Lord, direct our thoughts, and teach us to pray. Lift up our hearts to worship you in spirit and in truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.‘I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations; therefore the peoples will praise you for ever and ever..’ (Psalm 45:17)Hymn: Tell out my soul, the greatness of the Lord...Isaiah 61:10-11Galatians 4:4-7We have done what was wrong in the Lord’s sight and chosen what displeased him. Yet as a mother comforts her child, so shall the Lord himself comfort us. So let us come to him who knows our every deed and thought, and confess our disobedience to him:Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be; that we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen.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.Prayer for the day: Almighty God, who looked upon the lowliness of the Blessed Virgin Mary and chose her to be the mother of your only Son: grant that we who are redeemed by his blood may share with her in the glory of your eternal kingdom; 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 for ever. Amen.Alleluia, alleluia. My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.Luke 1:46-55Please see the Message from the Minister.Let us pray:We pray for St Peter’s Church and the Church throughout the world: for the strength and courage to share God’s love;We pray for the world: for reconciliation where there is conflict, for justice and peace;We pray for our communities, families and friends: for relationships to flourish;We pray for all who are sick or suffering: for healing in mind, body and spirit;We pray for people who have been bereaved: for comfort in their grief.Let us pray the prayer that Jesus taught us:Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done;on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses,as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.Hymn: Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart...May the love of the Lord Jesus draw us to himself, the power of the Lord Jesus strengthen us in his service, the joy of the Lord Jesus fill our hearts, and may the blessing of God Almighty who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon us and and be with us always. Amen.Let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord, in the name of Christ. Amen.
Last Sunday was interesting in many ways, it was the first time I had been in Church since having COVID 19 and then going off on holiday to Cornwall & Bicester. It was so good to see Christian, our Vicar, taking part in the service as Deacon, still not one hundred per cent fit but moving forward. He is now on holiday and we will welcome him back on the last Sunday of August. There were wise words from Angela in her sermon and from Julie in the prayers. Christina presided bringing us together in the sight of God. At the Communion I donned my mask and followed the people in my row into the centre aisle. Then came one of those interesting moments. I don’t get them very often but they are very powerful, as I joined the queue and slowly moved forward it was as if a very tall person was standing behind me and put there hands gently on my shoulders. I knew I must look around at the congregation and as I did so it was as if God was saying, “I love everyone of these.” As I received the bread from Christina it was as if the hands were removed, but as I walked back to my place people appeared to be different, there was a glow around all of us. As I sat down and consumed the wafer everything was back to normal!I hadn’t learnt anything new or different, but it took the command to love one another to a new depth. Many would say it was nothing, that I just have a vivid imagination and that may be true. But I believe God was communicating with me and helping me to deepen my faith. As I said I don’t have these experiences very often but this one followed my call to Priesthood over fifty years ago and my call to the Religious life thirty years ago. There is no point in me looking for these moments, they occur, I believe, when God wants them rather than when I want them. These God moments can take many different forms, but any and all of us may have them if we are willing to listen at this deeper level. What most of them have in common is that they tend to happen at times of quiet and/or peace. All we have to believe is that God loves each and everyone of us. Andrew SSL
Lord, direct our thoughts, and teach us to pray. Lift up our hearts to worship you in spirit and in truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.‘Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous. Praise befits the upright. Praise the Lord with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings. Sing to him a new song; play skilfully on the strings, with loud shouts.’ (Psalm 33:1-3)Hymn: The Lord’s My Shepherd... (and I will trust in you alone)Readings: Genesis 15: 1-6; Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16We meet God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit with repentance in our hearts. Let us confess our sins: Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be; that we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen.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.Prayer for the day: Lord God, your Son left the riches of heaven and became poor for our sake: when we prosper save us from pride, when we are needy save us from despair, that we may trust in you alone; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.Luke 12: 32-40Let us pray:We pray for St Peter’s Church and the Church throughout the world, for the strength and courage to share God’s love;We pray for the world, for reconciliation where there is conflict, for justice and peace;We pray for our communities, families and friends - for relationships to flourish;We pray for all who are sick or suffering, for healing in mind, body and spirit;We pray for people who have been bereaved, for comfort in their grief.Let us pray the prayer that Jesus taught us:Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done;on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses,as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.Hymn: Seek ye first the kingdom of God...We are called and loved by God the Father, kept safe by God the Son and guided by God the Holy Spirit. May mercy, peace and love be ours in abundance, and may the blessing of God Almighty who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon us and and be with us always. Amen.Let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord, in the name of Christ. Amen.
Today’s Old Testament Readings are full of doom and gloom. We are told that life is meaningless. We toil and work hard to accumulate wealth only to leave it to others when we die. At funerals, as we celebrate and mourn the life of the departed, we also have an opportunity to reflect on our own death and how we use aright the time we have left on this earth. It is an interesting exercise to write our own epitaph. Mel Blanc wrote for his ‘That’s all folks’, Frank Sinatra ‘The best is yet to come’ and Al Capone ‘My Jesus, mercy’.In response to inheritance causing strife between brothers, Jesus tells the story of the rich farmer who accumulated so much grain that he needed more and more barns to store it in. Often the more we have the more we want. We get on the treadmill of never ending wants and needs and of never being satisfied. We live in a world full of advertising, convincing us that we need more and more material possessions that will enhance our lives. Then we worry about who we will leave it to and that can often cause upsets in families.Our wealth is a gift given by God to promote his kingdom on earth. We are called to be good stewards of what God gives us. The rich farmer had speculated to accumulate, worked hard and looked forward to a comfortable retirement. However, he died before he could benefit from his labours. His mistake was that he did it his way and not God’s way. He did not have an attitude of gratitude and share what he was given. He put his faith in possessions for his security rather than faith in God. Jesus repeatedly warns that greed can get in the way of our relationship with God. ‘Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions’ . We are called to share in God’s mission by using our gifts to further God’s kingdom, not our own. God’s kingdom is an upside down one. Jesus said ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God’ God’s kingdom is eternal. Nicodemus, a highly educated teacher of law, asked Jesus what he should do to inherit eternal life? Jesus told him that he would need to be born again, not in an earthly way but in a spiritual way. When we live according to the Spirit of God within us and not our own wills we join in the kingdom dance and our priorities change. We see things differently knowing that we have access to all the security we need through the creator of the universe. We cease to rely on ourselves for our security but on God’s provision. At Jesus’ Baptism the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove, a symbol of peace that comes from knowing God is in all situations. As Julian of Norwich said: ‘we shall be tempest tossed but not overcome’.We have the resurrection hope expressed in Colossians: ‘Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things’. The large stained glass window in St. Peter’s shows heaven and earth with a thin divide between them, depicting that God’s kingdom is both now and not yet. Sometimes unexpectedly, amongst all our earthly strife, we have glimpses of heaven on earth. The angel hosts are with us and if we have our minds on things above we can find something good in everything we see and when the time is right we too will cross the stream into heaven.Angela Stewart, Lay Minister
