elham valley group Newsletter

---

 The Collect:
Almighty   God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ have overcome death and   opened to us the gate of everlasting life: grant that, as by your grace going   before us you put into our minds good desires, so by your continual help we   may bring them to good effect; through Jesus Christ our risen Lord, who is   alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and   for ever. Amen 

Post Communion Prayer:
Eternal God, whose Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the   life: grant us to walk in his way, to rejoice in his truth, and to share his   risen life; who is alive and reigns, now and for ever. Amen 

Reading: Acts   7:55-end
55 But   filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God   and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 ‘Look,’   he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right   hand of God!’ 57 But they covered their ears, and   with a loud shout all rushed together against him. 58 Then   they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses   laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While   they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ 60 Then   he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin   against them.’ When he had said this, he died.

Gospel Reading:   John   14:1-14
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in   God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house   there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that   I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go   and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself,   so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And   you know the way to the place where I am going.’ 5 Thomas   said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the   way?’ 6 Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the   truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If   you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him   and have seen him.’

8 Philip   said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ 9 Jesus   said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do   not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show   us the Father”? 10 Do you not believe that I am   in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not   speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe   me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe   me because of the works themselves. 12 Very   truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I   do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the   Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name,   so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If   in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

Please   Pray for Roger Goody, Janet Hutchings, Simon & family, Jenni   Lister, The Bradley family, Wendy Cook, Sue Leaver, Mark,   Millie Collins, Jill Fitch, Poppy Allard, John   Meers, Michael   Kirk, Alice Mills, Martyn Bowles & family, Claire Laker.
Please   contact the Benefice Administrator Alison Dale 07985025381 or beneficeadmin@elhamvalleygroupofchurches.co.uk to add people to the prayers.
Please pray for the departed, Sheila   Huckle, and those for whom an   anniversary of death falls at this time, May Weeks, Michael Skidmore, David   Rawlings, Winfreid Richter, Jean Brazier & Margaret Ingle.

To arrange for Funerals, Thanksgivings, Blessings, Renewal of   Vows and all other services please contact the Rector – revcarolbates@gmail.com 0777 239 4855
For Baptisms and Weddings please contact the   Benefice Administrator -beneficeadmin@elhamvalleygroupofchurches.co.uk 07985025381

Parish Notices: 

Paddlesworth - NB there will be no services due to building works.

Funeral – Sheila Huckle – 15th May at 12pm – Barham Crematorium

Benefice Notices:

APCM dates

 Lyminge – 5th May at 7pm; Postling – 7th May at 7pm; Elham – 14th May at 6pm  – all in their respective churches; Denton & Wootton – 13th May at 6pm in Wootton church.

Deanery Synod Meeting – Thu. 7thMay. 7pm (refreshments from 6.30pm)– St Leonard’s, Hythe,CT21 5DN. This is an open meeting & all members of churches are invited. The talk by Rev Michael Darkins is titled “Deliver us from evil” -Prayerfully supporting complicated pastoral complexities.

Licensing Service – Rev Sharon will be licensed as Associate Priest for the Benefice on 10thMay 6pm – St Mary & St Ethelburga, Lyminge

 The Collect:
God our   redeemer, you have delivered us from the power of darkness and brought us   into the kingdom of your Son: grant, that as by his death he has recalled us   to life, so by his continual presence in us he may raise us to eternal joy; through   Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the   unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen  

Post Communion Prayer:
God our Father, whose Son Jesus Christ gives the water of eternal   life: may we thirst for you, the spring of life and source of goodness, through   him who is alive and reigns, now and for ever. Amen 

Reading: Acts   17:22-31
Then Paul stood in front of   the Areopagus and said, ‘Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in   every way. 23 For as I went through the city and   looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar   with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as   unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who   made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does   not live in shrines made by human hands, 25 nor   is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself   gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. 26 From   one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he   allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where   they would live, 27 so that they would search for   God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far   from each one of us. 28 For “In him we live and   move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said, “For we   too are his offspring.” 29 Since we are God’s   offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or   stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. 30 While   God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people   everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a   day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he   has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from   the dead.’

Gospel Reading:   John   14:15-21
‘If you love me, you will keep my   commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and   he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. 17 This   is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither   sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will   be in you. 18 ‘I will not leave you orphaned; I   am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world   will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will   live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in   my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They   who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who   love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to   them.’

Please   Pray for Roger Goody, Janet Hutchings, Simon & family, Jenni   Lister, The Bradley family, Wendy Cook, Sue Leaver, Mark,   Millie Collins, Jill Fitch, Poppy Allard, John   Meers, Michael   Kirk, Alice Mills, Martyn Bowles & family, Claire Laker.
Please   contact the Benefice Administrator Alison Dale 07985025381 or beneficeadmin@elhamvalleygroupofchurches.co.uk to add people to the prayers.
Please pray for the departed, Sheila   Huckle, and those for whom an   anniversary of death falls at this time, Grace Jackson, Linda Hargreaves, Roy Hollingsbee &   Dorothy Horobin.

To arrange for Funerals, Thanksgivings, Blessings, Renewal of   Vows and all other services please contact the Rector – revcarolbates@gmail.com 0777 239 4855
For Baptisms and Weddings please contact the   Benefice Administrator as above.

Parish Notices: 

Paddlesworth - NB there will be no services due to building works.

Funeral – Sheila Huckle – 15th May at 12pm – Barham Crematorium

Wedding – Georgia Dingle & William Penswick – 23rd May at 12.30pm - Elham

Benefice Notices:

APCM dates

Elham – 14th May at 6pm  – in the church; Denton & Wootton – 13th May at 6pm in Wootton church.