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WELLS Vicar’s Blog
‘I shall exult You LORD, for You drew me up, and You gave no joy to my enemies. LORD, my God, I cried to You, and You healed me.’ (Psalm 30:1,2) Pray it slowly. The psalmist has an image of a deep well in mind, and being drawn back from death, at the bottom of the well, to life, at the surface. There has been a dramatic answer to prayer. There were words on these lips, even a song, a request for healing, and You, LORD, answered my prayer. You healed. Perhaps it would be more convenient if God never healed today. We could sing Psalm 30 with a smiling nostalgia for those ancient, mysterious days. And then we could re-tell the stories of Christ, the Early Church and the outpouring of healing through the Holy Spirit as icons of salvation, fables bringing hope, stories archived and brought out to inspire the flock when required. But the song doesn’t go ‘our
God is a convenient God, he reigns from heaven above,’ it goes ‘our God is an awesome God, he reigns from heaven above.’ God inconveniences the order and predictability of church by his power and his reign. Acts 2:43 records that one of the qualities of the early church was awe. They met each day, yes each day, and there was awe in the room. When we say that church was truly awful we tend to mean something else entirely. But God does heal today, and we, the sick, carry that ministry of healing in jars of clay. To reach out with a hand to pray for another is to be led by the Spirit to a most vulnerable place, but we simply must go there, because God hasn’t stopped drawing people up from the bottom of wells. So join us, this Tuesday for our next Glory! Prayer meeting. After fasting
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A B B E Y D I A RY THIS SUNDAY: July 19th 9am BCP Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 4pm Informal Worship & Junior Church in some way during the day, we will share the bread and wine of communion at 7.30pm, and then we will worship together. And then we will worship again and seek His face. And then our prayers will be for fresh vision, for the renewal of our healing and prayer ministries, both inside and outside the building, and for the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.
THIS WEEK EACH DAY 9am Morning Prayer TUES 21st 10am CE Primary School Service 7.30pm Glory! nd WED 22 10.30am Communion THUR 23rd 10.30am Time for Chat 7pm Choir Practice th FRI 24 10.30am Creative Response 1.30pm Wedding
NEXT SUNDAY: July 26th 9am BCP Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 4pm All-age Café Church & Holy Communion
ADVANCE July 27th Holiday at Home at the & 28th URC th July 30 3pm Songs of Praise
J O S H UA 1 : 1 - 1 1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant: 2 ‘Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the River Jordan into the land I am about to give to them – to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates – all the Hittite country – to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. 7 ‘Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.’ 10 So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: 11 ‘Go through the camp and tell the people, “Get your provisions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.”’ Additional Reading: Mark 6:45-56
DISCIPLESHIP 1. Share your experiences and learning from last Sunday and then read the passage. 2. Meet Joshua a little by reading and discussung: Numbers 13:1-8, 16 (what is the significance of the name change?); Exodus 17:8-15; Acts 7:45; and Hebrews 11:30. 3. Read verse 1. How does the LORD speak and how does Joshua hear the LORD? 4. Read verses 6-10. Which are the three repeated phrases and what follows each of the three phrases making each repetition a little different? What takes most courage? 5. Read Joshua’s dying words in Joshua 23:1-8. What has remained with him all his life? Share some passages that remain with you - key texts that inform and shape your faith, and explain how and why? 6. ‘Western Christians don’t really need courage, they need holiness.’ Discuss.
D A I LY R E A D I N G S Monday Psalm 1 Jeremiah 26 2 Corinthians 11:1-15 Tuesday Psalm 5 Jeremiah 28 2 Corinthians 11:16-end Wednesday Psalm 30 Jeremiah 29 2 Corinthians 12 Thursday Psalm 15 Jeremiah 30:1-11 2 Corinthians 13 Friday Psalm 19 Jeremiah 30:12-22 James 1:12-end
REGULAR GIVING If you would like to give regularly to the mission and ministry of the Abbey as part of your discipleship, please e-mail alan@malmesburyabbey.com. m
SMALL GROUPS
THE ROBERTSONS
This Monday night at 8pm in the Parish Office a meeting with Neill for all those involved with leading small groups. Please bring an updated list of your members.
Please pray for Rachel & Dan Robertson and the family as they move this weekend from west London to Wiltshire to join us at the Abbey. Before ordination in 2017, Rachel will be studying for an M.A. in Theology at Trinity College, Bristol; Dan will be studying at the University of Agriculture, Cirencester. They will be particularly involved pastorally with families at our 4pm service.
If anybody would like to join a small group, after the summer break, please contact Neill.
SONGS OF PRAISE
CONCERT
There will be an inspiring and calorific Songs of Praise at the Abbey, led by the Revd Mandy Churcher, at 3pm on July 30th. The service will be followed by a truly wonderful High Tea. All are very welcome to come along and enjoy both the service and the refreshments.
An advance date for your diary. On Saturday September 12th at 7.30pm in the Abbey, Rosie Archer, rumoured to be related to your vicar, will be giving a fund-raising concert of jazz classics, musical theatre numbers and contemporary songs. She will be joined by a few musical friends & relatives. Rosie will be studying for an M.A. in Musical Theatre at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff from late September.
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MID-YEAR UPDATE At the Abbey we are now six months in to our financial year and the two charts on this page give an update on our income and expenditure so far. On our income side giftaid-ed giving is encouragingly ahead of budget while collections and the donation box are below; tourist numbers are down currently. Grants and donations are up, mainly due to money received for recent work on the Bell Tower. On our expenditure side we have paid our Parish Share, the contribution we make to the mission and ministry of the Expenditure (£123K) diocese, but we have overspent 12,557 on maintaining buildings. This 3,398 Parish Share will be an area of challenge over 12,590 the coming years as our Wages architect’s Quinquennial Report 40,000 Buildings has identified significant work 25,504 Utilities ahead. We also need to fund a 28,398 pension scheme for our Administration employees and put into place the Misc developing vision for Children’s and Youth Ministry. With these challenges in mind should you wish to contribute or change the way you give to the work of the Enquiries 01666 826666 // Box Office 01666 824339 Abbey, please contact our Abbey office@malmesburyabbey.com Treasurer, Alan McAdam. www.malmesburyabbey.com (alan@malmesburyabbey.com) issuu.com/malmesburyabbey
FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS July 5 July 12 July 19 July 26 Aug 2 Aug 9 Aug 16 Aug 23 Aug 30
Abraham (Genesis 22) Moses (Exodus 3) Joshua (Joshua 1) Ruth (Ruth 1) David (1 Samuel 17) Solomon (1 Kings 3) Elijah (1 Kings 18) Daniel (Daniel 6) Esther (Esther 4)
This day, this moment, your life, lived with God, matters.