Weekly News

Collect for  Sunday after Ascension Day (Seventh Sunday of Easter)

O God the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: we beseech you, leave us not comfortless, but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us and exalt us to the place where our Saviour Christ is gone before, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

News and Notices!

A note from the Vicar:  We prayed for rain, and it has indeed rained! Our gardens and the fields around us have revived with a vibrancy of colour which is rejuvenating not just for the land but also for our souls and mental well being. Sometimes the remedy for a situation can be known but feel as though it is beyond our ability to bring into being. Yet I would suggest that sometimes we dismiss things as being beyond our abilities when they are in fact within our reach. One such example is our Bible reading habits and plans. I know that many started the year with good intentions but now as we come to the end of May I wonder how many of us are continuing to read and pray as we set ourselves the task of doing?

If you’re still going, then well done! Keep it up, and I’d love to hear what insights or discoveries you’ve made recently (I recently found out that Psalm 14 in the BCP has three extra verses compared to most Bibles! Someone thought that Paul’s quote from Romans 3.10-18 meant that the verses which were not in Psalm 14 should have been and so added them).

If you are finding it difficult to keep a pattern of reading going then I offer the following advice.

1.  Pray about it. Say a prayer to God each night before bed giving thanks for the blessings of the day and asking for help in whatever difficulties you may be facing, and ask that in the day ahead he will help you to find the space to read something from the Bible.

2. Bitesized chunks. Don’t get overwhelmed on reading huge swathes of scripture all at once, but try reading a small amount in the morning, and then rereading it at lunch time, and pondering it through the day. The aim is not to ‘get it done’ but to dwell with the word of God and let it sink into your heart.

3. Have a purpose. Are you reading for the sake of it, because you should? Are you answering a question that’s bothering you? Is there something you are looking for? For instance, do you want to reflect on grief in the Bible? Is there a book that you realise you have never properly read before? Do you want to find nuggets of wisdom in the proverbs and psalms? Are you interested in answering a question a friend asked recently? Having a purpose enables us to engage more constructively with the Bible.

4. Use a plan or a set of notes. Reading Scripture ‘neat’ can be fantastic, but sometimes we want to ‘have it on the rocks’ with a little guide, or we might find that we want to have a richer ‘cocktail’ of resources at hand. I’ve recently started reading Douglas D. Webster’s series on the Psalms: Psalms: Jesus’s Prayer Book. More than the ‘Daily Bread’ Bible Notes, but still devotional in flavour and less intense than an academic commentary, there are plenty of similar resources out there for different parts of the Bible – if you would like help choosing something, please email me or call me and I’ll be glad to help you find something that’ll suit you. This brings me to our last point, number five.

5.  Journeying Together. Or accountability. Our walk with God is our own, but equally we are the Church together. Sometimes having the opportunity to speak regularly to someone else about our Bible reading helps to keep us ‘on track’ and we can also find that the conversations about the Scriptures can be just as helpful as reading them by ourselves. Accountability, insight, and fellowship are all great benefits from living and sharing our faith together. And this includes me, I am always here and always available to speak to or check in with you about faith, the Bible, and spirituality. If you’d like to come and see me or have a conversation about how faith is at the moment the please do get in touch and we can arrange a time to meet and talk. Likewise if you’d like to email me updates on what you’re reading or to ask questions – please have at it!

The reason why I’m encouraging reading the scriptures is because, frankly, Sunday mornings at Church isn’t the best way to hear and experience much of the Bible. If you were to come every single Sunday with no exceptions for three years (the length of the lectionary cycle of readings) you would hear a little less than 60% of the NT gospels, 25% of the NT epistles and less than 4% of the Old Testament. Yet all of scripture is God breathed (2 Timothy 3.16) and I don’t want you to miss out.

(Spoiler alert, I think it’s awesome).

If you’d like to read something that’s not likely to crop up on a Sunday and which doesn’t often make the top lists of ‘most popular Bible readings’, might I suggest Psalm 19? The way it draws us into the larger picture of God’s story and revelation is something I find genuinely exciting.

As the rain has watered the ground, let us water our souls with the ‘lively oracles of God’.

With Every Blessing,
Revd Samuel S. Thorp

As ever, please feel free to give me a call or contact me on vicar@holytrinityandstmargarets.co.uk 

Psalm 19
A Psalm of David.

1. The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

7 The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.

12 Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.  

Taken from the English Standard Version

Jeanne Sholl’s Funeral
June 3rd at St Margaret’s at 11am, followed by burial at the Hazlemere Cemetery.

Watch this Space:

• Ascension Day Communion – St Margarets at 7:30pm May 29th
• MAP Feedback – The Sanctuary from 1:30pm May 31st
• Open Gardens – Teas and Coffees in the Sanctuary on June 8th
• Holy Trinity’s Patronal Festival Service – Joint Benefice Service June 15th  10am
• Pet Service at Holy Trinity – June 22nd at 4pm followed by refreshments
• “Exploring… the Early Church” Course running throughout August
• Heritage Weekend 13th/14th September
• SAVE THE DATE: Harvest Supper 4th of October
• And finally but by no means least, St Margaret’s Patronal Festival Joint Benefice Service where we shall be joined by our new Bishop, the Rt Revd Dave Bull on October 19th.

A Reading from Jerome of Stridon

Union with Christ in Grace, Love, and the Spirit

…that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.

– John 17.23

The human soul’s essence isn’t identical with God’s essence, as Manichees (a sect of gnostic heretics) forever claim. Yet our Lord does say: “You have loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17.23). Our honour, then, isn’t to share in God’s essence with regard to His very nature, but to share in Him in the realm of His grace. For the reason why the Father loves us is that He loves the Son; therefore all who belong to the Son (the members of His body) are likewise loved. “For as many as received Him, He gave them power to become God’s sons, even to believers in His name: who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of man’s will, but of God” (John 1.12-13). The Word became flesh to enable us to pass from flesh into the Word. In becoming flesh,the Word didn’t stop being what He had always been. Nor did His humanity lose what it was by birth: its glory was enlarged, but its nature wasn’t changed.

Would you know how we become one body with Christ? Your Creator is your teacher: “Whoever east My flesh and drinks My blood dwells in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats Me will live because of Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven” (John 6.56-58). The Gospel writer John, who drank in wisdom from Christ’s breast agrees.

“By this we know that we dwell in Him, and He in us: because He has given us of His Spirit. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in God. (1 John 4:13, 15)

If then you have faith in Christ, as the apostles had, you will become one body with them in Christ.

– Jerome of Stridon, from Against Jovinianus 2.29

In August we shall be ‘Exploring… the Early Church’ by finding out about some key figures like Jerome of Stridon – both some of their key ideas but also some of their escapades and adventures! More details coming soon…

SAFEGUARDING: There are safeguarding officers attached to both churches. Contact details can be found in the porches.