Words from Bede Circuit
Dear Friends
I am writing this two days before Thursday 21st May, which is “Ascension Day”, remembering that 40 days after His Resurrection, Jesus was taken out of physical sight and into heaven. The event is recorded for us by Luke (Luke 24: 50-53 and Acts 1: 9-11). I have fond memories of Ascension Day. I went to a Church of England school and each year, we went to school for registration then we marched in twos up the road to the local Parish Church to take part in an Ascension Day service. Then, we got the rest of the day off! Some churches still mark the Ascension with a service (in normal circumstances that is!) but quite often, as important as it is, it can be overlooked. However, it marked a milestone in the life of Jesus and His disciples. For 40 days after His Resurrection, Jesus had appeared to them to encourage and teach them; equipping them to continue His mission. They were instructed to wait in Jerusalem for the gift of the Holy Spirit. I am sure you have seen paintings and stain glass windows which depict Jesus disappearing within a cloud and the disciples looking on (and up) in wonder. Then, they waited and 10 days later, as Jesus had promised, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them. The events of Pentecost that we will celebrate next Sunday.
As we continue through lockdown, it can seem as if we are all in a time of waiting. We are waiting for life to return to “normal”, we are waiting to meet family and friends without standing 2 metres apart, we are waiting to return to our churches. Newcastle Methodist District has a Harvest Hands Prayer time on Facebook each Monday morning and this week Rev Elaine Lindridge shared to it a post written by Pete Greig (founder of 24/7 prayer movement) in which he has said:
“Generally we'd expect around 5-7% of the nation to attend a Sunday service at least once a month. But over the past couple of months, this figure has jumped - in fact, it has skyrocketed - to 24% of the British population. Almost one in four. And 5% of these people would not normally be at church in, well... a month of Sundays!”
The increase is due to the number of people “tuning in” to livestreamed services on the internet, YouTube etc and it IS exciting! Pete Grieg invited people to ponder whether this is all part of God doing a new thing among us. For years, Christians have prayed for people to be open to the Good News of Jesus Christ, yet we have watched as congregations in the western world decline and grow older. So, maybe God IS doing a new thing! The challenge then for us, as churches, is to keep up with God! As they waited for the Holy Spirit to come upon them, the disciples were faithful and prayed together. So, let us use this waiting time, to pray that God’s Spirit who has been poured out upon us already, will indeed do a new thing amongst us.
LOOKING AHEAD A WEEK OR TWO OR MORE!
June is Bible Month based upon the book of RUTH and the circuit staff will be holding a series of Bible Studies by Zoom. Log in details will be made available but studies will take place on Mondays 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd at 7.00pm AND on Thursday mornings 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th at 10.30am. Ruth has four chapters and each week we will study one of them in turn. The content of each weekly session will be the same.
Pentecost Sunday 31st May on Zoom, the service led by Rev Jane Carter will include sharing a Love Feast together. Please be ready with a cake/biscuit and a drink so that you can take part. We also invite you to wear something red or white; colours that represent the Holy Spirit!
Sunday worship at 10.30am and Wednesday prayers at 10.00am will continue on Zoom, as follows:
https://zoom.us/download.
For Wednesday Morning Prayer.
Every Blessing, Rev Deborah Wainwright
on behalf of the circuit staff team