October is the time in the Church’s year when we give thanks for the harvest that has been safely gathered in and for all those who are involved in enabling us to have the food we eat. We are really looking forward to welcoming St Cuthbert’s School to come and lead our Sunday worship for Harvest on 13th October and to help remind us all of the blessings we have. Then in the afternoon we welcome the choir from Rainford along with the choir from St Thomas to lead us in a Harvest Songs of Praise.

As the body of Christ, St Cuthbert’s is trying to live out our calling, to serve all who live and work in this place and those who visit. To do that we recognise we need to work together and be generous with our time, our skills and our resources across the community. This is far from easy with an ageing congregation and a beautiful medieval building that needs a considerable amount of work to keep it safe and watertight. But together with God, all things are possible.

Following the dreadful events of late July in Southport, it is more important than ever that we work together to build community spaces that are safe for all, and where all are enabled to meet and learn from each other.

As a Church family we long for people to encounter the generous loving God who, year in year out, enables the harvest. This means we need to be hospitable in welcoming all people; to be a truly inclusive church regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation or ability. We must be open to challenge and to recognise that we all have our blind spots – and that our preferred way to be and to worship may unintentionally exclude others.

As a church we are seeking to strengthen links with the community we serve and to find creative ways of working together, so that all generations can encounter each other and God in mutually flourishing ways. As part of that we are planning to hold a community weekend next year, where we can come together and dream some dreams of what our church and community can be.

God Bless

Susan

Prayers for Southport

Gracious God, Words alone cannot express our sadness and disbelief, our heartbreak and anguish when such precious lives are so brutally stolen. We offer to you the cries of our own hearts and pray for those families whose grief and loss is impossible to comprehend.

Help us all to cling to hope even amidst this senseless brutality. Be close to all whose lives have been so cruelly scarred; surround them with your love; hold them fast in their sorrow, and grant them strength amidst their unbearable pain.

We cannot escape our anger and devastation, but choose to seek hope even amidst this darkness. For all its horror, may it spur us even more to never surrender to despair, but build a world where peace, hope and love prevail. AMEN

Let us come together to express our shock and disbelief at the tragic happenings in recent days in our community.

‘The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble’

‘The Lord will stand with us, he will not fail us nor abandon us’

Living God, you bring us together as a community to teach us how to love each other as you have loved us. May justice and action enable us to live and work together in harmony to show the fruits of your kingdom.

Let love, peace and joy overcome evil and let us give what harms and separates us from God and each other.

God our Saviour, look upon those families who are now bereft of their children. Look upon this wounded world in pity, mercy and love. AMEN