Weekly letter from St Luke's - 27 January 2023

Dear Parish Friends This Sunday our 7am service of Holy Communion is as usual. At 9am, this being the fifth Sunday of the month, we will have a different format service with music, prayer and interactive activities for all ages. There will not be Communion at this service, but it will be streamed on Zoom as usual. This service will also mark the launch of our Children's Church activities for 2023, and we will commission the leaders of this ministry within the service. The week's notice paper and 9am service sheet are linked below. The gospel reading for this Sunday is the start of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount from Matthew. It is the well known passage which contains eight phrases starting with 'blessed is...' (hence they are known as the Beatitudes, from the Latin). Here at the start of Jesus' teaching he is setting out the whole premise of his preaching, that God's promises are for all, especially those who the world looks down on. But as Jesus goes on to say, these promises of God are then beholden on us to share. Our lectionary pairs this gospel passage with the equally well known verse from Micah 6:8, which illustrates the point: He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Don't forget also that tomorrow (Saturday) morning the parish Sustainability and Environmental Group are meeting at church at 10am, to discuss how we can be a part of this process in our interactions with the physical world of creation around us. Yours in Christ Rev'd Timothy