News and Events at HTR week beginning September 11th 2022

Sunday School returns today!

Mass every Wednesday at 6:00PM and every Friday at Noon. Free Coffee served every Friday from 10:30AM.

Hymns for Mass this Sunday from New English Hymnal: 457, 390, 271, 342 Psalm 51: 1-10

Readings at Mass today: 1st Reading: Exodus 32: 7-14. Psalm 51: 1-10. 2nd Reading: 1 Tim 1: 12-17. The Gospel: St Luke 15: 1-10.

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Luke 15: 1-10 Trinity 13 – It was C. S. Lewis who once wrote, “Joy is the serious business of heaven.” No doubt he was right. The stories Jesus tells in St Luke 15 give us some insight into that serious business of heaven’s joy. The context is set up for us by Luke to enjoy.

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” The self-righteous see sinners and reject them. Jesus never affirms us in our sin, but he sure enjoys the frequent company of sinners. And they seem to consistently enjoy him. He illustrates his attitude toward them, first with a story about a Lost Sheep, now perhaps one of the best known all the stories told by Jesus but also a Lost Coin.

For Jesus and for his Father, it was joyful seeking and saving the lost. A sinner who repents brings joy to heaven. We probably can’t fathom the full extent of the serious business of such joy, but always the lost is found. The sinner repents. Again, according to Jesus, heaven and the angels of God get down to the serious business of joy.

If we want to make heaven joyful, we should be asking ourselves what the best sort of repentance looks like? We all need to see ourselves in the place of the lost, the lost sheep or the lost coin. God seeks us out, and when he finds us, we repent and turn to him.

So yes, there is a sort of tension between God doing the seeking and finding and our repenting. He does something and we do something. It isn’t one or the other, it is both at the same time. We need not worry about whether God is going to do his part, but whether we do, that is another question.

Let’s make heaven rejoice by turning wholeheartedly back to God. Saving the lost is serious business and a serious cause for joy. It took Jesus going to the cross to accomplish the task. Does that sound joyful to you?

Wednesday September 14th is Holy Cross Day. Special Mass at 6:00PM.

Fr Angus James Beattie will be the new Rector of the Plurality of St Andrew’s Deal and Holy Trinity, Ramsgate. Fr Angus will be Instituted on November 7th at St Andrew’s in Deal. Please pray for Fr Angus and his wife Maxcine as they prepare to move to Ramsgate in October.

Fr Paul’s last Sunday with us as Rector will be Sunday September 25th. The Mass that day will be followed by a Buffet Lunch. All are invited to join us in saying our farewell to Fr Paul and Maggie.

Holy Baptism. On Saturday September 17th at Noon we welcome into the family of faith through the Holy Sacrament of Baptism, Albert Lovatt.

This year as we shall be without a priest, our Annual Requiem Mass will be a joint Sung Mass of Requiem at St Andrew’s on Deal on November 2nd at 7:30pm. The usual lists are available in Holy Trinity for you to add the names of your departed loved ones for inclusion at the Requiem. Please ask about a lift to Deal.

PLEASE REMEMBER THE FOOD BANK AND HYGIENE BANK.