31st May 2020
Weekly notices and a service for worship at home
El Greco, Pentecost, c.1600; Museo del Prado
NOTICES
Do you need some help?
You may have to self-isolate but you don’t have to feel alone! The council have set up a helpline for those who need help during the next few months. Call CityLife line: 0191 277 8000
You can also contact the clergy or our volunteers and we will find the best way to support you. Everyone, please keep social-distancing - stay 2 metres apart, and only go outside to exercise, and go to the shop for essentials.
Contact us here
Mental Health and Wellbeing
You may have received a copy of this 'Every Life Matters' booklet through your letterbox; we thought it would be good to share here as well. It's a guide to looking after yourself and your mental health at the moment. Covid-19 has impacted people in all sorts of ways, do not worry if it seems like everyone else is coping but you feel like you're not!
Please always feel free to reach out to our clergy and volunteers.
Giving during lockdown
One of the unforeseen pressures of lockdown is that many of our members give money physically on Sundays and this is no longer possible. To keep our work going (and make sure our buildings are still standing when we return to them!) we are asking that, if you can, please give by standing order. Regular donations help us to have a better estimate of our income and ensure we can keep our activities running.
You can set this up with your bank online using the details here.
Or download and print a standing order form here and send to your bank.
If you wish to be posted a form please call us or email church@benwellscotswood.com
Faculty for the Venerable Bede
In light of current circumstances, we are ensuring faculties are posted publicly online as well as physically outside the church.
The Venerable Bede are applying to start work on making the entranceway to the hall much safer and accessible for all physical abilities. As well as make much needed improvements to the toilet facilities. The notice will be posted here shortly or contact The Revd Dominic Coad and objections may be submitted via email to dac@newcastle.anglican.org
Children's resources
We will include resources each week from Roots to help you reflect on Bible readings with children at home. You can download and print the resources here.
Missional Generation have also created a really cool Digital Family Prayer Adventure Map using an augmented reality app. You can download both the map and app here.
The Church of England have also begun developing resources to help families develop and grow in faith at home (and not just for lockdown use!) You can find the videos here.
WORSHIP
Pentecost
Reflection by The Revd David Kirkwood
Service led by The Revd Chris Minchin
We will pray at 10am on Sunday, join us at home at if you can.
Listen here:
Opening prayer
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Alleluia. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Jesus Christ, whom we worship, is our crucified, risen and ascended Lord
and we have walked with him through his journey of love.
We have faced the agony of his suffering and death on a cross.
We have rejoiced at his bursting free from the bonds of death.
We have enjoyed his risen presence with us
and his revelation of himself through the breaking of bread.
We have seen his return to the throne before which every knee shall bow
and every tongue confess that this Jesus is Lord.
And now, with the followers of his own time,
we await the coming of the promised Holy Spirit, his gift to his people,
through whom we make Christ known to the world.
As we wait in silence,
(fill us with your Spirit.)
As we listen to your word,
(fill us with your Spirit.)
As we worship you in majesty,
(fill us with your Spirit.)
As we long for your refreshing,
(fill us with your Spirit.)
As we long for your renewing,
(fill us with your Spirit.)
As we long for your equipping,
(fill us with your Spirit.)
As we long for your empowering,
fill us with your Spirit.
The Pentecost Reading
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs – in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
(Acts 2.1-21)
The Lord is here
His spirit is with us.
Gloria in Excelsis
Glory to God, glory in the highest,
peace to his people, peace on earth.
Glory to God, glory in the highest,
peace to his people, peace on earth.
Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father.
Glory to God, glory in the highest,
peace to his people, peace on earth.
We worship you,
glory in the highest,
give you thanks,
glory in the highest,
praise you for your glory.
Glory to God, glory in the highest,
peace to his people, peace on earth.
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father
Lord God, Lamb of God,
you take away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us,
have mercy on us;
you are seated at the right hand of the Father:
receive our prayer, receive our prayer.
Glory to God, glory in the highest,
peace to his people, peace on earth.
Glory to God, glory in the highest,
peace to his people, peace on earth.
For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God, the glory of God the Father.
Glory to God, glory in the highest,
peace to his people, peace on earth.
Amen, amen.
Collect
Let us pray that the Spirit will work through our lives
to bring Christ to the world.
Holy Spirit, sent by the Father,
ignite in us your holy fire;
strengthen your children with the gift of faith,
revive your Church with the breath of love,
and renew the face of the earth,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Gospel
Alleluia, alleluia.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful people and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Alleluia.
The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’
(John 20.19–23)
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ!
Reflection
by The Revd David Kirkwood
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Amen
Today is Pentecost Sunday, sometimes called ‘The birthday of the church’, the day we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit. The power from on high, promised at the Ascension, now descends upon the gathered followers of Jesus and equips them to carry the gospel to the whole world. You may feel there is something ironic about this. We hear how Jesus’ followers are sent out, yet we still feel shut in. There is something painful in recalling the liberating and uniting Spirit in a world that is locked down and divided. But the promise of the Spirit has never been the promise of an easy life or one without struggle and contradiction. Just as we misunderstand the Ascension if we see it as a pain free wafting upwards, a reversal of the work of the cross and passion rather than its fruition, so too we mistake the promise of the Holy Spirit if we think it will mean a deliverance from the reality of struggle. Perhaps like me you find lockdown means some mundane struggles; temptations to eat or drink a little too much, exercise too little or watch too much TV. But sometimes there are unanticipated benefits. This week I saw two programmes I wouldn’t normally watch but that got me thinking … On Ascension Day as we reflected on Jesus on the mountain top, I watched a film about the life of mountaineer Hamish Mcinnes. I had never heard of him, but in the climbing world he is a bit of a superstar. Not only is he known for famous climbs in the Himalayas and the Alps, he was also a pioneer in the fields of mountaineering technology and mountain rescue. He designed among other things an all metal ice axe credited with saving many lives, a mobile stretcher suitable for use in all kinds of terrain and adapted for easy use with helicopter winches. He wrote a standard manual on mountain rescue and for many years led the mountain rescue team at Glencoe where he lived. All fascinating but even more surprising was the way the story was told. Hamish, now in his eighties, had been found outside his home in a collapsed and delirious state. He was taken to hospital with memory loss and placed in a care home. His memory began to return as he was shown footage and books showing his past achievements and, in the film as we shared in seeing those things, he talked both about his past and the journey of recovering it. He was not a little indignant about his treatment in the care home. He had obtained the records of his stay and was able to read the carers’ accounts of various incidents. The most revealing was an account of how one morning he went missing, he was not in his bed nor in the dining room. A search soon discovered he had made his way out onto a fire escape and proceeded to ascend the outside of the care home. When confronted, he was threatening to jump, but he later explained, he was not about to jump down, but across to the adjoining roof being very used to leaping across crevasses! Quite clearly the care staff were out of their depth. They are not alone. How much life experience lies behind the lost looking eyes we see in our care homes? and how easily it can be overlooked. Whatever the rights and wrongs of individual cases the current pandemic has exposed the sad reality of a care system in which both residents and carers are undervalued. Do we really want to get back to normal there? Hamish’s story was one of astonishing vitality, determination and creativity not just in the face of adversity but stimulated by adversity whether the deliberately sought out challenges of the mountain trail or the unlooked-for struggle with illness and old age. Here was a spirit that would not be crushed.
The other film was also about mountain climbing, it centred on the rock stack, off Orkney, known as ‘The Old Man of Hoy’. It was about a young man, Jesse Dufton, and his determination to climb the stack. Nothing unusual about that, you might think, it is something many climbers endeavour to do. The difference was that Jesse is blind. It was an inspiring story of a young man who had discovered a passion for climbing and refused to allow his visual impairment to stop him, even though his sight loss was near total. How was he able to undertake what is a massive challenge for an experienced sighted person? Again courage, determination, skill were all needed but they would not have been sufficient without a further crucial ingredient. The secret was his climbing partner, Molly, a sighted woman, an able climber, who had also become his wife. Since they met on a climbing trip at University, they had climbed together. She was able to accompany him and effectively be his eyes. She would climb with him and describe to him the possible handholds and footholds as well as the dangers, loose rocks, crevasses even menacing looking seabirds in the line of advance.
These two mountaineering films both in different ways showed real struggles with real dangers but also real rewards. Jesus the ascended Lord is also the one who descended to share in our struggles. Jesus carried our humanity up into the heavenly places, but this New Humanity is forged in and marked by each step of its earthly struggle. So too with the gift of the Spirit it is not intended to remove us from the fight but to unite us with the Victor. The church in every generation is called to embark on fresh ascents, new endeavours. The current crisis may well prove to be one such trial, we do not want to be found wanting. Indeed, there is no excuse to be found so. The promise of the Spirit is the promise that we will be equipped for the tasks required. But what does that mean? Let’s go back, if we may, to our climbers.
McInnes was hugely impressive not just for his sheer determination or his practical skill but for the way he was able to turn his inventiveness and creativity towards problem solving, not just for himself, but for the whole climbing community, a new ice axe, a box tent, a practical rescue stretcher, equipment from which all would benefit.
The work of the Holy Spirit to equip can mean literally that. We are given the tools and techniques for our ascending. The Holy Scriptures, the Sacraments, the framework of the Church and its teaching. Not only so but we see how these are enriched and added too in every generation, isn’t that vitality and creativity what is really meant by tradition? All this is indeed the work of the Spirit. We are equipped with great gifts of incalculable worth. We neglect them at our peril.
But the work of the Holy Spirit is still more than that. What about Jesse and Molly? The Paraclete, Advocate and Guide, is what we are promised, not a thing but a person. A climbing partner who does not simply tell us what to do or where to go but accompanies us. A partner who explains and interprets the landscape in which we find ourselves, points out potential handholds, possible routes, and also the very real dangers, but at the same time doesn’t take from us the freedom to make the climb our own.
As the new landscape of the post Covid 19 world starts to emerge we know there will be new struggles, new tasks, we cannot avoid them. Are we ready to take up the equipment we have been given? Are we willing to seek new solutions to new problems and so equip one another and those yet to come? Above all are we willing to open our hearts and minds to the Living Spirit, to hear and heed the gentle but persistent guidance of our climbing partner?
Amen
Prayers
We pray for God to fill us with his Spirit.
Response:
Lord, come to bless us
and fill us with your Spirit.
Generous God,
we thank you for the power of your Holy Spirit.
We ask that we may be strengthened to serve you better.
We thank you for the wisdom of your Holy Spirit.
We ask you to make us wise to understand your will.
Wisdom for our leaders and governments.
For all with earthly power to act justly.
We thank you for the peace of your Holy Spirit.
We ask you to keep us confident of your love wherever you call us.
For peace in the USA.
For those who need to be heard but are not.
For all returning to school and work in the coming weeks.
We thank you for the healing of your Holy Spirit.
We ask you to bring reconciliation and wholeness
where there is division, sickness and sorrow.
All who have asked for our prayers
Lesley Towers
Stan Adams
The Jarvis family after the unexpected loss of their father
Alan Robson and his family after the death of his daughter Pauline, following an operation.
All affected by Covid19.
We thank you for the gifts of your Holy Spirit.
We ask you to equip us for the work which you have given us.
Vocations in the church.
For our own gifts to flourish.
Bishops Christine and Mark.
For all who bring the love of Christ to the world.
We thank you for the fruit of your Holy Spirit.
We ask you to reveal in our lives the love of Jesus.
Our community groups and all who volunteer
West end Foodbank
Cornerstone
Pendower Good Neighbour Project
North Benwell Youth Project
SEARCH
Changing Lives
We thank you for the breath of your Holy Spirit,
given us by the risen Lord.
We ask you to keep the whole Church, living and departed,
in the joy of eternal life.
Richard Jarvis
Pauline Rossen
David Cooper
James 'Jim' Sheriff
Carol Ann Marshall
Elsie Lytton
Ruth Smith
Joan Bright
Cyril Winskill
All victims of Covid19
Generous God,
you sent your Holy Spirit upon your Messiah at the river Jordan,
and upon the disciples in the upper room:
in your mercy fill us with your Spirit,
hear our prayer,
and make us one in heart and mind
to serve you with joy for ever. Amen.
Lord's Prayer
Being made one by the power of the Spirit,
let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Hymn
The Spirit lives to set us free,
Walk, walk in the light.
He binds us all in unity,
Walk, walk in the light.
Chorus:
Walk in the light, Walk in the light, Walk in the light, Walk in the light of the Lord.
Jesus promised life to all, Walk, walk in the light. The dead were wakened by his call, Walk, walk in the light. [Chorus]
He died in pain on Calvary,
Walk, walk in the light.
To save the lost like you and me,
Walk, walk in the light. [Chorus]
We know his death was not the end,
Walk, walk in the light.
He gave his Spirit to be our friend,
Walk, walk in the light. [Chorus]
The Spirit lives in you and me, Walk, walk in the light; His light will shine for all to see, Walk, walk in the light. [Chorus]
Commission:
For fifty days we have celebrated the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ over the powers of sin and death. We have proclaimed God’s mighty acts and we have prayed that the power that was at work when God raised Jesus from the dead might be at work in us.
As part of God’s Church wherever you are, I call upon you to live out what you proclaim.
Empowered by the Holy Spirit, will you dare to walk into God’s future, trusting him to be your guide?
By the Spirit’s power, we will.
Will you dare to embrace each other and grow together in love?
We will.
Will you dare to share your riches in common and minister to each other in need?
We will.
Will you dare to pray for each other until your hearts beat with the longings of God?
We will.
Will you dare to carry the light of Christ into the world’s dark places?
We will.
The Lord is here.
His Spirit is with us.
Filled with the Spirit’s power,
go in the light and peace of Christ. Alleluia, alleluia.
Thanks be to God. Alleluia, alleluia.