23/05/21
News from the Benwell & Scotswood
Image: Sadao Watanabe, Pentecost, 1975. Hand-colored kappazuri-dyed stencil print on washi paper
NEWS
APCM after the service today
St James, 11.20am
This year's 'Annual Parochial Church Meeting' will be held directly after the Sunday morning service today
(This will also combine the ADCMs for the individual churches).
Worship returns to St James'
Our team service has now returned to St James' Benwell. You are very welcome to join us even if you're new!
Sundays at 10.30am
Benwell Lane
NE15 6RS
Accessibility
10:30 at St James
LIVE STREAM
Sadly we currently don't have the capability to provide captions on our Live stream (though we hope to change this!) but you are most welcome to come in person to the 10:30am Service at St James and we will be happy to accommodate you the best we can.
IN PERSON
We would like to welcome everyone. St James can be accessed by a wheelchair and we do have a Disabled Toilet that can be used. The welcome team will be more than happy to assist you during your visit. If you would like to inform us in advance that you are interested in coming please click here. Please don't hesitate to get in touch with us!
Covid 19 Update:
Please Remember: Hands, Face, Space, We will still need to sanitise our hands on entering the church, Also Wearing a Face Covering and Staying 2 Meters Apart .
Following the change in guidance from Monday 17th May, from today we will be allowed to meet inside the church after the service, in socially distanced groups of 6 or less, or two households. As long as the weather is good, we will continue to go outside after the service, but this means we can shelter from the rain if necessary!
Please remember face coverings still must be worn (unless you are medically exempt or while doing a reading in the service).
ALTERNATIVE WORDS FOR PENTECOST
Introduction
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.
Collect
Let us pray that the Spirit will work through our lives
to bring Christ to the world.
God, who as at this time
taught the hearts of your faithful people
by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit:
grant us by the same Spirit
to have a right judgement in all things
and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort;
through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful people
and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Alleluia.
Intercession
James, Christina, and baby Xavier
Ali Zareie and his family
The Riches Family
Jill Sorley,
Joyce Phillips,
George Snowden,
Claire Mozaffari,
Eric Harling,
Herbert Agbeko,
Anastasia Miklewright,
Margaret Wall
Edward Fraser
All those who are Struggling at home or in hospital with Covid 19
Rest In Peace :
Thomas 'Tucker' Wilson
All who lost their lives from Covid 19
The Peace
God has made us one in Christ.
He has set his seal upon us and, as a pledge of what is to come,
has given the Spirit to dwell in our hearts. Alleluia.
The Eucharistic Prayer
It is indeed right, it is our duty and our joy,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
holy Father, almighty and everlasting God,
through Jesus Christ, your only Son our Lord.
This day we give you thanks
because in fulfilment of your promise
you pour out your Spirit upon us,
filling us with your gifts, leading us into all truth,
and uniting peoples of many tongues in the confession of one faith.
Your Spirit gives us grace to call you Father,
to proclaim your gospel to all nations
and to serve you as a royal priesthood.
Therefore we join our voices with angels and archangels,
and with all those in whom the Spirit dwells,
to proclaim the glory of your name,
for ever praising you and saying:
Post Communion
Faithful God,
who fulfilled the promises of Easter
by sending us your Holy Spirit
and opening to every race and nation
the way of life eternal:
open our lips by your Spirit,
that every tongue may tell of your glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
Blessing of Light
The ministers go to the Easter Candle.
A minister says
Blessed are you, sovereign God, overflowing in love.
With Pentecost dawns the age of the Spirit.
Now the flame of heaven rests on every believer.
Strong and weak, women and men tell out your word;
the young receive visions, the old receive dreams.
With the new wine of the Spirit
they proclaim your reign of love.
Amid the birth pangs of the new creation
the way of light is made known.
Source of freedom, giver of life,
blessed are you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God for ever.
(Candles may be lit)
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 here in N, 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.
Conclusion
The Lord is here.
His Spirit is with us.
Today we have remembered the coming of God’s power on the disciples and we invite that same Spirit to drive us out into the wild places of the world.
May the Spirit,
who hovered over the waters when the world was created,
breathe into you the life he gives.
Amen.
May the Spirit,
who overshadowed the Virgin when the eternal Son came among us,
make you joyful in the service of the Lord.
Amen.
May the Spirit,
who set the Church on fire upon the Day of Pentecost,
bring the world alive with the love of the risen Christ.
Amen.
And the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always.
Amen.
Filled with the Spirit’s power,
go in the light and peace of Christ. Alleluia, alleluia.
Thanks be to God. Alleluia, alleluia.
Readings
Acts: 2.1-21
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.”
John: 15.26 -27, 16.4-15
‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them.
‘I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
SERMON
The Revd David Kirkwood
May I speak in the Name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Amen
And Holy Spirit – the third person of the Trinity whom we especially remember today on Pentecost Sunday.
The reading from Acts tells the story of the first day of Pentecost and makes it clear this is a day of change, radical change and the Spirit is the Agent of change.
On Easter Day we lit and blessed a new fire a symbol of Jesus Resurrection, at Pentecost we see how the light and fire released by the resurrection cannot be contained. The Holy Spirit descends in tongues of flame giving birth to a living church. No longer frightened and confused the disciples are changed, inspired and empowered to spread good news. What is the reaction to this change? Well at first it is not encouraging, shock, amusement, ‘look they are drunk’, but it doesn’t matter, the disciples, now apostles, are not deterred and soon, not only is Peter preaching good news but many more are convinced, being changed in their turn.
‘We shall be changed’–words from St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, words that I heard a couple of weeks ago being sung in Handel’s Messiah at the funeral of a friend. ‘We shall be changed’ how does that make us feel? We can feel excited by the prospect of change, but we can also feel apprehensive. We know the pandemic has been forcing change on us and that can definitely make us anxious and uncomfortable. Hearing that beautiful rendition of those words soaring above my friend’s coffin - words which he had chosen- seemed like a reassurance. ‘We shall be changed’. It is a good thing- even the most frightening and fearful change which is death itself can be welcomed and in the light of Jesus Resurrection and through the work of the Holy Spirit be turned to good. Whatever anxiety we may feel should be set against that hope.
The change that gives hope is the work of the Holy Spirit. As we recall that first Pentecost, we recall it not as a gift given once long ago, but as a gift poured out continually bringing the church to life in every generation, in every moment of its existence. There is a complete continuity between then and now; that continuity means change is always on the agenda. From death to life, from fear to hope from being rudderless, tossed about without any sense of direction to a clarity of vision and purpose, from ‘not a people’ to ‘God’s people’. The Spirit’s work was not done once for all time, but the Spirit’s work is to continually make that transformation until the Lord comes.
That is the perspective from which we should face our changing situation. It is not God abandoning the church it is never about that, there are times when the church sems fearful rudderless tossed about, it is not God abandoning the church, but it may be a warning, where the church is in danger of abandoning Him. The Spirit calls us to a fresh sense of vision. It is not a threat but a promise--We shall be changed. Amen