Please come and pray for the life of our parishes and seek God’s guidance this summer term. This takes place in the Canterbury Room. Coffee and croissants from 8:15am, followed by prayer for the life of our churches. Finished by 9.30am.Please do join us.
Visit to St Thomas' by Immanuel Gospel from Stockholm On Saturday 2nd May, the choir, Immanuel Gospel, from Stockholm will be running a workshop from 5pm to 6pm, followed by a concert from 7pm to 8pm at St Thomas'. We do hope you will be able to attend the concert and, even better, attend the workshop too! More details can be found on the church website here.
Church locking and unlocking at St Thomas’ We have a band of people who are on a rota for unlocking St Thomas’ up to four mornings a week and locking it again each evening. They do this for one week every 6 to 8 weeks. Tom W has been central to this, but is no longer able to continue.
Could you enjoy/endure daily strolls through our gorgeous churchyard and take your part in keeping our church open and enjoyed? Tom is kindly going to carry on drawing up the rota. We thank him for all his help with this. Please speak to Ben or e-mail officeofgsandss@yahoo.com if you might be able to help.
Review of Piano Recital by Max Mostovetski at St Mary’s St Mary’s was delighted to welcome Max, a young German pianist on tour in the UK, last Sunday. He gave a wonderful recital providing background to each of the pieces he played. An hour fantastically on the keys without a single score in front of him. Magnificent! Thank you, as always, to those who helped behind the scenes and to all who provided refreshments after the concert. For a fuller review with photos please click here.
Prayers and remembering the Middle East. Tim Livesey, former CEO of Embrace the Middle East, spoke to us on Thursday, inspiringly about the call for active hope, as embodied in Jesus, to be shared as we sense outrage and pray for love in this blessed but terrible land and conflict.
Please do pray for all involved, and for our government and part in this. 7 days of prayer starting this Sunday using the resources here or in church are to be encouraged. Thank you.
Join in Morning Prayer together. We offer ourselves in worship, listen to the Bible and pray for our world and church members in turn. Monday: 8.30am Goring Tuesday and Thursday: 8.30am Streatley, Friday: 9am Goring.
We live in a world of conflict and partition, made more divisive by polarising cultural and political dogma. We ask Lord that You grant wisdom to those who lead countries and influence opinion to swiftly embody Your lessons of peace, understanding and reconciliation. God of love, hear our prayer.
Lord we know that where there is conflict, too often it creates prisoners of war who are detained as pawns in that conflict; it creates political prisoners and dissidents who have their liberty and rights denied for daring to speak out against wrong doing or abuse. We ask You Lord to grant courage and resolve to all these people as we pray for their safe release. God of love, hear our prayer.
As more people become displaced by war mongering and conflict, we ask You to guide us to step up and step in to help those who flee war or are exiled by fighting or by hatred and we ask You to protect vulnerable and scared communities from religious violence and intolerance. God of love, hear our prayer
We recognise that current worldwide events cause economic hardship and uncertainty for many and bring fear and uncertainty to many. We ask You Lord to grant hope to those who feel desperate, alone or unable to cope at this time. God of love, hear our prayer.
Last week we have seen more images taken by the astronauts on the Artemis space mission. Those pictures remind us of the beauty of God’s green earth. We pray Lord, that all the peoples of the earth will join to recognise the part they have played in causing damage to the unique environment of Earth and that all who inhabit it will step forward to meet their responsibility to care for each other and all Your creation. God of love, hear our prayer.
We pray for all in our community that in seeing the joyous burst of Spring and the glory of the natural world around us, that they are reminded of the light of your holy spirit as nature blossoms around us. God of love, hear our prayer.
We thank You Lord for all those who serve you and support the Church and our Benefice year in and year out, and ask that you will grant to all those in it the humble confidence to speak of faith and of Your love. God of love, hear our prayer.
Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.