The Welland-Fosse Benefice: Prayers and Notices.

 Sunday18 July 2021:  Trinity VII

 

• Please remember in your prayers those who are sick: Sylvia Martin, Margaret & Derek Barker, Sussie Clements, Judith Piggott and Jane Williams. Pray too for the departed.
• Zoom Morning Prayer continues on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8.30 am with Compline on Thursday at 6pm.
• Next Sunday we are in church at South Luffenham at 9.30 am and on Zoom at 11 am. Please bring a mask to church as there is so much uncertainty and wariness among people still.
• On Wednesday 21^st at 11 am in Barrowden Church there will be a preliminary meeting for all those adults who are thinking about the short confirmation course this summer. All welcome. No need to book.

 

MORCOTT:

Looking ahead, the next (August) service will be led by lay people, so will not be holy communion. 

 

SOUTH LUFFENHAM:

Services in South Luffenham Church: Sunday 25th July 9.30 am Holy Communion (CA).
Sally is looking for donations of good condition children’s books for a children’s box at the South Luffenham Community Library. Please email sally@saltlane.com if you have any that she can collect. 

 

MEDITATION: By a parishioner.   The mustard seed is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree.’ Mat 13 v 32

‘I recently had to make some decisions about my own faith journey. In my musings, in a very simplistic way, I compared the course of faith to the lifecycle of a plant.’

 

Ask yourself…

Am I a seed? Just starting out in faith, unsure what I will become and hiding in the dark, maybe lying dormant until the right conditions make me send out spindly roots and tentative shoots.

Am I forming strong roots? Studying, asking questions, reaching into the depth of the soil for nutrition to help me grow.

Am I a tiny seedling? Starting to stick my head over the parapet, standing up for faith principles, seeking the light and learning more each day.

Am I leaves and stem? Taking in carbon dioxide and sunlight to grow tall and strong, assured and faithful.

Am I a flower bud? Slowly unfurling, showing promise of good things to come. 

Am I a flower? In the full bloom and glory of faith – confident and bright, attracting the attention of people around me.

 

At every stage after germination a plant’s growth and development need the right conditions:

Fertile soil and nutrients – reading the Bible and an enquiring mind,

Sunlight – the fellowship of fellow Christians,

Water – regularly topped up in worship,

The invisible, yet essential, process of photosynthesis – the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

And, of course, the flower makes the seeds for the next generation of believers.

‘The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.’ Isaiah 40 v8    

 

See wellandfosse.org for much more information, including contact details for

The Very Rev Christopher Armstrong and the churchwardens