elham valley group Newsletter
21st June 2026 - 3rd Sunday after Trinity
The Collect:
God our saviour, look on this wounded world in pity and in power; hold us fast to your promises of peace won for us by your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
Post Communion Prayer:
O God, whose beauty is beyond our imagining and whose power we cannot comprehend:
show us your glory as far as we can grasp it, and shield us from knowing more than we can bear until we may look upon you without fear; through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen
Old Testament Reading: Jeremiah 20:7-13
O Lord, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughing-stock all day long; everyone mocks me. 8 For whenever I speak, I must cry out, I must shout, ‘Violence and destruction!’ For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. 9 If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name’, then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. 10 For I hear many whispering: ‘Terror is all around! Denounce him! Let us denounce him!’ All my close friends are watching for me to stumble. ‘Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail against him, and take our revenge on him.’ 11 But the Lord is with me like a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not prevail. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonour will never be forgotten. 12 O Lord of hosts, you test the righteous, you see the heart and the mind; let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have committed my cause. 13 Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 10:24-39
‘A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; 25 it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! 26 ‘So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 27 What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. 28 Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. 30 And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31 So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 ‘Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; 33 but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven. 34 ‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
Please Pray for Mark, Andy Ashman, Val Pinder, Roger Goody, Jenni Lister, The Bradley family, Wendy Cook, Sue Leaver, Millie Collins, Jill Fitch, Poppy Allard, John Meers, Michael Kirk, Alice Mills, Lilian 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, Jan Hall, Martyn Bowles, and those for whom an anniversary of death falls at this time, Karen Kempson, Anita Selwood, Bessie Jordon, Joyce Frankson, George Gostling, Anthony Rossi, Harry Roberts & Elsie Everly.
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:
Weddings– Lydia Clark & Thomas Locke – Sat. 20th June 11.30am – Postling; Charlotte Jennings & Ross Smith – Sat. 27th June 1pm - Acrise
Baptism– George Rolfe – Sun. 28th June 1pm - Acrise
Benefice Notices:
Benefice Service, celebrating Revd Stephen’s 20 years of ordained ministry- Sunday 28thJune – 10am at Stanford
