Please see attached for weekly news. Sunday 20th June - The Third Sunday after TrinityThis Sunday's services:8 am HOLY COMMUNION AT ST NICHOLAS, SANDHURST led by Revd Ylva Blid-Mackenzie, David Harmsworth & Revd David Commander10 am HOLY COMMUNION AT ST GEORGE’S, BENENDEN led by Revd Ylva Blid-Mackenzie, David Harmsworth & Revd David Commander
Daily Scripture Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth; make music in praise of the Lord; He rides on the ancient heaven of heavens and sends forth his voice, a mighty voice. (Psalm 68 v 32 & 33) Daily Reflection Singing is good for the soul. It lifts the spirits and helps you focus on the here and now - you can’t be thinking about what you are going to have for tea or what bills you’ve got to pay when you are really concentrating on the words of a song. In these troubling times we can easily be swept away with worry, especially if we are struggling to put tea on the table or pay the bills. But if we sincerely sing to the Lord - to pray to the Lord and ask Him for help, He will respond in sending out His voice - not a loud and booming one, but a strong and mighty one to let you know that He is there beside you to ease your worried mind. Lyn Hayes ALM
Daily ScriptureThe sacrifice of God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Psalm 51:17)Daily ReflectionKing David – one of God’s faithful servants – had committed adultery with Bathsheba. (We all get things wrong.) The prophet Nathan had torn a strip off him! David pleads before God that his transgressions be washed away, and that he be cleansed. “Give me again the joy of your salvation,” he cries in another part of the psalm. Then he speaks these seemingly strange words. This does not mean that God wants a crushed spirit; he does not want us to be broken people. What he wants is for each of us to recognise within ourselves the things that separate us from God, the wrong actions, the wrong thoughts. He wants us to reach a point where we genuinely want to stop doing what is wrong, and seek his help. God is pleased with that kind of humility (brokenness) in us. “Deliver me from my guilt, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness.” (v.14) Revd David
Daily Scripture:Have mercy on me, O God, for they trample over me; all day long they assault and oppress me. My adversaries trample over me all the day long; many are they that make proud war against me.In the day of my fear I put my trust in you, in God whose word I praise. In God I trust, and will not fear, for what can flesh do to me? (Psalm 56.1-4)Daily Reflection:Thanks to modern communications, we can be made aware of so many ways in which folk suffer. This week is Awareness Week for no fewer than 11 different causes aiming to channel energy into answering cries for help from people in trouble. Among them is Refugee Week. Here in Kent we receive a tiny fraction of the millions worldwide being ‘trampled over’. Let us pray for them – that they may have the Psalmist’s spirit, that their oppressors might feel compassion and that we may be part of God’s answer to the cry of those in need of rescue. David Harmsworth