Tuesday 7 May 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope to see some of you at the Ascension Day service on Thursday morning. The details are below.

Ascension Day, 9th May
There will be a Eucharist at 10am on Thursday to celebrate the Ascension of Christ. This is an important festival in the church year, so do come along if you can.

Baptism of Praise Aduba
It will be a joy to baptise Praise on Sunday, 12th May at our All Age Eucharist. Please do pray for her parents Rowland and Goodness, and her older sister, Purity.

Thy Kingdom Come
Thy Kingdom Come is the name given to a movement of prayer which started in 2016, when the Archbishop Justin Welby invited Christians in the Church of England to pray between Ascension Day and Pentecost for people to come to know the love of Jesus Christ. This movement now involves different churches of different denominations all round the world. It is suggested that each one of us prays daily during this period for 5 people who do not yet know Jesus and his love for them.
There are many resources we can use to help us to pray and I will send these out separately.

Pentecost, Sunday, 19th May
Please do come along to celebrate this joyful Christian festival with us, when we give thanks for the gift of the Holy Spirit.
After the service, we will follow the tradition of the last few years, and hold our International Lunch.
We invite you all to bring a savoury or sweet dish from your country, region, or culture to share. Please do label the dish, saying what it is, whether it is vegetarian or contains meat, and whether it is spicy or not!
This is one of our biggest social occasions in the church year and a wonderful way to celebrate our ethnic and cultural diversity, yet our unity in Christ. So do put this in your diaries now!
If you are able to help set up the tables, crockery etc, or clear up afterwards, please do let Lynn Morgan know.

I leave you with a poem for Ascension Day.

Ascension Day
We saw his light break through the cloud of glory
Whilst we were rooted still in time and place,
As earth became a part of heaven's story
And heaven opened to his human face.
We saw him go and yet we were not parted,
He took us with him to the heart of things,
The heart that broke for all the broken-hearted
Is whole and heaven-centered now, and sings;
Sings in the strength that rises out of weakness,
Sings through the clouds that veil him from our sight,
Whilst we ourselves become his clouds of witness
And sing the waning darkness into light;
His light in us, and ours in him concealed,
Which all creation waits to see revealed. Malcolm Guite

With love in Christ,
Helen