Thought for the Week: Pentecost, Sunday 19 May 2024

We have spent the last ten days, between Ascension Day and Pentecost, preparing and praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit. We have joined together with hundreds of thousands of Christians worldwide to pray the words of the Lord’s Prayer: ‘Thy Kingdom Come’, and to pray daily for five people to be drawn closer to the love of the Lord, Jesus Christ. As we pray, we may have noticed the Holy Spirit at work in our own lives or in the lives of our friends or family or church. And there has been some good news reported about numerical growth in the church this week.

Speaking about the weekly church attendance, up five per cent in third year of consecutive growth, The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, said: “This is very good news. For the first time in a long time we have seen noticeable growth.

“Of course we don't yet know whether this growth is a trend but I take it as a great encouragement that our focus on reaching more people with the good news of Jesus, establishing new Christian communities, wherever they are, revitalising our parishes, and seeking to become a younger and more diverse church, making everyone feel welcome, is beginning to make a difference.

“Most of all it encourages me that our emphasis on being a Christ centred and Jesus Christ shaped church is renewing our confidence in the gospel and our dependence on Christ.

“I hope the whole Church will be encouraged to continue this story of faithfulness, believing it will lead to fruitfulness, not because we want to build the earthly ‘empire’ of the church, but because we want people to come to know Jesus and because we know that the love and compassion they find in Jesus is what the world needs.”

Read more at: https://www.churchofengland.org/media/press-releases/weekly-church-attendance-five-cent-third-year-consecutive-growth

I find the Sonnets of Malcolm Guite poignant and prayerful. This one, PENTECOST, was included in a recently published book called ‘Stations of the Resurrection: Encounters with the Risen Christ.’ (2024).

Today we feel the wind beneath our wings Today  the hidden fountain flows and plays Today the church draws breath at last and sings As every flame becomes a Tongue of praise. This is the feast of fire, air, and water Poured out and breathed and kindled into earth. The earth herself awakens to her maker And is translated out of death to birth. The right words come today in their right order And every word spells freedom and release Today the gospel crosses every border All tongues are loosened by the Prince of Peace Today the lost are found in His translation,

Whose mother-tongue is Love, in every nation.

May God’s Kingdom Come and His will be done in Stanway, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

Rev’d Wendy Pagden, 21 May 2024