Weekly Bulletin for St Mary's and the Villages

Collect

God our redeemer, 

you have delivered us from the power of darkness
and brought us into the kingdom of your Son:
grant, that as by his death he has recalled us to life,
so by his continual presence in us he may raise us to eternal joy; 

through ….

Additional Collect

Risen Christ, 

by the lakeside you renewed your call to your disciples:
help your Church to obey your command 

and draw the nations to the fire of your love,
to the glory of God the Father.  

Today: Easter 6
Principal Readings 

Acts 17.22-31 Psalm 66.7-18 1 Peter 3.13-end John 14.15-21

Barton

8.00 Said Eucharist
9.30 Parish Eucharist (Trinity Altar)

11.00 Together@11

6.00  Evening Prayer

Monday

9.30-11.30 Toddler Time (St Mary's Hall)

Tuesday

2-4 Bereavement Group (St Mary's Hall)
Wednesday

9.30 Eucharist (St Mary's)
7.00 Ladies’ Singing Group (St Mary's Hall)
Thursday

Ascension Day

12.30 Eucharist (St Mary's)

2-4 Sewing Bee (St Mary's Hall)

Easter 7 Sunday after the Ascension
Principal Readings 

Acts 1.6-14; Psalm 68.1-10,32-35;  1 Peter 4.12-14; 5.6-11; John 17.1-11  

Barton

8.00 Said Eucharist
9.30 Parish Eucharist 

1.00 Baptism

6.00  Evening Prayer

Reflection: Truth to tell….

I came across an intriguing – but disturbing – suggestion a few weeks ago. All that nonsense that comes out of the mouths of self-appointed ‘experts’ and the blatant untruths coming out of political circles in the US and Russia – the people pushing them don’t expect us to believe them, not for a minute. It would be like believing that a circle had four corners, and for the most part folk aren’t that daft. No, the idea could well be to destroy our idea that there’s such a thing as ‘truth’ in the first place.  

I hope it was a spoof, but I saw a clip somewhere or other of folk in the street being asked to do a simple bit of mental arithmetic. If it was genuine, I was terrified by the chap who refused  to come up with the answer on the grounds that‘ That’s just what they want you to believe.’ I bet he has a whale of a time with his bank statement!

I suppose the hope is that the more unscrupulous type will in the end be able to get away with anything because we’ve given up on thinking in terms of ‘truthful’ and ‘untruthful’ (or even ‘more truthful’ and ‘less truthful’). Truth, with all its inconvenient and disturbing hard edges, ceases to be a problem for the would-be rabble rouser or vested interest, and the very idea of backing up an opinion with hard evidence evaporates. 

Into this rather alarming scenario, inject today’s Gospel, particularly Jesus’ promise that the Spirit of Truth will dwell within the Christian community.

We Christians believe, not that we know the whole Truth (though we’ve sometimes behaved as if we did), but that there is a Being who embodies Truth, and is the foundation of everything. There is such a thing as true and false, and that the true is to be sought out and the false identified as false, and rejected.

Yes, it needs to be done with humility, and the knowledge that we might well not have a full picture, but nonetheless, the Christian can’t at the same time, ask to be filled with the Spirit of Truth and at the same time fall into line with the ‘There’s no such thing as truth, just preferred opinions’ way of the world.  

So far, this sounds like a plea to turn up the volume of Christian truth-claims – but it’s not. Instead, as Pentecost draws nearer, it’s an invitation to us to consider our place in a world where truth is deliberately muddied. Pentecost invites us to witness to the search for truth, the commitment to sift fact from falsehood.

A world which muddies the waters by talking about ‘special military operations’ instead of war, or ‘collateral damage’ instead of ‘civilian deaths is a world already becoming allergic to truth. A world where ‘research’ means ‘I Googled for this and found this website’ is a place where fantasy is becoming inseparable from reality. And in this sort of a fog of double meaning and evasiveness there’s room enough and more for anyone hell-bent on peddling lies and untruths to have a field day.

It’s not a comfortable time in which to be a follower of the Lord, for all sorts of reasons, but it’s not a very comfortable time to be a human being either. What if we are called specifically to witness to the search for truth, to encourage others, including those outside the Church, to resist the doublespeak and fog-weaving? Could it be that we, called by the Spirit of Truth, have a particularly important part to play these days?

And if so, what would it look like? Probably a suspicion of over-simple answers to what we know to be complex questions. A willingness to allow ourselves to be disturbed by inconvenient Truth when we stumble across it. An awareness that Falsehood and God are strangers to one another, no matter how convenient the tie-up might be.  It would be about speaking truth to power, in all its forms, and being prepared to be unpopular.

We might find ourselves with some unusual fellow-travellers, and they  might be surprised to see the Christian Church also demonstrating a passion for truth, light and integrity. And of course, we’ll mess it up, because only God gets things right all the time and we’re not God.

Nevertheless, what might the Spirit of Truth want to say to our wearied, muddied world?

For our prayers

Church:

The Church in Pakistan 

Christians in the Middle East. 

Our keeping of Eastertide. 

World: 

Those in authority. 

Gaza, Iran, and all the lands of the Middle East. 

Ukraine, Sudan, Mexico. 

Peacekeepers and Peacemakers. 

Those leading in the protection of our planet 

and the resolution of the issues surrounding migrancy. 

Those newly elected as councillors.

Our Community: 

On Rogation Sunday: all those who supply our daily needs, 

especially our local farmers, businesses and producers.  

Parish cycle of prayer: MU & Ladies’ group 

Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: Fishing Industry. 

The world’s half-forgotten troubled lands:

Afghanistan, Myanmar.

Those in need. 

All who are fleeing war, poverty or climate change. 

People living under the shadow of fear, deprivation or illness; 

the anxious, the lonely and mourners. 

Those struggling to make ends meet. The homeless. 

Those in hospital or who watch with them. 

Especially, please pray for: 

Those on our Parish prayer boards

The Departed. 

Notices.

Thursday is Acension Day and there’s a 12.30 Eucharist at St Mary's

Bereavement Group meets on Tuesday 2-4 in St Mary's Hall

Ecumenical Pentecost Praise at St Mary's
Evening worship on the 24th, the feast of Pentecost will take the form of a 4.00 Songs of Praise service, ’with a little extra help from our friends (see posters). Come along and make the proverbial Joyful Noise unto the Lord!

West Lindsey Open Churches this weekend of 9th-10th May is the first of the two Open Churches weekends this year – a chance for a pleasant excursion around the Lincolnshire countryside. Not all churches by any means are easy to visit, so if (for example) you want to compare our royal coatsof arms/hatchments/rogues’gallery with that at (say) St Edith’s, Coates – here’s your chance. There’s plants on sale at Horkstow and sundry refreshments at Worlaby and Saxby, and crafts at Bonby… and that’s just round here!

St Mary's Coffee Morning: Just a heads-up that the next one is coming up on May 30th 10-12 and is a joint fund-raiser for the Hall and the Mothers’ Union.