28 April 2024
10:00 | 
Posted by
Dr Platts |
This sunday we had our 10 am Parish eucharist service. Father Chris was the celebrant, and as usual we had the children with us at the beginning, they left for their own session in the rooms and returned for the communion. The Choir sang Ave Verum Corpus in the setting by W A Mozart as the anthem.
After the Service we held our Annual Church Meeting in the rooms. We were sad to say goodbye to Janet who is standing down as Church Warden after many years of service we gave her a big Than You! However we are not loosing her completely as she was promptly elected as a lay member of the PCC!
Father Chris spoke to the meeting reflecting on our current position and asking us to move forwards communication with each other, helping each other and sharing out the jobs we need to keep the church going, and at the same time sending out the message of the Kingdom and encouraging others to come and join us!
Next week we will have our Rogation Walk. We will meet in church at 10 am and then walk around the boundary, stopping for prayers and praise at different locations before returning to church for the final blessing. This will be followed by refreshments and a thank you to Janet!
In the afternoon t 3:30 we will have a Choral Evensong followed by tea, if you would like to come but dont have transport please contact us and we will try to help
See you there!
Acts 8:26-40
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
An angel of the Lord said to Philip,
‘Get up and go towards the south
to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’
(This is a wilderness road.)
So he got up and went.
Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch,
a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians,
in charge of her entire treasury.
He had come to Jerusalem to worship
and was returning home;
seated in his chariot,
he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
Then the Spirit said to Philip,
‘Go over to this chariot and join it.’
So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah.
He asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’
He replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’
And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.
Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:
‘Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
so he does not open his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.’
The eunuch asked Philip,
‘About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this,
about himself or about someone else?’
Then Philip began to speak,
and starting with this scripture,
he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.
As they were going along the road,
they came to some water;
and the eunuch said,
‘Look, here is water!
What is to prevent me from being baptized?’
He commanded the chariot to stop,
and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water,
and Philip baptized him.
When they came up out of the water,
the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away;
the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.
But Philip found himself at Azotus,
and as he was passing through the region,
he proclaimed the good news to all the towns
until he came to Caesarea.
1 John 4:7-21
A reading from the first letter of John.
Beloved,
let us love one another,
because love is from God;
everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
Whoever does not love does not know God,
for God is love.
God’s love was revealed among us in this way:
God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might live through him.
In this is love,
not that we loved God
but that he loved us
and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Beloved, since God loved us so much,
we also ought to love one another.
No one has ever seen God;
if we love one another, God lives in us,
and his love is perfected in us.
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us,
because he has given us of his Spirit.
And we have seen and do testify
that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world.
God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God,
and they abide in God.
So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love,
and those who abide in love abide in God,
and God abides in them.
Love has been perfected among us in this:
that we may have boldness on the day of judgement,
because as he is, so are we in this world.
There is no fear in love,
but perfect love casts out fear;
for fear has to do with punishment,
and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.
We love because he first loved us.
Those who say, ‘I love God’,
and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars;
for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen,
cannot love God whom they have not seen.
The commandment we have from him is this:
those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
John 15:1-8
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower.
He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit.
Every branch that bears fruit
he prunes to make it bear more fruit.
You have already been cleansed
by the word that I have spoken to you.
Abide in me as I abide in you.
Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself
unless it abides in the vine,
neither can you unless you abide in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit,
because apart from me you can do nothing.
Whoever does not abide in me
is thrown away like a branch and withers;
such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you,
ask for whatever you wish,
and it will be done for you.
My Father is glorified by this,
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
