Carole's Corner
Without God, we cannot.
Without us, God will not.
(St. Augustine)
Hi Folks
Thank you, thank you, thank you! For all your caring, sharing and love. My ordination as priest on Saturday 26th June was an amazing day at the cathedral and at our church hall afterwards (despite my back problem). Then what can I say about my first presiding on Sunday 27th - it was awesome and felt as if our whole church was electrically charged. Perhaps it was, because I felt the Holy Spirit was truly amongst us as we celebrated the Eucharist together. Do take a look at our church website for some jolly reminders.
It has been a truly astonishing journey we have taken together and which I hope we shall continue to share as I take up my new ministry as a priest in our parish. As we seek to serve our Lord together in whatever ways we are called, I'm sure we shall all be richly blessed and will in turn bless others.
Thank you too for all your generous presents. Donations to 'pretty up' the front of church with climbing plants and flowers have reached a total of £125 plus some gifts of lovely plants. Our church gardeners will have a lot of fun choosing and planting some colourful specimens to glorify the church entrance and grounds. You will be as delighted as I was to hear that our brownies will be helping out by planting more bulbs for spring flowering. Brilliant.
Please do continue to pray with me Neil Dixon's special prayer of dedication as we step forward with God into the next part of the journey:
Your generous gifts to us, O God, are more than we can count.
With grateful hearts we dedicate to you our work,
our talents, our time, and pray that you will use us
in the service of your kingdom;
for the sake of Christ our Saviour. Amen.
As I write we are coming to the end of our first series of meetings exploring the discipleship of five Old Testament characters. My thanks to everybody who has hosted and/or supported our fortnightly meetings and made them so very enjoyable.
So what next ...? What would you like to explore, have a talking shop on or find out more about? What are the questions you've always wanted to ask but didn't feel you could? Talk to me … maybe we could look at them and together find some answers.
If you would like to have a greater understanding of our Christian faith, why not sign up for the new 3D course starting in September? Have a chat with me and/or one of our members who has already done the course to see if it's right for you.
Included in the Church Notices …
These wonderful notices actuall appeared in church buildings o0r were announced in church services: services:
The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.
The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on the Water'. The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus'.
Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale ... it's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say 'Hell' to someone who doesn't care much about you.
Miss Charlene Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again', giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.
Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on 24th October in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.
Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.
At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?'. Come early and listen to our choir practice.
Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.
The Ultimate Beauty Regime…
For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed; never throw out anyone.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.
Audrey Hepburn
School's out so may your summer be with laughter and joy
Peace and love,
Your servant in Christ,
Carole.
A Baptism Sermon for Easter 5 - John 13:31-35,
Peter and Captain Jack Sparrow
I was challenged to include Captain Jack Sparrow in my short talk for a recent Baptism service and thought those who weren't able to be with us on the day might enjoy reading the result.
Carole.
May I speak in the love of God, and may we hear with our hearts the message of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
Our reading today gives us the crux of what it is to be a Christian - Jesus' disciples are told that they must 'love one another' as he has loved them. It is by their loving care for each other that they will be witness to their calling as disciples of Jesus. But Jesus is leaving them and says they can't follow him just then.
Peter is a simple man … not a fool, but a big, strong fisherman who often seems to see life in black and white. He's got definite views and speaks his mind; he says it as he sees it. Why can't he follow Jesus?
Peter believes in loyalty and is a very passionate chap who often reacts first and thinks about it later … but he does have moments of great perception. It was Peter who was the first Apostle to claim Jesus as the Messiah - the son of God.
The bible passage actually goes on to tell us that Peter challenges Jesus straight out 'Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you'.
A typical passionate Peter challenge … only to be met with the response that before the cock crows in the morning he will have denied Jesus three times. And so he does, folks.
And we've all been there, haven't we?
We know all too well how we as Christians should behave.
But we all fall short … we mean to do the right thing, we have the very best of intentions, but life gets in the way.
People don't behave or respond as we expect them to.
If we are nice to them, they should be nice back, shouldn't they?
But things don't go like that in real life … the strangest people can do the most extraordinary things. And often people can be seeking the way to eternal life in all sorts of ways rather than through Christ. Like my great anti- hero, the pirate Captain Jack Sparrow from the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' trilogy of films. I love Captain Jack. He is such wonderfully lovable rogue, a scallywag who is full of faults but who makes me laugh.
As many of you may recall, Captain Jack's greatest fear is of dying, so he is searching for the way to achieve eternal life.
Jack actually gets there, he holds the way to eternal life in his hands when he is confronted with his friend Will dying whilst Elizabeth, Will's distraught new bride, tries to keep him alive.
What is the reprobate to do?
Well we know that Captain Jack saves Will and it is Will who gets eternal life;
Jack has to start all over again … this time sailing out in his little dinghy in search of an island where legend has it the water of life is to be found.
For Christians, the water of life is the holy water of Baptism, when we are cleansed of all that has gone before. It is a spiritual ritual representing our movement into life as a member of Christ's church; we start our journey to eternal life through Jesus as we are baptised into his family.
And today we have the joy of welcoming two gorgeous little ladies for baptism into our Christian family: Antonia Elizabeth Marriott and Jessica Lesley Cooper.
May their journeys as ones who are today being initiated into the
'ministry of all the baptised' be a blessing to them … to their families and to the family of the church.
Let us pray …
Risen Lord,
By our baptisms we were initiated into your family.
As children of the same heavenly Father,
may we seek to show our Christian discipleship through
the love we offer each other and all people,
knowing that our actions speak far louder than words.
Amen.
