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Minister’s Message
I’d like to begin by wishing everyone a very happy Easter.
The services yesterday were a joy to lead as we celebrated the risen Christ and the weather for our sunrise service was perfect – chilly but dry. It was the first sunrise service I have ever led and I felt truly blessed to be doing so. I am sure I wasn’t the only one who appreciated a warm drink and breakfast after the service.
It is just over two months since my induction and I would like to thank everyone for their continued encouragement and support.
As we move into spring it is good to look at the blossoms starting to appear on trees and all the new growth and give thanks to The Lord. I am reminded of Paul’s letter to Colossae when I think of Parkgate & Neston URC (Colossians 1:3-14)
“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people – the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world – just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
I leave you with my blessings and the prayer that I read out on Easter Morning by Francis Brienan.
When the broken come to wholeness,
when the wounded come to healing,
when the frightened come to trusting,
the stone has been rolled away.
When the lonely find friendship,
when the hurt find new loving,
when the worried find peace,
the stone has been rolled away.
When we share instead of taking,
when we stroke instead of striking,
when we join around the table
the stone has been rolled away.
The stone has been rolled away!
In you, Christ Jesus,
love breaks through hatred,
hope breaks through despair,
life breaks through death.
Hallelujah, Christ is risen!
Amen
Grace and peace, Ruth
