1. May, 2017

Greetings from Ros (May 2017 Newsletter)

This month we will be celebrating the Ascension of Jesus to heaven followed in early June by Pentecost when we remember the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the early disciples which transformed them from timid people hiding together in fear to bold people going out to share the Good News in power.  This year Christians are being encouraged to use the period between these 2 special days in the church calendar to pray using the title Thy Kingdom Come.

We will be joining in this with the other churches in the village.  I’ve invited the other churches to join us on June 3rd for our Prayer Breakfast followed by the church being open until 12.30pm as a quiet space for prayer.  Why don’t you join us?  The intention is that there will be a number of prayer zones around the church and school room so that you can go on a prayer walk with little walking involved and chairs to sit on!  Within each prayer zone there will be resources to help you to pray.  Come for as much or as little time as you can.  Join us for breakfast at 8.30am or stop for tea or coffee later.  Let’s use this day to seek God and his blessing.  This is part of our prayer and preparation for Hope 2018.  Let’s show God that we are serious about this.  

If you can’t make it on that day, then please, at least take a bookmark and start praying for 5 people who you know that God could bless on their journey to faith.  Maybe you could invite them along to the Alpha Course we will be running with Christians Together in the Autumn?

The other new thing that we are launching this month is the Big Picture.  I want to encourage you to come along to the Sunday evenings when we are running this.  It will give us a good overview of the Bible and hopefully encourage us to go deeper with God.  This is all part of the preparation for the future that this year is all about.  I really do believe that God will honour the effort we put in this year in preparing ourselves and the church for what the future holds with him.  I keep being reminded that part of our blessing from God is that he will make us a blessing to the community in which we are located.  I would love it if we were to be a real blessing to Swanwick and then for this to have a ripple effect spreading out into the other surrounding villages.  Let’s look to our Great Big God to do more than we can imagine or hope for!  In the meantime let’s do our bit in preparation.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven

For thine is the Kingdom, the power & the glory forever & ever.  Amen.  

Love, Ros