Our steward echoed our delight in welcoming Rev. Roger Baker to lead our worship on Sunday 20th August. His opening words from the Psalms, Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, were followed with a hymn, Praise my soul, the King of Heaven, accompanied by Neil & Jill Barnett on organ and keyboard. Rosalind read Psalm 67 and we responded with alternate verses. Guy read from Matthew 15,’ A Woman’s Faith’.
Roger asked what four words would we choose for an epitaph? Then he quoted Jesus’ statement on the Canaanite woman in our Bible reading: “you have great faith.” Like her we should not allow barriers to prevent us seeking God’s help. He does not always answer immediately but we should not give up. We should not be deterred by the dismissal of others. Anyone can come to Jesus. We should never deter anyone. We can all approach God freely, in faith, with humility.
Holy Communion, served by Roger assisted by Rosalind, was followed with prayers for the persecuted churches in Pakistan, for those suffering from wild fires and the privations of war, for our community and ourselves. Roger concluded our service with a blessing exhorting us to go in peace to serve God.