Resonance

First sermon I've heard from Richard, on resonance. He stroked a Tibetan prayer bowl to make it sing. No amount of banging it, would create such a lasting sound. He said some energy in the church is creating resonance, like the warm welcome for people coming to church. And other things like the need to follow health and safety guidance, although important, did not create such a resonance by the amount of effort put in. So perhaps he will suggest other ways, like a fire Sunday which would then make it clearer. The aim of our life together is to share Jesus Christ with others. and his message. Jesus came across clearly with great resonance not though any great human power, but because what he said and did resonated with others...

Pentecost - multilingual

At Trinity this morning a minister from Mozambique, spoke in portugese, and was interpreted by his friend and former teacher - the preaching minister. The minister from Mozambique said the Pentecost was a great celebration in his home church.

Then at the Baptist Church in the evening David Fleming spoke in English about Christian Aid, and was interpreted in German by one of the visitors from Schongau - Abingdon's twin town in Germany.

A passion for music

Revd. Richard Bittleston spent the weekend in Abingdon as he had come to preach with a view to becoming our new minister.

In a special meeting after the service, the Church was unanimous is inviting him to be the new minister. I didn't get the chance to meet him, but everybody said he was very friendly.

A minister from another church said they had all met him. But whenever he tried to find out about Richard's opinions he kept bringing the talk back to music. Richard's passion is music as can be seen from this link.

Ruth's Penultimate Sunday

Ruth began this service by getting us all to recite the 23rd Psalm by heart (The Lords my Shepherd...) Then she stopped us at various stages to get us to summarise what the words meant for us. This summarised version was written as we went on a powerpoint slide. Finally we all read out the modern powerpoint version as a prayer at the end. (Sorry I have no copy. You'll have to do your own.)

The Vestry

This is the vestry. Here the preacher comes before the service to collect their papers and their thoughts, to drink water, and pray.

Next Minister

This morning after the service there was a meeting to decide whether to apply for a methodist or a URC minister when Ruth leaves. It was felt unanimously, that since Ruth had been with us for only about two and a half years, we should go for another URC minister. The vacancy committee was chosen. But the vacancy cannot be formally advertised until Ruth leaves in September.

Ruth Leaving

Our Minister Ruth will be moving in September to Cambridgeshire where she will look after a group of four churches - various denominations working together.