Breath, Wind, Flame, Fire and Peace – Welcome to Pentecost!

Happy Pentecost. This weekend we celebrate together in different ways the great festival of Pentecost. 50 Days after Easter we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit. It is a day where we are invited to breath in afresh the life giving power of the Holy Spirit which enables us to be God’s people in this part of the world, yet at the same time know that we are divinely connected to so many others all over the world.

There are so many different images of the Holy Spirit. Breath, fire and flame. But each of them are visible and tangible in different ways. We can see, feel, and often hear flame and breath. Both can be simultaneously comforting and disturbing. The Spirit is more than a mechanism through which the people can connect and communicate with God, the Spirit is the way in which we are given what we need to continue the work of Jesus Christ and God. The Spirit is the way in which we understand and discern God in our lives and can see God’s work in the world. It is the way in which we understand and experience both Gods power of comfort and challenge. It is the Spirit that gives us the confidence to wander into what can be unchartered places. It is the Spirit who calls us to account. It is the Spirit who guides us and guards us in times of uncertainty and it is the Spirit who gently leads us to safe pastures or enflames us to righteous action.

Come and worship with us this Pentecost and be renewed in faith and fellowship with the power of the Spirit.

THIS PENTCOST SUNDAY – 28^th MAY 2023

8am – Holy Communion – All Saints

10am – Sung Holy Communion – St Mary’s with St Mary’s Kids

10.30am – Holy Communion with Hymns – All Saints

THE WEEK AHEAD

Wednesday 31st May 9.00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

Thursday 1^st June 10am Holy Communion – St Mary’s

Saturday 3^rd June 12.00 – 2pm –Saturday Lunches – St Marys

Sunday 4^th June 10.00 Creative Church St Matthews gospel– St Mary’s

10.30 – Holy Communion – All Saints

6.30 – Choral Evensong – St Mary’s

May you know the power of the Spirit rest on you this day.

Blessings

Revd Lizzie

Unwavering Hope

Risen ascended Jesus we give you thanks, because nothing, not life nor death, nor anything in creation, could ever separate us from your love for us. Kindle in our hearts your warm fire of justice and an unwavering hope. Amen.

from Christian Aid Week Daily Devotional

Dear All Saints and St Mary’s

Ascension stands the centre of this week. We hear how Jesus, lifted into the clouds, returned to his Father in heaven. Where’s the hope in that? I hear you ask. Has God abandoned us? Certainly not. As Jesus said, ‘I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, who will stay with you forever’. John 14:16. Our hope is rooted in two things: the power of prayer and the promise of the Spirit .

Power of Prayer. Jesus enthroned at his Father’s side, prays for us in heaven. Intercession is vital. Prayers change lives. Our own intercessions echo Jesus’ goodwill towards the world. We pray earnestly for healing and transformation in lives.

Promise of the Spirit. Jesus leaves so the Spirit can come to us – every where, anytime. Beyond Galilee. Beyond the First Century. Through the work of the Holy Spirit God’s presence and power can reach every corner of the globe in every time and place – from the community of Fishponds, Bristol, UK, to Malawi, Africa – the focus of Christian Aid week.

At training by Citizens UK this week we saw how stories – commonly referred to these days as lived experience – can be a powerful tool at the negotiating table: a tool for change in a community to bring to life the statistics, information and research findings. It is stories that illuminate and underpin the need for a better playground, toilets or improved public transport or whatever.
Christian Aid is passionate about storytelling. This year they are sharing the stories of struggles, hopes and dreams of two women in Malawi: Jen and Esther – to inspire our solidarity by giving money, so that we can demonstrate our belief in God’s justice for the poor.
Everyone loves a story. We listen and learn far more about the need for climate justice and educational provision, by hearing the stories of Jen and Esther and their families in Malawi. At All Saints we will watch a film and hear more about Esther at the service of Holy Communion at 10.30. There are Christian Aid envelopes in both churches or better still donate online.

https://www.christianaid.org.uk/appeals/key-appeals/christian-aid-week

The angels are right to say, ‘Why are you standing there looking up at the sky?’. Our hope of heaven needs feet on earth doing God’s work.

That’s why we continually pray ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as in heaven’. Till we really mean it.

Revd Diane, curate at All Saints and St.Mary’s.

This SUNDAY 21st May – The Sunday after Ascension

• 10.00 – Service of the Word with Baptism – St Mary’s
• 10.30 – Holy Communion with focus on Christian Aid week– All Saints

THE WEEK AHEAD

Wednesday 24^th May 9.00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

Thursday 25^th May 10.00am Holy Communion – St Mary’s

Saturday 27^th May12.00 – 2.00pm –Saturday Lunches – St Mary’s

Sunday 28^th May 8.00am Holy Communion – All Saints

10.00am Sung Pentecost Holy Communion – St Marys

10.30am – Holy Communion for Pentecost – All Saints

LOOKING FURTHER AHEAD

Holiday Bible Club for ages 4-12 is happening every morning from 24-28 July at All Saints. Our theme this year is Jonah with tons of games, bible stories, crafts, drama and signing. Forms can be found in St.Mary’s and All Saints. Book now as spaces are limited. Please speak to Revd Diane or Revd Lizzie for more information.

This Sunday, as our gospel reading, John 14.15–21 turns our attention from Easter to Pentecost, our reading from Acts, Acts 17.22–31, also takes a leap forward. Over the past few weeks, we have been following the events that took place in Jerusalem after the coming of the Holy Spirit. This week we hear about Paul’s visit to Athens.

Athens was, in some ways, like the city we live in. It was prosperous. It prided itself in its multicultural heritage. It had a strong intellectual tradition. Yet, when he arrived, Paul knew something was missing. The presence of so many different idols really bothered him. So, he started talking to people about Jesus. He talked to the Jews in their synagogues and to anyone who would listen in the marketplace. This drew the attention of some Greek philosophers who, in their intellectual curiosity, wanted to hear more. When Paul addressed them at the Areopagus, he started from what he had seen in the city. He tried to lead his hearers from their pluralist philosophy to a commitment to the one true God. Yet, in a society were sitting on the fence was regarded as a good thing, this was hard for many of them to accept.

This is another way in which our modern city is like Athens. There is a reluctance to make commitments and decide what is true and what is not. Many people would rather not decide between following Jesus and all the other things that shape their thoughts and values. Yet now as then, God calls us to follow Jesus. It is a decision that we make afresh in everything we say and do.

This Sunday, we have our usual second Sunday pattern of services, as follows:

8:00 am – All Saints – Holy Communion (said)

10:00 am – St Mary’s – Holy Communion

10:30 am – All Saints – Messy Muddy church

We have our usual pattern of weekday services, with Celtic Morning Prayer on Wednesday at All Saints and Holy Communion for Ascension Day on Thursday at St Mary’s. Next Sunday, there is a baptism at St Mary’s and Holy Communion at All Saints. This gives the following services for the week:

Wednesday 17^th – 9:00 am – All Saints – Celtic morning prayer

Thursday 18^th – 10:00 am – St Mary’s – Holy Communion

Sunday 21^st – 10:00 am – St Mary’s – Baptism

10:30 am – All Saints – Holy Communion

So, as we look towards Ascension and Pentecost, let us pray for the help of the Holy Spirit in our walk with Christ in the words of the collect for this Sunday:

Risen Christ,
by the lakeside you renewed your call to the disciples.
Help your Church to obey your command
and draw the nations to the fire of your love,
to the glory of God the Father.
Amen

Yours in Christ.

Mark

This weekend marks the Coronation of Charles III. For some it will be a very welcome extra bank holiday, and for some it will be a solemn act of allegiance. For many it will be somewhere between those two things. It is for the Church of England an important moment in public life. To be the Church of England is to hold both the doctrine and story of our catholic and protestant brothers and sisters whose shoulders we stand on, whilst also recognising that the Church of England’s foundation is intrinsically linked to the Crown. We are the established church, which brings with it joys and challenges.

The coronation weekend is in the season of Easter– where in churches we have been reflecting on the resurrection and its impact on us as disciples. The story from Acts this week tells of the first martyr Stephen. It is a shocking and brutal story, but also one of a courageous and confident faith.

May we all know that confidence in faith as we watch or participate in different ways this coronation weekend. May Charles be a King of confident faith and may we look to Christ the King as our resurrected Lord and Saviour.

This SUNDAY 7^th May

• 10.00 – Creative Coronation Church – St Marys
• 10.30 – Sung Holy Communion with Junior Church – All Saints
• 5pm – Sung Coronation Evensong (with tea and cake from 3pm) St Marys

THE WEEK AHEAD

Wednesday 10^th May 9.00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

Thursday 11^th May 10am Holy Communion – St Marys

Saturday 13^th May 12.00 – 2pm –Saturday Lunches – St Marys

Sunday 14^th May 08.00 Holy Communion – All Saints

10.00 Sung Holy Communion – St Marys

10.30 – Muddy Messy Church – All Saints

Blessings and prayers

Revd Lizzie

During the Easter season, our lectionary readings follow the development of the early church with a series of readings from the Acts of the Apostles. This Sunday, as we approach the mid-point of the season, we have a short description of the life of the church in Jerusalem, shortly after the day of Pentecost. This can be found in Acts 2.42–end.

It was this reading that inspired Andrew Roberts to identify ten “holy habits” that can nurture our faith. They can help us, both as individuals and as a Christian community, to follow Christ faithfully and fruitfully. These holy habits are:

• Biblical teaching
• Fellowship
• Breaking bread
• Prayer
• Sharing resources
• Serving
• Eating together
• Gladness and generosity
• Worship
• Making more disciples

We had a first look at some of these habits in our Lent groups and Holy Week reflections. I will think a little bit more about them on Sunday. If you would like to know more, you can find a more information on the Holy Habits Web site. There is a lot to think about on the Web site, along with resources for further study, both individual and in groups.

This Sunday we have one service for everyone in the benefice. This will be a benefice service of Holy Communion in All Saints at 10.30 am. There will be no 8.00 am service at All Saints and no service at St Mary’s.

10.30 am All Saints Benefice Holy Communion

We have our usual weekday services for the coming week. Next Sunday, in addition to our usual Creative Church at St Mary’s and Holy Communion at All Saints, we have Evensong for the coronation weekend. This gives the following services for the coming week:

Wednesday 3^rd

9.00 am – All Saints – Celtic morning prayer

Thursday 4^th

10.00 am – St Mary’s – Holy Communion

Sunday 7^th

10.00 am – St Mary’s – Creative church

10.30 am – All Saints. – Holy Communion

5:00 – St Mary’s – Coronation evensong

In addition, we have events for the coronation on Saturday. Please see the relevant notice sheet for details.

As we reflect of the image of Christ, the good shepherd, in our gospel reading for Sunday, we also pray for King Charles as he prepares for the coronation and for all who have authority in this land.

Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness, bless our Sovereign Lord, King Charles, and all who are in authority under him; that they may order all things in wisdom and equity, righteousness, and peace, to the honour of your name, and the good of your Church and people; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Yours in Christ.

Mark

“And Jesus made himself known to them in the breaking of bread”

This week of Easter we hear another resurrection story from the gospels. This time from the writer Luke. It is the story of the Emmaus Road, and how Jesus walked alongside his friends before having supper with them.

One of the key images of this resurrection story is that no one recognised Jesus until he broke bread at the time of supper. The same action that was mirrored the night before Jesus was betrayed and crucified.

There is something profound about how we sit and eat together, whether that is formally, ritualistically or informally. We are able to meet with the risen Lord in many different ways, but many of those ways involve eating together. This week we do that in a variety of ways. We have a said Communion at 8am, a sung communion at 10am and a café church service at 10.30. All three are ways to encounter the Risen Lord together. I look forward to being with people.

This Sunday 23^rd April we share together in bread and fellowship in different ways. Join us for

8am – Holy Communion – All Saints

10am – Sung Holy Communion – St Marys

10.30 – Cafe Church – Jonah – Inside the Whale! – All Saints

THE WEEK AHEAD

Wednesday 26^th April 9.00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

Thursday 27^th April 10am Holy Communion – St Marys

Saturday 29^st April 12.00 – 2pm –Saturday Lunches – St Marys

Sunday 30^h April 10.30am BENEFICE SERVICE Sung Holy Communion – ALL SAINTS

May we all know the realised hope of the resurrection in our lives this week.

Blessings

Lizzie

“My Lord and My God”

Happy Easter! Alleluia Christ is Risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia.

I am aware that I started last weeks Easter email with the same greeting. Yet I am often struck by how quickly I am to “move on” after Easter. To see it as a day, rather than a season. One of the wonderful things about Easter is that it is a season in the church which is as long as Lent and so stretches ahead of us for the next 5 weeks until we reach Pentecost. We can sing, dance, dwell, sit and rejoice in the Easter message of resurrection, new life and hope for a few weeks to come. In this season we have some of the most intimate and beautiful passages of scripture to read and reflect on, as the disciples recall their own resurrection encounters with Jesus and how we hear from the Acts of the Apostles about the very beginnings of the Church.

This weeks gospel has the story of Thomas, and the words that he utters as he sees the wounds of Christ are ones that have always had a significant spiritual strength for me. “My Lord and My God”. They are the words that run through my head and heart when I receive the chalice at communion. A statement of belief. A definite commitment time and time again to faith in the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

This Sunday we worship in the following ways across the benefice:

Sunday 16^h April

10am Sung Holy Communion – St Marys

10.30am – Holy Communion with Hymns – All Saints

This week ahead we have the following:

The Week Ahead

Wednesday 19^th April 9.00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

Thursday 20^th April 10am Holy Communion – St Marys

Saturday 22^st April 12.00 – 2pm –Saturday Lunches – St Marys

Sunday 23^th April 8am Holy Communion – All Saints BCP

10am Holy Communion– St Marys

10.30am Café Church – All Saints

I leave you with a poem that I found online and fell in love with – by Fr Jim Schmitmeyer

Ask anyone who has ever shoved aside the rock of life
And uncovered the light of God
They’ll tell you a story
About the power of hope, the power of faith, the power of love
A story about transformation
A story of what its like to die of suburban boredom
Or body addiction
Or emotional dismay
Only to be born again, be new again, live life again
A resurrected life
An eternal, neverending life.
All because of Christ.
Hear their stories
And think of your own.
The event that changed you.
The influence that formed you
The sacraments that save you
Because, somehow, someway
You too have brushed up against Christ
And, somehow, learned the truth about God
Somehow, someway,
Christ has called your name
You’ve seen his face
You’ve heard his voice
You’ve touched his scars.

Happy Easter! Alleluia Christ is Risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia

Revd Lizzie

Alleluia – Happy Easter!

We are so nearly there! Ever had that feeling. Like a very long journey if always seems to have moments when it seems that the destination is a long long way away but then suddenly we can see the sea! We have walked the path of Lent together, we have been with one another in different ways as we have worshipped in Holy Week. Tonight at the Easter Vigil and tomorrow for all our Easter Day services we start to see the light dawn and the Easter message of hope rise again in us.

Easter is the ultimate Christian celebration festival of hope and life, joy and love. The world was changed that first Easter day, and by that we are too.

This weekend we celebrate that fact of love and transformation in the following ways

Saturday 7.30pm – Easter Vigil and Fire with First Communion of Easter and Easter Celebrations – St Marys

Easter Sunday 8am – Easter Holy Communion – All Saints

Easter Sunday 10am – Easter All Age Communion – St Marys

Easter Sunday 10.30am – Easter All Age Communion – All Saints

Easter Sunday 6.30pm – Easter Festival Choral Evensong – St Marys

THE WEEK AHEAD

Wednesday 12^th April 9.00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

Thursday 13^th April 10am Holy Communion – St Marys

Saturday 15^st April 12.00 – 2pm –Saturday Lunches – St Marys

Sunday 16^h April 10am Sung Holy Communion – St Marys

10.30am – Holy Communion with Hymns – All Saints

When it comes I hope and pray that you all know the joy of the Easter Dawn.

Lizzie

“Hosanna” is the cry from the crowds as Jesus enters Jerusalem this Palm Sunday. It means “Please, Save Us”. It is a cry of adoration and praise but it is also something more than that. It is a beseeching, an earnest request, a heartfelt plea. The people of Jerusalem want delivering from their Roman oppressors, just as Moses delivered the Israelites from Egypt.

Days later desolation, anger and fear have set in and the cry from the crowds turns to “Crucify”. The King that they had hoped would save them had failed to deliver. And so we are invited this week in different ways across both All Saints and St Marys to enter again into God’s salvation story. It is one that saves and delivers but not in the way that anyone might expect. Come, draw near, look, watch, pray, weep and live the story of love, courage and hope.

This Palm Sunday

10 am – Palm Sunday Procession and Sung Holy Communion – St Marys

10.30am (Gather at 10.15am at Church) – Palm Sunday Procession with Band and Junior Church – All Saints

7pm – Generations film and pizza – The Vicarage

The Week Ahead

Tuesday 4^th April 19.30 Compline and Holy Habits Reflection – All Saints

Wednesday 5^th April 9.00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

19.30 – Compline and Holy Habits Reflection – St Marys

Thursday 6^th April 18.30 – Agape – All Saints

19.30pm – Maundy Thursday Holy Communion and Watch – St Mary’s

Friday 7^th April 10.00 – Children’s Good Friday Activities with Egg Hunt – All Saints

1.30pm – Sung Liturgy of Good Friday – St Marys

2pm – Last Hour at Cross – All Saints

Saturday 8^st April 10am – Prepare Church for Easter St Marys

12.00 – 2pm –Saturday Lunches – St Marys

19.30 – Easter Eve Vigil – St Marys

Sunday 9^th April 8am – Holy Communion – All Saints

10am All Age Communion – St Marys

10.30am – All Age Communion – All Saints

6.30pm – Choral Easter Festival Evensong – St Marys

May God be at your side, with you and watching and waiting this Holy Week.

Blessings

Revd Lizzie

That we might know him by his wounds

We enter this Sunday into the season of Passiontide, a season we will mark from now until Easter Day. The collect prayer of the church for Passion Sunday prays this

Most Merciful God, who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ delivered and saved the world: grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross we may triumph in the power of his victory; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

As I get older, each passing year, seems to make me appreciate more fully a faith that doesn’t shy away from death. It is strange perhaps to many in this world that the symbol of hope for Christians is also that of death. How can a faith that is life giving and life centred, that is about hope and joy, hinge on the very fact of death? It is the greatest truth and the strangest of paradoxes. That as the prayer suggests: Jesus through death both delivered and saved the world.

As we come closer to that moment in the year, as we walk the same journey of Jesus through Holy Week, to the cross and eventually into the garden of resurrection then I pray that we will all have some space to dwell on what this means for our lives here in Fishponds. How are we people of both the cross and the resurrection for this world? This weekend there are 4 different services to join in with. A more informal service of café church will focus on what it means to be obedient to God through the Book of Jonah. Our other services take the focus of Passion Sunday.

SERVICES THIS WEEKEND – 26^th MARCH – PASSION SUNDAY

8am – All Saints – Said Holy Communion

10am – St Marys – Sung Holy Communion

10.30am – All Saints – Cafe Church – Jonah: Chapter 2: The Storm

6.30pm – Passiontide Music and Readings

THE WEEK AHEAD

Tuesday 28^th March 10.15 – Y5 Easter Service – All Saints

19.30-21.00 – Lent Group 1

Wednesday 29^st March 9.00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

14.00-15-30 – Lent Group 2

Thursday 30^nd March 10am – Holy Communion at St Mary’s Church

Friday 31^st March 11am – Living after Loss

Saturday 1^st April 10am – 12.00 – Repair Café and Community garden – All Saints

12.00 – 2pm – Saturday Lunches – St Marys

Sunday 2^nd April 10am Palm Sunday Procession and Communion – St Marys

10.30am – Palm Sunday Communion and Junior Church

7.15 – Generations – The Vicarage

Blessings and Prayers for you all in this Passiontide

Revd Lizzie