Dear FriendsAs we move closer to Pentecost Sunday let us pray for God’s Holy Spirit to touch more lives. This Sunday’s morning gospel has Jesus praying for us to go into the world.Join in the Thy Kingdom Come movement at St Margaret’s Church from 9-19 May 2024. Along with churches from over 85 different denominations and traditions in over 172 countries around the world, pray for more people to come to know the love and peace of Jesus Christ.This Sunday’s morning worship we have Tony at St Margaret’s and Maggie at St Luke’s churches we also have Katy taking Evensong.There are also two of Louise’s initiatives of ‘Open the Story, Forest School’ at 3pm at Countess Wear School grounds and Mini Messy Church on Thursday 10-11am. In these we have the future church with many children and parents having their first experience of church. These activities really reach out to people beyond the walls/services of our churches.We thank God for our mission community and all it does to reach out to people in this world.May you know God’s blessing this week.Revd PeterWhile Louise is on sabbatical, the principal points of contact are as follows: Gill Yates, St. Margaret’s: gyates@uwclub.netCaryll Ingerslev, St. Luke’s: caryll_i@yahoo.co.ukPlease send all contributions for the newsletter material for A Church Near You to Tony Raven: tony@theravens.orgto Gill by the end of Thursday andServices and calendar for the weekSaturday 11th May 9.00 – 11.00 Big Brekkie St. Luke’s Church roomsSunday 12th May10.00 a.m. 10.00 a.m. 3.00 p.m. 6.30 p.m. Holy Communion Holy Communion Open The Story Evensong St. Margaret’s St. Luke’s Forest School St. Margaret’sMonday 13th May 2.30 7.00 p.m. Julian group Compline St. Margaret’s ZoomTuesday 14th May 9.00 a.m. Morning Prayer St. Margaret’sWednesday 15thMay 10.00 a.m. 1.15 p.m. Morning Worship Lunchtime concert Zoom St. Margaret’sThursday 16th May 10.00 a.m. Mini Messy Church St. Margaret’sFriday 17h May 9.00 a.m. 12.30 p.m. Morning Prayer Christian Aid Lunch St. Margaret’s St. Margaret’sSaturday 18th May 11.00 Baptism St. Margaret’sSunday 19th May 8.00a.m. 10.00 a.m. Holy Communion Joint Holy Communion St. Margaret’s St. Margaret’sThe Zoom links and meeting IDs for all the Zoom events are on our pages on ACNY (A Church Near You)St. Luke’s church is now open on Wednesday afternoons between 2.00 and 4.00.All are welcome...To look aroundTo sit quietly for a whileTo light a prayer candleTo prayNews and NoticesThe APCM for St. Margaret’s was on Wednesday 8th May.Paul Jakeman and Jane March-McDonald were re-elected to the PCC.Andrew Griffiths and Elizabeth Reed were voted on.From the end of July, there will no churchwarden, unless someone comes forward! If you would like to know more about what is involved, please contact Gill: gyates@uwclub.netThe next couple of months is an ideal time to do a gradual handover.Lunchtime Concerts Wednesdays, 1-15 – 2.00 p.m.May 15th - Quay Note SingersBig Music CollectiveTHESE EVENTS HAVE BEEN CANCELLEDSaturday 11th May - You are invited to come along to St. Luke’s Church Rooms to enjoy a ‘Big Brekkie’ to raise money for Christian Aid. Revd. Tony Raven and his wife, Dorothy, have once again offered to be chief cook and assistant.Breakfast will be served between 9 and 10am, and 10 and 11am. It would be very helpful to know when people are coming, so please let Jill Allen know to which ‘sitting’ you will be coming.You can sign up to which sitting you would like your brekkie, on a list which will be at the back of the church, or you can contact Jill by e mail -g.m.allen@hotmail.co.uk. – or phone 01392 271458.Christian Aid WeekFriday 17th May Christian Aid lunch at St Margaret’s 12.30-1.30- come and join us for lunch of soup, bread, cheese and (as it’s not Lent) cake and coffee to follow. All are welcome. Donations to Christian Aid.Pentecost Celebration Exeter Cathedral, Sunday 19 May at 6pmThy Kingdom Come: 9th-19th May 2024 The period from Ascension Day to Pentecost is a time when the worldwide church is called to prayer. There are lots of ways for us to join in this year: ‘Novena’ prayer booklets with a written reflection for each day are available from both churches this Sunday to take home for your personal prayers during the period. We also have a few copies of the Prayer Journal which includes QR links to videos and space to write your own reflections. These are available from the prayer area here at St. Margaret's. Online resources: you can download the ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ App or sign up for daily prayer emails from the website https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/thy-kingdom-come St Margaret’s church is open daily for prayer with interactive prayer stations around the church. On Sunday 19th May we are all invited to the Pentecost celebration service at 6 pm at Exeter Cathedral. Prayer and worship will be led by Bishop Jackie and Bishop James, with music led by Andy Flannagan and a talk from Ruth Valerio. We would like to make this a Mission Community event and we are joining with members of St Luke’s, for a picnic from 4 pm on the Cathedral green before the worship. If you would like to join us, please give your name to Reverend Maggie Stirling-Troy mstirling1@hotmail.co.uk or Caryll Ingerslev caryll_i@yahoo.co.uk so that they can book our free tickets on eventbrite.Summer Study and Fellowship groupsThe book chosen for the summer session is “Holy Habits” by Andrew Roberts. Meeting in the social area of St Margaret's Church, 11 a.m. - 12 noon, with tea/coffee from 10.40. Starting on Wednesday 29th May for ten weeks. All are welcome.Please find a poster attached.St Luke's are reading the same book, starting on Thursday 30th May, 3-15 pm - 4-15 pm, meeting in their Church rooms and also serving tea/coffee. All are welcome.Exmouth Food BankSupplies We Are Short Of This Month – May 2024·Tins of baked beans & spaghetti hoops·Cereals·Stir in pasta /pasta bake sauces·Tins or packets of soup·Tinned fruit·Peanut butter·Jars of jam·Coffee·Tea bags·Packets of biscuits·Shampoo & conditionerThe Exmouth Foodbank urgently needs bags for life/large plastic bags to enable people to carry their food parcels home. Thank you.Many thanks for your support. We simply couldn’t do this without you!Thank you in advance for your generosity! For further information email: info@exmouthfoodbank.org 07787758511Please find the newsletters for St. Margaret’s and St. Luke’s attached.PrayersFor those who are ill or in need of our prayers:Roger Fogwill, Lucy, Pauline, Jill and Adrian, Michael, Kirsten, Chris Whitehead, Fay, Parvin, Tony Bradford, Marlene Gardner, Pam Wormald, Mary, Peter, John Heal, Gail MillerHousebound or in nursing/care homes:Alfred Wonnacott, Janet Mutter, Georgina LearPlease pray for Anne Plested supporting the work of Bethlehem Bible College, and Ben and Katy Ray in Tanzania, St. Luke’s CMS mission linkAnniversariesMargaret Munson, John Rogers, Barbara Mellor, Ann Holt, Margaret Tasman, Pam Avent, Judith Sugden, Barbara Pomfret, Mary Buckingham, Janet YoungRecently departedHeather Carson, Ken NewleyGospel Readings for the coming weekSunday 12th May John: 17: 6-19Monday 13th May John 16: 29-endTuesday 14th May John 15: 9-17Wednesday 15th May John 17: 11-19Thursday 16th May John 17: 20-endFriday 17th May John 21: 15-19Saturday 18th May John 21: 20-endSunday 19th May John 15: 26-27, 16: 4b-15Collect and reading for Sunday 12th MayO God the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: we beseech you, leave us not comfortless, but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us and exalt us to the place where our Saviour Christ is gone before, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.John 17:6-19‘I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.This email was sent from Mission Community of Topsham and Wear using
Feedback from some who were present.High congratulations all round for pulling off a gargantuan effort last night! I thought it worked extremely well as a piece of music and dramatic effect. Indeed, I, and others, found it quite moving. What a piece of creativity!I'm sure the whole project will be a lasting benefit to your singers and congregation. Bravo!I just wanted to say thank you for last nights rendition of the passion - an amazing effort as always - thank you to everyone involved for all the hard work which went in to this. Please pass on our congratulations to the choir.What a wonderful evening as well as the music so many people said it is such an emotional way to tell the story of this week. We really enjoyed the audience participation. There must have been such a huge preparation by you for the evening ,not only rehearsing the choir and soloists but the administration of the congregation, music sheets etc. I hope you were pleased with the response from us all. Andrew as usual was totally unfazed by the task and Matthew had a hard task well done. I just wanted to say thank you once again for a wonderfully moving St Matthew Passion last night. The emphasis on the story and the sense of all being involved through the chorales was extremely powerful.
As we all pray for peace in Israel and Palestine, please do keep alert to the work of Bethlehem Bible college whom we have been supporting for several years now.All of us at the Bethlehem Institute of Peace and Justice have been shocked and horrified at the ongoing war in Gaza and the unimaginable suffering of the Gazan people. The magnitude of the destruction is beyond comprehension. A thriving city has been destroyed, as well as thousands of innocent lives, the most significant percentage being women and children. The murder of many Israelis was a tragedy, but Israel's response has been beyond excessive. A ceasefire must occur so that the indiscriminate attack on schools and hospitals where thousands of Gazans are sheltered is stopped. Instead of trivializing the need for peace and justice studies, the magnitude of the destruction is a statement of the fruit of the neglect of peacemaking and justice studies. Therefore, we are pressing ahead with all our programs at the BIPJ. Every semester peacemakers from an array of nations from Japan to Tanzania to Belgium and Canada are pursuing graduate-level studies with us for either credit or audit. Anthony Khair, a talented student at Bethlehem Bible College, says of his studies with the BIPJ this semester: "After living through this war in Palestine. I've realized more than ever how important it is to study peacemaking and justice. Therefore, I am eager to continue taking the BIPJ's spring semester course to have a broader knowledge of how to deal with injustices in our context and internationally." Our BIPJ course participants have established deep relationships with each other. The cohort from our two-week residential Summer Intensive last May has continued their conversations about peacemaking and met in live Zoom sessions during the war. The BIPJ is a peacemaking community. Our conviction at the BIPJ is that the more people study peace, the less conflict and war there will be. The prophet Isaiah's vision of the age of the Messiah points to the time when people will not learn about war: "He shall judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2.4). Instead of learning about war, people must know how to make peace to heal our world. We are so grateful you are part of the Bethlehem Institute of Peace and Justice family. We pray that the Lord will multiply grace and wisdom to you during these difficult days. Let's urgently pray together for the war to end soon. One of the Bethlehem Bible College students, Rose, offers this prayer: In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, JESUS, I want you to be the sunshine of our life. We ask you to be with our people in Gaza, to protect them under their broken homes. Please be with the mothers, fathers, and their children. Our hearts are broken because so many people have died. Amen. For Christ always –