News and Comments for Pentecost Sunday May 31st 2020
Pentecost Sunday May 31st. “Live” stream Mass from Church on Facebook page Sunday at 9:30am.
Live Music for Pentecost from our Director of Music and family streamed at 11:00am.
The Festival of Pentecost comes from a Jewish harvest festival called Shavuot. The apostles were celebrating this festival when the Holy Spirit descended on them. It sounded like a very strong wind, and it looked like tongues of fire. The apostles then found themselves speaking in foreign languages, inspired by the Holy Spirit. People passing by at first thought that they must be drunk, but the apostle Peter told the crowd that the apostles were full of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost also reminds us of The Holy Spirit. For some Christians, the Holy Spirit is like “the forgotten God,” we talk much of “God,” or “Jesus,” but the Holy Spirit gets less attention. Perhaps this is because we do not understand fully what the Spirit is.
Pentecost took place on the heels of Jesus’ final command, “Go and make disciples.” After a brief pause — like the calm before a mighty storm, the Holy Spirit arrived! As we celebrate Pentecost, we cannot help but realize the magnificent responsibility given to us. The Book of Acts opens with a bang (Acts 2:2) and the world begins to be turned upside down by the Church (Acts 17:6). This should encourage us. We, too, should be hard at work — in our church, in our workplace, in our homes sharing the gospel, and living out our faith. This Holy Spirit whom we so easily take for granted — living in us — is God, in all His holiness, infinity, majesty, and glory. This year when we have more time on our hands, use Pentecost to read the Book of Acts, especially chapter 2. Take time to pray and reflect.
Good News! Your PCC (Parochial Church Council) voted unanimously to appoint Dave McGrory as our Parish Treasurer to succeed Liz Somers-James who died very suddenly on Palm Sunday April 5th.
The Question of Church Finance – As your parish priest, I would very much like to extend my sincere thanks to all those people in our congregation who have continued to give your weekly/monthly offering to the Church over the duration of this pandemic. I have firmly resisted talking about money and giving, as I am acutely aware that many people have been struggling just to survive financially from week to week.
We will inevitably face an acute financial shortfall in our ability to pay our bills after all this has passed, but for the time being, I believe that we should concentrate on the urgent pastoral matters before us, and worry about money later down the road. I have always maintained that if we get our commitment to God in proper perspective, the giving looks after itself. “The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.”—George Mueller
However, I must offer a very special thank you to all those new people who have now signed up as regular givers. If you wish to set up a Standing order for your giving, here is our Church Bank details: Nat West Bank: Sort code 60-17-17 Account no 82912408. Thank you!