Dear Friends,This comes later in the day than I try to get the Saturday mailing out because I spent the afternoon at a concert given by Ian Lovegrove and some friends. Ian is based at an Ilfracombe church and stepped in at the last minute to play for a wedding at Brendon at the beginning of the month. His venue for today's concert fell through so given his contact with us through helping us out with the wedding he asked if they could bring the music to St Mary's. This for me highlights the gift of simple personal contact - as we get to know each other the scope for co-operation widens and shared creative ventures become more possible.In the wider church we are praying for this generosity of spirit to be experienced by those from all over the Anglican Communion meeting in person at the Lambeth Conference currently. In our own Mission Community, our Lammas Service at 3pm at Martinhoe tomorrow is another opportunity to meet together and share thanksgiving for the agricultural life we depend on and to enjoy spending time with one another.Sunday's gospel encourages us to notice how rich we are "before God". Those riches include those with whom we share our faith - in our own churches and further afield. As at Lammas- tide we give thanks for the generosity of God and of those who work the land so that we can share in its bounty, perhaps we can also notice and give thanks for the fruitfulness of friendship and the personal connections we make in daily life.God blessSamantha
Dear Friends,This week the Lambeth Conference begins. It is held once every decade as a gathering of Bishops from across the Anglican Communion. It is a time of prayer and reflection, as well as an opportunity for discussion and exploration of what God is calling us to as the church at this time. This year's theme is: "God's Church for God's world: walking, listening and witnessing together". The Biblical focus is a study of 1 Peter.Bishops from our diocese are attending and it will be good to keep them and the whole conference in our prayers over the coming days. There is a website dedicated to the event https://www.lambethconference.org/ And in particular, you may be interested to take a look at the daily prayer guide, enabling us all to pray alongside the Bishops as each day has a particular focus. This is the link for that guide:https://www.lambethconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Lambeth-Conference-Prayer-Guide-2022-ENG.pdfIn it there are prayers written by religious communities from around the world, reflecting the wisdom and spirituality of those who have responded to a particular calling to a way of life shaped by patterns of prayer across the world. In today's gospel the centrality of prayer in Jesus' life is highlighted, as, on seeing him pray, a disciples asks to learn how to pray and Jesus gives us what we now call "the Lord's prayer": that God's name may be glorified and God's kingdom come. Praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ as they gather to discern together the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of our wider church may be a very good response to what Jesus teaches in today's gospel.Let's also remember closer to home this week, the children of our primary schools, especially those marking the end of their time at West Exmoor Federation. We pray for God's blessing as they look forward to the next step in their young lives.God blessSamanthaReminders: Epilogues continue on Sunday evenings at 8.30 at CountisburyLammas Service and Cream Tea: Sunday 31st July 3pm Martinhoe
Dear Friends,It is rather a gift to come back from a silent retreat into the busy-ness of parish life and for the gospel for the week to be the story of Jesus visiting the sisters Mary and Martha!Many thanks to all who have handled the "many things" that came up while I was away.The story reminds us that Jesus is present in a house where there is both quiet sitting and energetic action. The "one thing" he encourages the sisters to notice is their enjoyment of his presence and his love of being with them. He asks us to notice that wherever we are in life too.This weather is for some a time to enjoy closeness to God in the glory of the natural world, for others it is a trying heat to live with, a time for being still and finding the calm and cooler places of the house. May we each find what we need this week to travel through the heat wave well.With the fields around us bleaching out in the sun, its time to look towards the next agricultural festival of the year: Lammas. All are invited to Martinhoe on Sunday 31st July at 3pm for a short service of thanksgiving for the beginning of the harvest season and then a cream tea. This is a fifth Sunday and it would be nice to take this opportunity to meet up as members from our different churches in the Mission Community coming together to enjoy each other's company.God blessSamantha
This month the Newsletter is in three parts. Part 1 is the usual list of coming services and other news. Parts 2 and 3 are photos from the Jubilee celebrations at Martinhoe and Parracombe.
