News

We are delighted to welcome our new priest in charge of the Alde Sandlings Benefice, the Revd Sarah du Boulay

The licensing and installation service took place on Thursday 30^th June, led by the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, and the Archdeacon of Suffolk. The church was filled with people to witness this special service. Then refreshments and THE CAKE were served in the church hall.
Many congratulations Sarah, and a huge welcome from us all.

Message from Revd Sarah du Boulay

Dear Friends,

I write this as your newly licensed Priest-in-Charge, and what a time we have already had! I want to thank everybody involved in Thursday’s service from the bottom of my heart. It was simply super, and you did yourselves, me, and most importantly God, proud. If this is any indication of the things we can achieve together, we’re in for an awfully big adventure.

I also want to thank James for holding the fort since Mark left. I know he has worked extremely hard for you all, and has already been an invaluable support to me, as has our entire team.

In the next few weeks and months, I am looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible; to nurturing those relationships persistently and lovingly; and beginning to understand how we are to carry out God’s mission here in Alde Sandlings.

This Sunday I will be at Aldeburgh church to celebrate the patronal festival, and next week at Friston. Do come and say ‘hello’ if you have the chance.

Finally, my regular rest day will be Friday, together with the last Saturday of every month. If you need me, you now have my email and my telephone number.

With continued prayers,

Sarah

 

Collect
Almighty God,
you have broken the tyranny of sin
and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our
hearts whereby we call you Father:
give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service,
that we and all creation may be brought to the glorious
liberty of the children of God;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

First Reading
Isaiah 66.10-14
Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,
all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy,
all you who mourn over her that you may nurse
and be satisfied from her consoling breast;
that you may drink deeply with delight
from her glorious bosom. For thus says the Lord:
I will extend prosperity to her like a river,
and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream;
and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm,
and dandled on her knees.  As a mother comforts her child,
so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;
your bodies shall flourish like the grass;
and it shall be known that the hand of the Lord
is with his servants, and his indignation is against his enemies.

Second Reading
Galatians 6. 7-16
My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ. For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves. All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbour’s work, will become a cause for pride. For all must carry their own loads. Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher. Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.  See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand! It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that try to compel you to be circumcised—only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh. May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything! As for those who will follow this rule—peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Gospel Reading
Luke 10.1-11, 16-20
After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.” ‘Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.’ The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’ He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’

 

 

Readings for Patronal Festival of St Peter & St Paul

First Reading
Zechariah 4.1-6a, 10b-end
The angel who talked with me came again, and wakened me, as one is wakened from sleep. He said to me, ‘What do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it; there are seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. And by it there are two olive trees, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.’ ⁴I said to the angel who talked with me, ‘What are these, my lord?’ Then the angel who talked with me answered me, ‘Do you not know what these are?’ I said, ‘No, my lord.’ He said to me, ‘This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel. ‘These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which range through the whole earth.’ Then I said to him, ‘What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?’ And a second time I said to him, ‘What are these two branches of the olive trees, which pour out the oil through the two golden pipes?’ He said to me, ‘Do you not know what these are?’ I said, ‘No, my lord.’ Then he said, ‘These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.’

Second Reading
Acts 12.1-11
About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword. After he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. (This was during the festival of Unleavened Bread.) When he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him. The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ And the chains fell off his wrists. The angel said to him, ‘Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.’ He did so. Then he said to him, ‘Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.’ Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel’s help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. After they had passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.’

Gospel Reading
Matthew 16.13-19
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’

 

Sermon preached by The Revd James Marston at
Aldeburgh 26^th June 2022

Luke 9.51-end

We are, as I said at the beginning of the service, in ordinary time. It is a phrase, it seems to me, which is almost never apposite and leaves the Church of England sounding rather dull – not an accusation it particularly needs.

To even hint that proclaiming the gospel is ordinary seems to devalue the extraordinary message of our faith – to say that God exists and loves us and promises us eternal life in a world such as ours doesn’t seem ordinary to me at all.

This week, for the first week in several months, I seem to have had a little less to do. No funeral or wedding, no big service to get ready for, no major drama and no PCC meeting. I have had time to cook some cheese scones and even polish my little blue car.

I have also had time to think a few days to stand back and pause away from the maelstrom. And even if I don’t always practice what I preach taking a moment or two for thinking and reflecting is something we all need to make sure we do.

This is because taking a moment away from the coal face of life grants us the clarity and insight we sometimes need.

It strikes me that ordinary time, if it means anything, ought to give us the opportunity to reassess, critique and refresh. To take stock is no bad thing.

And I wonder if today’s gospel reading couldn’t have come at a better time. As we prepare for a new priest it strikes me that alongside the excitement of having someone to lead us, is perhaps a tiny bit of apprehension. What is she going to do? What might change?

Those questions will answer themselves in time and it is often the case that 99 percent of the things we worry about never happen. Or at least never happen in the way we think they might. Indeed, as Mahatma Ghandi once said: “There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever.”

And as a quick aside Mr Gandhi also said: “An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.” A useful reminder for any clergyman, I’m sure.

Not worrying is easier said than done of course, and worry is something, I’m afraid, that often influences far too much what we do and what we say.

For Jesus to say ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. ‘was, in those days something rather shocking. The obligation to bury one’s father was regarded as a holy and binding duty of a son, to say it was secondary to the call of Jesus to follow Him and proclaim the kingdom of God was a significant challenge to those early disciples.

Indeed, it begs the question, of course, to all of us – how ready are we to drop everything and follow Him?

This passage from Luke reminds us that to journey with Jesus means not looking back and not worrying about things which hold us back – whatever they may be.

My challenge to you this week is to try to take few moments to think about what holds you back in your faith? What are you worrying about that you not need worry about? What stops you following his call on your life?

The Christian journey is informed by the past, but the focus is on the future. Are we ready to follow him wherever he leads us? Is our church community ready to look forward?

These are questions for us all to consider perhaps especially at a time like this.

And Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’

Amen

Post Communion
O God, whose beauty is beyond our imagining
and whose power we cannot comprehend:
show us your glory as far as we can grasp it,
and shield us from knowing more than we can bear
until we may look upon you without fear;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Next Week
Sunday 10^th July
Fourth Sunday after Trinity/Sea Sunday

 

This week’s photo is supplied by Robert Farquharson

Wow! A view of The Alde & Ore Estuary, that many of us will never see from the sky. So, thank you so much for sharing this with us Robert.
If you manage to capture a moment of beauty in our local area,
do share your photos with us.

 

A Message from Reverend Sheila Hart It is now nearly 10 months since I was diagnosed with breast cancer and, although I have recovered well from the operation and radiotherapy, I have done some hard thinking and praying about my future ministry. I have had conversations with the clergy, the Archdeacon and with Reverend Sarah and I have decided that the time has come for me to retire from active ministry and seek Permission to Officiate in my home benefice of Saxmundham with Kelsale cum Carlton. I have loved every minute of my time serving in Whinlands and subsequently Alde Sandlings Benefice and I have considered it a huge privilege to serve you all for 14 years. I have made many friends in all the congregations and will miss you all but, as they say, ‘all good things have to come to an end’ and I believe now is the time for me to leave you all officially. My final service will be the Benefice Service at Aldeburgh on July 31st which will be conducted by Reverend Sarah and be followed by a Bring and Share lunch in the church hall so that I have time to speak to you all after the service. This does not mean that you will never see me again as I have already told Sarah that I am willing to be available to take the odd service in the benefice when I am available. With my very best wishes and love for the future of the benefice and I look forward to seeing as many of you as can be with us on July 31st at Aldeburgh. Sheila

✟ Church of England and Diocese Online Worship ✟ There are many online services you can view from the Church of England and our cathedral. Here are some links below. Church of England website https://www.churchofengland.org/ prayer-and-worship/church-online/weekly-online-services Church of England Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ thechurchofengland/ Church of England YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/ channel/UCLecK8GovYoaYzIgyOElKZg St Edmundsbury Cathedral Facebook Page https://www.facebook. com/stedscathedral

Youth Club – We need your help! The Youth Club is back! 7pm to 9pm on Monday evenings during term time for 10–14-year-olds. We are thankful that the Youth Club is as popular as ever. We really need some more volunteers to help on these evenings. There is a rota in the west porch that you can add your name to, if you can help, or you can contact Fran Smith at admin@aldeburghparishchurch.org.uk

Weekly Benefice Newsletter If you would like something added to the weekly newsletter that is relevant to the Benefice, please do let Claire know and we will do our best to include it the following week. All requests by 4pm on Thursday please

Food Banks at the East of England Co-op Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities. The Aldeburgh Co-op and Solar in Leiston are doing a grand job in collecting food donations, which are collected regularly and distributed. So please look out for the various collection baskets.

Sunday 3rd July 3pm The Marenzio Singers at St Mary’s Friston In a concert to celebrate Suffolk and Summer, this vocal quintet will sing music from the sixteenth century to the present day: English and French madrigals, modern part songs including movements from Alan Bullard’s ‘A Summer Garland’ and American close harmony songs, all linked by piano interludes and spoken introductions. Tickets £10 at the door on the day which includes a glass of sparkling wine after the concert. All proceeds going to the charitable projects of the Festival of Suffolk and the work of St Mary’s Church

Friston Classics on the Green Thursday 14th July from 3pm Bring your veteran, vintage car or bike (all vehicles in production before 1970) or just bring your friends and family. Tea, coffee, cakes and scones in the Village Hall, pop-up bar and barbecue on the Village Green and food and drink at the Old Chequers. Village Green reserved for classics and Blue Badge holders only. Public parking in Grove Road – not on the main roads please. Entrance is free but we need your donations please.

Pilgrims Together on Wednesdays on Zoom The worship starts at 6.30pm (Zoom call opens from 6.10pm) and the call is then left open after the worship time for people to catch up.   People are welcome to email pilgrimstogether473@gmail.com  to receive a copy, be added to our mailing list or for the Zoom links. Pilgrims @ The Meare Thorpeness Sunday 3rd July Pilgrims @ The Meare: Outside F2F Worship Gathering 10 am (Bring your own chair!) Celtic style worship of the Iona Community, Sundays in July and August, on the grass next to the Boating Lake just beyond The Meare Cafe. Saturday 16th July Community Good News Faith Cafe @ The Outside Inn, Parrot Pub 9.30 – 10.30 A time for conversation, a hot drink and a croissant.  A time to share and offer our thoughts and stories. Acts of kindness within the Outside Inn and taken out into the outside world.

We are delighted to welcome our new priest in charge of the Alde Sandlings Benefice, the Revd Sarah du Boulay
The licensing and installation service took place on Thursday 30^th June, led by the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, and the Archdeacon of Suffolk.  The church was filled with people to witness this special service. Then refreshments and THE CAKE were served in the church hall.
Many congratulations Sarah.

Message from Revd James Marston

Excitement is mounting across the benefice as our new priest prepares to be among us in just a few days.

Rev’d Sarah arrives with much goodwill and a warm welcome from all our churches. Rev’d Sarah has moved into the vicarage in Aldeburgh and arrives in post at her licensing service on June 30. I expect she will be busy getting to know us all over the coming weeks and months. I know Rev’d Sarah is hugely excited to be coming here as she takes this big step in her ministry journey.

With every blessing,

James

 

Collect
Lord, you have taught us
that all our doings without love are nothing worth:
send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts that
most excellent gift of love,
the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.
Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

First Reading
1 Kings 19.15-16, 19-end
Then the Lord said to him, ‘Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. So he set out from there, and found Elisha son of Shaphat, who was ploughing. There were twelve yoke of oxen ahead of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle over him. He left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, ‘Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.’ Then Elijah said to him, ‘Go back again; for what have I done to you?’ He returned from following him, took the yoke of oxen, and slaughtered them; using the equipment from the oxen, he boiled their flesh, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out and followed Elijah, and became his servant.

Second Reading
Galatians 5.1, 13-25
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Gospel Reading
Luke 9.51-end
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’

 

Sermon preached by The Very Revd Christopher Lewis at
Aldringham19^th June 2022

Luke 8.26-39 – First Sunday after Trinity

The Gospel is a strange story: Jesus; the crowd; the man with his demons; the herd of swine. In these parts we ought to be familiar with herds of swine as they seem to be all over the fields, each pig-family with a plastic house. This morning, we are fortunate that the account is told by Luke, because of the fascinating way in which he paints pictures of Jesus and his message.

What was going on? Jesus and a crowd; in strange circumstances, he heals a man with serious mental illness. As in the world of today, there is disease and death, the unclean and the demonic …and here is Jesus confronted by it. What does he do? He talks to the man and heals him. The miracles of Jesus were all ‘miracles of the kingdom’, or in other words, evidence of God’s sovereignty breaking into a confused and difficult world and putting it right. The manner of change in this case is the calming of a deranged mind: a man with a morbid preoccupation with graves, abnormal strength, insensitivity to pain and a refusal to wear clothes. The cure was accompanied by a violent and obstreperous convulsion which caused a nearby herd of pigs to stampede in panic

Not surprising that the onlookers were frightened. They shared the common belief that there was an affinity between unclean demons and unclean beasts, so that was how the occasion was experienced and reported. The fact that there were pigs at all, shows that they were in Gentile not in Jewish territory; this was a message for the world.

It is hard at first to see quite what we learn from this Gospel reading, as the world in which we live seems different, at least in the way that crowds behave. Or is it? In the last few years, we have certainly become used to the fact that the world is full of disease and confusion and there have been crowds turning out all the time. Fighting disease has led to some successes, but also has led to chaos of a kind which it would have been hard to foresee.

As we know, plagues and diseases of very strange kinds have been features of every age. What the crowd experienced then and what we have experienced in Covid, is nothing new. Homer’s Iliad, drawing on ancient oral tradition and written down in the 8^th century before Christ, gives an account of the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon during a war against the Trojans. A daughter of a priest was captured in battle.

The god Apollo sends a plague as punishment and the daughter is returned. That was mythology, but much has been very real: Black Death, Cholera, so-called Spanish ‘flu.

The idea that madness or indeed plagues are a punishment from God or the gods, goes right through history and is still the pattern for some, although gradually medical science has developed and has shown that the causes are more predictable and treatable than was once believed. That contrast between the interpretations of medical science and those of religion has led to all kinds of disputes right up until modern times. Some religious people have poured scorn on the sciences, for the religious have sometimes claimed that it is God alone who understands and acts, whereas science is secondary. There are contemporary Christians who have said that if you have enough faith in God, then you do not need a vaccination. Then there have been Muslim Imams who have said that the deaths of people with Covid are to be treated as deserved by those who are not believers, and then on the other hand that Covid provides an immediate route to paradise for those who are true converts to Islam.

Add to these confused reactions the fact of the sinister matter of blame. At times in history, there has been blame of religious groups as if they are responsible for what is happening. During the Black Death pandemic, Jews were said to be poisoning drinking water, and in revenge many Jews were killed for being behind the plague.

So the matter of disease is full of complexity. In particular the question to be asked is: how do we face what seem to be vast and unfathomable threats thrown up by the very world which we have been given to live in? Is this part of some obstacle course which we are challenged (by God) to navigate; is it part of the inevitable growing pains of God’s creation; is it an accident which we should have foreseen and coped with; is it a test of our ability to behave as one world rather than as separate rival nations? That last question about separate and rival nations is especially painful, as rich countries are much more able to cope with pandemics than the poor. That has been true of Covid and while Covid goes on, vast numbers die and have died every year from malaria and ebola, with rich nations only fairly recently making major efforts to tackle those very African plagues.

What should our response be? The answer is to respond to Jesus in a modern context with our knowledge as it is today. We can look to his teaching to the people of his day and to his mission to face up to suffering and then to heal, whatever the circumstances. In taking these steps we have a new challenge and joy which is to see that our faith can walk hand-in-hand with a longing for (and the support of) scientific advance. Thank

God for vaccines. Thank God also for Bill Gates: for his money of course, but more for his warnings and guidance which were largely ignored in 2017, but will now be heeded more seriously. One role of our faith is to listen to prophets and make sure that the truth is heard. Governments have sadly close horizons with their wish for votes, but those with faith in God can have a much longer view of the future of the world.

It is not easy. Why is the world as it is? Why does it not seem to get better – to be more healthy, more just, fairer? Global warming should be easily sorted because it is plainly all our fault. But these plagues and diseases are less obvious in their origins. What of earthquakes, tsunamis and ebola?

The only answer is to reflect on the life of Jesus and follow him. There is no doubt that if we responded to God more completely and followed in Jesus’ path of bringing love and help to those who suffer, then our futures would be more hopeful. There was the man towards the end of the account, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. He asked to be with Jesus but Jesus said that he was to return to where he had come from and was to tell those at home how much had been done for him by God. Jesus showed the way and that way was first to look to God and then lovingly to oppose suffering. He says the same to us.
Amen

 

Post Communion
Loving Father,
we thank you for feeding us at the supper of your Son:
sustain us with your Spirit,
that we may serve you here on earth
until our joy is complete in heaven,
and we share in the eternal banquet
with Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Next Week
Sunday 3^rd July
Third Sunday after Trinity

 

Solstice Sunset at Aldeburgh
Thank you to Eloise Mabey for this stunning shot.
If you manage to capture a moment of beauty in our local area,
do share your photos with us.

 

NOTICES

Licensing and Installation of Reverend Sarah du Boulay at 7.30pm on Thursday 30th June 2022 at the Parish Church of St Peter & St Paul, Aldeburgh The Churchwardens wish to invite everyone to the licensing by The Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, and the Installation by The Archdeacon of Suffolk of the Reverend Sarah du Boulay as Priest-in-Charge of The Alde Sandlings Benefice. There will be refreshments in the Church Hall after the service Can you contribute with a plate of food? We need small finger food – sandwiches, sausage rolls, cheese straws, savoury tartlets, sausages, crisps, and cakes. To prevent vast quantities of the same item, there will be a list in the west porch at Aldeburgh Parish church that you could add your name and food item that you would like to contribute with. Perhaps each church in the Benefice would like to do the same, or please do let Sandra Saint know or Claire at admin@aldeburghparishchurch.org.uk

✟ Church of England and Diocese Online Worship ✟ There are many online services you can view from the Church of England and our cathedral. Here are some links below. Church of England website https://www.churchofengland.org/ prayer-and-worship/church-online/weekly-online-services Church of England Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ thechurchofengland/ Church of England YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/ UCLecK8GovYoaYzIgyOElKZg St Edmundsbury Cathedral Facebook Page https://www. facebook.com/stedscathedral

Youth Club – We need your help! The Youth Club is back! 7pm to 9pm on Monday evenings during term time for 10–14-year-olds. We are thankful that the Youth Club is proving to be as popular as ever. We really need some more volunteers to help on these evenings. There is a rota in the west porch that you can add your name to, if you can help, or you can contact Fran Smith at admin@aldeburghparishchurch.org.uk

Weekly Benefice Newsletter If you would like something added to the weekly newsletter that is relevant to the Benefice, please do let Claire know and we will do our best to include it the following week. All requests by 4pm on Thursday please

Food Banks at the East of England Co-op Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities. The Aldeburgh Co-op and Solar in Leiston are doing a grand job in collecting food donations, which are collected regularly and distributed. So please look out for the various collection baskets.

Sunday 3rd July 3pm The Marenzio Singers at St Mary’s Friston In a concert to celebrate Suffolk and Summer, this vocal quintet will sing music from the sixteenth century to the present day: English and French madrigals, modern part songs including movements from Alan Bullard’s ‘A Summer Garland’ and American close harmony songs, all linked by piano interludes and spoken introductions. Tickets £10 at the door on the day which includes a glass of sparkling wine after the concert.

Friston Classics on the Green Thursday 14th July from 3pm Bring your veteran, vintage car, or bike (all vehicles in production before 1970) or just bring your friends and family. Tea, coffee, cakes and scones in the Village Hall, pop-up bar and barbecue on the Village Green and food and drink at the Old Chequers. Village Green reserved for classics and Blue Badge holders only. Public parking in Grove Road – not on the main roads please. Entrance is free but we need your donations please.

✞ Pilgrims Together on Wednesdays on Zoom ✞ The worship starts at 6.30pm (Zoom call opens from 6.10pm) and the call is then left open after the worship time for people to catch up.   People are welcome to email pilgrimstogether473@gmail.com  to receive a copy, be added to our mailing list or for the Zoom links. Pilgrims @ The Meare Thorpeness Sunday 3rd July Pilgrims @ The Meare: Outside F2F Worship Gathering 10 am (Bring your own chair!) Celtic style worship of the Iona Community, Sundays in July and August, on the grass next to the Boating Lake just beyond The Meare Cafe.

We present the new Mr & Mrs West. Revd Johanna Mabey led the wedding ceremony on Saturday 18th June. Many congratulations to you both.

Services this Sunday for The Alde Sandlings Benefice

Aldeburgh   Aldringham Knodishall	8.00am 10.30am 11.00am 9.00am	Holy Communion Service of the word Holy Communion Holy Communion

Collect
O God, the strength of all those who put their trust in you,
mercifully accept our prayers and, because through the
weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing
without you, grant us the help of your grace, that in the
keeping of your commandments we may please you both in
will and deed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

 

First Reading
Isaiah 65.1-9
I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am’, to a nation that did not call on my name.  I held out my hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and offering incense on bricks; who sit inside tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat swine’s flesh, with broth of abominable things in their vessels; who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.’ These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all day long. See, it is written before me: I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their laps their iniquities and their ancestors’ iniquities together, says the Lord; because they offered incense on the mountains and reviled me on the hills, I will measure into their laps full payment for their actions. Thus says the Lord: As the wine is found in the cluster, and they say, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it’, so I will do for my servants’ sake, and not destroy them all.  I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah inheritors of my mountains; my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall settle there.

Second Reading
Galatians 3.23-end
Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Gospel Reading
Luke 8.26-39
Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs.  When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me’— for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Legion’; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’ So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

 

Sermon preached by The Revd Johanna Mabey at
Friston 12^th June 2022

Romans 5:1-11

John 16:12-15

May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

Trinity Sunday falls on the Sunday after Pentecost and is one of the few feasts in the Christian calendar that celebrates a doctrine rather than an event.

It’s also notorious as the day which preachers shy away from because it’s a tricky doctrine to try and unravel.

I think it was an in-joke at vicar school that incumbents would try to off load the Trinity Sunday sermon onto their poor inexperienced curates – and so we were told to watch out for that in our first few years.

The Holy Trinity is complex and impossible to fully explore in the context of a short sermon – which you’ll be glad to know, this one is…

But that said, it seems odd that we try to avoid the doctrine…

After all, we articulate the Trinity many times a day in the liturgy: Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be with you; and so on.

Many different images have been used to try and explain the mystery of God as three in one and one in three – for example;

The fact that water can also become ice and steam….

The three leaves of the shamrock on one stalk….

I’ve even heard it described as a 3-in-1 dishwasher tablet,

where each colour of the tablet has a distinct role, while being properly interconnected with all the others.

You may find that a rather earthy and uninspiring image, but I don’t think it’s a bad attempt to describe something beyond our vocabulary.

Of course, trying to box the Trinity into something we can logically manage kind of misses the point.  Our frames of reference won’t explain God neatly.  By definition, hoping in God involves an acceptance that He is infinite and we are not.

The author C S Lewis said that a doctrine never seemed less real to him than when he had just been defending it.

I was reminded of a scene in his famous children’s story, ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’… the great Lion (Aslan) has died: and early the next morning 2 young girls, Susan and Lucy meet him alive again:

Aslan has risen from the dead. 

This newly risen Aslan doesn’t first deliver a great, rousing speech to inspire them or perform a mighty act of power to impress them; instead, he says, quite simply, “Children – children – catch me if you can”.  Then he leaps into the air; round and round they go, the children chasing after him; Aslan dives between them – then tosses them into the air, catching them in his huge velvet paws.  Suddenly: he stops – all three of them roll over and over in (as the book says) “a happy, laughing heap of fur and arms and legs”. 

It’s a glorious scene where every movement is certainly spontaneous and free, yet exhibits the precision of a well-prepared, minutely choreographed dance.

Here in this chase, I think C. S. Lewis provides us with an image of what life with the risen Jesus can be like – if we respond to his invitation to join him in the dance… it is a life of delight, almost we might say, of playfulness, a life of overflowing love – fullness, and joy.

Perhaps Trinity Sunday isn’t about trying to bend our brains around difficult doctrine.

The English Anglican mystic, Evelyn Underhill, wrote ‘If God were small enough to be understood, he wouldn’t be big enough to be worshipped.’

Perhaps this Trinity Sunday as the priest and poet Malcolm Guite observes, we are all simply invited:

To sing the chord that calls us to the dance,
Three notes resounding from a single tone,
To sing the End in whom we all begin;
Our God beyond, beside us and within.

Amen.

Post Communion
Eternal Father, we thank you for nourishing us
with these heavenly gifts: may our communion strengthen
us in faith, build us up in hope, and make us grow in love;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Revd Johanna Mabey has kindly shared a photo of Aldeburgh church, from her evening walk this week.
What a moment to capture the vapour cross above the church. Thanks Jo!

 

NOTICES

✟ Church of England and Diocese Online Worship ✟ There are many online services you can view from the Church of England and our cathedral. Here are some links below. Church of England website https://www.churchofengland.org/ prayer-and-worship/church-online/weekly-online-services Church of England Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ thechurchofengland/ Church of England YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/ channel/UCLecK8GovYoaYzIgyOElKZg St Edmundsbury Cathedral Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/stedscathedral

Licensing and Installation of Reverend Sarah du Boulay at 7.30pm on Thursday 30th June 2022 at the Parish Church of St Peter & St Paul, Aldeburgh The Churchwardens wish to invite everyone to the licensing by The Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, and the Installation by The Archdeacon of Suffolk of the Reverend Sarah du Boulay as Priest-in-Charge of The Alde Sandlings Benefice. There will be refreshments in the Church Hall after the service Can you contribute with a plate of food? We need small finger food – sandwiches, sausage rolls, cheese straws, savoury tartlets, sausages, crisps, and cakes. To prevent vast quantities of the same item, there will be a list in the west porch at Aldeburgh Parish church that you could add your name and food item that you would like to contribute with. Perhaps each church in the Benefice would like to do the same, or please do let Sandra Saint know or Claire at admin@aldeburghparishchurch.org.uk

Youth Club has Returned The Youth Club is back! 7pm to 9pm on Monday evenings during term time for 10–14-year-olds. We really need some more volunteers to help on these evenings. There is a rota in the west porch that you can add your name to, if you can help, or you can contact Fran Smith at admin@aldeburghparishchurch.org.uk

Weekly Benefice Newsletter If you would like something added to the weekly newsletter that is relevant to the Benefice, please do let Claire know and we will do our best to include it the following week. All requests by 4pm on Thursday please

Food Banks at the East of England Co-op Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities. The Aldeburgh Co-op and Solar in Leiston are doing a grand job in collecting food donations, which are collected regularly and distributed. So please look out for the various collection baskets.

Friston Open Gardens Sunday 19th June 11.30am to 5.30pm Enjoy a walk around the village exploring a rich diversity of residents’ gardens, many hidden from view from roads and footpaths; visit our medieval church and take time out to relax with light refreshments in the Village Hall. Find the cottage which offers a glass of fizz!  Tickets £5pp from the Village Green or Village Hall admits to all gardens.

Sunday 3rd July 3pm The Marenzio Singers at St Mary’s Friston In a concert to celebrate Suffolk and Summer, this vocal quintet will sing music from the sixteenth century to the present day: English and French madrigals, modern part songs including movements from Alan Bullard’s ‘A Summer Garland’ and American close harmony songs, all linked by piano interludes and spoken introductions. Tickets £10 at the door on the day which includes a glass of sparkling wine after the concert.

Pilgrims Together on Wednesdays on Zoom The worship starts at 6.30pm (Zoom call opens from 6.10pm) and the call is then left open after the worship time for people to catch up.   People are welcome to email pilgrimstogether473@gmail.com  to receive a copy, be added to our mailing list or for the Zoom links. Pilgrims @ The Meare Thorpeness Sunday 3rd July Pilgrims @ The Meare: Outside F2F Worship Gathering 10 am (Bring your own chair!) Celtic style worship of the Iona Community, Sundays in July and August, on the grass next to the Boating Lake just beyond The Meare Cafe.

Next Week
Sunday 26^th June
Second Sunday after Trinity

Services this Sunday for The Alde Sandlings Benefice

Aldeburgh Aldringham Friston Knodishall	10.30am 11.00am 9.00am 9.00am	Festival Holy Communion Morning Service Holy Communion Morning Prayer

Collect
Almighty and everlasting God,
you have given us your servants grace,
by the confession of a true faith,
to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity
and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity:
keep us steadfast in this faith,
that we may evermore be defended from all adversities;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

 

First Reading
Proverbs 8: 1-4,22-31
Does not wisdom call and understanding raise her voice?
On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out:  “To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all who live. “The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, when he had not yet made earth and fields or the world’s first bits of soil. When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master worker, and I was daily his delight, playing before him always, playing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race.

Second Reading
Romans 5: 1-5
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.  And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Gospel Reading
John 16 12-15
Jesus said: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.  ^“He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

 

Sermon preached by The Revd Johanna Mabey at
Aldringham 5^th June 2022

Pentecost Jubilee

May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

What a weekend… I expect like me, many of you have been glued to the tele watching the Platinum Jubilee celebrations for Her Majesty the Queen.

Isn’t it wonderful to be able to have all these large gatherings and the state pomp and circumstance once again!

The sin of pride aside… I think we do these things better than any other nation on the planet.

And thanks to dear old Paddington, we now know what the Queen keeps in her famous handbag!

We gather this morning to celebrate and give thanks for our Queen’s long reign on Pentecost Sunday – the festival of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the Church.

God’s breath, energy, and spirit give a direction to our lives.

The gifts of love, joy and peace are the gifts of the spirit.

As we heard in our first reading, these gifts enable communication and understanding between people who don’t speak the same language…people from different cultures and traditions, people who have a huge capacity to be divided and live in enmity.

Our rejoicing today is set against a backdrop of much division, uncertainty, challenge and suffering in our world.

The world’s a place of continual change.

But for me, and many, the Queen has quite simply always been there. A constant in our lives, and in the life of our nation.

70 years ago, Britain was a very different place to the Britain of today.

Sir Winston Churchill was Prime Minister again, of a country still dominated by the impact of the Second World War.

Although food rationing wouldn’t end for more than another year, Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume created Coronation chicken to help the celebrations. In Joe Lyons’ Corner Houses, Welsh Rarebit cost 4 pence (4d) and a meat pie cost 7 pence (7d).

In the Hit Parade, itself less than a year old, the American Frankie Laine topped the charts for nine consecutive weeks with ‘I Believe’.

The major items of foreign policy were to do with the Korean War, Operation Ajax in Iran, the emergencies in Malaya and with the Mau Mau in Kenya.

One Queen, but so far in her reign, there have been seven Archbishops of Canterbury,14 British Prime ministers and 170 Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth Realms.

The conflicts and opportunities of our world have changed over the past seven decades, but the Queen has been steadfast, and she has shown a remarkable capacity to grow and change with us.

She has shown a benevolent neutrality, tolerance and understanding in her communications and her values.

As for any family and any community, the 70 years of our Queen’s reign haven’t all been gloriously free of personal or family difficulty. Perhaps those occasions have deepened our sympathies and affection for the Queen and our gratitude for her devotion to duty and service.

God doesn’t do anything by accident. The fact that the Jubilee and Pentecost are being celebrated at the same time signpost us to the thread and continuity of the Queen’s deep Christian faith and her commitment to others.

The Christian commitment to others, which is part of the wisdom of all religions, is necessary for people to flourish.

It’s the same instinct that’s brought communities together up and down the country, and indeed around the world to celebrate and give thanks to the Queen for these past 70 years.

Today we give thanks for everything and, as at her Coronation,
but if anything, with even deeper affection and gratitude,
we pray and acclaim: God Save The Queen!

Let’s say it together,
God Save The Queen.
Amen.

Post Communion
Almighty and eternal God, you have revealed yourself as Father,
Son and Holy Spirit, and live and reign in the perfect unity of love:
hold us firm in this faith, that we may know you in all your ways
and evermore rejoice in your eternal glory, who are three
Persons yet one God, now and for ever.

 

A HUGE THANK YOU TO OUR FLOWER TEAMS

I am sure many of you will agree how beautiful our churches looked for the Jubilee weekend. Thank you so much for all your work and talent shown with these displays.

Here are some photos of just a few of the displays from

Aldeburgh and Aldringham churches

Next Week
Sunday 19^th June
First Sunday after Trinity

NOTICES

Licensing and Installation of Reverend Sarah du Boulay at 7.30pm on Thursday 30th June 2022 at the Parish Church of St Peter & St Paul, Aldeburgh The Churchwardens wish to invite everyone to the licensing by The Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, and the Installation by The Archdeacon of Suffolk of the Reverend Sarah du Boulay as Priest-in-Charge of The Alde Sandlings Benefice. There will be refreshments in the Church Hall after the service Can you contribute with a plate of food? We need small finger food – sandwiches, sausage rolls, cheese straws, savoury tartlets, sausages, crisps, and cakes. To prevent vast quantities of the same item, there will be a list in the west porch at Aldeburgh Parish church that you could add your name and food item that you would like to contribute with. Perhaps each church in the Benefice would like to do the same, or please do let Sandra Saint know or Claire at admin@aldeburghparishchurch.org.uk

Youth Club has Returned The Youth Club is back! 7pm to 9pm on Monday evenings during term time for 10–14-year-olds. We really need some more volunteers to help on these evenings. There is a rota in the west porch that you can add your name to, if you can help, or you can contact Fran Smith at admin@aldeburghparishchurch.org.uk

Church of England and Diocese Online Worship There are many online services you can view from the Church of England and our cathedral. Here are some links below. Church of England website https://www.churchofengland.org/ prayer-and-worship/church-online/weekly-online-services Church of England Facebook page https://www.facebook.com /thechurchofengland/ Church of England YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/ channel/UCLecK8GovYoaYzIgyOElKZg St Edmundsbury Cathedral Facebook Page https://www.facebook.c om/stedscathedral

Weekly Benefice Newsletter If you would like something added to the weekly newsletter that is relevant to the Benefice, please do let Claire know and we will do our best to include it the following week. All requests by 4pm on Thursday please

Food Banks at the East of England Co-op Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities. The Aldeburgh Co-op and Solar in Leiston are doing a grand job in collecting food donations, which are collected regularly and distributed. So please look out for the various collection baskets.

Friston Open Gardens Sunday 19th June 11.30am to 5.30pm Enjoy a walk around the village exploring a rich diversity of residents’ gardens, many hidden from view from roads and footpaths; visit our medieval church and take time out to relax with light refreshments in the Village Hall. Find the cottage which offers a glass of fizz! Tickets £5pp from the Village Green or Village Hall admits to all gardens.

Pilgrims Together on Wednesdays on Zoom The worship starts at 6.30pm (Zoom call opens from 6.10pm) and the call is then left open after the worship time for people to catch up.   People are welcome to email pilgrimstogether473@gmail.com  to receive a copy, be added to our mailing list or for the Zoom links. Saturday 18th June Good News Faith Cafe @ The Outside Inn, Parrot Pub 9.30 – 10.30

After two years of postponed weddings, we are delighted to say love is definitely back in the air at The Alde Sandlings Benefice.

Our first wedding kicked off on May 7th with the lovely Ryan and Rebecca. Revd Johanna Mabey led the service.

Many congratulations to the new Mr and Mrs Vincent

Services this Sunday for The Alde Sandlings Benefice

Aldeburgh Aldringham Friston Knodishall	8.00am 10.30am 11.00am 9.45am 9.00am	Holy Communion Holy Communion Holy Communion Morning Prayer Holy Communion

Collect
God, who as at this time
taught the hearts of your faithful people
by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit:
grant us by the same Spirit
to have a right judgement in all things
and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort;
through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

First Reading
Genesis 11.1-9
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’ The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And the Lord said, ‘Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.’ So, the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore, it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Second Reading
Acts 2.1-21 
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’ But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.  Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.  And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.  The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Gospel Reading
John 14.8-17
Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

 

Sermon preached by The Revd James Marston at
Aldeburgh 29th May 2022

John 17:20-26

May I speak in the name of the living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

This week, the seventh Sunday of Easter marks the end of Eastertide and prepares us for Pentecost – the coming of the Holy Spirit that we recall next week.

This Sunday also co-incides with what I am now referring to APCM-tide. Today is the final annual parish church meeting of four of them across the benefice and I invite all of you to stay for it, if you so wish, taking the somewhat uncharitable view that if I have to be here then so should you.

Indeed, as I relaxed on my day off this week after a light luncheon of fresh bread served with Cypriot halloumi on a bed of crispy salad with balsamic glaze, I was thinking about APCM’s and The Queen popped into my mind.

Her Majesty said at her Ruby Jubilee, now 30 years ago, that 1992 was a not a year she will look back on with undiluted pleasure. It is true that APCM-tide might not enthuse diluted pleasure amongst clergy, but they do provide a moment in which to take stock and reflect on the past year.

For me the last year has been one of learning and discovery, for you one of waiting and anticipation for a new incumbent, whose arrival is now just around the corner.

This is indeed an exciting time for our benefice and one which marks the start of a new chapter of the history of these four churches.

I know Reverend Sarah is an unknown quantity for many of you, but I and one or two others know her, and I know how excited she is to be coming here in just a few weeks’ time as she takes this big step in her ministry journey.

How will you welcome Reverend Sarah?

Aside from the pomp and ceremony of the licensing service at the end of June, I can tell you that reminding her of your name when you speak to her for at least the first year will help.

How will our community help her adjust to our little foibles and idiosyncrasies?

I have said many time that if I had a pound for every time I’ve heard “that’s the way we’ve always done things” I’d be able to afford a house on Crag Path. Yet often, with a little exploration, the way we’ve always done things

is not often the hard wired immovable tradition we might think it is.

How willing will you be to change and be evolution needed to keep our church moving forward in the love of Christ?

I hope you’ll back Reverend Sarah in her calling and role all the way.

And a final question to consider, what can you do to ease her path and show her your love?

I can tell you that the patience and gratitude you so often exercise and express to me and to others goes a long way.

I’ll leave those thoughts with you and remind you that Aldeburgh church has been for many years been a place of training for curates, so I have no doubt you know what you’re doing when it comes to welcoming and supporting a new incumbent.

Today’s gospel reading is also a reminder.

A reminder that Jesus, through his life, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension saves us by bringing us into relationship with God. Jesus becomes one of us in order to point us to God and in order that we have may have a relationship with God through him.

John’s understanding of Christ, his Christological insight, is perhaps, at its most clear in the passage where Jesus prays:

“I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

This prayer for all believers reminds us too that Christ is here among us and that we make up the body of Christ at all times, not just on a Sunday morning at half past ten.

By being the body of Christ, by worshipping, by feeding our souls with prayer and the Eucharist we nourish our faith in order to reflect it back to those around us, so, as Jesus put’s it “the world may believe.”.

So as Jesus prays for us believers to reflect his glory and live in him, the challenge this week and for all our lives is simply this.

To live the message of Easter, to love God with all our heart, mind and strength, to put Him first in all we do.

To go from Sunday worship in peace to love and serve the Lord.

Amen

Post Communion
Faithful God, who fulfilled the promises of Easter
by sending us your Holy Spirit
and opening to every race and nation
the way of life eternal:
open our lips by your Spirit,
that every tongue may tell of your glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Notices

Dates for your Diaries Festival Service at Aldeburgh June 12th 10.30am Holy Communion Service Our New Priest in Charge Revd Sarah du Boulay Licensing Service Thursday 30th June at 7.30pm at Aldeburgh. You are all invited to welcome Sarah. Refreshments will be served immediately after the service.

Youth Club has Returned The Youth Club is back! 7pm to 9pm on Monday evenings during term time for 10–14-year-olds. We really need some more volunteers to help on these evenings. There is a rota in the west porch that you can add your name to, if you can help, or you can contact Fran Smith at admin@aldeburghparishchurch.org.uk

✟ Church of England and Diocese Online Worship ✟ There are many online services you can view from the Church of England and our cathedral. Here are some links below. Church of England website https://www.churchofengland.org/ prayer-and-worship/church-online/weekly-online-services Church of England Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ thechurchofengland/ Church of England YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/ channel/UCLecK8GovYoaYzIgyOElKZg St Edmundsbury Cathedral Facebook Page https://www.facebook. com/stedscathedral

Weekly Benefice Newsletter If you would like something added to the weekly newsletter that is relevant to the Benefice, please do let Claire know and we will do our best to include it the following week. All requests by 4pm on Thursday please

Food Banks at the East of England Co-op Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities. The Aldeburgh Co-op and Solar in Leiston are doing a grand job in collecting food donations, which are collected regularly and distributed. So please look out for the various collection baskets.

Friston Open Gardens Sunday 19th June 11.30am to 5.30pm Enjoy a walk around the village exploring a rich diversity of residents’ gardens, many hidden from view from roads and footpaths; visit our medieval church and take time out to relax with light refreshments in the Village Hall. Find the cottage which offers a glass of fizz! Tickets £5pp from the Village Green or Village Hall admits to all gardens.

Pilgrims Together on Wednesdays The Pilgrims worship together every Wednesday. You are all more than welcome to join them via Zoom.   The worship starts at 6.30pm (Zoom call opens from 6.10pm) and the call is then left open after the worship time for people to catch up.   People are welcome to email pilgrimstogether473@gmail.com  to receive a copy, be added to our mailing list, or for the Zoom links. Saturday 18th June Good News Faith Cafe @ The Outside Inn, Parrot Pub 9.30 – 10.30 A time for conversation, a hot drink, and a croissant.  A time to share and offer our thoughts and stories. Acts of kindness within the Outside Inn and out into the outside world.

Next Week
Sunday 12^th June
Trinity Sunday

 

Collect
O God the King of glory,
you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ
with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven:
we beseech you, leave us not comfortless,
but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us
and exalt us to the place where our Saviour Christ is gone before,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

First Reading
Acts 16.16-34
One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, ‘These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.’ She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour. But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, ‘These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.’ The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, ‘Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.’ The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They answered, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.


Second Reading
Revelation 22.12-14,16, 17, 20-end
‘See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.’ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. ‘It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.’  The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift. The one who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.

Gospel Reading
John 17.20-end
‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ‘Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’ 

Dates for your Diaries Jubilee/Pentecost Services 5th June Aldeburgh 8am and 10.30am Holy Communion Services Aldringham 11am Holy Communion Service Friston 9.45am Morning Prayer Knodishall 9am Holy Communion Service Festival Service at Aldeburgh June 12th 10.30am Holy Communion Service Our New Priest in Charge Revd Sarah Du Boulay Licensing Service Thursday 30th June at 7.30pm at Aldeburgh. You are all invited to welcome Sarah. More information to follow.

 

 

Sermon preached by The Revd Sheila Murray at
Aldeburgh 22^nd May 2022

John 14:23-29

The Continuing presence of God as Holy Spirit

In our Gospel readings during this time between the Resurrection and Ascension (which we celebrate on Thursday this week) Jesus continues to prepare his friends for something which is completely beyond their experience. In today’s Gospel, we hear how he introduces them to the idea of God’s personal involvement through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The prospect of having to carry on without Jesus in person among them must have been bleak and very daunting to the disciples. Here Jesus speaks into those fears and assures them of this faithful presence once he has gone from their physical sight.

There is a section of the Bayeux tapestry which is called “William encourages his soldiers”. This strikes me as a somewhat wry comment because the picture shows William encouraging them by jabbing at their backsides with a sharp weapon! Forceful encouragement, indeed. But there is in this image an acknowledgement that fear can prevent us from doing what we know is right and at such times a prod or two sharpens our determination to get the better of our fear.

When Jesus has given us full assurance of God’s presence, we are told not to let our hearts be troubled. I suspect this has a sharper edge which is often missed, and we are actually being told not to allow ourselves to be perturbed or shaken by circumstances. Satan can so easily sidle in through our fears, self-doubt and trepidation, and start whispering the lie that whatever we are facing is far too difficult and we are bound to fail. We can prevent that, in God’s strength, by refusing to allow such undermining fears access.

In our reading from Acts we heard about the promised guiding power of the Holy Spirit in action. God’s close involvement with his people means that, whenever Christians are attuned to him and make themselves available, they will be led at the right time into the right circumstances where they can be best used for the work of God.

I can testify to this. Seven years ago, Andy and I felt it was right for us to move from Taunton in Somerset up to Suffolk or possibly even just into Norfolk. We put our house on the market, having been told it would sell very easily due to its proximity to an Independent School, we also had an

excellent village primary school within half a mile, and we were within two miles of the hospital, and to top that in a few hundred yards up the road you were in the Somerset countryside. Taunton has excellent rail links, the M5, good shops and the county cricket ground! What more could you want? So with the house on the market, we came across to the East coast house hunting and found a lovely house in a small market town, which had an active church which was part of a benefice, and we found out only a few weeks earlier their Self Supporting part time priest who worked alongside the Vicar had died and they were desperate for help. We thought this was where God was wanting us to be. It all seemed so right. But, for reasons no one could fathom, our house did not sell. The Agent didn’t understand it. After a year, we decided God was not wanting us to move at that point in time. We had made ourselves available, but it was not the right time or the right place. Move forward 7 years, and here we are. In Suffolk, in a much nicer part of the county than we were first looking at, near the sea, in a place where both of us are needed! God moves in mysterious ways, doesn’t he? But it is often a case of just being willing to move out of our comfort zone.

In my last two parishes in N Yorks we had a monthly All Age service in each church. One of the villages had various special weekends over the year, including their Feast weekend, which for decades had a fair set up on the Green. On the Saturday they had a big fancy dress parade down through the village with a brass band and banner leading the way, and Andy and I had judged all the different classes in our first year there. On the Sunday afternoon, tradition had it that the church held an outdoor service on the Dodgems! I envisaged it being a communion, and I thought Andy could drive me round in a dodgem while I served out the bread and the wine! But that was a bit too wacky. It was just an open air service, with adults on chairs on the dodgem floor, and the youngsters sat in the dodgems lined up behind them. I decided to have the theme of how the Holy Spirit can help guide us through our lives, and I demonstrated this by setting up an obstacle course, using various parking cones and a toddler’s tunnel. We got one of the children to put on a blindfold and set her off after slowly turning her round and round – well, she didn’t get very far before she knocked into things. Before it got too dangerous, I stopped her and asked for a volunteer to help steer her round it. Not just taking her hand, but talking to her, about what was coming up next, which direction she had to go and so on. Off they went. And it worked, she was able to get round without any problems. The Holy Spirit can help us, like the guide helped the young girl. The Holy Spirit can teach and explain

things to us, guide us, help us through dangers part of life, so that we are not left alone, but working in partnership with our loving God. Just as Christ tells us in our Gospel reading – when I am gone, Jesus says, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of everything I have said to you.

I am going to read a meditation written by Nick Fawcett, which are thoughts that might have gone through the disciple John’s mind having heard Jesus talking to them all.

We felt abandoned, bereft – like orphans in a hostile and dangerous world. To see Jesus arrested like that, flogged, crucified and laid in a tomb – it was like losing a parent, partner and friend all in one, for we’d loved him beyond all others, his presence giving meaning to life, light to our path.

But then he returned, just as he’d promised – risen, victorious, yet the same old Jesus we had known before.

He walked with us, talked with us, and for a moment it was as if nothing had happened. But, of course, it had, for he’d defeated death, vanquished evil, his place no longer with us but with the Father, enthroned on high.

He knew it, we knew it, and so it proved, our Lord taken from us again….

But we are not abandoned, not alone, for once more, just as he promised, he’s present among us, his Spirit within, to the end of time.

Let’s pray:

Saviour Christ thank you not just for the miracle of your resurrection but in the equally miraculous gift of your Holy Spirit, dwelling within, making you known. Thank you for, through that Spirit, touching my heart and transforming my life – enabling, inspiring, teaching, guiding, bringing faith to birth and sustaining it across the years. Help me to discern the way forward and when I find life difficult, help me to stay strong in my faith through your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Post Communion
Eternal God, giver of love and power,
your Son Jesus Christ has sent us into all the world
to preach the gospel of his kingdom:
confirm us in this mission,
and help us to live the good news we proclaim;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Youth Club has Returned The Youth Club is back! 7pm to 9pm on Monday evenings during term time for 10–14-year-olds. We really need some more volunteers to help on these evenings. There is a rota in the west porch that you can add your name to, if you can help, or you can contact Fran Smith at admin@aldeburghparishchurch.org.uk

A message from Jenny Digby – Aldeburgh My darling son Lee Spencer Jones died from bowel cancer in January this year aged only 47 years.   He is loved and missed so much. I’m ‘Walking Together’ for Bowel Cancer UK, with my lovely daughter in law Michelle on 11th June from Holkham Hall, on the north Norfolk coast as Lee & Michelle lived in Norfolk. I would welcome any donation, no matter how small, it all adds up. If you would like to donate, please visit my Just Giving page by clicking here:  https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ Jenny-Jones47?utm_source=Sharethis&utm_ medium=fundraising&utm_content=Jenny-Jones 47&utm_campaign=pfp-email&utm_term= cbf6dfc1175f402ca29d8544404390b5. Thank you to everyone who supports this worthy cause, it is much appreciated. Jenny Digby

✟ Church of England and Diocese Online Worship ✟ There are many online services you can view from the Church of England and our cathedral. Here are some links below. Church of England website https://www.churchofengland.org/ prayer-and-worship/church-online/weekly-online-services Church of England Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ thechurchofengland/ Church of England YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/ channel/UCLecK8GovYoaYzIgyOElKZg St Edmundsbury Cathedral Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/ stedscathedral

Weekly Benefice Newsletter If you would like something added to the weekly newsletter that is relevant to the Benefice, please do let Claire know and we will do our best to include it the following week. All requests by 4pm on Thursday please

Food Banks at the East of England Co-op Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities. The Aldeburgh Co-op and Solar in Leiston are doing a grand job in collecting food donations, which are collected regularly and distributed. So please look out for the various collection baskets.

Friston Open Gardens Sunday 19th June 11.30am to 5.30pm Enjoy a walk around the village exploring a rich diversity of residents’ gardens, many hidden from view from roads and footpaths; visit our medieval church and take time out to relax with light refreshments in the Village Hall. Find the cottage which offers a glass of fizz! Tickets £5pp from the Village Green or Village Hall admits to all gardens.

Pilgrims Together on Wednesdays The Pilgrims worship together every Wednesday. You are all more than welcome to join them via Zoom.   The worship starts at 6.30pm (Zoom call opens from 6.10pm) and the call is then left open after the worship time for people to catch up.   People are welcome to email pilgrimstogether473@gmail.com  to receive a copy to be added to our mailing list or for the Zoom links. Friday 3rd June Outdoor Worship Gathering 5.30pm @ Aldringham Court, to round off their Jubilee Fun Day which is open to the local community

Next Week
Sunday 5^th June – Pentecost/Jubilee

Services this Sunday for The Alde Sandlings Benefice

Aldeburgh Aldringham Friston Knodishall

10.30am 11.00am 9.00am 9.00am

Holy Communion Morning Prayer Holy Communion Morning Prayer

Message from Revd James Marston

A big thank you to all involved with the Civic Service last Sunday.

Our church welcomed representatives from across the county, and, as always, we all played our part with professionalism and élan. Many complimented and expressed admiration for the “way we do things” at the reception afterwards. I have included my sermon in this week’s newsletter.

I’d like to draw your attention to next week’s Ascension Day service at Aldeburgh church on Thursday May 26, which will be a service of Holy Communion following the Book of Common Prayer at 10am in the Trinity/Lady Chapel. We’ll be keeping it simple this year and I shan’t be going up the tower – I’m not too keen on heights or those narrow stairs. There is also, for those interested, a deanery service at 7.30pm at St Peter’s Westleton.

And for those who have been making discreet enquiries, my little blue car should be with us again soon, about which I will be much relieved.

Blessings to you all,

James

Collect
God our redeemer,
you have delivered us from the power of darkness
and brought us into the kingdom of your Son:
grant, that as by his death he has recalled us to life,
so by his continual presence in us he may raise us to eternal joy;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

First Reading
Acts 16.9-15
During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshipper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.’ And she prevailed upon us.

Second Reading
Revelation 21.10, 22-22.5
And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honour of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practises abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign for ever and ever.

Gospel Reading
John 14.23-29
Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me. ‘I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, “I am going away, and I am coming to you.” If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.

Dates for your Diaries Ascension Day 26th May Holy Communion 10am at Aldeburgh Deanery Service for Ascension Day at St Peter’s, Westleton at 7.30pm Jubilee/Pentecost Services 5th June Aldeburgh 8am and 10.30am Holy Communion Services Aldringham 11am Holy Communion Service Friston 9am Morning Prayer Knodishall 9am Holy Communion Service Festival Service at Aldeburgh June 12th 10.30am Holy Communion Service Our New Priest in Charge Revd Sarah Du Boulay Licensing Service Thursday 30th June at 7.30pm at Aldeburgh. You are all invited to welcome Sarah. More information to follow.

Sermon preached by The Revd James Marston at
Aldeburgh 15^th May 2022

May I speak in the name of the living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

George Crabbe, a son of Aldeburgh, and erstwhile predecessor of mine, is famed for his narrative and realistic form of poetry as well as his somewhat unsentimental description of our borough, once wrote the following:

“What is a church? Our honest sexton tells

Tis a tall building with a tower and bells,

Where priest and clerk with joint exertion strive

To keep the ardour of their flock alive.”

Crabbe was writing in latter half of the 18^th century, and today 250 years later the tall building with tower and bells remains an indisputable observation, and even the ardour of our flock has been known, on occasion, to make its presence felt.

The church is also a place where we administer the sacraments, teach and keep the faith, bury the dead, baptise the young and marry those keen to make their vows before the Almighty and eternal God before having a “do” down at the Wentworth.

Our church, every church, is a public building, a public and prayerful space, open to all and belonging to everyone.

Today, in many ways, we celebrate and mark the reformation of our community after a couple of difficult years through which our town has pulled together and been reminded of the power and purpose of community.

The last two years have shown us quite clearly that the sense of community is strong in this town, and not just because we are at the end of the road or because, dare I say it, everyone likes to know the ins and outs of everyone else’s business.

Ours is a town in which we care for one another and pull together when the tough times come.

And today we come together to firstly congratulate Peter as he takes on the mantle, and, if I may say so, rather smart robes of the mayorship. And I know we all wish him and Catherine well as they serve their year of office as they represent our town, in this exciting Jubilee year, at all sorts of events, civic functions and meet and greets. They may even, I suspect, get to go to the odd cocktail party. This is Aldeburgh, after all.

We also meet here today, after an interval of some time, to celebrate and remember the relationship between our worshipping community and our civic leaders, an ancient and symbiotic relationship developed over hundreds of years through the countless generations of our town.

As well as hymns that I hope people know and, I promise you, a fairly short sermon, I have chosen to celebrate this relationship with Holy Communion, the appropriate and sacramental expression of God’s grace, which brings people together, in relationship with Him.

Indeed, our gospel reading today Jesus commands his disciples to love one another, a reminder too perhaps, of the two great commandments, and really the essence of the Christian faith, to love thy God and to love thy neighbour.

The Christian faith is all about relationship, our personal and communal relationship with God and our relationship with those around us.

These relationships, alongside our town’s history and heritage, its communities, and its future, we celebrate and offer thanks for at this civic service.

We are delighted to welcome you, our civic leaders, and our communities, here to your church.

We wish you well as you serve our town in the year ahead, and I wish you God’s blessing on all your discussions, on all your endeavours and on all that you do.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

 

Post Communion

God our Father,
whose Son Jesus Christ gives the water of eternal life:
may we thirst for you,
the spring of life and source of goodness,
through him who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Aldeburgh Parish Church Collections The collection at this Sunday’s service (22nd) will be donated to Christian Aid.

Youth Club has Returned The Youth Club is back! 7pm to 9pm on Monday evenings during term time for 10–14-year-olds. We really need some more volunteers to help on these evenings. There is a rota in the west porch that you can add your name to, if you can help, or you can contact Fran Smith at admin@aldeburghparishchurch.org.uk

A message from Jenny Digby – Aldeburgh My darling son Lee Spencer Jones died from bowel cancer in January this year aged only 47 years.    He is loved and missed so much. I’m ‘Walking Together’ for Bowel Cancer UK, with my lovely daughter in law Michelle on 11th June from Holkham Hall, on the north Norfolk coast as Lee & Michelle lived in Norfolk. I would welcome any donation, no matter how small, it all adds up. If you would like to donate, please visit my Just Giving page by clicking here:  https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ Jenny-Jones47?utm_source= Sharethis&utm_medium=fundraising&utm _content=Jenny-Jones47&utm_campaign=pfp- email&utm_term=cbf6dfc1175f402ca29d8544404390b5. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast, and totally secure. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to Bowel Cancer UK, so it’s the most efficient way to give – saving time and cutting costs for the charity. Thank you to everyone who supports this worthy cause, it is much appreciated. Jenny Digby

Church of England and Diocese Online Worship There are many online services you can view from the Church of England and our cathedral. Here are some links below. Church of England website https://www.churchofengland.org/ prayer-and-worship/church-online/weekly-online-services Church of England Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ thechurchofengland/ Church of England YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/ UCLecK8GovYoaYzIgyOElKZg St Edmundsbury Cathedral Facebook Page https://www. facebook.com/stedscathedral

Weekly Benefice Newsletter If you would like something added to the weekly newsletter that is relevant to the Benefice, please do let Claire know and we will do our best to include it the following week. All requests by 4pm on Thursday please

Food Banks at the East of England Co-op Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities. The Aldeburgh Co-op and Solar in Leiston are doing a grand job in collecting food donations, which are collected regularly and distributed. So please look out for the various collection baskets.

A Call for Helpers and Keys (Aldeburgh) You will all be aware that I have been the sole churchwarden for almost two years now. During this time, I have been blessed with the generous assistance of Adrian Brown, our Treasurer and Derek Cook, our Deputy Churchwarden. The role of churchwarden is personally rewarding but also demanding of one’s time, energy and sometimes one’s patience. Every church needs two churchwardens, and this is especially important for a church the size of Aldeburgh Parish Church. As we approach our Annual Parochial Church Meeting, I am concerned that we may enter another year with only one churchwarden. I am happy to continue as a churchwarden, but this is not a job that I can continue to do on my own. We very much need someone with energy and enthusiasm to join me as churchwarden. As we return to offering a variety of services and move to larger congregations, we find that we need more helpers in our church. We particularly need sacristans, servers, and cleaners. Are you able to offer your time and help? Our cleaning team gather in the church on Saturday morning after Morning Prayer so please come along and join in. If you are interested in helping to prepare for and possibly serving at our communion services, please contact either myself, Claire our Administrator, or one of our priests. We can explain what is involved and offer full training. We need additional keys for our church volunteers.  Are there any keys out there that aren’t used anymore?  Perhaps you have stood down from your role within the church but still have keys.  If you could let me or Claire know, we can arrange returning of the keys and then update our records.   This would be very helpful and prevent an unnecessary expense of having to have new keys cut.  Ken Smith

Pilgrims Together on Wednesdays The Pilgrims worship together every Wednesday. You are all more than welcome to join them via Zoom.   The worship starts at 6.30pm (Zoom call opens from 6.10pm) and the call is then left open after the worship time for people to catch up.   People are welcome to email pilgrimstogether473@gmail.com  to receive a copy, be added to our mailing list or for the Zoom links. Friday 3rd June Outdoor Worship Gathering 5.30pm @ Aldringham Court, to round off their Jubilee Fun Day which is open to the local community

Next Week
Sunday 29^th May
Seventh Sunday of Easter