Dear All Saints and St Mary’s
This Sunday we continue to rejoice in the new life that God offers us through the resurrection of Jesus. We can see how much that new life is needed every time we hear news of what is going on in our world. War, poverty, and hunger are not new, but the scale of misery that they can inflict has grown. Today, human greed, carelessness and selfishness can cause suffering beyond what we can truly comprehend. In Christ, God has shown us that there is a different way of being, a different way of looking at the world and a different way of living that can bring new life into a sinful world.
This Sunday, at All Saints, we will be starting a new series of Café Service discussions about what that might look like. These will be based on Graham Tomlin’s book, Why being yourself is a bad idea. This book takes some of the central themes of Christianity and looks at how they challenge assumptions about how the world is. From God the creator and the incarnation to love, justice, and freedom, the book contrasts a Christian outlook with the attitudes shown in the world.
Also this Sunday, we have said Holy Communion at All Saints at 8am and Holy Communion at St Mary’s at 10am. The gospel reading at these services tells the story of Jesus’ appearance to the disciples behind locked doors. Jesus wishes his disciples peace and breathes the Holy Spirit on them. It is in following Christ in the power of the Spirit that we can know the peace of God and bring that peace and the life of the risen Christ into the world.
In summary, this Sunday’s services are as follows:
8.00am | All Saints | Holy Communion (said) |
10.00am | St Mary’s | Holy Communion |
10.30am | All Saints | Café service |
We have our usual midweek services of Celtic Morning Prayer at All Saints on Wednesday and Holy Communion at St Mary’s on Thursday. Next Sunday follows our usual pattern for the first Sunday of the month as follows:
Weds 27th April | 9:00am | Celtic Morning Prayer at All Saints |
Thurs 28th April | 10:00am | Holy Communion at St Mary's |
Sun 1st May | 10:00am | Open Church at St Mary's |
| 10:30am | Holy Communion at All Saints |
| 6:30pm | Holy Communion at St Marys |
Jesus said to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe”.
May we all know what it means to believe and be blessed.
Mark
Mark Simms Licensed Lay Minister
Benefice of All Saints and St Mary, Fishponds