Dear friendsThank you for the feedback from those who are enjoying this sermon series, we're also enjoying the preparation for each session and activity, as well as the opportunity to gather in additional ways throughout the week. Having the invitation to consider more fully the place of God's Word, of scripture, in our lives has been wonderful this week, and it was great to gather for Bible study on Wednesday evening, and to go deeper with the Going Deeper session on Thursday morning. Attendees from both of these said how wonderful it would be to do this on a regular basis, and Phil and I are committed to introduce these more in the Autumn. At both of these gatherings we noted that there is not a right or wrong answer, usually it's recognising the questions that are raised, which enable us to share our stories. It was a joy to share the passages of scripture that have inspired, encouraged, or that we have connected with, as well as those which we find difficult. It was so good to go much more deeply into Peter's first letter to reflect on our own faith journeys. In all of this, we have the opportunity to grow in faith, understanding and relationship. This is an important building block of being a faith community, of being church. We gather in order to grow and be transformed, and in this instance, by the gift of scripture to make sense of our stories.So this week we turn to our next building block: "World", with a particular focus on being sent out into the world as people of faith. We will be exploring why we should engage on the local level with our parish community, as well as why a witness to the wider world is so important. We meet in our gatherings on Sunday where Phil will be preaching at 8.30am for our traditional Holy Communion, and at 10.30am for our Sung Eucharist - where we also have some beautiful hymns that will help us engage in our singing as well as our praying and listening. There will also be activities for children and young people in church, as Sunday Spirit doesn't meet during the school holidays.This weeks Going Deeper takes each of the passages, as usual, to offer a short reflection and to pose some questions that enables us to draw parallels from the readings to our own lives. Whilst we won't be meeting in person to discuss these, I hope they will be a useful aid to your own reflections this week.We also have the opportunity to gather next Wednesday evening at 7.30pm. This is to explore more deeply and fully what it means to be a Christian presence in our community. We'll be using some fantastic material prepared by the Church Urban Fund, which has a particular heart for areas like ours, and it would be wonderful if you could come along. You're invited.With all good wishes, as everBecky