On 24th May, we celebrate Pentecost, the birth of the church when the Holy Spirit descended and Simon Peter shared the first sermon after Jesus’ Ascension. It’s become a lovely tradition at St Andrew’s for people to wear their brightest clothing to celebrate this special occasion.

Acts 2:1 – 4 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Thank you to all of the volunteers: young people and adults who cleaned cars all Saturday morning. Pippa and team did a wonderful job. Thank you to church members and the public who brought their cars to be cleaned too. We raised £250 for the mission trip to Rwanda and brightened up the days for many who had conversations with us about Rwanda. It was encouraging to hear their positive comments about the charity work that the church does. Please continue to pray for the adults and young people who will soon be going to Rwanda. We pray that God will bless the trip and work in the hearts of those who go as they have the opportunity to go out on mission and show compassion to and learn from the people of Maranwundo.

A really big thank you to everyone for turning up or praying for the work party last Saturday morning. We were glad that the weather remained dry, was not especially windy and the sun was out for a lot of the morning. There were 17 adults and 1 under 18 for differing sections of the morning. Lots of different jobs were tackled, including for example:

• clearing intrusive weeds in the ‘gutter’ and drains round the outside of the church building
• cutting back incredible amounts of bramble
• clearing ivy from some of the old ‘table’ graves
• removing old Christmas wreaths from graves and memorials
• removing broken glass
• general tidying of the Ashes Memorial Gardens
• emptying the Compost bins
• our lovely regular volunteers who care for the sunken garden, which is either side of the church door, spent the morning tidying, weeding, and planting out young plants
• weeding of the young plants along the new hedge, designed to be wildlife friendly
• burning as much of the waste as we could manage
  

We are pleased to note the improvement in the new wildlife hedge, the mass of Ox-eye daisies across large areas, and to see some new species – eg Lady’s Smock, also known as Cuckoo Flower,  favoured by the Orange-tip Butterfly – beginning to establish in the wilder areas of the churchyard. We are looking forward to hearing the Spring report on the nesting boxes installed around the churchyard. Thank you once again, and be encouraged – your efforts are making a big difference.

When beautiful baby Autumn’s Christening came around, as the third of three daughters of Melissa and Chris, she was determined to make an impression. And indeed she did – with her teeth on the Bible! Following in the footsteps of the great Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, she proceeded to eat God’s word! As Jeremiah said, ‘When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.’ In the beautiful setting of All Saints’ Church, Dibden, Peter was pleased to be able to Christen Autumn, having Christened her two older sisters before Covid. Let’s all follow Autumn’s (and Jeremiah’s) example and be those who delight in devouring God’s word to us in the Bible! And as we do so, understand that we bear his name and are loved deeply by God.

Update: ***We’ll also be inviting people to wear name badges this Sunday as a way of helping us get to know one another better*** We’re hosting another one of our joint coffee between services events on Sunday 17th May. If you’re at the 9am that day, feel free to stay on after the service and enjoy a time of fellowship together with the wider church family. If you’re a 10.30am regular – head in early (10am) and enjoy a lite bite and a hot drink with our 9am congregation before we worship together.

And advanced notice of a Bring and Share Lunch after the 10.30am service on Sunday 28th June (as well as our baptism on the beach services, 4pm on 7th June and 19th July).