Words from Bede Circuit
Dear Friends,
Hope you are keeping well.
In John's Gospel Ch 20 v19-23, the risen Jesus gives the gift of the Holy Spirit to his disciples and inaugurates the mission of the Church.
Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. How simply it all began. The Church was born in frailty and weakness. It had no property, no buildings, no money. Its only resource was people, and there weren't many of those. As they waited for the coming of the Spirit, all the followers of Jesus were able to fit into one room. They knew each other's names. The Church was small then. But they had spirit and were united in prayer and charity.
While it’s nice to belong to something big, it can be a drawback too. In fact, many people are put off by the large. When an organisation becomes too big often there is a loss of closeness, of intimacy, and a sense of belonging. The individual tends to get lost, and may feel like a mere clog in a huge impersonal machine.
The Church should never forget its humble origins. If it does, it will not value the importance of the small. We need to experience the Church as small. We need to belong to a specific community. We need a sense of closeness and of belonging. Both closeness and belonging have been difficult to achieve in Church life during the global pandemic but now emerging from Lockdown and returning to our churches, we can all make a fresh start. We have the essentials – we have the simplicity of the Gospel – a group of disciples listening to the Word of God and receiving the broken bread in memory of Jesus. And, of course, we have the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who binds us together and helps us witness to Christ in the world. So, let us in the words of J.E Seddon's hymn 'GO forth and tell! O church of God awake!' (Hymns and Psalms 770)
Prayer : God of power and love, may the Holy Spirit enlighten our minds, purify our hearts, and strengthen our wills, so that we may give effective witness to our Christian faith. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Revd Matt Sheard's District Testimony Service is on Saturday May 29th at 4pm.The service can be followed on Zoom. Please remember Matt, Julia and family in your thoughts and prayers.
Regarding the Preaching Plan for June, July and August – in June the Zoom services will be at 6pm but there will be no Zoom services in July and August. However, services will resume in September in some format.
Wednesday prayers at 10am continue on Zoom and Zoom Bible studies on Monday at 7pm and Thursday at 10.30.
The Why-pay service continues in the South Shields section of churches so please contact the Revd Deborah Wainwright for more details.
With all good wishes and prayers on behalf of the Bede Methodist staff team.
Revd Huw Sperring