St James The Great
Old Milverton, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
Dear Friends
The Prayer Stations in the churchyard will be coming out at the weekend. Once again, there has been a great response to all of them and the bench by the war memorial is steadily being covered with white ribbons for peace in our world. We are blessed to have such a peaceful space in which to stop and be mindful, and we pass on our thanks to everyone who helps to maintain it to such a high standard.
The ‘Moth Breakfast’ on 9th May was definitely worth getting up early for! Don’t worry if you missed it – this coming month you can join us at the much more comfortable time of 3.00pm on Sunday 14th June for our ‘Bio-Blitz’ afternoon – more details within the Update. You may well see members of the bio-diversity team up in the churchyard at other times too: a Lichen study was recently carried out and a habitat study will be happening this coming month.
Moving on to church family news: Do remember that we have a prayer team who include any requests for prayers you may have in their own daily prayers: if you would like us to pray for you please let me know or, if you have someone else in need of prayer, pass on their name (having checked with them first).
News about our curate Cerys: her curacy is now completed and she has been appointed as Ministry Area Leader of the Merthyr Tydfil Ministry Area. Her final service with us will be on June 21st and she takes up her new role at the end of July. We hold her in our prayers and wish her well for this new phase of her ministry.
June and July are relatively quiet months, but the day-to-day life of St James goes on: I am very aware of all the behind-the-scenes activity, week by week, that keeps this place looking so good and ensures everything is ready for us to come and worship together on a Sunday. Many of you are already part of that process, but we are always looking to add new folk, so please do think about whether you might offer to do something – we all know that the more people that are involved, the easier the load for everyone. Come and have a chat to me or to the churchwardens if you feel you could help.
With love to you all,
Sue
Bio-Blitz and Muddy Church at St James
On June 14th we are holding a joint Bio-Blitz and Muddy Church event in St James’ churchyard between 3.00 and 4.30pm.
The Diocesan Bio-diversity team will be helping us to identify as many different species in the churchyard as possible across grasses, insects, flowers, mammals etc. Explorer Kits, suitable for all ages from the very young to the young at heart will be available and, as at all Muddy Church events, refreshments will be provided.
There’s no need to book and you are very welcome just to turn up on the day but, if you know you are hoping to come along, it would be helpful if you could let Sue or Geoff known in advance to give us some idea of how many folk to plan for.
Foodbank Donations
At the moment, the foodbank is short of strong clean plastic bags, laundry capsules, small bottles of squash, crisps, jam, shaving gel/foam, tinned potatoes and tinned vegetarian meals, but any donations are always welcome.
The next churchyard clearing morning will be on Saturday 13th June – come along and help if you are free. Please bring your own tools with you.
Dates for the rest of the year are:
- Saturday 13th June
- Saturday 22nd August
- Saturday 17th October
- Saturday 12th December (leaf clearance)
Thought for the Month: Breathe on me, breath of God
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. (Acts 2:1-2)
We have just celebrated Pentecost, the day that the Holy Spirit blew through the room where the disciples had been hiding and filled them with purpose and courage.
The bible tells us that the Holy Spirit ‘inspires’ us and one of the meaning of ‘inspire’ is to breath in, or inhale. We all breathe in and out all the time – we rarely even think about it – but as you read this, consciously breath in and feel the God-given air fill you with life.
Of all the persons of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is probably the hardest to define or to imagine. God the Father and God the Son are relatively easy – the Father who created the world and the Son who came to live here among us as teacher and friend. But the Holy Spirit is much more complicated to put into words.
Jesus told his followers ‘the Spirit blows where it chooses and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes’. (John 3.8)
I wonder when you last felt the Holy Spirit blowing through your life? I suggest that it happens far more often than we realise but we’re just not very good at recognising it when it happens. It’s so easy to put things down to chance, or coincidence, such as that moment when you think to yourself, ‘I really ought to give so-and-so a ring’ and either they phone you the same day or you do make that call and find that they really need to talk to you in that particular moment. Is it just coincidence, or might the Holy Spirit be giving you just a little nudge?
Or, in the middle of a particularly trying time, or busy day, when it seems as though you’re getting nowhere with the task you’re doing, suddenly you hear a blackbird singing, or the sun comes out and in that moment, you get a kind of second wind – might that also be the Holy Spirit giving you a helping hand to keep going?
So take a breath – and recognise it as God’s moment-by-moment gift to us. We can call it air or we can call it Holy Spirit. If we just recognise it and allow it to grow in us, it will fill us with a new wind and set our hearts on fire – just like those tongues on the day of Pentecost – and give us the impetus to go out and live the life God wants for us.
With love, Sue
Clergy
Revd. William Smith 316475 wms.smith@btinternet.com
Revd. Sue Fairhurst 735254 suefairhurst0@gmail.com
Reader
Geoff Wiggin 07585 336471 geogeoff@live.co.uk
Safeguarding Officer
Penny Hawkins 07833 978522
Churchwardens
Michael Rayner 831522
Jane Marshall 831680
Website & email
www.stjamesoldmilverton.co.uk churchwardenstjames@outlook.com
Spirit of God
Lord and Giver of Life,
moving between us and around.
Breathe into us your freshness that we may awake;
Cleanse our vision that we may see more clearly;
Kindle our senses that we may feel more sharply;
and give us the courage
to live as you would have us live.
Lord of all life and power,
who through the mighty resurrection of your Son
overcame the old order of sin and death
to make all things new in him:
grant that we, being dead to sin and alive to you in Jesus Christ,
may reign with him in glory;
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be praise and honour, glory and might,
now and in all eternity.
Collect for Easter Sunday
Parish News
Ali Foster © 2013