Riverside WeeklyWe welcome you to all our services and activities

Do join us for tea, coffee and a chat after this morning’s worship.

22th August 2010

Today:– 11:00 Morning Worship — Rev Una McLean

Organist:– Ted BlackmanRefreshments:– Bernadette Maxwell & Eileen LomaxBook Steward:– Margaret DaviesReadings:–

Elizabeth Roberts—Isaiah 61:1–3aKate Collins—Matthew 10:5–15

Number – 575

Today's Flowers:-–Provided by Ted and Marion to celebrate their wedding

anniversary last T hursday

Congratulations to Phil & Elinda Spedding who were married in Bali last Monday.

Bhutan ExhibitionNomads, Yaks & a T igers Nest

An exhibition of Cliff 's Photos and Janet 's paintings based on Cliff 's visit to Bhutan.

In the Memorial Hall all week

T h i s w e e k ’ s e v e n t s

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Monday 23rd August7:30 ‘Have your Say’ at 13 Gerddi y Bache – discussion of the coming programme.

Monday 23rd August till Saturday 28th August10:00 till 4:00 Bhutan Exhibition in the Memorial Hall — free tea & coffee and a chance to purchase pictures/cards; donations to the Alzhelmer’s Society

Tuesday 24th August10:00 Coffee Morning for Alzhelmer’s Society — Memorial Hall

Wednesday 25th August10:00 Prayer in the vestry (we use the back door)

Sunday 29th August10:45 Bible Club at the Memorial Hall11:00 Morning Worship — Sheila Rudden

Organist:– Ted BlackmanRefreshments:– Kath & George GriffithBook Steward:– Beatrice PritchardReadings:–

Keith Scott—Luke 14:7–14Edna Smith—Hebrews 13:1–16

Pedestrian Crossings in Llangollen

Denbighshire County Council intends to erect two pedestrian crossings — in Mill Street and Castle Street.On Wednesday 25th August Officers from the council will be in the Council Chamber, from 2:00 till 8:00, to show the plans and give the residents the opportunity to make their comments.

Do make use of this opportunity to have your say in the towns plans.

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A group which meets regularly to discuss contemporary issues in a Christian

framework.

NEW DISCUSSION GROUP YEAR FROM SEPTEMBER 2010The group is now in recess for the summer but hopes to resume in

September. In the meantime we are holding a planning evening on Monday 23rd August at 13, Gerddi y Bache, Llangollen at 7:30(approximately).

The aim of the evening is to propose a programme of topics for the next six months or so. Anyone interested in having a input into the group is welcome to attend. For those unfamiliar with what we do there will be an opportunity to find out what we have been doing since 2007. There will be light refreshments served.

Have Your Say

Llangollen and Llantysilio Cytûn(Churches Together in Wales)

Invite you to attend our annual general meeting with guest speaker

Monday 20th September 2010, in the lounge at the Hand Hotel

At 7:00 Mr. Billy Lincoln will give a presentation about the Wrexham Street Pastors to be followed by our A.G.M.

Hot drinks will be served.

Cytûn Prayer BreakfastSaturday 4th September

8:30 Prompt at the Buttered Crust for breakfastPrayer from 9:00 in the Memorial Hall

Please order your breakfast (bacon or sausage or egg bap plus drink £3) by Thursday 2nd September on 01978 860877

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Trace the Tax - our campaign explainedDid you know that for every $10 given in aid to the developing world, $15 slips out through tax dodging? The situation is stark and urgent. Christian Aid estimates that tax dodging costs poor countries $160 billion a year. This is money that should be spent building schools and hospitals. This is completely unjust. To put a stop to tax dodging by unscrupulous multinational companies, Christian Aid is asking for greater transparency about how much profit multinational companies make - and tax they pay - in the countries that they operate in. The only solution to stop tax dodging is to increase tax transparency. One way to do this is to change accountancy laws to make country-by-country tax reporting a legal requirement. Country-by-country tax reporting would mean that every company has to announce how much profit it makes, and how much tax it pays, in each country that it does business in.It would stop money being taken out of poor countries like Zambia and poured into rich tax havens such as Switzerland.Multinational companies are really good at finding new ways to make money – that’s what they are there for. But some go to unethical, even illegal, lengths.By reporting just a fraction of the profits they make in poorer countries, and hiding the true amounts offshore, these unscrupulous businesses reduce their tax bills – and cost the developing world billions.$160bn, in fact.

•Enough to reach the UN millennium development goals several times over.•Enough to save the lives of 350,000 children aged five or under every year.•Almost twice the amount poor countries receive in international aid.

In the West, tax revenue pays for basic health care, roads and schools.Many poorer countries struggle to do the same – sometimes because lack of infrastructure prevents them collecting revenue efficiently, and sometimes due to corrupt and unaccountable government. However, the cloak of silence under which so many corporations are able to operate means billions of dollars leave developing countries without anyone

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Riverside Weekly is online at:–http://www.llangollenmethodist.org.uk/index.php?notices-now/news/notices-now/

Minister:-Rev Una McLean

(01978) 860877

Email:- unamcl@yahoo.co.uk(Please respect the Minister’s rest day

on Fridays)

Church Stewards Gill NewbrookSheila SpeddingJeanette RobinsonNorman KingDorothy KingDavid Pollock

Information for ‘Riverside Weekly’ should be received by the editor by the Thursday before publication — Norman Pybus (01978) 861390Email:- editor@llangollen-methodist.org.uk

noticing.What do we want? No more secretsWhile the rich world counts the cost of the global economic crisis it is glaring that the collapse of international markets and the drain on poor-country riches share a common cause: secrecy. Secrecy allowed banks to hide their toxic assets until it was too late. And secrecy continues to prevent us from knowing in which countries multinational firms truly make their profits – and how.Call multinationals to accountIf the West is serious about poorer countries helping themselves out of poverty, the secrecy has to stop. We need a new global financial culture. Governments needs to ensure that every multinational declares in which countries it makes its profits and how much tax it pays. We also need the accounting rules which companies must abide by to change so that there is no more financial secrecy.To Support Christian Aid’s campaign and write to the Chancellor and Prime Minister go to http://www.christianaid.org.uk/.

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Tutu and Elders back urgent action to aid PakistanArchbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and the Elders group of former

statespeople want people and governments to give “more quickly and generously” to flood-stricken Pakistan.

The Elders, a network of distinguished independent leaders, have warned that the situation in Pakistan is deteriorating rapidly.

They said the scale of the flooding affecting nearly 4 million people was “disastrous”. The United Nations has said that the long-term impact of the flooding is likely to impact a further 20-25 million.

Dr Tutu appealed both to governments, communities and individuals to give as generously as they did in the aftermath of the 2004 Boxing Day South Asian tsunami, and also the massive earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010.

“I urge people all around the world to hold the people of Pakistan in their hearts and in the heart of the human family at this time,” the Nobel Peace laureate declared.

He continued: “Let us not for a moment allow ourselves to feel that some are less deserving of our help than others. It is time for us to stand in solidarity with the people of Pakistan. Please give generously and help to share their enormous burden as they struggle to recover.”

The call for more donations comes as the United Nations General Assembly meets today to discuss Pakistan’s humanitarian emergency.

The UN launched a US$460 million emergency appeal at the beginning of last week. So far, however, just half of that amount has been pledged by the international community.

Aid and development agencies, including the global ACT Alliance of church groups, and the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) in the UK, are warning that the amount of money that has come in so far will not last more than a few months.

P r a y e r & P r a i s eMark 11:23-25I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but be-lieves that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

(New International Version)

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Praise & Thanks:– = Thank the Lord for health, strength, food, medical care and

friends… = Thanks for the beautiful countryside where we live. = Thank God for all the Christians and churches in Llangollen. = Thank Him for all the churches in our Methodist Circuit.

Prayers and Requests:– = Richard Sharples, Biddy and the girls as Richard is on his

sabbatical, and Rev Una McLean & Rev Chris Pritchard as they take over Richard’s responsibilities.

= Those Methodist ministers facing decisions which need to be made about where they will be working in the coming months and years and for Circuit and District stationing committees.

= For students making plans for their future — plans for sixth form as GCSE results are received.

= For the people in Pakistan affected by the flooding, and the people of Moscow affected by the forest fires.

= Pray for the relief agencies as they take aid to the needy areas around the world, especially to Pakistan.

Wor

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For free daily readings see Elisabeth or Norman

Use your Talents to Glorify God‘God has given gifts to each of

you.’ 1 Peter 4:10

Your work is important to God. Your job might use as much as 40 hours in a week, so it should represent Him. ‘God has given gifts to each of you... Manage them well... then God will be given the glory.’ We’ve each been given talents for the purpose of honouring God in this world. Undiscovered, undeveloped gifts dishonour Him; so do misused ones. God has gifted you to do something in a way nobody else can. By tapping into your unique abilities and using

them to promote His kingdom, you’re fulfilling His will in the truest sense. Paul says, ‘...everything comes from him... and is intended for his glory...’ (Romans 11:36 NLT). The breath we breathe, the blood that courses through our veins, the grey matter between our ears are all God’s investment in us, and He expects a return. Max Lucado writes, ‘We exist to exhibit God, to display his glory. We serve as canvases for his brush strokes, papers for his pen, soil for his seeds, and glimpses of his image... He un-commons the common by turning kitchen sinks into shrines, cafes into convents, and nine-to-five workdays into spiritual adventures... When you magnify your Maker with your strengths... your days grow suddenly sweet.’ So, be like the great New England preacher Jonathan Edwards, who lived by two resolutions: ‘Resolved first: that all men should live for the glory of God. Resolved second: that whether others do or not, I will.’