Update on Sunday Worship

Sunday 15th June 

Trinity Sunday

Sunday
9:15 am Family Communion at St Lawrence, Towcester 
10:15 am Benefice Sunday Worship via Zoom
11:15 am Holy Communion at St Bartholomew’s, Greens Norton
2:30 pm Baptism at St Lawrence, Towcester

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Our weekly news contains details of services for this and next weekend, as well as daily bible readings, prayer requests and notices for forthcoming events.  Copies are available in churches for collecting especially for those who do not have emails.

Looking ahead to events and services that are happening please do look at the Monthly Calendar June. Copies are available in churches for collecting especially for those who do not have emails. 

Dear all,

It was good to see the village come together at Greens Norton fete last Sunday and enjoy the variety of stalls, music and food. As we move through June there are further fetes and musical opportunities with information in the flyers below in this email.

Our young people have had opportunities to learn about the faith this week. On Thursday a Year 5 class from Towcester Primary School took part in a Eucharistic Journey. With 6 stations set up around St Lawrence’s the young people thought about different parts of the Communion service, from being Welcomed, Forgiven, sharing Peace, through to sharing the bread and wine, and then being Sent Out. Each station related to a particular symbol and there were things to think about and to do. Over the coming weeks more classes from the church schools will be sharing in this experience.

Also on Thursday, the group of young people preparing to receive communion for the first time were thinking about God as creator, Genesis chapter 1, and that we are uniquely made by God. As a physicist and priest, I was able to include my view that science and faith are not exclusive and can each contribute to our understanding of the world and what it is to be human. The young people were full of questions – indeed, very good and thoughtful questions. They were particularly exercised by Adam and Eve and the serpent – though this takes us into Genesis chapters 2 and 3, another creation story.

The first two verses of the Bible read, as given in The Message, ‘First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.’ The young people had questions about what was God doing before creation ( or the Big Bang, according to the story from science), and ‘why did God bother to create the world and us?’ We may find an answer on Sunday, Trinity Sunday, when we hear and reflect on the wonderful first reading !

I conclude with an illustration on the theme of Trinity by David Adam:
A child went down to the beach and dug a hole in the sand. She then went down to the sea and brough some water to fill the hole. In a moment the water disappeared. She went back for more water, and then more. But the same thing happened each time. The little girl became exhausted and began to cry. Meanwhile the tide had been coming in. Her father showed her how to make a channel for the sea, so that it would flow naturally into the hole and fill it. We are like the little girl: we try to fill our minds with ideas about God and often exhaust ourselves. We talk too much. We need to wait upon God, knowing he will come to us. Trying to understand the Trinity is like trying to pour the whole sea into a small hole. Yet we can rest in the Trinity and enjoy the love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

With every Blessing

Greg
Associate Priest

Greens Norton School and Church Fete

Thank you to everyone who supported last Sunday's Fete in Greens Norton.  The event raised £2,000 each for the church and for the school.  A couple of short showers didn't dampen spirits and good to see lots of faces from across the benefice supporting this fundraiser.  Thanks extended to James and Sorrel Shepherd-Cross for once again hosting the event in their beautiful garden.

Forthcoming Events

Worship for this coming week