Going to the heart of the faith - it's all about Jesus

Text for the Week: Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lod! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven! Luke 19: 

Welcome to our services for Palm Sunday and a special welcome to any who are worshiping with us for the first time. 

During our service Our Open the Book team are going to tell the story of the Grand Parade into Jerusalem. And they would like everyone’s help! As Jesus rode into Jerusalem the crowds waved palm branches: we would love you to pick up something from the team at the front that you can wave as the Grand Parade passes through! 

We are going to focus on Luke’s account of Palm Sunday in Luke 19. It’s the culmination of a journey to Jerusalem that had begun in Luke’s Gospel way back in chapter 9 verse 51 when Luke tells us Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Much was said on the journey and a great deal happened. Jesus’s journeying did not finish on Palm Sunday: day by day through the following week he journeyed in and out of Jerusalem, until he was arrested. It seemed as if it really had come to an end on Good Friday … but on the third day he rose again from the dead and, as we shall find out in our Easter celebrations next week, the journeying went on. There is so much Jesus has to offer on the journey we are on! It takes us to the cross … and beyond to resurrection too! 

Welcome and Call to Worship

364 All glory, laud and honour

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Introduce Christ’s entry into Jerusalem – painting and backdrop for our service …

Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem by Norman Adams

from the Methodist Art Collection John 12: 12–15

Jesus is at the centre riding a donkey, with a foal or colt, along a sunlit road lined with sunflowers. There is no obvious depiction of Jerusalem, no garments or palm-tree branches cast before Jesus, but there is a joyous crowd with bunting and decorations. Various flags are flown, some on their side or upside down. The figure to the right, at a window, may be Zacchaeus, who climbed a tree to see Jesus. Luke records this as happening at Jericho, but it is often included in the Entry into Jerusalem. The rich luminous colours recall medieval stained glass. When commissioned to undertake this work for the Collection in 1990, Norman Adams replied ‘I would like to do this very much ... It is a wonderful subject’.

Methodist Art Collection http://www.methodist.org.uk/our-faith/reflecting-on-faith/the-methodist-modern-art-collection/index-of-works/norman-adams-christs-entry-into-jerusalem/

Helen Cook in Magnet: this picture of the event helped me  feel what it might have been like to be there.

Flags of the nations brings it into today’s world – Jesus comes for us!

What figures can you spot? – those dark figures ahead of Jesus – the darkness he is going into before he reaches the light of resurrection?

Hymn: Jesus is coming 1-2

Jesus is coming,

Joy and excitement,

Telling our friends that

He’s on his way.

Will you come with us?

Leave what you’re doing?

Wait at the roadside,

Wonderful day!

Here he comes smiling,

Happy to see us.

We wave our branches

His praises sing.

He told us stories,

Valued our friendship,

Join us to welcome

The children’s King

The Grand Parade

Hymn: Jesus is coming 3-4

Prayer

Humble and riding on a donkey

All

We greet you

Acclaimed by the crowds and caroled by the children,

All

We cheer you

Moving from the peace of the countryside to the corridors of power

All

We salute you,  Christ our Lord.

You are giving the beasts of burden

a new dignity;

You are giving majesty

a new face

you are giving those who long for redemption

a new song to sing

All

With them, with heart and voice

We shout Hosanna!

A Hy-Spirit Song

Activities for all over 3

And so we arrive at Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter and reach the heart of our Christian faith … and it’s all about Jesus.

His story is told in the gospels and each has a story to tell.

Mark is brief and punchy and full of action as Jesus criss crosses across the Sea of Galilee from the Jewish to the Gentile territory bringing healing to hurting people’s lives and shaping a new way of being together which he calls the Kingdom of God.

Matthew sees Jesus as the new Moses – he presents the teaching of Jesus in five sections that offers us a whole new of thinking about the world and a whole new way of living in the world.

John’s Gospel homes in on seven things that Jesus did: he calls them signs – and each one is accompanied by Jesus’s reflections that bring out the significance of all that happened – and then one more sign is the death and resurrection of Jesus – and the significance of it all is brought out in the wonderful reflections Jesus makes at the last supper – from, five whole chapters of reflections from 13 to 17.

And then there’s Luke.

And it’s all about the Journey Jesus makes to Jerusalem.

It’s easy to think of that journey to Jerusalem as happening on Palm Sunday.

In Luke’s gospel it begins a long way before – the bulk of the book is built around Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem

Luke 9:51

9:53

10:30

[13:4]

13:22

13:33, 34

17:11

18:31

19:11

19:28

There’s a mounting tension as he makes his way to Jerusalem.

What do you do on a journey? You tell stories

Where to find parables?

Seed, harvest, nature – Parables of the Kingdom – Mark 4 or Matthew 13

Parables of choice – wide and narrow door, good and bad fruit, wise builder and foolish builder, wise women and foolish women, worthy servants and unworthy, sheep and goats – End of Sermon on the Mount and End of last sermon – Matthew 7 and 25

Story-like parables – Good Samaritan, Rich Fool, Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, Lost Son – all on the journey to Jerusalem …

Reflections – the journey of life, the journey of faith … but on this journey there is a sense of purpose, a sense of direction

Good to share at the Annual Meeting on Thursday – the church is moving forward – looking to the time of the vacancy – looking to the Autumn. It is important to have that sense of vision – the sense of direction – the sense of purpose in moving forward.

A journey to challenge, to take up the cross, to find the glory Christ promises.

And in all the journey to sense the presence of God with us.

533 Will you come and follow me

Reading: Luke 19:36-44

The things that make for peace

As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying,

‘Blessed is the king

   who comes in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven,

   and glory in the highest heaven!’

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’

At the start of the story of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel – the angels song – Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace …

And now as the story of Jesus comes to its climax in Luke – that song is echoed

Peace in heaven,

Glory in the highest heaven

But that prayer Jesus taught us to pray invites us to seek to bring heaven down to earth – a task for us to do.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

What does that entail?

It’s at this point we come to one of the most poignant of all the moments in the Gospel story, of all the moments in the story of Jesus.

As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.’

As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

On the journey, in all that we do our task in bringing heaven down to earth is to recognize the things that make for peace.

360 Jesus Christ is waiting

Prayers of Concern

392 When I survey

Going to the heart of the faith - True Happiness in the Beatitudes

Text for the Week: Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures for ever. Happy are those who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times. 

Welcome to our services and a special welcome to any who are worshipping with us for the first time. With the snow at its worst we had to postpone our Annual Meeting. And indeed with the return of the snow we had to cancel this evening's service.

This Thursday is the rearranged date. It’s an important meeting when we look back at the last year and look forward to the year that lies ahead. With the changes that will happen at our retirement in July that makes this year’s annual meeting particularly important. We will be electing two Deacons and appointing a Church Secretary, a Worship Ministry Leader and people to join our Ministry Leaders team. The Deacons will be giving an update on plans for the vacancy and beyond. Do remember the whole life of the church in your prayers. Please bring a copy of March Highbury News to the meeting.

In the run up to Easter we are exploring what is at the heart of the Christian Faith.

Looking to the God of creation I see things in a fresh perspective but that’s not enough for me.

I look to Jesus and see the God who is a God of love that transforms and changes my life and those around me.

What makes the faith Good News is that there is a strength I can draw on in the unseen yet very real power of the Spirit of God.

Such a faith helps shape the things we do with our lives. The 10 commandments amount to two, Love God and Love your Neighbour, and can be summed up in one word, Love. They provide a framework for living life to the full.

This week’s readings in Fresh from the Word take us to the Book of Lamentations and a time when everything seems to be falling apart. In such a time where better to turn than to the blessings of God in the words of the Beatitudes.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

 ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

 ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

 ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

 ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

I have always loved the use of the word 'Blessed' in the NRSV and loathed the use of the word 'happy' in our church Bibles, the Good News Bible. I thought I would make connections with a number of verses in the Psalms that start Blessed are .... But digging deeper I found that actually when those verses were translated into Greek a different word was used from the word that's here in Matthew 5. In fact, in the NRSV, the word used here in Matthew 5 is frequently used in the Psalms ... and always translated 'happy...'

NRS Psalm 2:12 Happy are all who take refuge in him.

NRS Psalm 32:1 Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
 2 Happy are those to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

NRS Psalm 33:12 Happy is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.

NRS Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.

NRS Psalm 40:4 Happy are those who make the LORD their trust, who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods.

NRS Psalm 41:1  Happy are those who consider the poor; the LORD delivers them in the day of trouble.

NRS Psalm 84:4 Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise. Selah
 5 Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
 12 O LORD of hosts, happy is everyone who trusts in you.

NRS Psalm 89:15 Happy are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O LORD, in the light of your countenance;
NRS Psalm 94:12 Happy are those whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law,

NRS Psalm 106:3 Happy are those who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times.

NRS Psalm 112:1 Praise the LORD! Happy are those who fear the LORD, who greatly delight in his commandments.

NRS Psalm 119:1 Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD.
 2 Happy are those who keep his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart,

NRS Psalm 128:1 Happy is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways.

So I re-visited the Beatitudes in the Good News Bible Translation/

We are obsessed with the pursuit of happiness. This week sees the international day of happiness ... and a league table has been published of nations who have a high happiness factor - Scandinavian countries score well, we come down the league table!

Maybe there is an insight in the words of Jesus that points us, as the heading of the GNB suggests, to true happiness.

True Happiness
(Lk 6.20–23)
3“Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor;
the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them!

Maybe we should be open and honest about our failings, it's OK not to be super-religious - indeed to live with the poverty of our spiritual lives is maybe the start of something important that can lift our spirits.

4 Happy are those who mourn;
God will comfort them!

This is the most difficult of them all! I usually cannot bring myself to say this. For those who mourn are not happy. And yet, with my reflections today i wanted to revisit this ... our culture finds 'mourning' 'grieving' difficult with that great 'stiff upper lip' we show to the world. Many employers allow three days of compassionate leave and beyond that you need a note from the doctor as if mourning were like a sickness that requires help from the doctor. Sometimes such help is needed and can be really valuable. But actually, it's OK to mourn. It's OK to grieve. Indeed, as so many other cultures recognise and we have to constantly re-learn, it is actually good to grieve. To bring our grief, our mourning out. For then we can discover help and strength from others and from beyond ourselves. To bottle up our grieving is the path that leads furthest from 'happiness'. The path to 'true happiness' lies through letting our mourning out so that then we can receive the comfort we need not just from those dearest to us who are able to give it, but from the love of God let loose in our hearts through that unseen yet real power of the comforter.

5 Happy are those who are humble;
they will receive what God has promised!

What a difference humility - not the humility of the door mat but the true humility that leaves its mark on others.

6 Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires;
God will satisfy them fully!

I much prefer the metaphors of the original ... happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for justice. The injustices of this world fill us with anger, with despair. To sit back and do nothing about them, to switch off and ignore them may suggest a route to happiness. But true happ;iness is found as we address those injustices in the way God wills.

7Happy are those who are merciful to others;
God will be merciful to them!

It is one of the mysteries of forgiveness that it can bring release from pent up anger that destroys. That's the discovery of the Truth and Reconciliation commission in South Africa and the Forgiveness Project in Northern Ireland.

8 Happy are the pure in heart;
they will see God!

So often our society gives us the impression that happiness lies in the things we accumulate. Actually it lies in the heart.

9Happy are those who work for peace;
God will call them his children!

This is one of the great calls Jesus makes - to be a peace maker and work for peace. Again it is in doing something about the hatred in the world that the path to true happiness lies.

10 Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires;
the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them!

This, like the one on mourning, is once again very difficult. And in a way we have no right to pass any comment. But in the last couple of years we have made links with the Persecuted Church through Open Door, through Embrace the Middle East and through Middle East Concern. The more we make those connections the more we discover that faith in that great big God, in the Jesus who opens up the way of love, in the power from beyond ourselves that is the Holy Spirit, makes a world of difference to those who face persecution. They are far from happiness ... and yet through their faith have a pathway to true happiness they share far more with us, than our concern can share with them.

I finished recalling one of those who has died recently ... not Billy Graham, not Stephen Hawking, but the one who made his name among other things with the song that is played at Whaddon Road after every Cheltenham Town Victory, and sadly this season has not been played often enough.

There was something special about Ken Dodd ... a remarkable achievement and a remarkable life. And through it all the pursuit of happiness. Maybe there's more to the song than at first meets the eye!

Happiness

Ken Dodd

Happiness, happiness,

the greatest gift that I posses
I thank the Lord I've been blessed
With more than my share of happiness

To me this old world is a wonderful place
And I'm just about the luckiest human in the whole human race
I've got no silver and I've got no gold
Just a whole lot of happiness in my soul

Happiness, happiness, the greatest gift that I posses
I thank the Lord I've been blessed
With more than my share of happiness

Happiness to me is an ocean tide
Or a sunset fading on a mountain side
Or maybe a big old heaven full of stars up above
When I'm in the arms of the one I love

Happiness is a field of grain
Lifting its face to the falling rain
I can see it in the sunshine, I breathe it in the rain
Happiness everywhere

Happiness, happiness,…

I was tempted to carry on for another three hours. But I resisted the temptation. Instead we gathered around the Lord's table, remembered a body broken and blood shed and celebrated the wonderful love of the risen Lord Jesus Christ who enables us to share in his resurrection victory and take the path of True Happiness.

Going to the heart of the faith - 10-2-1 A Framework for Living Life to the Full

Text for the week: Jesus said: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34,35

Welcome to our services today and a special welcome to any worshiping with us for the first time.

During our evening service we will be sharing in the Lord’s Supper.

In the lead up to Easter we are exploring what is at the heart of our faith.

My faith begins with a great big God who is nothing less than the God of all creation. As Job discovered an encounter with the God of creation in all its unimaginable immensity gives you a whole new way of thinking about the problems that can otherwise overwhelm.

But for all that, it’s not enough just to have a sense of some kind of God who is greater than anything we can ever begin to understand. Over the years it has become more and more important for me as a Christian to focus on Jesus. He lived a real life in the real world and it’s possible, I believe, to discover a great deal about the Jesus of history. One thing that emerges is that those who met with him found themselves drawn into a close relationship with God: it was as if Jesus opened up for them a window on to the God who is love.

And that’s not just something of interest in history. It’s life changing because the faith that’s important to me is a three-dimensional faith. For this God of love, made real in Jesus is made real today in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit, unseen and yet so very real. We have a strength to draw on from beyond ourselves that brings us through Jesus into the living presence of the God who is Love. And that makes a difference in the living of our lives.

Today we look at the way 10 becomes 2 and 2 becomes 1 in the commandments that shape our lives.

Welcome and Call to Worship

189 Be still for the presence of the Lord

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

On the Mountain Top

The Ten Commandments – the Congregation

The Ten Commandments

As we listen to God's Commandments we pray for strength to keep them:

You shall have no other gods but me:

Lord, help us to love you

with all our heart. all our soul,

all our mind and all our strength.

You shall not make for yourself any idol:

Lord, help us to worship you

in spirit and in truth.

You shall not dishonour the name of the Lord your God:

Lord, help us to honour you

with reverence and awe.

Remember the Lord’s day and keep it holy:

Lord, help us to remember Christ

risen from the dead,

and to set our minds on things above,

not on things on the earth.

Honour your father and your mother:

Lord, help us to live as your servants,

giving respect to all,

and love to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

You shall not kill:

Lord, help us to be reconciled with each other,

and to overcome evil with good.

You shall not commit adultery:

Lord, help us to realise

that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.

You shall not steal:

Lord, help us to he honest in all we do,

and to care for those in need.

You shall not be a false witness:

Lord, help us always to speak the truth.

You shall not covet anything which belongs to your neighbour;

Lord, help us to remember Jesus said,

‘lt is more blessed to give than to receive,’

and help us to love our neighbours as ourselves;

for his sake. Amen

A Hy-Spirit Song

A New Commandment I give unto you

Activities for all over 3

In the lead up to Easter we are exploring what is at the heart of our faith.

My faith begins with a great big God who is nothing less than the God of all creation. As Job discovered an encounter with the God of creation in all its unimaginable immensity gives you a whole new way of thinking about the problems that can otherwise overwhelm.

But for all that, it’s not enough just to have a sense of some kind of God who is greater than anything we can ever begin to understand. Over the years it has become more and more important for me as a Christian to focus on Jesus. He lived a real life in the real world and it’s possible, I believe, to discover a great deal about the Jesus of history. One thing that emerges is that those who met with him found themselves drawn into a close relationship with God: it was as if Jesus opened up for them a window on to the God who is love.

And that’s not just something of interest in history. It’s life changing because the faith that’s important to me is a three-dimensional faith. For this God of love, made real in Jesus is made real today in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit, unseen and yet so very real. We have a strength to draw on from beyond ourselves that brings us through Jesus into the living presence of the God who is Love.

So to believe in that God of Creation who is made real in Jesus and is made real in our hearts by the unseen and yet so real power of God in the Holy Spirit makes a difference in the living of our lives.

Right at the heart of the Moses story in Exodus is a meeting with the God who is beyond our understanding who yet shapes the way we lead our lives.

Moses discovers God to be God with no name whose name is filled with mystery – I am who I am – and that happens in the mystery of that encounter with God in the wilderness at the burning bush.

it is on the mountain top that he encounters God once more – he comes face to face with God … and yet lives. 

Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God (19:17). The mountain is shrouded in mystery – smoke and fire – and Moses goes up the mountain and in that encounter with God warns the people not to try to look to see God … it is then that God gives these words that will shape the lives of the people.

We call them commandments. And commandments they are. But much more than that. They amount to a way of life to follow.

Eric Liddell of Chariots of Fire fame had that sense of the mystery of the presence of God and when interned in that Japanese prisoner of war camp he hand wrote copies of a book of discipline, a book of prayer to shape the lives of those he was so close to. And he commended committing to memory a few short passages of Scripture, first among them the Ten Commandments.

One God

No idols

Don’t dishonor the name of God

Keep the sabbath day holy

Honour Mother and Father

Do not kill

Do not commit adultery

Do not steal

Do not lie

Do not covet your neighbour’s family or goods

It’s a wonderful framework –

I am frustrated by the creeds. They speak of God in creation, of Jesus and all his cross and resurrection mean for us, and of the Holy Spirit and the church.

But they omit the way of life that God asks of us.

IN particular they skip the life and teaching of Jesus – they jump from born of the virgin Mary to suffered under Pontius Pilate.

I want to home in and have at the heart of the Faith for me the bit between.

Jesus brought healing in to hurting people’s lives.

And Jesus taught a way of life to follow.

Nowhere is that summed up more powerfully than in the Sermon on the Mount.

And that follows the two parts of the Ten Commandmnets.

Chapter 5 is all about the second set of commandments and chapter 6 is all about the first set of Gommandments.

They are traditionally on two tables.

Actually, come to think of it in many a parish church the creed is written on a tablet on the wall … and also the Ten Commandments.

But I want to home in on Jesus.

From 10 to 2

Reading: Mark 12:28-34

One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The second is this, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’ Then the scribe said to him, ‘You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that “he is one, and besides him there is no other”; and “to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength”, and “to love one’s neighbour as oneself”,—this is much more important than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.’ When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ After that no one dared to ask him any question.

So much that’s powerful there.

Jesus response to the scribe.

The scribe would have responsibility to write out Scriptures, laws, commandments.

Which is the first of all?

Jesus’ response brings in the word ‘love’.

Love God

Love your neighbour.

On another occasion Jesus finds himself asking an expert in the law who gives this very answer but wants to know who my neighbour is. That prompts the telling of the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Who is my neighbour – even the one deemed to be an enemy.

That plays out in all sorts of ways – not least in our contemporary world across the divides we are so aware of in our world.

The all inclusive nature of the neighbour.

But it is that word ‘love’ that catches my eye.

From 10 to 2 to 1.

It is as Jesus gathers aroiund the table at the Last Supper that he gives his closest friends a new commandment.

It is as if the ten are gathered into two and the two into one.

Reading: John 13:31-35

When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

It is in love for one another.

This is a framework for the living of our lives.

In a sense it is the framework of the God of creation – in the mystery of that mountain top experience of Moses.

It is the framework of the Jesus who makes the love of God real …

But I want to come back to what makes my faith three dimensional.

How can I love? Not in my own power.

It is in the power of the presence of God with me.

For love, with joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, is nothing less than the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

269 Eternal Ruler

Prayers of Concern

173 Sing to God new songs of worship

Words of Blessing

Going to the Heart of the Faith - I believe in the Holy Spirit

Text for the Week: Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. Romans 8:26

Welcome to our services today and a special welcome to any worshipping with us for the first time.

Since the end of January we have been sharing a diary of Prayer for our church here at Highbury. This week is the fourth of those weeks of prayer … and it leads us up to our Annual Church Meeting on Thursday evening. It’s an important meeting as we will be receiving reports of the life of the church, electing Deacons and making appointments in the life of our church. We also be making plans for the future of the church as Felicity and Richard will be retiring and moving in July. Do remember the life of the church in your prayers and join us for the meeting on Thursday. If you haven’t already, please take a look at the Giving for Growth leaflets and see if you can fill them in so that we can see what gifts of time, talents and money people are able to share.

In the run up to Easter we are looking at what is at the heart of the Christian faith.

We began with faith in a great big God who helps put the problems of the world in some perspective.

We went on to see how Jesus Christ not only opens up a window on to the God who is Love but draws us in the closest of relationships with God our Father.

Today we recognise that we cannot follow Jesus in our own strength but need to draw on that unseen yet very real power he promises in the Holy Spirit.