Have you ever wondered how our perceptions of fire and wind differ from those of our great-grandparents? In the past, people have relied on fire to heat water, cook their food, light their house and keep them warm. Now most of us rely on gas or electricity for all that and we tend to be afraid of fire, thinking of forest fires, burning houses and destruction. Wind was once used to grind our corn and power machines, and now we again think of wind in terms of hurricanes, tornadoes and destruction. What all ages have in common, however,is that they are powerful elemental forces. ...The Holy Spirit - God's "power-ups" ... At the end of this month, on May 24th, we have Whitsun, or Whit Sunday, or to use its other name, Pentecost. This is the Sunday we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit. After Jesus had died and ascended into heaven, he promised that he would send an advocate, a helper to “Power Up” the disciples. And that helper was the Holy Spirit. The Spirit came as a powerful elementary force. The disciples had no words to describe it (a bit like those seeing the dark side of the moon from Artemis!) but the nearest they could get was to describe it as ‘like a powerful wind’ or ‘like tongues of fire’. Something burning within them, something blowing them all over the place! Something that changed them for good. Those fishermen, tradesmen and tax collectors were changed into people who could communicate to everyone there in their own language, bubbling with such enthusiasm and energy that people even thought they were drunk! And it didn’t stop there!They attracted many other people to create the first church and spread the Word all over the world as they knew it. The Spirit did not die with their generation, but went on from generation to generation, finally down to us people here in Mid Trent. The Spirit is still wanting us to be transformed and be so full of Jesus’ love, that we want to help our community and spread the hope and love that Jesus has for us. It is down to us now. The elemental power of the Holy Spirit is not destructive but constructive, and transformative, enabling us to build a better future. I will leave you with the prayer inspired by the teachings of St Teresa of Avila: Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good. Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world. Yours are the hands. Yours are the feet. Yours are the eyes. You are His body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours. Happy Pentecost and may the Holy Spirit be with you.With every blessing, Vivienne.
Our vacancy for a new priest in charge will be advertised this Friday, the 17th April, and for the next 3 weeks. We are asking that you pray God guides the right person to us to lead and support us on our journey in developing this Benefice.Please pray:- that God shows us the way forward by attracting a new priest.- that God helps us to continue to build a vision of One Church Family across our many Parishes.- for our Benefice, our individual churches, PCCs and the Team Council.-- that we embrace the journey he has mapped out for us and our Benefice.
Please join us for coffee, tea and biscuits, also a bookstall and lots of chatter! Also a bookstall and lots of chatter! All welcomeFor more information please contact Jan Bennett on: 01785 - 242446
