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WHAT DO YOU CALL A CHURCH SERVICE FOR EVERYONE?
So what do you call a church service for everyone? Answer: a church service! The trouble is that so often that’s not true. Church services require knowledge of a ‘foreign’ language, ability to sit still for a long time often on hard benches and special intuition about when to stand, kneel and sit! Adults can struggle with strange traditions like communion, so what do children think about this symbolic meal? Sadly, much of what goes on in church only makes sense when you know how to make sense of it. For a long time we have held a special service on the first Sunday of the month for everyone, and it’s the service with our largest congregation each month. We don’t always get it right, but we are trying to make it good for first timers regardless of age. Interestingly, there’s plenty of evidence that seasoned attenders like it too: Church for everyone - newcomers and regulars alike. We reckon that worshipping God and fun can mix! So what do we call this church service? Well, that’s the trouble, like Spring Harvest, it’s a bit difficult to describe. We call it a Family Service, but actually it’s not just for families, it’s for everyone. We describe it as ‘all-age’, but that doesn’t mean much. So, any new name suggestions to me on a postcard please. The best way to answer the question, is to experience it for yourself, so I invite you to a special Family Service on Sunday 2nd June at 9.45am at St Giles’ Church. It will be led by James, our youth leader and will feature the young people, children and leaders of this important part of our church. It will be a very good opportunity to find out about provision for children and young people too. We guarantee a warm welcome, so if you don’t get one, let me know! Remember, a cold church (people and building) is like cold butter. It never spreads very well! Every blessing, Adrian
WHAT NEXT?
Those days are commemorated this year on 9th and 19th May: Ascension Day and Pentecost Day. 19th May will also be the last time I will lead Sunday worship as minister of Ickenham United Reformed Church, before retiring at the end of the month. People have been asking me, “What will you do next?” One answer is that after my wife retires at the end of November we aim to settle in Hampshire to be within reach of our children and their families and other relatives. But another answer is that we have been asked to go and work for the United Church College of Higher Education in Papua New Guinea, the far side of the earth. It’s not that we are seeking to go to Papua New Guinea. It would be a pleasure to be more in touch with family and to enjoy activities we haven’t been able to do much during the last few years. But the call has come, and we wait to see if the way is opened up. It depends on the will of God expressed through decisions of the churches, and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. What next for you? That is a question I asked in last month’s ICN after Easter. I suggested the answer given by Tom Wright in a book recommended by Adrian: - to live the life of the new creation, seen in the person of the risen Jesus, whose motivating power is love. God’s kingdom is launched, and Jesus invites His hearers to join Him in making it happen. A group at the URC is considering what this means in Ickenham and drafting a profile. This will be discussed more widely and plans made for the way ahead. Churches regularly do this. St. Giles’ has its Mission Action Plan and regularly considers its implementation and development. And the Liaison Committee from both churches coordinates the churches’ work together in the community. We are all challenged, by the needs in the world around us and by the Creator, to consider “What next?” Bernie
FROM THE CHURCHES’ REGISTERS Baptism at St Giles’ Cremations at Breakspear Crematorium
ST GILES’ CHURCH STREET PRAYER LIST Each Sunday at St Giles’ Church we pray for all the people who live or work in a particular road in the Parish. During May we will pray for the following roads: May 5th The Woods If you live in one of these roads why not join us at our 8am or 9.45am services? You will be most welcome.
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“Stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.… You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8) – words of the risen Jesus to His disciples on the last day they saw Him, pointing forward to what began ten days later.