080614

‘I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals.’

Pentecost 2014 MALMESBURY ABBEY

HOSPITALITY THAT INVITES PEOPLE CLOSER STABILITY THAT DRAWS PEOPLE DEEPER CREATIVITY THAT LIFTS PEOPLE HIGHER

Vicar’s blog: 10,000 voices There are two stories floating around basically. The story of God, and the story of you (well, all humanity actually.) And the interesting thing is that they are connected.

Many of us struggle to share our faith because we think it has to be a pretty sophisticated and convincing explanation of the doctrines of the Christian faith—the exhaustive story of God, where I understand absolutely everything about God and dazzle people to the point that they become disciples of Christ.

Yes, that’s so going to happen! Consider changing the word ‘faith’ to the word ‘trust’ and suddenly it becomes a bit easier; we’re not explaining our faith, but sharing where we have trusted in God recently. Telling our stories, but not leaving out the bit where our story intersects with God’s story.

If you look at the end of the account of Pentecost in Acts 2, there in verse 41 is one pretty impressive statistic: ‘about three thousand were added to their number that day.’ Well that’s depressing; we must be doing something wrong.

However if Pentecost is a unique unrepeatable event, which it is, the life of the Spirit isn’t; so is there anything you and I can learn from that first Pentecost, which we celebrate today? ‘Peter stood up...and raised his voice.’ (Acts 2:14) Peter said something. Basically, Churches grow, when people tell other people about God. Or put it this way: what would be our strategy for the church not to grow at all? Saying nothing; exactly.

So the Diocese of Bristol is after us. It is challenging everybody to share the story of them and God, for 10,000 voices to be raised, in the hope that 500 will be baptised in the next year.

You can find out more about this at www.bristol.anglican.org/voices/. And the challenge is coming in your direction locally, right now, in that I am asking every member of Malmesbury Abbey to share their faith with a nonChristian between now and when the Archbishop of Canterbury visits on September 13th. At all our services we’ll be grabbing people out the front to hear how it’s going and praying for those who have heard something of the Christian message. And then we can invite a lot of people onto the Alpha Course this September. Church is about to get messy.

In the power of the Spirit, Peter raised his voice. Let’s raise ours.

www.malmesburyabbey.com

Abbey Diary THIS SUNDAY: PENTECOST 8am BCP Holy Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 4pm Informal Worship, Junior Church & the Grid 6.30pm Choral Evensong with Prayers for the new Mayor.

6pm The Mix//The McAdams EACH DAY MON 9th

9am Morning Prayer 8pm Small Group Pastors Training in the Parish Office TUES 10th Women Alive! (see back page) WED 11th 10.30am Holy Communion THURS 12th 10.30am Time for Chat 4pm Evening Prayer 7pm Choir Practice FRI 13th 10.30am Creative Response SAT 14th 10am Healing in the Streets NEXT SUNDAY: June 15th 8am BCP Holy Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 4pm Informal Worship, Junior Church & the Grid 6pm The Mix//The Campbells June 20/22 July 2nd July 15th July 28/29 Aug 3rd Sep 13th Oct 7th Oct 17/18 Oct 31st Nov 18th

Church Weekend Away Music for Autism WOMAD at the Abbey Holiday at Home New Wine Archbishop in Malmesbury Confirmation at the Abbey BBC History Weekend glo in the dark Junior Church party Glory!

Revelation 6:1-17 I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, ‘Come!’ 2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

3

When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, ‘Come!’ 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.

5

When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come!’ I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, ‘A kilogram of wheat for a day’s wages, and three kilograms of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!’

7

When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, ‘Come!’ 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a quarter of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

9

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’ 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.

12

I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig-tree

when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

15

Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?’

Additional Reading: John 20:19-23

small group resource + 1.

Read Revelation chapter 6 out loud. Was there anything that stood out from either Sunday's sermon or as you read it out loud?

2.

What is the significance of the Lamb opening the seals in verse 1 (see Rev 5:2; 5:9)? Why could only the Lamb open them?

3.

Discuss seals 2, 3 and 4 and their references to social, ecological and physiological evil in the world today.

4.

Discuss seals 5 and 6 and their references to religious persecution and natural disasters.

5.

Do we have a tendency to over or under-exaggerate the evils we see in the world today (seals 2-6)?

6.

We are to get angry about evil, but not fear it. We are to pray and act against it. Spend some time chatting and praying together about this.

daily readings MONDAY Ps 119:89-112 Ezek 2:9-3:15 Rev 10:8-11

TUESDAY Psalm 5 Dan 7:15-28 Rev 11:1-2

WEDNESDAY Psalm 70 Zechariah 4 Rev 11:3-13

THURSDAY Psalm 103 Joshua 6 Rev 11:14-18

FRIDAY Psalm 138 1 Kings 8:1-21 Rev 11:19

Lee & Mary Barnes The great news was announced last weekend that Lee Barnes, former curate here at the Abbey, has been appointed as vicar of St Stephen's, City Centre & Holy Trinity, Hotwells - both right at the centre of Bristol. This is a tremendous answer to prayer for Lee, Mary and the family and Lee will be licensed to this new position in September. Mary will be continuing in her part-time role as Interim Children's Minister at the Abbey until some point this autumn.

Pray for Persecuted Christians Pray for persecuted Christians at 7.45 pm on Monday 9th June at 18 West Street. "We have set our hope in Christ to deliver us as you help us by your prayers". For more information please contact Mike Langtree

Bell Tower The long awaited work in the bell tower is soon to be starting – it’s looking as though they will arrive towards the end of next week. When this happens, the bells and the clock chimes will be out of action (although the clock itself will still be telling the correct time J). The work is expected to take up to six weeks. Thank you for your patience as this work is carried out.

Archbishop of Canterbury Approximately 20 candidates have so far signed up to be baptised in Malmesbury on Saturday 13th September at 4pm by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Weather permitting this will take place in the river and an outdoor celebration will follow in the Abbey grounds. For more details and to sign up please go to www.abcbaptisms.wordpress.com

Foundation Governors Both Malmesbury CE Primary School and Westonbirt School are looking for people to serve as Foundation Governors, with the particular brief to uphold the Christian distinctiveness of the school. If you would like more information please contact neill@malmesburyabbey.com

Noticeboard Ordinations On Saturday 28th June at 10.30am Linda Sullivan is being ordained Deacon in the Church of England. On Sunday 29th June at 3.30pm Revd John Monaghan is being ordained Priest in the Church of England (John is currently a Deacon.) Both these ordinations take place at Bristol Cathedral. All are very welcome to support Linda and John at these services. If you are intending to go could you let Sandie know by Friday 13th June so she can inform the Cathedral of our numbers. At the Abbey on June 29th there will be one Festival Communion at 11am; preacher, the Revd Linda Sullivan.

Women Alive!

Join us as we study the Bible in prayer and fellowship. We meet in St. Aldheim’s Chapel in Malmesbury Abbey every other Tuesday during term time between 9.30am and 11.00am. A crèche is provided for preschool children. We next meet this Tues 10th June. For more info please contact Janet on 01666 822480.

May 4th May 11th May 18th May 25th June 1st June 8th June 15th

Revelation 1:1-8 Revelation 1:9-20 Revelation 2 Revelation 3 Revelation 4&5 Revelation 6&7 Revelation 8&9

The Last Word on Scripture The Last Word on Christ The Last Word on the Church (1) The Last Word on the Church (2) The Last Word on Worship The Last Word on Evil The Last Word on Prayer

The Last Word Revelation at Malmesbury Abbey

Contact ABBEY OFFICE Mon &Tues (9.30am-12noon) Weds, Thurs ,Fri, (9.30am-2.30pm) 01666 826666 www.malmesburyabbey.com sandie@malmesburyabbey.com Staff members can be contacted by name@malmesburyabbey.com NORMAL CAFÉ HOURS Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday: 9am-4.30pm Wednesday: 12noon-4.30pm Sunday: Closed all day clare@malmesburyabbey.com

Sermons online Malmesbury Abbey is currently in the middle of a significant project to give us a new image, identity and website design. In the meantime we have started posting our Revelation sermons online at www.malmesburyabbey.com/media

Hope 2014: Church Weekend Away Please read the flyer available at the back of the Abbey for more information about our programme on a farm in Grittleton. We want as many people to be able to attend as possible, either camping or commuting. It would be helpful if you could sign up as soon as possible by contacting the Parish Office, or on the sign-up sheet at the welcome desk in the Abbey. Come expecting, come to receive, come to worship...

12th CENTURY BEAUTY 21st CENTURY CHURCH