One of the reasons I love coming to church is that I get to see the same old faces. At which someone pipes up ‘Hey Philip, less of the old’.

I occasionally attend a Missional Leaders Learning group. At the most recent, the topic of not letting folk know who is leading or preaching came up. In fact some have taken it off the notices as it seemed that some don’t come when so & so is leading or preaching, or they do come because so and so is leading or preaching. That got me to thinking about why we come to church.

I actually only have one main reason to come, which is to be with other believers, seekers, the indifferent, anyone really, to do all the things I can do alone at home, but which as regularly as possible I want to do with others. Why do you come?

There are many understandable reasons why we may not be in church on a Sunday. These include, health issues, travel restrictions, holidays and the breaks we all need, spending time with our families and partners who may not join us. The time of the service may also be a factor. We may occasionally like to go somewhere else, have a new experience etc.. Fab, please bring any ideas back with you!

We may have our own regular pattern that varies from being every week to, once a fortnight, once a month or whenever.

There are only a few reasons why folk may not come on any particular Sunday which we might (if you forgive me) consider fickle and not especially honouring to God. These include; not liking the person taking the service, not liking the type of service, such as; it’s not communion, it is communion, it’s all age and we don’t like children. And all because we looked at the service rota.

Please remember that when we can’t be there on a Sunday, there’s always the Team Zoom Service from Holy Trinity Lane End provided by Ian Sparrowhawk.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3448751858?pwd=MDk1WG1DY1VpTWh0KzhFVFJUcnBxdz09 Meeting ID: 344 875 1858 Passcode: clare

There are very good reasons for us letting you know where any of us might be on a Sunday. For example, you might need to catch one of us to talk about something.

We have a wonderful Ministry Team and one of its joys is the variety of personalities and services we can provide. If we love Jesus we will come as often as we can, because he’s the only one who will always be there, that matters.

And as I always say, ‘Church, it’s who we are, never where or when we go! And though it’s good to come to church, it’s a zillion times better to be church.

Every service is the never the same without any of us.

Keep the faith, but never ever to ourselves.

Love Philip x

If this Blog has challenged or annoyed you, have a chat when you see that I’ll be with you. Other forms of communication are available.

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By Heather Ford Lark

It seems that there’s a special day for almost everything – a celebration day or an awareness day, to increase our knowledge or interest in something considered important.

This month, among others, we have the King’s official Birthday and Father’s Day, and I read that there’s a national chocolate macaroon day in the USA this week, and an international ‘Women in Engineering’ day later this month.

There’s also a day this week to remember St Petroc of Padstow, Cornwall. He was someone who committed his life to sharing God’s love with people around him. He developed an originally modest church into a large monastery with a school, infirmary, library, a farm over a period of 30 years in Padstow, Cornwall.

And one extremely important awareness day for Christians is ‘Pentecost’ this coming Sunday, to be extra aware of the Holy Spirit, specially remembered each year seven weeks after Easter Day; because the promised gift of the Holy Spirit to the disciples happened seven weeks after Jesus’ resurrection.

So, this Sunday we commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus while they were in Jerusalem celebrating a yearly festival, as described in the Acts of the Apostles.

Nowadays in some churches, sometimes Christians will dress in red or decorate churches with red to symbolize the Holy Spirit resting on the apostles as “tongues of fire”.

It’s a day to be especially aware and reminded of the significance of Pentecost and of the Holy Spirit. It was a truly momentous day at the time.

Can you imagine yourself as one of the disciples gathered quietly together to worship God, in the way you do every week, and then, without warning, there is a sound like a mighty roaring windstorm filling the whole place? No one could possibly miss it! Whatever has happened? Are the walls still intact? Yes, they seem to be, so what is happening?

You look around and everyone has a flame hovering over them, definitely looking like fire, yet not burning them. And those around you say there is a flame hovering over your head too! Not only that, but each of you suddenly has the wonderful experience of being filled up with God’s presence, and you start speaking, praising God in a language you have not learned.

This is amazing! But for what purpose?! This must be the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus and foretold by the prophet Joel in the Scriptures you all know so well.

Then you realize: there are people from every nation living in Jerusalem, and hearing of the drama, the wind, the commotion it has caused, they gather to see for themselves what is happening! Are you and the others drunk? No! It’s only 9 o clock in the morning and anyway that would be completely out of character for you and the other disciples at any time!

Something miraculous is happening! The words being spoken and not incomprehensible, but are the languages of all the nationalities represented that day in Jerusalem, and everyone is hearing about God and His love and power in their own language. Quite extraordinary!

You listen to Peter, the once cowardly Peter, preaching boldly, and are amazed that around 3,000 people respond that day to what they hear about Jesus and His love for them, and are baptized and started to follow Jesus for themselves. What’s more, these people take the good news back to their home countries and regions with them….

The Good News is that this is not just an event in History but God’s Holy Spirit is with us today, just as much as He was then.

We read in the Bible: “The promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls”… Acts 2v 39

Very much an ‘Awareness day’ at the time, but actually no less so today. The Holy Spirit is at work throughout the world and in the lives of all who follow Him. The Holy Spirit encourages us, comforts us, gives us courage, nudges us to do the right thing. God will give, to all who ask, the gift of the Holy Spirit be our constant companion.

A final thought:

The Spirit came and Your Church was born,

in wind and fire and words of power.

The Spirit came blowing fear aside,

and in its place weak hearts were stronger.

The Spirit came as your word foretold,

with dreams and signs, visions and wonders.

The Spirit came and is here today,

to feed the hearts of a world that hungers.

(faithandworship.com)

Why not come and hear more on Sunday?

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On Good Friday there was the traditional Good Friday Walk, and this year it was from Ibstone. I always love these walks whichever benefice is hosting, we are so blessed by being surrounded by lovely countryside and the walks take us through a variety of fields, woods and open spaces all away from the general distractions of our busy lives. For those who may not have been on one or not known how they are organised, the host, (this year Ibstone church and school) take a group on a walk roughly 1 ½-2 hours with several stops. During these stops, the unfolding story of Jesus’ crucifixion is read, a prayer is said and a hymn is sung. For those who prefer, there is a reflective Good Friday service in the church. The walk ends with a lovely tea for everyone consisting of hot cross buns and cakes and of course the very welcome cup of tea or coffee. This year I wanted to go but felt rather anxious because my walking ability is not what it used to be. However my daughter Carol said she would come with me, so off we set with the rest of the group. We had only just entered the wooded area at the beginning of the walk when I realised I had forgotten the thing I most needed with me, my walking stick. I knew the terrain would be uneven and tricky in places and as I have rather poor balance my stick is really important. Carol to the rescue! She quickly found a very robust looking stick, tall and strong and it was just perfect for my needs. My plan was to see how far I could get on the walk, there would be the opportunity to return at each stop if the walk was getting too tiring. At the first stop I was quite happy to carry on and then at the second stop I felt I could still go on. At the third stop although I was feeling tired it was going to be quicker to go on one more time than to go back! The feeling of completing the walk at the end was so surprising, I felt energised and very happy; all the tiredness seemed to drain away. Later, as I reflected on this, I thought about that stick and how it helped me to complete the walk. I know I would have struggled without it and very likely would have returned at the first stop. It gave me reassurance and support when I might otherwise have overbalanced or fallen even but most of all it gave me the perseverance to carry on.

There are many stories in the Bible of people who persevered against all the odds, and one of my favourites is that of Elijah who is exhausted having fled the revengeful army of Queen Jezebel who has threatened to kill him and he just wants to give up. He has done everything God wanted him to and still he is in great danger. He lies down under a juniper tree and asks God to take his life, he can go on no longer. He falls asleep and is woken by an angel who has provided bread and water to revive him. He eats and drinks and falls back to sleep. Again the angel wakes him with more food and water and eventually Elijah gains strength to continue on his journey to Mount Horeb where he will meet God.

There will have been times in most people’s lives when everything looks hopeless and we can see no light at the end of the tunnel. And yet… how often does someone appear, just with a kind word or support to help us through? Or something changes very slightly giving us a little hope? And then we have God. This God who is our refuge will not desert us, he walks with us through all our pain but at our worst times, it is very hard to believe that. God knows this too and never judges us when we doubt because we are overwhelmed by our suffering.

Elijah finds God in “the still small voice of calm” (I Kings 19 12-13) and that same still small voice will be speaking to us all through our life’s journey loving us, guiding and supporting us laughing and weeping with us because we are His, we are his children and as a parent he cares so deeply about all that happens to us.

When we finished our Good Friday walk, I laid the stick down in the field before leaving through the gate and said a quiet prayer of thanks for it and hoped that someone else might also find it a support on their walk too.

By Revd Philip Smith

This week, Mark and I have been at our Diocesan Conference. There were opportunities to attend various workshops on a wide variety of topics. I was struck by the title of one called ‘Swing when you Sing’. The blurb said ‘Ever dreamed of swinging like Sinatra or crooning like Crosby? Join Nick Gallant and Liam Cartwright seasoned musicians and church leaders for a fun interactive dive into the world of jazz singing. Learn the secrets of the style, build confidence and leave with practical ideas to bring soulful sound into your church context. Just bring your voice and your love of music.’

I was hooked. There were 5 other participants and it was great fun, but the blurb didn’t say it was participatory. For as we got into some warm up exercises and some understanding of the style we were asked to take a hymn and jazz it up and perform it to the group in 15 miuntes. They were all amazing because everyone basically thought, oh what the heck and rose to the challenge.

I love Church but Sunday Services can sometimes feel a bit trad. That’s not a criticism, it’s just I love spontaneity, improvisation and the creativity that sometimes is squashed by conforming to some unwritten norms that not everyone is sure about or where they came from.

One of our speakers shared Picasso’s definition of tradition. ‘Tradition should be like having a baby and not wearing your grandfather’s hat.’ It’s about birth and new things and not holding too tightly to the past.

In a few weeks’ time, we all have an opportunity to swing a bit as we are getting together a Community Choir to sing at the Stokenchurch Village Fete. Everyone is welcome of all ages, to give it a real family feel’.

Now the music will not be familiar to most, but it’s easily singable with repetitive catchy lines and great professional backings. Lucy and I use these songs in both of our church schools and we are plugging this with them and their families.

As with so much in life it may not be your cup of tea but it might be your cappuccino. But we won’t know unless we give it a go and step out of our comfort zones. You only need to come to at least two run-throughs. It’s that easy and hopefully lots of fun.

One of the songs has the lyric. ‘Here we are together joining in this song, even those who feel that their singing’s not that strong and as we sing may every person know that they belong. gathering in this place.’

I had no idea what to expect in the jazz workshop, so I went with the flow, and you can too. Tell a friend, a neighbour, put it on your social media groups, bring the grandkids, and let’s show our community that we are human, friendly and fun. Details are below.

Keep the faith, but never ever to ourselves.

Love Philip x

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