Please come and pray for our vision and action to be of God and for the life of our parishes. The prayer breakfast will take place in the Canterbury Room at St Thomas’. Coffee and croissants from 8:15am, followed by prayer for the life of our churches. Finished by 9.30am. Please do join us
for roads in Goring, or volunteer your help to your Church Warden for roads in Streatley. Your help will be greatly appreciated. In addition this year, Ann Moody will very kindly be hosting a Bread and Cheese Lunch in aid of Christian Aid on Wednesday 14th May, 12.00-2.00pm. Do, please, contact the church office (875651) for the location and come along!
Piano Concert at St Mary’s, “Lilting and Lovely” Ikuko Inoguchi will be joined by Sally Goodworth to play sonatas and suites for four hands this Sunday, May 11th, at 4pm. The programme will include pieces by by Mozart, Faure, Poulenc and Debussy. Tickets are £10 full, £9 concessions on the door only and please bring cash not cards!
Tea and cakes will be provided by the Friends of St Mary’s in the Morrell Room after the concert. Any enquiries please text to 0776 233 9853.
Sharing the Journey: Seeking the Kingdom St John & St Stephen’s Church, Reading, Saturday 17th May, 10am – 3pm For the first time, we are going to have partners from all our link dioceses visiting us - and you're invited to join them! Join with partners from India, Jamaica, South Africa and Sweden as together we reflect on ways to live as disciples of Jesus. Whether your passion is for sharing the gospel, nourishing young people's faith, serving our communities, seeking justice, or caring for creation, there will be opportunities for learning and conversation.
● worship
● workshops
● information on links/ mission agency partners
● free event, including lunch with dishes from the different links.
Register here: https://www.oxford.anglican.org/world-mission/world-mission.php
This week we are asked to pray:
Prayers for the week from Roots on the web Almighty God, you have called us and blessed us and in faith and with trust in you, we bring ourselves and our prayers for others. In a world where values seem to shift almost daily we pray for the marginalised and excluded, and the nameless, homeless, stateless people who seem endlessly to slip through the net of care and respect. Almighty God, may someone show them love and offer them good news, that they may know they are cared for in life and in death. We pray for the Church worldwide that it may hold fast to the gospel message to love one another as God has loved us. May the Church seek and strive and yearn to speak of the love of God, proclaiming only God and not our own self-importance. We pray for the new Pope, Pope Leo XIV, that he may be visionary and faithful and we pray for the Church of England as they seek to discern the best person to lead them in the present age. Almighty God, may someone show them love and offer them good news, that they may know they are cared for in life and in death. After a week in which we marked 80 years since VE day, we pray for those affected by current day conflicts. We pray for the war-torn, war-weary nations of the world, where ordinary everyday people just seek peace and comfort, food, drink and shelter to sustain and enrich them. We remember especially the people of Ukraine, of Russia, of Sudan, of Gaza, of Israel, of Yemen, of…….. Almighty God, may someone show them love and offer them good news, that they may know they are cared for in life and in death. We pray for countries of the world who teeter on the edge of poverty, hunger and thirst due to climate change. May all who have a choice and a hand in how they live choose to live carefully and tread lightly on the world’s precious resources. May we and they choose sharing and caring over waste and excess. Almighty God, may someone show them love and offer them good news, that they may know they are cared for in life and in death. We pray for the ill and the dying, the grieving and the bereaved, the lonely and the lost, the frightened and fearful. Almighty God, may someone show them love and offer them good news, that they may know they are cared for in life and in death. Almighty God, in your steadfast, eternal presence, we trust and we entrust ourselves and these prayers to you now that, together with you, we may reach out to those in need and love and care for others as you do for us. Amen