Dearest friends,
Over the last month or so I’ve been very blessed to be working at Stover School on Thursday afternoons running their Mech Eng’ Club over lunch time.
It’s 45 minutes of pulling my old Piaggio Ape apart and trying to get it running… However, each and every time we remove something we discover it wasn’t quite put on the way it was supposed to be put on. It *kinda* worked, just, but it didn’t last terribly long and the moment it wasn’t looked after properly… it stopped working.
The brakes seized on (because they were not put on properly). The fuel lines have got clogged (because it wasn’t drained when it was left to stand). The coffee machine in the back of the bike wouldn’t produce pressure, because the safety value hadn’t been put back in properly.
I think every single mechanical. project I’ve ever been involved with has followed the same pattern. A ‘5 minute job’ quickly becomes and entire summer of work.
Our prayer lives are exactly the same. We can easily bodge something together that *kinda* works. But our prayer lives are part of a bigger engine of faith.
Our spirituality and our relationship with God requires constant maintenance in order to continue to work properly. Bodging a job may work for a while – but if you forget about it – or something goes wrong – you quickly discover it won’t get going again. The fuel line of prayer becomes clogged, the rhythm of going to church gets seized to the point you don’t go anymore.
So what do you do then? Well, it’s much like the brilliant chaps at Stover. We got the Ape running again by working together and bringing our own gifts to the different problems. Church is exactly the same. We all have our own gifts which we can offer to those areas of the church that you can see are struggling.
It doesn’t matter if it’s the fuel line (coffee?) or if you can see the breaks seized (reading rota?) – offer what you can to help and before you know it… your life of faith will be firing on all cylinders.
In love,
Fr. Matthew
Notices
Bottle Tops
We no longer collect bottle tops at St. Luke’s. Please don’t bring them in any more.
Table Top Sale
Don’t forget the Table Top Sale at Wickham Hall on the 20th. Always a good time and a great place to find some wonderful bits and pieces.
Sunday 14th June
11th Sunday in Ordinary Time
9am – Sung Parish Mass [SJ]
11:15am – Sung Parish Mass [SL]
Year A(II), Psalm week 3, Trinity 2, Proper 6
Sunday 21st June
12th Sunday in Ordinary Time
9am – BCP Parish Mass [SJ]
11:15am – Sung Parish Mass [SL]
4pm – Lecture, Christian Denominations [SL]
5pm – Afternoon Tea [SJ]
6pm – Evensong [SJ]
Year A(II), Psalm week 4, Trinity 3, Proper 7
Upcoming Dates
July
1st – St. Luke’s Ladies Group
4th – Parish Outing to Exmouth
5th – Explorers
10th – Evening Lecture – History of the Anglo Catholics in Devon [WH]
18th – Table Top Sale [WH]
Rosary Group (10:30am) [SL]
19th – Joint mass with BBQ [SJ]
23rd – Sending Mass for Fr. Matthew’s Pilgrimage, 10am [SJ]
25th – Quiz with Fish & Chips [SL]
26th – NA Benefice Evensong, West Ogwell
Sept
2nd – St. Luke’s Ladies Group
5th – Glastonbury Pilgrimage
10th – Winter Term & Christmas Planning Meeting [SL]
11th – Bingo [SL]
13th – Explorers
20th – Lecture, Church Vestments (4pm) [WH]
Afternoon Tea (5pm) [WH]
Evensong (6pm) [SJ]
27th – NA Benefice Evensong, St. Mary’s
No Ladies Group in August
No midweek Mass in August
Fr. Matthew on pilgrimage from 24th July to 4th September
Please pray for:
Jeorge, Alex, Doug, Ann, Linda, Kathy, Bob, Bill, Mandy, Vicky Pearce, Jean & Phil, Jennifer Benney, and all those who have asked for our prayers.
Pray for the souls of:
All those whose anniversary of death falls in these weeks.
[SJ] St. John’s | [SL] St. Luke’s | [WH] Wickham Hall
[SC] St. Catherine’s School