Tag: holy-spirit

Week beginning Sunday 7th June 2026

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info
Photo by Ekaterina Novitskaya on Unsplash

June marks the start of summer. The days are the longest in the year and, hopefully, the cold snaps of May are behind us. It is a time to slow down and take stock. A time to look forward to summer holidays and days in the sun.

In the church’s year, June is the start of ordinary time. After the culmination of the Lent and Easter seasons with Pentecost and Trinity Sunday at the end of May, June offers only a couple of festivals, with the birth of John the Baptist and the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. This gives us the opportunity to put into practice what the great stories of Lent, Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost mean in our day to day lives.

Just as the story of the incarnation is not simply something for the Christmas season, the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection is not just something for one week of the year. Jesus calls us to take up our cross each day and follow him (Matthew 9.23). He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14.6). Jesus called the Holy Spirit the paraklētos, the one who is always with us on the journey (John 14.16). The Spirit will remind us of everything that Jesus has said (John 14.26). He is our guide and strength along the way.

The story of Jesus death and resurrection and the story of Pentecost are a part of our story. This is what we mean at communion when we say that we do this in remembrance of him (1 Corinthians 11.24–25). It is so much more than a simple recollection. It is making Jesus’ story the guiding influence in our lives. It is opening us up to the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.

As we enter summer this year, my prayer for you is that you find the extraordinary in this ordinary time. May you follow the way of Christ, live the love of the Father and act in the power of the Holy Spirit in each moment of your life.

This Sunday we have our usual services for the first Sunday of the month:

10:00 amSt Mary’sCreative Church
10:30 amAll SaintsHoly Communion and Junior Church
6:30 pmSt Mary’sChoral Evensong

This coming week we have our usual services. Next Sunday is The second Sunday of the month, so we have Holy Communion at 8.00 at All Saints and 10:00 at St Mary’s. The 10:30 service at All Saints will be Messy Muddy Church. In addition, the Generations youth group will meet at 7:15 in the evening:

Wednesday 10th 9:00 amAll SaintsCeltic Morning Prayer
Thursday 11th10:00 amSt Mary’sHoly Communion
Sunday 14th 8:00 amAll SaintsHoly Communion
10:00 amSt Mary’sHoly Communion
10:30 amAll SaintsMessy Muddy Church
7:15 pmGenerationsAll Saints Hall

May God show you the extraordinary in the ordinary, the Holy in the mundane and his glory in the everyday.

Mark

Week beginning Sunday 24th May 2026

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info
Photo by David Bumgardner on Unsplash

Pentecost is often described as the birthday of the church. We remember the day when a small group of frightened people were transformed into a movement that swept the Roman Empire and, eventually, much of the world. However, to simply describe it in these terms is to completely miss the point of what happened on that day and what the church really is.

At the heart of the feast of Pentecost is the coming of the Holy Spirit. It was the Spirit that brought about the transformation of that small group of disciples into the growing community of believers that we hear about in the Acts of the Apostles. It is the Spirit that guides and strengthens the church today. It is the Spirit that reveals to each one of us the path that God has set before us.

This Pentecost is an opportunity to open our hearts and minds afresh to the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, to seek the truths that he reveals to us, develop the gifts that he gives and bear the fruits that he nurtures.

We have a few opportunities to take this further on Sunday. There is Holy Communion at All Saints at 8.00 and 10.30 and at St Mary’s at 10.00:

08:00All SaintsHoly Communion (said)
10:00St Mary’sHoly Communion
10:30All SaintsHoly Communion

We have the usual services this week. Next Sunday there is a Benefice service at St Mary’s. As such, there will be no 10.30 service at All Saints.

Wednesday 27th 09:00All SaintsCeltic Morning prayer
Thursday 28th 10:00St Mary’sHoly Communion
Sunday 31st 08:00All SaintsHoly Communion (said BCP)
10:00St Mary’sBenefice Communion

Let us pray for that the Holy Spirit may dwell in our hearts and minds using the words of the collect for Pentecost:

Holy Spirit, sent by the Father,
ignite in us your holy fire;
strengthen your children with the gift of faith,
revive your Church with the breath of love,
and renew the face of the earth,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yours in Christ

Mark