Have you ever wondered how our perceptions of fire and wind differ from those of our great-grandparents? In the past, people have relied on fire to heat water, cook their food, light their house and keep them warm. Now most of us rely on gas or electricity for all that and we tend to be afraid of fire, thinking of forest fires, burning houses and destruction. Wind was once used to grind our corn and power machines, and now we again think of wind in terms of hurricanes, tornadoes and destruction. What all ages have in common, however,is that they are powerful elemental forces. ...The Holy Spirit - God's "power-ups" ... At the end of this month, on May 24th, we have Whitsun, or Whit Sunday, or to use its other name, Pentecost. This is the Sunday we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit. After Jesus had died and ascended into heaven, he promised that he would send an advocate, a helper to “Power Up” the disciples. And that helper was the Holy Spirit. The Spirit came as a powerful elementary force. The disciples had no words to describe it (a bit like those seeing the dark side of the moon from Artemis!) but the nearest they could get was to describe it as ‘like a powerful wind’ or ‘like tongues of fire’. Something burning within them, something blowing them all over the place! Something that changed them for good. Those fishermen, tradesmen and tax collectors were changed into people who could communicate to everyone there in their own language, bubbling with such enthusiasm and energy that people even thought they were drunk! And it didn’t stop there!They attracted many other people to create the first church and spread the Word all over the world as they knew it. The Spirit did not die with their generation, but went on from generation to generation, finally down to us people here in Mid Trent. The Spirit is still wanting us to be transformed and be so full of Jesus’ love, that we want to help our community and spread the hope and love that Jesus has for us. It is down to us now. The elemental power of the Holy Spirit is not destructive but constructive, and transformative, enabling us to build a better future. I will leave you with the prayer inspired by the teachings of St Teresa of Avila: Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good. Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world. Yours are the hands. Yours are the feet. Yours are the eyes. You are His body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours. Happy Pentecost and may the Holy Spirit be with you.With every blessing, Vivienne.
Our vacancy for a new priest in charge will be advertised this Friday, the 17th April, and for the next 3 weeks. We are asking that you pray God guides the right person to us to lead and support us on our journey in developing this Benefice.Please pray:- that God shows us the way forward by attracting a new priest.- that God helps us to continue to build a vision of One Church Family across our many Parishes.- for our Benefice, our individual churches, PCCs and the Team Council.-- that we embrace the journey he has mapped out for us and our Benefice.
Coffee Morning at Stowe Village Hall at 10-00am until 12-00 noon on Thursday 23rd April. Drop by for a hot drink, a biscuit and chat or time to work on a craft if you wish.Everyone welcome.
Over 40 ladies including 4 visitors attended the monthly meeting of Stowe WI at the village hall. As it was March it was also the annual meeting where the committee and president are elected. During the regular part of the meeting, forthcoming events were spoken about, the ladies are going to see The Longest Yarn in Lichfield; a visit to Dunham Massey later in the summer and Christmas events were also discussed. The annual meeting then took place, there are now 51 members of Stowe WI, with more new members hoped for during the next 12 months, 3 of the committee have decided to retire from their roles and 3 new members have been duly elected in their place. Kath gave her yearly report and was subsequently elected for another year in the role of president. Hixon and Area Community First Responders gave a presentation on how the scheme works in the villages.There are 5 qualified community first responders at present, however they are hoping in increase this to 10. They are all volunteers. The training is provided by West Midlands Ambulance Service and after their intensive initial training they have yearly mandatory training to complete. They respond to Category 1 and Category 2 emergencies which could be heart attacks, unresponsive patients or excessive bleeding. They stated that in their busiest month they attended 58 calls, and when they get to the patients location, the relief on peoples faces when they turn up makes their job worthwhile. They have charity status so are continually fund raising, Suzanne is part of the scheme and she is always selling her handmade crafts to raise money for them, she has raised £800 from the regular coffee mornings that the WI host at the village hall. President Kath gave a cheque for £150 to the first responders to help with their fund raising, and they are the chosen charity for Stowe WI this year. The next meeting of Stowe WI will take place on Tuesday 14th April 2026, and the coffee mornings are on the fourth Thursday of the month, 23rd April being the next one.New members and guests are always welcome.Meetings are held in the Village Hall at 7-30pm on the second Tuesday of the month.Stowe WI also holds a monthly coffee morning at Stowe Village Hall on the 4th Thursday of the month. Everyone is welcome between 10-00am and midday.
