Sunday 16th June 2024

e for [Music] e e [Music] e [Music] for e for a very warm welcome to you here on um this rather Gloomy Sunday morning but it’s lovely to be here it’s sun shining oh I’m I um I set off earlier than some of you because I was here I was here for the 8:00 service this morning when it was decidedly gloomy and I haven’t been out since so thank you for telling me that the sunshine has come out since then but either way it’s it’s really lovely to worship here together and to be together and if if you if you don’t me know me and you you haven’t been before very warm welcome my name is shaa I’m the Vicor here we’ll be celebrating communion together and I’ll explain about that a little bit um later on and of course today is Father’s day now we know that that it’s a bit it can be a bit of Sweet Day can’t it for all sorts of reasons but we really want to give thanks for the people in our lives who are good father figures to us they may be our own fathers they may be people who’ve helped us physically and practically or emotionally or spiritually and been spiritual fathers to us but we give thanks for all that is good about fathering and fathers who po point us towards the perfect our perfect heavenly father so at the end of the service in our last um in our last hymn on when it’s mothering Sunday we always give out flowers to the women so today thank you very much to Carol we’ll be giving out chocolate to the men so all the men please feel free to take some chocolate because we value and appreciate you all so we C let’s let’s take a moment as we come to find some Stillness before God um as we come to worship him laying down the things that are on our minds that are distracting us the good things the bad things the worrying things just putting them down and bringing ourselves into God’s presence together and in a moment the words in yellow I will say and the words in white if you could join in that would be lovely we come from scattered lives to meet with God let us recognize his presence with us as God’s people have gathered let us work worship him together Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like the smallest of seeds as we come together in worship let’s open ourselves to the Limitless potential of God’s spirit to bring life and growth and let’s also be open to the signs of God’s kingdom among us and within us so we pray Lord speak to us move Among Us receive our prayers amen and so there is a bit of a theme of seeds in the readings today in one of the readings and um so I invite you to stand for our first hymn that talks all about seeds that appear to be you know nothing much is going on under under the soil and then the new life comes and the same with Jesus we think about how he laid down his life for us seemed a terrible moment of weakness and defeat but then we know that he rose again from the dead and life sprung up again and he’s alive forever more so I invite you to stand as we sing now the green blade Rises [Music] the [Music] [Music] the [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] my the [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] his [Music] thank you please do take a seat later on one our first reading we’re going to hear about that when we’re in Christ Jesus the new creation has come the old has gone the new is here and we can come with confidence to God with the things in our lives that kind of represent the old life the things we don’t want anymore the things we want to say sorry knowing that because of what Jesus did in his love for us on the cross that we can come and say sorry be forgiven and have a new start again and I’m so touched by that last verse that talks about God’s touch can call us back to life again the things that are dead in our lives he can turn round and bring back to life and so we come come to our Heavenly Father who knows us and loves us and if we wish we can pray a a prayer to say sorry to God um and start a new start again and wait for that wheat that Springs up green to grow in our lives again so we pray together God of Mercy we acknowledge that we are all sinners we turn from the wrong that we have thought and said and done and are mindful of what we have failed to do for the sake of Jesus who died for us forgive us for all that is passed and help us to live each day in the Light of Christ Our Lord amen so may the god of love bring us back to himself forgive us our sins and assure us of his eternal love in Jesus Christ Our Lord amen we continue in prayer almighty God you have broken the tyranny of sin and have sent the spirit of your son into our hearts whereby we call you father give us Grace to dedicate our freedom to your service that we and all creation may be brought to the Glorious Liberty of the children of God through Jesus Christ your son our Lord who is alive and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit one God now and forever amen so thank you very much Sally for bringing our first reading from the Bible the first reading is taken from 2 Corinthians chapter 5: 6-1 and 14-1 17 therefore therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord for we live by faith not by sight we are confident I say and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord so we make it our goal to please him for for we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body whether good or bad for Christ’s love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died and he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again so from now on WE regard no one from a worldly point of view though we once regarded Christ in this way we do so no longer therefore if anyone is in Christ the new creation has come the old has gone the new is here this is the word of the Lord thanks be to God thanks Sally and after that wonderful reading there’s really only one song that we can sing that speaks about the fact that because of God’s grace and God’s goodness we are being made new of course we’re not yet perfect but we’re being made new the new creation has gone little bit like a butterfly um a caterpillar turning into butterfly spiritually we are completely different now because of God’s New Creation in us so I invite you to stand and we’ll sing this song about being God’s New Creation [Music] GL [Music] the [Music] [Music] the [Music] [Music] [Music] PR PR [Music] hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark glory to you Jesus said this is what the kingdom of God is like a man scatters seed on the ground night and day whether he sleeps or gets up the seed sprouts and grows though he does not know how all by itself the soil produces grain first the stalk then the head then the full kernel in the head as soon as the grain is ripe he puts a sickle to it because the Harvest has come again he said what shall we say the kingdom of God is like or what Parable shall we used to describe it it is like a mustard seed which is the smallest of all seeds on on Earth yet when planted it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade with many similar Parables Jesus spoke the word to them as much as they could understand he did not say anything to them without using a parable but when he was alone with his own disciples he explained everything this is the gospel of the Lord praise to you o Christ thank you Bob please do take a seat everyone I’m just going to pray before I say a few words about these readings Lord God we thank you for your presence here with us we thank you for the wisdom in the Bible we ask that we would open ourselves up to be receptive to any seeds that you want to sew in our hearts today as we encounter you amen so they’re really lovely readings aren’t they these two readings one that talks about the old has gone and the new has come that we live by faith and not by sight and then these two little parables about seeds and what that might mean and as I was thinking about these two readings I was thinking I mean with Parables there’s so many levels and so many meanings to them that I could preach on the same passages tomorrow and say something entirely in keeping but entirely different um but the thing that I wanted to say today was I think I was thinking about something about making space for the new thing that God might be wanting to grow in us and I thought I would just tell a little simple little story about seeds in my life um to maybe illustrate this so when I moved to my last house when I was a curet down in Somerset there was a massive conifer tree that was taking up most of the French Windows it made the house a bit dark at the back it was taking up a load of the garden and it was knocking Over the Garden Wall which went onto the pavement and the road it was really not good so it might have been beautiful once when it was small it might have looked lovely but now it was taking all the light nothing could grow by it um and the dasis Very kindly came and chopped it down which was great and it suddenly opened up all this light and actually as an aside there was a little tiny straggle of a rose that was trying to grow under this huge Conifer that when I’m um when the Conifer had gone and I did a little bit of pruning it turned into this amazing Bush that flow with so many roses over a couple of years holding on in the darkness and so it had to go and in our first reading we read if anyone is in Christ the new creation has come the old has gone the new is here so it made me think how can we make space for God in our lives a bit like getting rid of that Conifer how can we make space for God in our lives there might be something in our lives that’s blocking the light of God’s love and that’s taking up too much room in our lives or is possibly even destructive and if I’m honest I could stand here they’re not necessarily destructive but I can think of things in my life that actually taking up too much space that in they’re not bad in themselves but actually they need to be made smaller or go to enable the space and the light for other things including God and so how do we let the light how do we make space for the light to come into our lives and some of the is about the rhythms of Our Lives that we set up so clearly prayer is pivotal spending time with God talking to God and we’re all different some of us encounter God in words some of us encounter God in silence some of us can’t help but start to praise God when we’re in nature and see the beauty of of the natural world or some of us music really helps us it isn’t one size fits all it’s finding the way that we connect to God and then tapping into to that that place of peace and joy connection with God listening to God talking to God about anything and everything and then the Bible tells us all about the story of God and what he’s done making himself known in the person of Jesus but it’s not just reading it to learn the intellectual stuff and to understand the with our intellects but it’s also reading with our Spirits what is popping out at me in this passage in this thing today what might God be saying to me how might this link with what’s going on in my life or the life of the church or our life of our community and then obviously Everybody Has Come Today worshiping together enables us to stay connected to Jesus in another way so how do we make the space because I’ve been talking about the fact that we can’t earn God’s love we can’t earn God’s grace and God’s forgiveness they’re a free gift for us there’s nothing that we can do to to make them happen but we do need to cooperate in order to receive God’s grace and God’s mercy and some of that cooperation is making I’m speaking to myself as well making space for God God to come in so the Conifer had to come down to make space and then because it wasn’t my house and I was only going to be living there for two three for three years I thought I’m not spending loads of money so I’d never planted seeds before it had lots of lovely instructions on the packet but all I did was I literally just flung them on this area where the Conifer had been that was all I did and when I was reading about this passage someone was very critical and said oh the man only scattered the seed on the ground he didn’t till the ground he didn’t fertilize it he didn’t weed it and tend it well I didn’t do any of those things either and amazingly something really beautiful grew and there were these beautiful flowers of different colors I took so much joy and Delight in them particularly because I had to literally just throwing them on the ground and done nothing um we read in the parable a man scatter seed on the ground the seed sprouts and grows though he doesn’t know how yes me too um and I wonder over this last year or so these last few months or maybe at the moment is God or has God planted something maybe small and new in you this year because unlike that Conifer that just stood there we’re not our lives are not static things are changing God is always moving us on and showing us new things I wonder what are your passions what are the things maybe you’ve watched the news or you see what’s happening in the community what are the things that God has put in your heart that you think that’s really important I want to pray about that I want to do something about that or are there seeds little seeds of ideas are there new ways of doing things are there new challenges we should never look down on Small Beginnings everything you know you think of a tiny little seed that grows up everything has to start somewhere and is small so is God planting something new in you at the moment and and we read in our first reading about we live by faith and not by sight faith is trusting in what is not certain it’s not relying on ourselves our past experience and skills even though they’re really good it’s about knowing that God is faithful and relying on him and not using the old ways of doing things but somehow coming into the new way of walking by faith um it’s funny isn’t it I went out on the broads with my parents a couple of weeks ago when they came to stay and little boat with a steering wheel I know how to drive but it was really quite it’s not as responsive as a car is it a little boat and um my oh sort of tacking down the broad thinking oh I’m never going to get this and my dad was just like relax just feel it just go with the boat and feel it when I stopped thinking about it and relaxed actually my steering was a lot better it’s about doing things in new ways isn’t it not relying on our old experience and there’s another B in Isaiah that says see I’m a new thing now it Springs up do you not perceive it I’m making a way in the wilderness and streams in the Wasteland and there may be areas of our lives or our community that feel like Wilderness or Wasteland but God what longs to bring streams of life and make a way through that and um it’s about us seeing differently we’re walking through life with a different map we’re maybe walking through life with different glasses on I was thinking about um normally in the day we walk around we can see we know what we’re doing we navigate but at night it’s difficult to see and I was thinking about those night goggles which I think are infrared and you can see people by their heat pattern it’s a completely different way of seeing it’s completely different way of navigating it’s not a brilliant illustration but we walk by faith and not by sight and I’ve had to learn to do many new things over these last few years and grow into new things and and I have found that God has been completely faithful has equipped me and given me what I need and and there’s new challenges and new stretches for me coming up that I think oh I’m not quite sure how I’m going to do that but um I know that God is with me and that he’s faithful and that he’s the one that grows the the plants from the seeds so finally I wanted to say so we’d cut down the Conifer I’d had so much joy from all these flowers but then the next year I did nothing literally nothing and they’d say self-seeded I mean it was just fabulous and I was having to pull some of them out of the path because there were so many of them and the Nigella the love in the Mist though I love it fortunately was everywhere I that that will never be gone from that Garden um and um the cosmos that I love as well didn’t come back the next year and I think that there are seasons in our lives there are things that God does in our life lives that will be there throughout our lives the way God uses us the way God works in us and there are other things in our lives that are for a season and and and maybe not forever because there’s this natural process isn’t there of the the flower grows up it produces the seed the plant itself with Withers away and dies the seeds just disappear into the soil and aren’t seen something’s happening underneath the Earth but we can’t see it and then the new growth comes so some of us will be in a time when maybe God is putting something new in us and we pay attention to that and make space for it let not letting other things things crowd out the growth some of us will be in a season of actually things are dying back or things are under the ground waiting to germinate so I don’t want anyone to feel any anxiety if you think well I’m not sure what God is doing you in my life or I’m in a really tough season of my life everything’s Cy cyclical isn’t it and it’s a bit like that with Jesus we know that he laid down his life and died but rose again from the dead and when it says in two Corinthians Jesus died for all but those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again our lives also will mirror that thing of laying things down and letting things die and other things being born and rising to New Life in these sorts of Cycles talks about this small little Mustard Seed when it’s planted it grows and it has such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade and so the thing that has grown isn’t just for the plant itself there’s a danger of us just growing to sustain ourselves but actually what I see in that picture of the birds perching in the shade is that there’s shelter and there’s Hospitality so the question would be is what is growing in Me growing in you growing in our church providing shelter all time hopefully our lives are throwing out seeds the whole time so as I finish I’m excited to see what SE seeds God is going to grow in Us in St Andrews and in gston we’re a living organism so we’re never static What will what will we be the cycles of death and of growth but the key thing is how do we make space so that this growth can actually happen and what God is grow seeding in us can come to fruition and so as we think about that what do we need how do we make space what’s God growing in us what’s being seeded again and again what’s just for this season I invite you to stand as we sing a song which talks about um hearing the call of the Kingdom now this isn’t familiar to the church I don’t think but it’s quite easy to pick up the call of the Kingdom the call of new creation and it says in the chorus we will follow we’ll follow God follow Jesus Jesus bringing hope to the world because actually when we look at the news it’s quite easy to feel a bit hopeless about things that are going on in the world but we do know the end of the story and we believe the end of the story is good we’re not there at the end of the story yet and one of the things one of the seeds that I think we as Christians one of the many seeds we can fling out is actually hope there is New Creation there is new life this isn’t all there is things will in the end be well and we we we aren’t walking on the map of despair of trying to sort things out for ourselves but trusting in God who holds the universe and sustains it and who is good so I invite you to stand and let’s sing [Music] [Music] children [Music] br Ang [Music] will [Music] [Music] thank you I always always love all the percussion as well so let’s remain standing as we say the Creed together and we remember it’s not just an inter intellectual well I believe God’s there but do we are we putting our trust are we making space are we wanting to know him more so let’s let’s say the Creed together I believe in God the Father Almighty creator of Heaven and Earth I believe in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary suffered under pontious pilate was crucified died and was buried he descended to the dead on the third day he rose again he ascended into heaven he is seated at the right hand of the father and he will come to judge the living and the dead I believe in the Holy Spirit the Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints the Forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life Everlasting amen so please do take a seat as Kathy comes to lead us in prayer gathered together as the people of God and attentive to his will let us pray to the bidding Lord seow your seeds in our hearts please respond your word is life and strength Lord seow your seeds in our hearts your word is life and strength Heavenly Father may your words of truth truth take root in our hearts and grow to Rich maturity may we hear your will for us and act upon it may we take seriously our responsibility to encourage and nurture one another in faith at every age and every stage Lord seow your seeds in our hearts your word is life and strength Heavenly Father May Every Act of selfless giving and every search for truth be richly blessed and rewarded disturb assumptions and lead us to ponder more deep deeply the spiritual dimension of Our Lives May the word of God reach all who are ready to receive it and let us set No Boundaries here as to who they might be Lord seow your seed in our hearts your your word is life and strength Heavenly Father make our homes places of love and growth welcoming to all who visit them and accepting and forgiving to all who are nurtured there help us through the quarrels and heartaches and remind us to honor one another as your cherished ones and on this day we give thanks for Earthly fathers far and father figures everywhere and pray that they would cherish their children and strive to introduce them to you our heavenly father whose love is perfect constant and everlasting Lord seow your seed in our hearts your word is life and strength Heavenly Father may all whose bodies souls or minds are aching know the comforting and strengthening power of your companionship and the healing work of your love may we be more ready to support and befriend one another through the difficult times in the name and love of the God we worship Lord seow your seed in our hearts your word is life and strength Heavenly Father we pray for all who are making the journey through physical death as they put down Earthly things and wake in your presence bring us all to share with them your life in all its fullness Lord seow your seed in our hearts your word is life and strength Heavenly Father the rain and sunshine the growing and harvesting sing to us of your faithful love and we offer you our thankful praise for all your gifts to us merciful father accept these prayers for the sake of your son Our Savior Jesus Christ amen thank you ever so much Kathy and while we’re still in a spirit of prayer um can I ask John and Caroline to come up sorry I don’t know why I looked at the piano um because um they are going off to Switzerland again for four weeks to do some International chaplaincy there and it’d be lovely to pray for them before they go but it’d be lovely as well to hear a bit about what they’re going to be doing you happy to um we very much value your prayers excuse me um it’s for the sixth time I think we would have been out in zermat up in the French Swiss Alps sorry we living at about 4,000 feet up um surrounded by something like 39 mountains over 14,000 ft high it’s a very beautiful place and um zerat has a permanent population about 8,000 people but uh at any time during the summer or winter there can be 35 or 40,000 tourists in in the town um they come in the winter of course to the skiing in the summer for rock climbing and walking and mountain biking um last year we met people from 27 different countries um while we were there it’s a it’s a huge opportunity to meet people and um many pastoral situations arise where we can um try and Minister the love and healing of Christ um Caroline plays the organ every Sunday which is very useful uh thank you no very much a shared Ministry in fact often Caroline she’s practicing in the church and has many opportunities for herself to to minister to more people than me sometimes so well this are very much something we do together we see this as a shared Ministry um we feel very humble doing it very inadequate so we really value prayers while we’re away we’ll send back um prayer requests while we’re away which will be probably posted on the notice board at the back of the church um so just just to share that with you and uh thank you anything else you want to say so would one or two people who who who know and love John and Caroline who are happy to pray be happy to come up and we can pray blessing for them and God’s protction the things that they need is there anything specifically you’d like us to pray um Caroline’s not completely well at the moment so please pray for her to be well um and strong um so that’s very important safe traveling yes and uh for God to open all the opportunities or us to be open to all the opportunities that God opens for us yeah right so let’s I don’t know you want to let are you Happ on you yeah totally totally totally so I would ask anyone want to pray could you just project your voice a bit because the microphone is a little bit of a distance and I’ll let as many who want to pray pray and then I’ll I’ll I’ll finish us off at the end you father God we thank you for John and caraline as they go on a mission to zand open their hearts and fill them with your spirit Lord so that they can project your image to all the people who come into their presence in the name of Jesus we pray amen amen amen and Lord we pray that they might go with easy hearts of what they’ve left behind here for a few weeks that they will know that we are here thinking of them and praying for them and supporting them through our prayers we ask this through the love of Jesus amen amen amen thank you Lord for their faithfulness to your call to them to go out and sustain and faster those people who need someone to lead them as we all do bless them Lord in every circumstance and fulfill all their needs in Jesus name amen amen dear Lord we pray for a safe journey a peaceful time at Switzerland and a safe return home back to our church in your name we pray amen amen people may think they’re off on a holiday but we pray that you prepare the hearts of those that are seeking and asking and maybe even knocking that you will lead them straight to where they can get answers receive Ministry receive the love of Christ through John and Carol be inv in the name Jesus amen so Lord we pray that you would pour out your on John and Caroline as they go to serve you in this way we pray for health that you would heal Caroline and that she wouldn’t be encumbered by illness we’ve prayed for safe travel we pray we pray for that everything would be right where they go to so that they’re comfortable and that they can serve you there we pray for the people who have already got seeds in their hearts that someone else is scattered that as they see the little seedlings growing up that you would bring good conversations that you give them the right words that they that they would be displaying your love and your peace and your kindness and that people would come and find a well of life um through their Ministry through these weeks in zerat so we pray that you protect them we know that you go with them we will continue to pray for them and lift them up we ask for every blessing in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit amen am amen amen thank you thank you so much thank you and actually Caroline said this morning when they were practicing oh that song hear the call of the Kingdom we will answer the call we’ll follow bringing hope to the world fill with passion fill with power to Proclaim salvation in jesus’ name so we thank you for your willingness to go and do this and pray that God will really work in and through you and bless you in this time right so we’re come we’re moving soon into a time of communion I just want to say that during the communion the choir will be singing a couple of hymns and I think that the numbers are going to come up on the screen are they not sure there’s a hym board anyway if you would like to follow the words of the hymns which are 786 and 392 whilst we’re sharing the piece together you are very welcome to go go to the back and grab a a Hy book so that you can follow the words and hear what the choir is singing as we’re all receiving communion when we get to the point of receiving communion everybody is welcome this is not our table it’s the table of Jesus Jesus welcomes everybody you’re welcome to receive communion you might not want to receive the bread and the wine you might want to come up and receive a prayer of blessing just leave your hands down and one of us will be very happy to pray for God’s blessing for you or you might feel more comfortable to stay sitting where you are and just reflecting and that’s absolutely fine too but the main thing is feel welcome do what is right for you the welcome is there whatever you choose to do and as usual we’ll be coming up to receive communion either um here at the altar here where the bread and the wine are separate no dipping there but you can also come up this side where John and Caroline will be and the bread will be dipped into the wine for you if you would prefe prefer to receive that way or if you only want to receive the bread that’s also fine come up and just receive the bread here if you don’t want the wine it’s still a perfectly full communion if you don’t want to do that but before we do that we’ll be singing a song and before that we share God’s peace together so we are the body of Christ in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body let us then pursue all that makes for peace and builds up our common life the Peace of the Lord be always with you also thank you so let’s offer one another a sign of God’s peace e e e and so as we come to communion we remember Jesus who came fully human fully fully fully God laid down his life for us which is what we’re remembering isn’t it when we celebrate communion that Jesus in his love died for us but we know that he is alive and risen so I invite you to stand as we sing this lovely lovely song together [Music] us [Music] our [Music] [Music] great [Music] son you [Music] commus Christ [Music] to us [Music] [Music] life [Music] the Lord is here lift up your hearts to let us give thanks to the Lord Our God it is right to praise you father Lord of all creation in your love you made us for yourself when we turned away you did not reject us but came to meet us in your son you embraced us as your children and welcomed us to sit and eat with you in Christ you shared our life that we might live in him and he in us he opened his arms of Love upon the cross and made for all the perfect sacrifice for sin on the night he was Betrayed at supper with his friends he took bread and gave you thanks he broke it and gave it to them saying take eat this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me Father we do this in remembrance of him his body is the bread of life at the end of supper taking the cup of wine he gave you thanks and said drink this all of you this is my blood of the New Covenant which is shed for you and for many for the Forgiveness of sins do this in remembrance of me Father we do this in remembrance of him his blood is shed for all as we Proclaim his death and celebrate his rising in glory send your holy spirit that this bread and this wine may be to us the body and blood of of your dear son as we eat and drink these holy gifts make us one in Christ Our Risen Lord with your whole church throughout the world we offer you this sacrifice of praise and lift our voice in song to join the Eternal song of Heaven [Music] holy [Music] holy is the Lord is the Lord [Music] Gody is isy [Music] and [Music] is is the Lord wory is the Lord [Music] Gody worthy Worthy wory is the Lord Worthy is the Lord [Music] Gody and is and [Music] so as our savior taught us so we pray and please feel free to play pray in the language in which you feel most comfortable Our Father in heaven Hallowed Be Your Name Your Kingdom Come your will be done on Earth as in heaven give us today our daily bread forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil for the kingdom the power and the glory are yours now and forever amen we break this bread to share in the body of Christ though we are many we are one body because we all share in one bread draw near with faith receive the body of our Lord Jesus Christ which he gave for you and his blood which he shed for you eat and drink in remembrance he died for you and feed on him in your hearts by faith with Thanksgiving most merciful Lord your love compels us to come in our hands were unclean our hearts were unprepared we were not fit even to eat the crumbs from under your table but you Lord are the god of our salvation and share your bread with siners so cleanse and feed us with the precious body and blood of your son that he may live in us and we in him and that we with the whole company of Christ May sit and eat in your kingdom amen Body of Christ of Christ for for go than you for e e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] k [Music] [Music] the of [Music] my [Music] myr [Music] glor [Music] [Music] [Music] might every I Tre [Music] us [Music] and [Music] [Music] [Music] his sh [Music] oh God his beauty is beyond our imagining and whose power we cannot comprehend show us your glory as far as we can grasp it and shield us from knowing more than we can and bear until we may look upon you without fear through Jesus Christ Our Savior amen and we pray together father of all we give you thanks and praise that when we were still far off you met us in your son and brought us home dying and living He declared your love gave us Grace and open the gate of Glory may we who share Christ’s body live his risen life we who drink his cup bring life to others we whom the spirit lights give light to the world keep us firm in the hope you have set before us so we and all your children shall be free and the whole earth live to praise your name through Christ Our Lord amen amen we come to the point in our service we’ve shared communion together as a family we come to the point a few sort of family notices and family things that are happening first of all I I need to um read some publish some bands I don’t think Robert and Natasha are here no so I published the bands of marriage between Robert Paul Burgess of this parish and N Natasha Janine Overton also of this Parish if any of you know any reason in law why this couple may not marry each other you are to declare it now this is for the third time of asking super so their bands are done they’re getting married in Great Yarmouth let me pray a prayer of blessing for them Lord we thank you for Robert and Natasha we pray that you would be with them in all the preparations for their marriage that you would keep their love for each other Central and that they would have a wonderful day and to start off building a strong marriage surrounded by your love together we ask for your blessing amen now I do know that there have been a number of birthdays in the last week and I do know that somebody’s birthday is today so is is anyone happy to come up to receive from the birthday boooks so we we um Shirley and Bob celebrated their birthdays by coming to a PCC meeting and there was a lovely cake thank you Sue and Brian I believe it’s your birthday today let’s sing happy to birthday to Bri [Applause] is very popular the to and these three are real STS of our church they do so much and not just now but over many many many many decades and many years really really grateful to you all so I’ve got a few notices um Mo Bob I’m hope you’re still going to be in good voice this afternoon having done so much singing this morning but there’s the gns concert here this afternoon at 2:30 there’s a strawberry tea it’s £10 every summer has a story um you if you haven’t got a ticket yet is there capacity yes Bounty says yes so if you if you’d like to come along to that lovely concert this afternoon at 2:30 you’d be really welcome then on Tuesday we’ve got our monthly prayer meeting at 6:30 in the choir vestri stroke South meeting room um as I’ve said before if if you don’t feel comfortable coming but you’d like to feel that you’re joining in prayer with the rest of the church then at 6:30 if you’re at home on Tuesday and you’re praying know that you’re joining with us because I’ve said it so many times but everything we do is built on a foundation of prayer we’re only going to be able to make space and hear what God is saying if we’re praying as individuals and if we’re praying as a church so that’d be lovely to see you there Wednesday not so much anything that particularly need to know but we’ve got the Deery sinard meeting here that’s the group of churches in our Deery lay people and clergy and the bishop is coming along to license the rural Dean so that’ll be lovely and then on Thursday not here but at St Mary Magdalene Church at 7:30 they’ve organized a hustings where um the different um candidates for the election are going along there’s some questions that have been prepared um and if you’re interested in that it is free but I think they say if you can get a ticket from their Church office in advance just to be sure that you’ll get in and on the same note um the the um Church of England is calling for us to pray around this buildup to the election I’ve got a little booklet that’s got daily readings Bible readings and thoughts but you can also get it online so if you went onto the um if you went on to Google and put Church of England not play your part but pray your part you can sign up for daily emails I’m also getting that and it talks about the fact that when we pray the Lord’s Prayer we pray your kingdom come your will be done on Earth as in heaven and that’s the kind of society that we’re wanting to see and we’re grateful to people who shoulder different difficult decisions for us and we pray that they’ll carry out their Duty with integrity and compassion but as it goes through um I’ve realized I haven’t read these yet because we haven’t got there there’s sections all about the environment Family Life the media the NHS social care housing education overseas aid defense migration business and trade work welfare prisons the justice system so it goes on and so whatever you think it’s not pushing you to pray for any particular party but we want we want good people in government don’t we we there’s lots of aspects of public life that it’s really good for us to pray into and and there there will be some aspects that are more important to us than others thinking and also then next Sunday we are doing a baptism after the service it’ be lovely if you could be praying for Jackson and his family he’s going to be baptized after our service next week we know him through Little Stars little stars is meeting again in the morning so continue to pray for the work that’s going on there and then we’ve got two Saturdays time we’ve got our summer fate and I know there’s been quite a lot of publicity around that but there’s signup sheets there’s the hamper um please come and come and bring friends and also if you’re able to help and another wonderful piece of news that I read in the email this week so you may also know um we had that wonderful event that Sally organized um the um the tea dance for Christian Aid it was really fun and with the line dancing with Sue and and um300 has been raised for Christian Aid through that event and through giving so that’s just really wonderful as we look to Beyond gston and God’s work you know in further away places and the final notice that I want to give is that we’ve been talking in the PCC and in the standing committee about different things around welcome and one thing that we made a decision on was that we felt it would be good to take away the plate that collects money for coffee after the service in the chapter house because we don’t want anybody to feel that they have to give money to be part of the hospitality and the family coffee after the service if you are someone who tends to give money that way please do consider giving it into the church collection it all goes into the same place and giving in another way but we just don’t want it to be an obstacle for anyone because we want to we want to model welcome and inclusion and we just felt perhaps taking the money a plate away takes away an underlying message of it being a bit more transactional so I hope you understand but please do feedback to me if you got any feelings about that now we as we come to our last hymn I did ask um David Michelle and Janet if they would be happy to give out chocolate to the men during the last hymn because on mothering Sunday we tend to give flowers to all the ladies we want to honor our men here and remember the people who there’s so many people who’ve care loved and cared for me in this congregation we’re so grateful on Father’s Father’s Day for the men in our congregation so please do have some chocolates what the children will do will be they’ll bring it because the choir will be processing down they’ll bring it to the ends of the Rose and just pass it bit bit like when we used to pass the collection around we’ll pass the chocolate Bowl around and please men take what you you would like so I invite you so do you want to come up and I’ll give you the bowls that would be brilliant and we will make sure the choir gets some at the end um if you want to come up and if you would like to stand and we will sing our last um song together that God is God is working his purpose out we don’t always understand how but we trust that he is holding it all so please stand and we’ll sing if you go down [Music] the the end [Music] glor [Music] GL [Music] to PR [Music] GL [Music] thank you very much for giving out that chocolate that’s lovely I hope you’re going to take one each you children for yourselves so as we finish and as we go into the week ahead let’s pray this prayer together and then receive uh God’s blessing so God of surprises as we go on our way help us to find you in the hidden and the unexpected may we Delight in what you are growing flourish in your love and share your hope with the world Amen so may the love of the Lord Jesus draw you to himself the power of the Lord Jesus strengthen you in his service the joy of the Lord Jesus fill your hearts and the bless blessing of God Almighty the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit be among you and remain with you always amen so go in peace to love and serve the Lord amen thank you so much everyone and please do come across for coffee for [Music] [Music] h [Music] h [Music] [Music] [Music] h for [Music] h