The Parish Magazine July and August 2023

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14 The Parish Magazine - July/August 2023 Please mention The Parish Magazine when responding to advertisements Follow Us @ShiplakeCollege • Top brand name flooring at the lowest price • Samples to view in your home/office day/evening • Free Advice / FreeQuotes • Old flooring uplifted & furniture moved • Fast turn around on fitting if required • Carpet, design and wood flooring specialists We supply and install: Amtico Carpets - Laminate - Wood - Vinyl Non-slip and more... MULTI-SPORT CAMPS 31 July to 11 August Girls and boys going into Years 5-8 www.shiplake.org.uk/summercamps Tel: 0118 958 0445 10 Richfield Avenue, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 8EQ info@richfieldflooring.co.uk/www.richfieldflooring.eo.uk
PARISH NOTICEBOARD — 5 Simplicity or affluence? Stained glass in the Chapel of Notre-Damedes-flots Jorisv, dreamstime.com Assisi, a beautiful town in the Italian province of Umbria, was the birthplace in the 12th century of two of that country’s greatest saints, Francis and Clare. Francis, and then Clare — her feast day is 11 August — discovered the liberating effect of releasing the burden of wealth. For them simplicity, a godly poverty, was the way to blessing. Their followers — Franciscan monks and Clare’s nuns, or the ‘Poor Clares’, set themselves to live without luxury. This freed them for a life of prayer and service, to care for the poor around them without distraction. They did not build elaborate basilicas, though one was erected after the death of Francis, strictly against his wishes, to surround the simple chapel where he and his followers were based. The present-day house of the Poor Clares is a perfect example of the sheer beauty of simplicity. Their life-style, their message, their simplicity of life and love of God's Creation offered a striking alternative to the society around them, where wealth — which Francis had enjoyed but rejected at his conversion — and poverty and sickness lived side by side. Their message is on a collision course with the values and goals of much of the western world today. Simplicity of life and affluence don’t sit easily together. The Parish Magazine - July/August 2023 15 THE persecuted church by colin bailey Persecuted Sudan Christians in need of your prayers Sudan has been in the news over the last three months with the large scale evacuation of many British nationals and their dependents fleeing violence. In April Open Doors reported that the that the conflict will make things even harder for the Christians in Sudan, which is number 10 on the Open Doors 2023 World Watch List — a position that indicates Christians face face extreme levels of persecution. The violence in Sudan has resulted John Wollwerth, dreamstime.com from a power struggle between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and it is spreading through the country. The number of casualties reported in May by the Sudanese health ministry — 730 people killed and 5,454 injured — is likely to be higher. There are almost 2 million Christians in Sudan, representing just 4.3% of the country’s population of 46 million. There had been some progress towards religious freedom in recent years, until a military coup in October 2021. This followed an escalation of hostilities between conservative Islamists wanting a military government and those who toppled Omar al Bashir in April 2019. PLEASE PRAY FOR STABILITY After that coup, a transitional, power-sharing government emerged but protests caused the resignation in January last year of civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. Open Doors reports how Christians — especially converts from Islam — are still vulnerable to extreme persecution in public and private life. There are now fears that Sudan will return to the authoritarianism of the years of the former president, and this could mean that the death penalty for leaving Islam that was abolished in 2021 could be reinstated. At the time of writing, there is relative calm in the capital Khartoum after a week-long peace deal was disrupted by clashes between the Sudanese army and paramilitary. The ceasefire had come after five weeks of warfare in Khartoum and outbursts of fighting elsewhere, including Darfur where a conflict had started in 2003. Please pray for Sudan, for stability in the region and for a government to be established that respects equality and religious freedom. Please also pray for the Christians in the land and for the work of local church partners. References and further reading Open Doors on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/opendoorsuk/ Open Doors website - Sudan country focus: https://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/worldwatch-list/sudan/ Amnesty International on conflict in Sudan: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/04/ sudan-new-conflict-escalation-exacerbates-20-years-of-suffering-for-civilians-in-darfur Reuters - Africa news on fighting following the ceasefire: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ fighting-threatens-sudans-week-long-truce-2023-05-25/ HM Government Press Release on evacuation: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ukcompletes-largest-and-longest-western-evacuation-from-sudan
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The Parish Magazine July and August 2023

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