if you're going to the sea of the British Coast. It's not it's not not the it's a vigorous experience. An invigorating experience perhaps. Yes. And not always the cleanest either. Just gotta be a bit careful about that. There you go. Rachel Jones is with us. Good morning Rachel. Lovely this morning. You've got some support by the sea from Kiot. So she's solidarity. With you about the sea Andrew. Oh dear. We need to yeah. Maybe so if you send some pictures of the Mediterranean we need to get these people on board. Yeah. Swimming in the sea is great. Yeah. Yeah. It's good. So yeah. any other spaces that you go to or things that you do that enables you to relax, to feel like you're on a retreat and have that quiet space with God. Um really love to hear about those. I think for me even sometimes when I'm on a run if I'm listening to worship music it. Again I'm engaged in doing something else and it does just kind of allow me to pray and connect with God in a different way which is really really helpful. So good morning to Masood. Great to have you with us. I think if it's your first time saying hello but very warm welcome. Thank you for coming to join us this morning. Hello Jilly saying good morning all. Team Clark times three here. Good morning to each of you. Sophie says ha ha. I won't say about swimming in the camp. That's a river for those who I don't know. In that case full of ducks and weeds. But best feeling ever. There we go. As long as you're getting what you need from it, that's good. Oh, Susie says. I think she's puddle. Paddle is A puddle in the sea. There we go. Little Hampton says jelly. It's a nice place. Yeah. We might take a straw. Oh, we were one of the things. I was talking to the lovely staff at Lauren Abbey about was like taking a group there. So, a little straw pole. You know, put a one in the chat if you'd love to come on a church retreat slash weekend away where you get fed three times a day. Really nicely. In the countryside. For that, I you got me it's fair three times a day frankly. I'm definitely in. It's good. I did say to Susie it's like cooked breakfast every morning and do you know what? That never gets old. No. Like I thought on day four I might be like oh this again. But no. Turns out not. Um. There was too much variety in one pleat, right? Exactly. Exactly. And Sophie and Ben are in. This is good. Excellent. Got some wands in the chat. This is. Anyone else wanted to join in? This isn't a commitment. Right? We're not going to hold you sir. Just a straw full. We might spam you forever with emails. Should we choose to do one? Um oh Wendy had come. Oh excellent. Wendy we should get you over. Next year. That'd be awesome. Oh yeah. Yes. Let's do it. This this is our master plan. Yeah. We're going to get all our international contingent over to come away with us for a weekend. Um that would be awesome. And they did really good dietary requirements as well actually. Um I I gave them some quite sharp feedback two years ago where I I pointed out that there were other puddings other than fruit salad for people who couldn't consume dairy. Yeah it's quite pointed. And and low and behold their options had increased many fold. Very good. I like to feel I was responsible for that. But but who knows? And you listen to? Maybe. You never know. Oh there's an that when he's put that, that hasn't come through into Streamyard. So, I'll have a look and see what that is in Facebook land but there we are. Anne had come. We'll get Katie on, Kate on board as well. Gillian, yeah, yeah, yeah. This sounds good. This sounds good. I mean, this is this is awesome. All over it. Excellent. Um yeah. Watch this space. 2025, here we come. Oh it's one minute past nine. Oh my days. So busy having fun. What can I say? Right let me very quickly if you haven't got the service sheet. Let me stick the link in. Yeah. And then it. Yeah so do have a look at the link. So busy being community. that we're here. I saw about the warmer. Ah. That was good. Sorry. This is what happens when Andrew tries to rush. So. Not good. After a week of doing everything slowly. Right. I need some more coffee. Alison. Pray for us please. Lord thank you so much for this morning. So let let's just draw our hearts close to God. Let's stop. And make that choice to look at him. Alleluia. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Hallelujah. Oh Lord, open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise. The night has passed and the day lies open before us. Let us pray with one heart and mind. As we rejoice in the gift of this new day, so may the light of your presence, oh God, set our hearts on fire with love for you, now and forever. Amen Uh we're going to turn to some worship. I'm not sure where Susie's got a Franklin kiss. There she is. That's good. I I was more concerned because she's preaching. So you know. It's alright. I haven't gone far. And as always we encourage you to join in with our worship this morning. We know that God loves her when his kids worship together. Stores in my two offspring and there was We're going to turn now to our scriptures. Please do join in with the Psalm as Alison reads it and then we're going to get stuck into our Gospel today. So you can follow along with the service sheet if you've got it to hand. This is a Psalm twenty-two verses 25 to 31. From you comes my prayers in the great congregation. My vows I will pay before those who fear him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied. Those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your heart live forever. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord. And all the families of the nations shall worship before him. For dominion belongs to the Lord. And he rules over the nations. To him indeed shall all who sleep in the earth by dying. Before him shall bow down all who go down to the dust. And I shall live for him. Posterity will serve him. Future generations will be told about the Lord. And proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn. Saying that he has done it. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and shall be forever. Amen. Amen. And our New Testament reading is John chapter fifteen verses one to eight. I am the true vine and my father is the vine grower. Mom. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. That fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as a branch not bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I abide and I in them bear much fruit. Because apart from me, you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers. Such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide me and my words abide in you. Ask for whatever you wish and it will be done for you. My father is glorified by this. That you bear much fruit and become my disciples. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Good morning. Let us start by praying together. Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, my Lord and my God. Amen. I wonder where your roots are. We often ask people, oh where do you call home? Where are your roots? We are asking something, sometimes to make pleasantries when we meet someone, but we're also wanting to find something out about who the person we're meeting is. Where they're from, and where we put our roots, has something, says something about who we are, it shapes who we are. Now if you listen to me talk, you may notice that I flatten my vowels and that it is and that is a characteristic of someone that comes from Enfield as I do in North London. So, I would say to you that I pulled Paul in the pool. Um what I'm actually saying is I met somebody called Paul Paul, and in the swimming pool, those words are really hard to say. If you don't normally say them like that. Um Andrew thinks it's hysterical that the way I pronounce certain words. But my where I'm from shapes who I am. And I I have been a follower of Jesus now for 22 and a half years. I've been part of the church or gone to church every Sunday for 38 years and 2 months. Being a follower of Jesus Is part of who I am Being a follower of Jesus is where my roots are. And it shapes who I am. Where are your roots? Now the apostle John talks a lot around the saying the I am sayings in his gospel. John talks about I am the bread of life. I'm the way, the truth and the life. Today we are reflecting on I am the vine. I am the true vine. Now Jesus uses the phrase I am. And it causes the local Jewish leaders to remember a certain story and they know by Jesus saying, I am insert image he is saying something about God, he is saying, I am. God. Now this is because in Exodus three, Moses encounters God in the burning bush. And in verse so Exodus three verse thirteen he says the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask, who is his name? Then what shall I tell them? What shall I tell them? Your name is God, having encountered him in the bush. And God says to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites. I am has sent me to you. And so for the Israelite leaders, for the Jewish leaders of the time, they knew that Jesus was saying, I am God. I am the same person who Moses encountered in the bush. So the Jewish believers, the Jewish people that were listening to Jesus, knew that Jesus was claiming to be God, and unsurprisingly, got a little bit grumpy about it, and was shocked by what he was saying. So each time when Jesus says I am, he is saying, I am God And this is what God is like. The Old Testament prophets referred to the Israelites as being God's vine, as being the vineyard. But in this passage, Jesus points out that the Jews and multiple times, Jesus points out that the Jews failed at bearing fruit that lasts, and he claims this image of the vine and the vineyard for himself. Jesus is the vine. So in John in our reading from the Gospel of John I'm now looking for the reading. Here we go. Um Jesus says I am thanks. I'm just checking. I read it correctly. Um Jesus says, I am the vine you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit. So if Jesus is the vine, you and I are the branches. And if we remain connected with each other, we are going to bear much fruit. I wonder the fruit of your relationship with Jesus is like. Do you feel rooted in Jesus? Have you put your roots down into your relationship with Jesus and are flourishing? Or do you feel like your fruit has shriveled up and is all a bit dry? Now all of us are formed spiritually. We are all spiritual beings. Even if this is your first encounter with church, you are a spiritual being. What we read, who we spend time with, events that have happened in our lives, What we do all work together to shape us. And to affect the fruit that we produce. Where we put our roots down, shapes, us. It affects our character. Simply if you spend a lot of time with someone that swears a lot, the likelihood is you become a person that swears a lot. If you read constantly negative social media posts or surround yourself that are always negative about every situation. The likelihood is you will start to speak negative things. We develop behaviours from what we surround ourselves in. So if we claim to be Christians, we need to be allowing the words of Jesus to shape us. If we spend time with God, we will become more like him. Now how do we allow Jesus to shape who we are? To be spiritually transformed by Jesus. In our reading in verse seven, it says, if you remain in me, and my word remains in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you. As followers of Jesus, if we remain in God's word we need to be allowing that word to become part of us, to be part of our daily life. We need to be reading the Bible on a daily basis. Coming online or joining us in the building, and hearing the Bible read, that's great. But actually if we want Jesus to transform us and to be formed into his likeness, we need to be picking up the Bible every day. I'm not saying that you necessarily have to read huge chunks of it. But it could be that you meditate on one verse for your whole week. And allow it to sink deeply into you. If we want to bear fruit that lasts, we need to allow Jesus into our daily life. Now we can do this in a in two quite simple ways. When we've finished this livestream you can go over to our Facebook page and you will find four scripture images that you can save onto your phone and they can become your phone's lock screen. Which means every time you pick up your phone you will see a verse of scripture. And you can read it and allow that verse to sink deeply into you. Alternatively, maybe you could, there's a verse that's really stuck out to you at some point. You could write that and stick it above the mirror that you look in every morning when you brush your teeth or brush your hair. Putting the Bible around our lives And allowing it to be part of who we are. We can allow it to shape us. So, where are your roots? What sort of fruit are you producing? What are you allowing to shape who you are? Are the things that you're allowing to shape you positive things. For some of us there'll be things in our lives that shape a huge part of who we are. And they're not good for us. And sometimes we need to bring them to God in prayer. But also sometimes we need to seek out professional help. To deal with those negative things that that hurt us. That shape who we are. And there's no shame in accessing counselling or therapy To allow us to become the fullest person we can be. So let's take some time to be silent. To reflect Where are your roots? What or who is shaping you? Jesus says I am the vine, and you are the branches. Abide in me and I in you. Lord Jesus may you help us to seek you. That you will be the one that shapes who we are. That we will remain rooted and establish ourselves in the love that you have for each and every one of us. Amen. Thank you Susie. We're going to continue our service with a time of prayer As I'm praying, if there are people or situations on your mind that you would like prayer for, please do put a comment Um first names only please and we will pray for those people as we go through our intercessions. Lord we thank you so much that you are the true vine. And that we can be rooted in you. And Lord we pray that as Susie's just shared we would all take the time to think about where our roots are. What is it that's shaping our lives? And what is it you're asking us to press into? And where perhaps are the things that you're prompting us to step away from? We pray we wouldn't forget those things at the end of this service but would continue to talk to you about them and seek your way forward. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer. But we thank you so much for this online community meeting each week and for everyone at Saint Mary's. Thank you so much for the opportunity we have to come together to worship you. We thank you for all the activities that happened throughout the week. In the church building, in the hall, elsewhere, online, home groups, coffee and cake, Noah's Ark. And Lord we pray that you would have your hand on all of those different places, spaces and people. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer. And Lord we lift to you our governments and all of those who are in positions of power and authority around the world. We pray that you would give them wisdom as they make decisions for the common good. And Lord we pray that you would be at work in those hearts and minds who can make such a difference to the lives of so many. We pray especially for those who are in a position to make a difference where there is unrest or violence. We think specifically of Ukraine. We think of Gaza, Israel Yemen, Sudan, Ethiopia, so many other places around the world Lord. We pray that your peace would come. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. And Father we lift to you now all those who are struggling in one way or another. Whether that be health relationships finances, employment, and a host of other challenges that we all may face at different times. And Lord in particular we pray for those who are noted in our comments. For Bob and Millie. For Mike, Ben, Elliot Pray for Joan and Jeanette. For Kirsty and Sam, Debbie, for Abby, for June, for Stella, Katie, Hank and his new parents. For Maggie, and Becky, we pray for Helen and Chris, for blessings over their marriage and family, especially on this day of celebration for them. We pray for Eden and family, for Dan, family, for Sue, for Andrew. We pray for Lindsay, for Ciara and Astrid, for Flicky, for Freddie, and again for Helen and Chris, Lord, we lift all of these people to you, and for those who are on our hearts and we haven't put in the comments Lord, you know the circumstances of each one and we pray that you would be at work, that they would know your presence close to them and they would trust in you. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. And we continue our prayers in the words that Jesus taught us. You'll find these on your service sheet. Please do join in. Our Father in Heaven. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. On earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins. As we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours. Now and forever. Amen So over to Andrew for our news. Thank you, Alison. Thank you, Susie. Well, let's grab you all some links as we start to gear up into our summer term. So, our usual reminders really. If you are, what's your son? There's one, two people who perhaps tuned in for the first time and you'd love to find out a bit more about what we are all about. Well, don't forget to like or follow our Facebook page but you can also join our weekly Email that tells you everything that's going on at Saint Mary's. So, you can sign up for that. Er equally if you'd value prayer for yourself or others just like we've been doing this morning. We have a confidential prayer chain and you can email them. Again details are in the comments. Thank you to everybody who gives. Everything we do as a church is made possible by all of your generosity. So if you would like to make a donation this morning you can hit that link. It'll take you directly to our online giving page. And thank you to everybody who gives month in month out through the bank. Couple of really exciting things coming up. This term and the first of which getting underway in just under 2 weeks or little over two weeks in fact doing the maths in my head is Alpha. Er Alpha is a short course that looks at all of the basic building blocks of Christianity. Things like who is Jesus? Why did Jesus die? How do I pray? How do I read the Bible? How does God speak to us today? It's a fantastic way to build your faith and build that relationship. Build those roots as Susie was talking about. Er by exploring some of these ideas. With a small group and look after you and treat you like royalty along the way as well. So if you haven't done Alpha before maybe you have a long time ago and you fancy doing it again. All the details click on through our website and you can see how you can sign up for Alpha. Er that starts the 16th of May and runs six weeks. Er okay so that's the first of our summertime show pieces so to speak. The second is something Susie and I have been dreaming about running for goodness me seven eight years now and we've finally managed to find a time where the stars align and we're going to be running the marriage sessions. We are passionate about investing into people's marriage relationships. We're going to be celebrating at our 1030 year service. Chris and Helen having been married for 50 years. Er but we know that behind any marriage of those sort of length of time is a lot of hard work and effort that goes in. And the marriage sessions it's not counselling. The idea is it's like having an MOT for your marriage. It gives you four evenings where we will spoil you rotten. Er but gives an opportunity to talk with your partner, no group work. Thank the Lord. Um and just to talk through some of the the key things that are involved in a healthy marriage relationship. Er there's me more details on how to sign up for that. Um once we get into May. But that's going to be for Wednesday nights across June. And that's going to be down at church. So more details on how to sign up. Er hopefully next week or the week after. But those are our two big things that are coming up soon. We hope you will sign up and come and enjoy. It really does bring us to the end of our service. So I'm going to pray our final blessing over us all. So may Christ who out of defeat brings new hope and a new future. Fill you with his new life. And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be among you and remain with you always. So go in the peace of Christ. Alleluia. Alleluia. Thanks be to God. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. And folks thank you for joining us this morning. I invite Alison back. And yeah. Good stuff from Susie this morning. So as always the comments are open for you guys to say hello and just say a few good mornings. I know one or two people joined us. Er morning Leanne. Morning Charlie. Morning Tim. Er Tim was answering our question of the day. Let me find that. Which is about favourite places to relax or retreat. Er and whoops. Wrong button. There we are. And Tim was saying Questus Theatre enjoying the performances from all the various actors was his place to go and do that. Yeah. Um. Can totally see that, right? Just being somewhere different. Focusing on something unusual that you're not usually exposed to is really really good experience. Exactly. So, yeah. So, if you've got a favorite place, why not share it in the comments or if you want to say goodbye, have a nice week, thank you, whatever it is. The comments are open and it's all over to you guys. Yeah. I know that for some people, being creative is definitely part of the whole sense of relaxation and retreat but I was telling Andrew and Su earlier that ehm so I'm just remembering what she told me. I went to a paint and sip on Thursday evening. Some of you might have heard of these. It's ehm an opportunity to get together with friends ehm in a pub, have a few drinks and also you learn to paint eh your version of a masterpiece of art. Mine was appalling. I've got a photograph of it actually which I'll share with anyone if you want to see it. It's so bad and I just feel like I'm not a creative person but I know some of you will be. So if there are things you like doing maybe it's painting I don't know pottery or I don't know drawing. All kinds of things. Writing maybe. Eh we'd love to hear about that. Cos I think there was a really great practices as well. Painting is just not my my forte. Which is a good thing that's fine. Little known fact about the bishop London bishop Sarah is that pottery is one of her hobbies. Really? And she's on a sabbatical right now. She's shaking three months out. And part of it they talked to this email to everyone was was she was going to be doing a pottery course as part of it. She likes to we I I reckon we should get her on the Great Pottery Throwdown. Absolutely. Yeah. How that fits in with her schedule? She will make it work. Exactly. Exactly. Uh but Gillian says thanks all for a really great service today. Uh thank you for joining us. Yeah. Julie Clark says thank you for a thoughtful service. Have a good week everyone. And stay safe. Seem to you. And Wendy Tis a very moving and wonderful service. Much to reflect on. Thank you. Well thank you for joining us too. Very very welcome. Mark's Cue Gardens. This is his favourite place to relax and retreat. And it's great. I love you because it's so big you can almost forget you're in London because you can kind of look around and just see gardens which is nice. So true. I went there a few times during lockdown whenever we were able to be outside and it was lovely just to be in that beautiful environment. So nice. So Ben says thank you for a lovely service. My favourite place is Lime Regis. So peaceful and lots of people know me down there. Great choice then. Fabulous. Masood says thank you for your great service. Thank you for joining us this morning and thank you for staying with. Er we're here every single week from 10 to nine. Each week so if you enjoyed today please feel free to join us again next Sunday. Yeah. Rachel fantastic preaching Susie. It's a familiar passage but you really opened it up. Thank you all for a great service today. Well, thank you for being with us, Rachel. Ah, no, it turns out that paint and sip is more popular than even I could have imagined. So, Julie says, Alison says, I've done a couple of them. Great fun and we're told everyone is an artist. I mean, I think that's true. Mine might be a bit abstract but I think, you know, that's completely acceptable. So, I'm glad you're not the only one in that boat. Thanks, Jenny. Think of a stickman version of it. I could be quite in. I could be quite up for that. Yes was a little bit more complicated than I'd expected so. Charlie says thank you all. See you at church. See you at church Charlie. See you there in a little bit. Yeah. Sounds good. Yeah. Looking forward to Helen and Chris's celebration too. It'd be really nice to have that time together. So for anybody who who joined us after we started, one of the things we were talking about a little bit earlier is I've been on retreat this week and one of the things come away with the idea of going out won't we be up for a church retreat slash weekend away? Probably next year. So again you can stick a number one in the chat if you think that's something that would be fun. Er some of you did that a little bit before when we started late as a result. But yeah sticking a ball in the chat if you'd be interested. We won't spam you with emails about it. Honest. Um but it's just interesting to kind of get a bit of a a litmus test and see who'd be up for that sort of thing. We'd make it a family friendly weekend so that everybody can be there as well. Rachel says she's in. Love it Rachel. That's good. Er yes. That sounds good. So we got we got quite a good crew together already just from the online service alight. I mean people just do an online weekend away. And why would you not be one part of the gang. Exactly. Public cool club. Yeah. Make it really elite. I like it. Um I'm sure Jesus has something to say against that but Right. Well I hadn't seen any other ones but if if you're thinking about it maybe drop us a line. Indeed. I will Yeah. Um fab. Um lovely. Well I think it's time and it's going to be our final comment. She says thanks for today's service. Have a good week all and enjoy today's celebration in church. Paint and sip sounds fun. I think there might be an Auckland branch of that starting before you know it. Er if not already. Um could you could you legitimately if you bought yourself a sketchbook and some crayons and a bottle of wine. Do your own DIY version at home. 00%. Cuz I've seen a reason why not. That could be a retreat in and of itself. Have a go. Um right. Lovely to see you all. If you have a fantastic week and we will be back with you next Sunday. We will indeed. Have fun. Have fun. Take care. See you soon. Bye. Bye.