And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you for ever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. John 14:16We come to another wonderful celebration of God’s intervention in the world, the time of Pentecost, and we give grateful thanks to God for the gift of His Holy Spirit, to guide and help us in our lives. We thank God that the Holy Spirit can inspire us to live lives that focus on Jesus and attempt to emulate Him. On Trinity Sunday, we will have the formal licensing of Julie into her role as Associate Priest for Holy Trinity and St Michael’s, which will give recognition to her already brilliant work in leading our churches through the interregnum. We are truly blessed that God has guided her to us, and we ask for His blessing on Julie and her husband, Martin, and all her family. In that vein, we also thank God for leading to us, Paul and Jan, our newest retired clergy, who have brought inspiration and enthusiasm, with their faith in Jesus, into our midst. Father’s Day reminds us of all those who have been fathers or father figures in our lives, who have loved us and taught us and cared for us, through thick and thin. We pray for all those children who have never really known the love of a father, who have no male role model to lead them into good relationships in the family. We give thanks for all the faith-filled men of the church, for their strength and gentleness, for their wisdom and care. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. John16:13
JUNE 25 NEWSLETTERJulie Writes...Dear Friends,Firstly, a huge thanks to all those who came along to the Christian Aid lunch and the consultation about our churches and appointing a new Vicar which followed afterwards. The results of our discussions are on display at the back of Holy Trinity Church along with some post it notes if you want to add anything. These notes will be useful to those tasked with writing our parish profile and advertising for the new Vicar.Thursday 29th May is Ascension Day and there will be a joint service at Holy Trinity at 7.30pm. That day marks the beginning of ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ which lasts until Pentecost on the 8th June. This is an ecumenical global prayer movement which encourages all Christians to pray for more people to come to know Jesus. I was listening to Pete Greig this morning telling the story of Pastor D. L. Moody who made a list of 100 friends he wanted to come to know Jesus. He prayed for them every day. As they came to faith, he crossed them off his list. By the end of his life only 4 people remained, and they came to faith at his funeral! Pete reminds us of the need to be persistent in our praying for those we long to know Jesus.There are many ways to engage with this wave of prayer and in Church there are some booklets for you to use at home, written by the Archbishop of York, which will guide each one of us through those 11 days praying and reflecting on the words of The Lord’s Prayer. They also encourage us to pray for 5 people who have not yet heard the Good News of Jesus, that prompted by the Spirit, they will hear it for themselves and respond. The booklets also give details of a website and an App which you may find helpful. Our Pizza Eaters are following this, and I invite you to join them. Let’s pray for more people to come to know Jesus.Julie.
