Easter, ongoing

Dear friends,

Easter is a longer “season” than Christmas. Six, sometimes seven weeks when daily readings and prayers remind us that Christ is risen, and that hope is never wasted. The Easter season ends on Pentecost Sunday, which this year falls on 5th June, the culmination of her Majesty’s Jubilee weekend. On the way to the party, let us daily remind ourselves, whether through the inspiration of Scripture, or the spring around us in the natural world, that Christ is risen, and let us find opportunities if we may to whisper, speak, sing or shout, the responsive “Hallelujah!”. As we enter the month of May, your churches and ministry team continue to offer Easter themed worship, and Sunday evenings online also returns for a short service at the eve of the day. The zoom numbers for this are below, and everyone is welcome, wherever you may be.

Worship Services for Sunday 1st May

9.30am Family Service at St John’s Stoke Row with Mr Brian Turner

11am Morning Prayer at Checkendon Church with Mr Brian Turner. With hymns, a short sermon and coffee.

6.30pm-7pm. Together at Home. A short online evening service with Revd Kevin Davies  Zoom numbers 636 645 195 and passcode 000162. Music, prayers, and a word from Mark’s gospel.

Other service options for elsewhere in the Team can be found on the Langtree Team Ministry Churches website. Do join us for worship either in person, or online, or both.

Business, business

It is the season of Church annual meetings; reports are received, elections to parish offices held, thanksgiving for the year past is made, and prayers for the times to come are offered. In many ways, however, who we are as churches before God cannot be so easily summed up in numbers, or text. This is just a momentarily snapshot of something alive, something moving and changing. Stories told, lives shared, relationships built, compassion found, connections made, hope discovered – all these are much harder to “audit”, yet nevertheless form a vital part of the Kingdom of God in these places. Checkendon’s annual meeting was held last Sunday; we did the officially required business, then toured the churchyard (to learn about it!) in the spring sunshine. And in the church, the Easter flowers continued to bring their quiet joy.

Your Rector, Canon Kevin