Click here to read the 31st May Midweek Letter – AFTER PENTECOST
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Notices
28th May – Pentecost
11am Sung Eucharist – Celebrant & Preacher, Fr Colin Williams.
Two photos of the congregation, and our locum priest Fr Colin Williams, after Sung Eucharist on the Feast of Pentecost, the Birthday of the Church. During the service, the first two lines of the Lord’s Prayer were said by members of our congregation each in their native language: English, Welsh, Ukranian, Swedish, Spanish, Church Slavonic, German, Polish, Hindi, and Dutch.
31st May – Wednesday
10am Holy Communion – Celebrant & Preacher, Fr Colin Williams
3rd June – Saturday
10am Car Boot Sale – Rastro – Flohmarkt – Entry 1€. Please note dogs are not allowed in the church grounds during Car Boot Sales.
This is the final Car Boot Sale of the season, the next one being the 2nd September.
4th June – Trinity Sunday
11am Sung Eucharist – Celebrant & Preacher, Fr Colin Willliams
Midweek Letter
31st May 2023
On Facebook this week I was struck by a photo of a piece of fruit in front of a mirror. Looking in the mirror I saw a shiny, rosy apple but what the mirror didn’t show was the side facing away from it – a bruised, partly eaten and discoloured apple. The “perfection” was an illusion.
Watching a programme from The Chelsea Flower Show there was great encouragement for “wilding up” rather than for neatly tended “perfect” gardens. Poppies, daisies and other beautiful wild flowers were echoed along the route I took home on Pentecost Sunday. In church we had been encouraged to wear something red and the array of poppies reminded me of the sea of red across the church, to remind us of the tongues of fire which settled on the apostles on the day of Pentecost.
Thinking of “wilding”, where a gentle breeze blows seeds along roadsides and across fields I´m reminded that this is what the Holy Spirit will do for us, enabling us to plant seeds within our communities. In John´s Gospel Chapter 20 verses 19-23 Jesus encourages his disciples to receive the Holy Spirit. After this they spread the seeds of Christianity in the world.
A child was asked what she had done in school that day. “We learnt how to make babies,” was her reply. More than a little surprised and trying to keep her cool her grandmother responded, “That’s interesting. How do you make babies”? “It´s simple,” replied the girl. “You just change the “Y” to “I” and add “es”. At Pentecost God´s power was communicated in everyone´s own language. The Good News of Jesus came to all who were there in a way they could understand and from people with whom they would not otherwise have communicated. God´s love is for everyone, everywhere.
On Pentecost Sunday we prayed that the Spirit of peace would reconcile the peoples and nations of the world bringing an end to war, hatred and discrimination. This week may we continue in prayer for all those parts of our world needing the fruit of the Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We don´t need to be perfect, just willing to welcome, empower and forgive, as God´s love does for each of us.
Judith Rigby
Congregational Worship Leader
Holy Week & Easter at All Saints
2nd April – Palm Sunday
11:00am Palm Procession & Sung Eucharist – Celebrant & Preacher: the Revd Richard Frost
5th April – the Wednesday in Holy Week
10:00am Holy Communion – Celebrant & Preacher The Revd Richard Frost
11:00am Bible Study
6th April – Maundy Thursday
7:00pm – The Eucharist of the Last Supper – Celebrant & Preacher: the Revd Richard Frost
7th April – Good Friday
2:00pm – Stations of the Cross – a Service of Reflection – led by the Revd Richard Frost
9th April – EASTER DAY
11am – Blessing of the Paschal Candle & Sung Eucharist – Celebrant & Preacher, the Revd Richard Frost
followed by Parish Easter Lunch