Hello everyone, 

Next week we may get an indication from our Prime Minister of how long this current lockdown will last. The likelihood is that we may not yet be at the half way stage, so we need to dig deep for spiritual resources to sustain us. 

I am conscious that this is yet another week when we don’t have holy communion to sustain us. But we are a people who are fed by both word and sacrament and we have an opportunity at a time like this to dig deep into God’s word. 

So this week in addition to a sermon from me there is an opportunity to look at our Gospel reading today in greater depth. I have produced a Bible study which reads these verses and sees God’s word as a Rabbi would, as a sacrament: a means of God’s presence, “an outward, visible sign of God’s invisible grace”.

There is a prayer zoom invite embedded in this week’s mailing for this Thursday morning at 10.30am. Although the Church is closed in this third lockdown for private prayer we can still pray together. We will have prayer zooms each successive Thursday and for as long as the Church remains closed. There will be a particular focus for our prayers each week, and this week our focus is on family and friends. There will also be an opportunity to pray for healing, both for ourselves and for the people on our hearts at this time. 

Our prayer this week reflects the gracious sign that Jesus performs at a wedding at Cana in Galilee:

Wondrous God, 
turn the water of our faith 
into the wine of your Spirit’s mercy 
until the whole creation gathers round your throne 
and your children discover you have saved the best till last.  Amen
.

Prayer taken from Joining the Angel’s Song, Eucharistic Prayers by Samuel Wells and Abigail Kocher (Canterbury Press, 2016)

Tom
Vicar of St Giles
Tom’s Bible Study
Virtual Service 24 January