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May
2024
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| Services |
| 5th |
10.00am |
Messy
Church |
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10.30am |
Rev
Ray Lewis |
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(C) |
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6.00pm |
Taize
Service |
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| 12th |
10.30am |
Rev
Ann Roberts |
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| 19th |
10.30am |
Adrian
Watts (Pentecost) |
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| 26th |
10.00am |
Rev
A.S.Richard-Clarke |
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(C)
denotes communion will be held as part
of the worship service
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| Weekday
Meetings |
| Monday |
Craft
Group
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2.00pm
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6th
and 20th
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| Wednesday |
Luncheon
Club |
12:00 noon for 12.30 |
1st,
15th and 29th |
| Thursday |
Bible
Study |
3.00pm |
2nd,
16th and 30th |
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BMS
Social Evening - Wednesday May 22nd
To further out links with BMS/World Mission
we are holding a social evening to choose the
BMS worker who will be our 'Link Missionary'
a way to be more involved with this particular
section of the work of BMS. We will be hearing
from a variety of missionaries (through their
video letters) before deciding which one best
fits us.
As usual, we will also be eating together. As
we have often done before, we will enjoy a variety
of home made soups and puddings (volunteers
offering to cook are very welcome). Do please
come and join us for the evening - from 7pm
on.
Christian
Aid Week - 12th to 18th May
It is time for our annual focus on the work
of Christian Aid - the national aid organisation
of the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.
This year the focus of Christian Aid Week will
be on Burundi, the African nation sandwiched
between Rwanda and Tanzania. Within Govilon
we will be doing our usual door to door envelope
appeal, while there will also be a sponsored
walk along the canal - from Llanfoist Crossing
to Gilwern and back (or any part thereof), beginning
at Llanfoist Crossing at 10am on Saturday 11th.
Please remember the work of Christian Aid over
this week and support their work to counter
world wide poverty as they remind us of the
hope of Life Before Death
| Gardener's
Corner |
May
is here at last. Listen for the cuckoo
and lots of other bird songs. Flowers
coming our giving lots of colour - honeysuckle,
honesty, clematis, and the varied contents
of early flowers in hanging baskets -
it is a lovely time of year. Hopefully
there will be no frosts from now on, so
greenhouse plants can be put in their
places for a colourful summer display.
The evenings are now longer, so more time
can be spent n the garden, tidying up
and weeding as necessary. Dahlia tubers
can now go in. Herbaceous plants may need
staking as they get taller. And it is
a good time to lay any new turf that is
needed. But be careful with tender plants
- there could still be a late frost, so
it is a good idea to put these in a cold
frame for safety's sake.
Leave vegetables - marrows, courgettes
and tomatoes - under cover with a cold
frame if they are put outside. Brassicas
and leeks are a bit more hardy and can
be hardened off earlier.
Tree peonies are lovely now and give plenty
of early colour. Bedding plants are abundant
just now, but be careful to buy good quality
ones. Harden of for a week or so before
planting if at all possible.
Enjoy your garden.
|
| Minister's
Musings |
Allan's
Musings
A Minister once asked our congregation how
many of us still had chocolate that was
bought for Easter. I counted two or three
hands. His point was that Easter is not
over when the eggs are gone but that it
is only a part of the great journey. I know
that while the eggs are just one of the
symbols of new life I was surprised to hear
some children explain that they were laid
by the Easter bunny! So that seems to be
as far as Easter goes and the Feast of the
Ascension seems to slip by almost unnoticed
by so many. Is that because it often falls
on a Thursday?
Ascension is, after all, one of the major
milestones in the gospel story of the life
of Jesus. The Ascension of Jesus is the
Christian teaching we see in the New Testament
that Jesus was taken up to Heaven in his
resurrected body, in the presence of eleven
of his apostles, which took place 40 days
after the resurrection. At the same time
the watching disciples were told that Jesus'
second coming would take place in the same
manner as his ascension.
One of the promises of the ascension was
that the disciples should wait to receive
spiritual power which they later did at
Pentecost.
A further promise was that Jesus told us
that after His ascension he would prepare
rooms for believers in the house of God.
He said, "In my Father's house are many
mansions: if it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you"
(John 14:2).
Had there been no ascension, there would
be no place prepared for those who trust
Christ as their Saviour.
The ascension of Jesus is stated in both
the Nicene Creed and in the Apostles' Creed
and forms a part of worship each Sunday
in many churches. Ascension scenes have
been graphically depicted in churches throughout
the Christian world, particularly in domes
and stained glass windows but also painted
on walls in earlier times. They have certainly
formed the content of many songs and hymns
of praise.
The important point here I believe is that
the place in God's house is promised only
to believers. There did not seem to be any
stipulation as to who the believers were
or what ought to be their race, colour or
culture.
I thought that the words of this song put
it better than I ever could.
In Christ there is no east or west, in
him no south or north;
but one great fam'ly bound by faith throughout
the whole wide earth.
In him shall true hearts everywhere their
high communion find;
His service is the golden cord closebinding
humankind.
Join hands, disciples in the faith what
e'er your race may be!
Who serve each other in Christ's love are
surely kin to me.
In Christ now meet both east and west, in
him meet south and north;
all Christly souls are one in him, throughout
the whole wide earth.
Text: based on Galatians 3:28 Written by
John Oxenham, 1852-1941 |
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