Jubilee & Festival week

This week we are celebrating a Jubilee - a Jubilee like no other. We are celebrating 70 years of service that Her Majesty the Queen has given this country and its people, as well as numerous other places around the world. In amongst all of that we also have a very important day in the life of the church; on Sunday we celebrate Pentecost. It is a pivotal moment when the frightened disciples, hiding in an upper room, were forced out by the Holy Spirit and the whole world was changed.

It is easy to read stories like this and think of it affecting other people - after all, being forced out of a building because of the wind and flame, speaking in tongues and flames licking our heads is not an everyday occurrence (at least I hope not), but that is not to say that the Holy Spirit is not at work all around us all of the time. Some people talk about coincidence or happenstance in their lives but maybe, just maybe, some of these instances will be the workings of the Holy Spirit. Where do we think that the Holy Spirit is working in our lives?

Where in our lives can we be the agents of the Holy Spirit, serving others just as our Queen has done for the entirety of her life? This week especially we thank God for those who serve others, and maybe we should look to the places where we can join in that service.

Revd Mark

Readings for Sunday

Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

“In the last days it will be, God declares,

that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,

   and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

and your young men shall see visions,

   and your old men shall dream dreams.

Even upon my slaves, both men and women,

   in those days I will pour out my Spirit;

     and they shall prophesy.

And I will show portents in the heaven above

   and signs on the earth below,

     blood, and fire, and smoky mist.

The sun shall be turned to darkness

   and the moon to blood,

     before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.

Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

John 14:8-17

Readings for the week

Monday 6^th June - 1 Kings 17: 1-6, Matthew 5:1-12

Tuesday 7^th June - 1 Kings 17: 7-16, Matthew 5: 13-16

Wednesday 8^th June - 1 Kings 18: 20-39: 1, Matthew 5: 17-19

Thursday 9^th June - 1 Kings 18: 41 – end, Matthew 5: 20 -26

Friday 10^th June - 1 Kings 19: 9, 11-16, Matthew 5: 27-32

Saturday 11^th June – Acts 29: 11 – 16, John 15: 12-17