Dear friends,
This weekend has two wonderful occasions in store for us in Knowle. Firstly, something for the whole community – the Big Picnic in Redcatch park! Between 5:30 am and 8pm there will be all sorts of free fun to get involved with including hot air balloon launches at 6am and 6pm, live music, community stalls and activities for young people. It is a great opportunity to celebrate the summer, our community and to have a chance to meet local people. Hopefully I will see you there!
The other thing is an increasingly rare occasion at St Mar n’s – a wedding! Over the last few weeks you will have heard us read the Banns of Marriage for the happy couple so do take a moment to pray for them on Saturday if you think of it! It is wonderful that they have chosen to begin this next chapter of their relationship at St Martin’s and we hope they will enjoy many happy years together beginning with this beautiful celebration.
I wanted to emphasise these two joyful occasions because we can often live our lives focused on the bad news – the friend who has cancer, the college who is going through a divorce, the difficulty so many of us experience in everyday things. That, after all is the way life can go at times and a life of faith and following Jesus is certainly not a free pass on all those things. Instead, we believe in a God who loves us throughout the ups and the downs, who works hard to meet us where we are at and transform the futures before us. These are the themes we will be focusing on this Sunday in church at both our 8:30 and 10:30 services of Holy Communion. Come along whether you are full of celebration, full of grief or anywhere in between and lets share the journey together. We pray that each person who steps into St Mar n’s would feel welcome and included but most importantly would get a sense of that mysterious love and peace that comes from our heavenly God.
Hope to see you soon,
Rev’d Phil