Ascension Church Bath

Vicars thoughts for 20th May 2012

Chris — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:37:18 +0000

Serving the King of kings

Steve Clifford, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance, recently heard a government minister speak eloquently about the Church’s valuable contributions to communities all over our country. When his turn came to speak, Steve politely commented that the Church had been doing this for centuries, way before the ‘Big Society’ was even thought of. He said – this is what the Church has been doing and will continue to do regardless of government directive or policy. Today we will hear Wes Bell speak of how Christians have been working with street children in the Philippines, a work sustained over many years now. As we gather next weekend to pray over our vision for fresh directions at Ascension we too will be asking, what does the Lord of our hearts ask of us? Our scriptures today speak of the ‘true fast’ the Lord wants, and then of Jesus calling us to be like the children he took in his arms and blessed in our seeking of His Kingdom. Much of what we do as Christians here or in Manila may feel childlike, foolish even. But in going this way, we go the way of the King of kings. It is Ascension Sunday, when we are reminded that we don’t serve just a good idea, but the Risen Lord who has overcome even death itself and before whom one day every knee shall bow.

Vicars thoughts for 13th May 2012

Chris — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:29:44 +0000

New Connections

It has become my conviction that as a Church, however well we do what we currently do, we are not connecting with many parts of our population. Today we will be focusing on our youth work at Ascension – and how we connect with different parts of the teenage generations. But the young people may be just one group of people we don’t always connect with! It’s a bit like someone redesigned the electric plug – the electricity is just the same, it’s just the plug won’t go in the socket! This is not new – we’ll hear of 2 young men from the Bible, Jeremiah and Timothy who were both called to connect, sometimes with difficult things to say! Jesus himself spoke of new wine skins, as well as old ones, saying we can’t just patch the old, sometimes we need new. He himself brought new wine. Jesus’ own hearers found this difficult to hear, many rejected Him. You’ll hear St Paul stress to Timothy that the message itself isn’t new, it’s how we say it. The good old Church of England, at ordinations, has for centuries publicly declared, ‘The Church is called to proclaim the faith afresh in each generation’. The ordination service goes on to explain to new ministers that they cannot do this without the power of the Holy Spirit and to pray earnestly for it! As we stretch forward with fresh vision, let us ask the Lord, the Spirit, to guide us, give us courage, and help us to love through all we do. Love puts others first!

This weeks Vicars Thoughts

Chris — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:44:59 +0000

‘Jesus turned our sorrow into dancing’

So we will sing this morning. Come and join us, discover the joy that Jesus brings to those who mourn…..The Blessing of Jesus we are considering, nay celebrating, this morning is:

Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted

Mourning takes many forms – yes on bereavement, but through other losses too, perhaps a job, perhaps a falling out with a friend, perhaps an injustice put on us we can do nothing about. At root we feel robbed in some way, that things are not as they ought to be! I wrote down some years ago, ‘Jesus ministry was to those who mourn’ (stating the obvious….?). In his Blessings, Jesus assures us of what he came to do in his Father’s name – he came to bring comfort – which is the exact same word as he later gave to the Holy Spirit – the Comforter. It sounds a woolly word to us, but those who have discovered Jesus ministry to them as they mourn (whatever they mourn) have found it far from woolly. It is powerful to free, to renew, to lift up, whatever presses us down. Cool!

Blessings

Robert

Our Bible readings this Sunday will be…..’

2 Corinthians 1.3-9

Matthew 5.1-2, 4

Luke 13.10-17

Prayer Walking – in preparation for the May Days

Chris — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:06:02 +0000

Prayer Walking - in preparation for the May Days, we want to do some fresh Prayer Walking around our Parish (we did this monthly for a few years not so long ago). It involves going out in 2s or 3s and seeing what you see, sometimes meeting people, and listening to what you sense the Spirit of God would have us pray for. The dates fixed are as follows:

- Sunday May 6^th – during the 10.30 am worship

- Thursday 17^th May (Ascension Day) – we will hold a simple Communion at 1.30 pm in Church, with Prayer Walking for those who wish at 2 pm

- Saturday 19^th May 10 am on this Saturday morning before the May Days on the following weekend.

Plan to come to one, two or three!

May Days – Sat 26th & Sun 27th May Vision Gathering Weekend

Chris — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:05:07 +0000

May Days – Sat 26^th & Sun 27^th May

We’ve been gathering ideas and seeking to renew our vision as a Church over the last months, starting with a Season of Prayer right through the autumn and winter. Robert said a bit about this at our Annual Meeting last week. We want to have an opportunity for the whole Church to join in this process, and so are holding 2 Days of listening, sharing and rejoicing (and just being together!) – PLEASE PLAN TO COME! – the basic details are…..

Saturday 26^th will run 10 am – 5 pm, being led off by Simon Holland Vicar at Walcot (who led our 24 hrs leaders time away in January), and we will pray over and reflect together on various initiatives that have been suggested – using ‘stations’ around the Church buildings.

Sunday 27^th (Pentecost) will be our ‘normal’ services, except we will invite the congregation to visit the stations for themselves, feedback what we have been hearing on the Saturday etc. We did this following our 2009 Vision Gathering day, and we all seemed to really enjoy being part of it!

HOLY WEEK & EASTER 2012 The Greatest Story Ever Told

Chris — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:02:14 +0000

HOLY WEEK & EASTER 2012

The Greatest Story Ever Told

Palm Sunday

The King comes into Jerusalem on a donkey

9 am Holy Communion

10:30 am Celebration Worship

Holy Wednesday

3.45 pm Worship at Culverhay Nursing Home

(with Communion for those who wish)

Maundy Thursday

We share in the Meal Christ gave us

7:30 pm Holy Communion at St. Michael’s Twerton

Good Friday

The Power of the Cross

10 am Churches Together worship at Oldfield Park Baptist Church followed by

Walk of Witness to Twerton Round Hill for 12 noon

(soup and roll after in St. Barnabas Church Hall)

2 pm The Final Hour before the Cross at Ascension

Easter Sunday

Rest, Rhythm and Balance

9 am Holy Communion

10:30 am All-Age Communion

5.30 pm Choral Celebration “Peoples Passion” (see below)

6.00 pm Refreshments

6:30 pm Easter Songs of Praise

Easter Day special evening celebration – ‘The People’s Passion’

a nationwide Easter celebration initiated by the BBC. This music will be part of a 30-minute choral celebration at 5.30pm, followed by refreshments, and then congregational Easter worship. We did something similar last Easter, and the last 2 Christmasses.

You can hear all the music on the website (www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/peoples-passion), and it sounds very attractive, with excellent poetry for the words. It includes the line ‘Love has won’ which may resonate with those of you who read Rob Bell!!

The choir will be enlarged by a few from other churches around, and other churches without evening services have also been invited to the event itself. So we invite you to hear the enlarged choir at 5.30pm, stay on for refreshments at 6 pm and Easter Songs of Praise at 6.30pm.

Come to some of it, or all of it!

Film Night at St Bart’s

Chris — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:56:20 +0000

Film Night at St Bart’s (King Edward Rd) (see separate article)

This meets monthly, usually on Saturday nights at 7.30pm. They show films that are thought-provoking, rather than merely entertaining. Sue and Phil Weaver go regularly and enjoy it; it’s free, and there are refreshments provided by a rota of the regular members.

The next film is on Sat 14 Apr at 7.30pm -’Ghosts’, a film about the tragedy of the Morecambe Bay Chinese cockle pickers, which also looks at the issue of people-trafficking. The lead actress is one of the survivors! Have a word with Phil or Sue if you are interested.

Little Fishes Toddler Group

Chris — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:49:57 +0000

this meets on Wednesdays in term time from 1-2.30 pm in the Hall. We moved it to the afternoon from the morning to both relaunch and refresh the group, and also so that the Stepping Stones pre-school could operate on 5 mornings of the week rather than just 4. We think we are the only afternoon group in the area, so please spread the word that it’s on – we often find very local parents just don’t know we’re here!! Leaflets are available in the church or hall. It’s a great fun time to relax together with others who have young children. The leaders are Becky Joyce and Caroline Hughes.

Annual Parochial Church Meeting Sunday 22nd April

Chris — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:48:05 +0000

Annual Parochial Church Meeting Sunday 22^nd April - this is our annual time of reflecting on and celebrating the last year, and looking forward to where we might head as a Church. As in recent years, we do this as part of our worship at our 10.30 am – to keep it light, and to make celebrating what happens here an act of worship in itself. We then do the business stuff after the worship for about ½ an hour – elections of churchwardens, church council members etc. Booklets with the reports, accounts etc. are available in church from 1^st April.

Welcome to The Ascension Knitting Group

Chris — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:45:27 +0000

Welcome to The Ascension Knitting Group

Oldfield Park Community Knitting Group has decided they’d like to come under the umbrella of Ascension – welcome to you! The current leaders are Pat Spreadbury and Jen Lillington, and they usually meet on 1^st Wednesdays and 3^rd Mondays each month. The group knit for charity, and perhaps of particular note is their link with a community in Mountain Ash in the South Wales Valleys, some of whom visited us in January (as reported in the Feb-Mar edition). We still hope to organize a return visit. The group have a Bring & Buy Coffee morning in our hall Sat 14^th April 10 am – 12 noon to which all are welcome