Jubilee & Festival week

Jubilee & Festival week

Jun 03, 2022

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

Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.


Readings for the week

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

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

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

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

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

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