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Bexley Team News
St Barnabas, Joydens Wood
St James, North Cray
St John the Evangelist, Bexley
St Mary the Virgin, Bexley
2nd May 2021 Issue59 The Fifth Sunday of Easter
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The church buildings will have been thoroughly cleaned. As usual, face-masks MUST be worn (unless medically exempt) hand sanitiser will be used and social distancing of 2 Metres MUST be observed at all times. Do not attend if you or a member of your household is shielding or vulnerable. The church doors will open for ventilation, so dress accordingly.
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St Mary’s 8.30 am BCP Holy Communion
10.00am Holy Communion
St James 9.30 am Holy Communion
St Barnabas 10.45 am Holy Communion
St John’s 8.00 am Holy Communion
10.00 am Family Holy Communion
10.00 am Wednesday Holy Communion
Team Zoom Services and Worship material
Saturday 1st May at 5.30 pm Saturday Nightwatch Zoom Service
If you wish, you may like to have 3 strands of either wool, or ribbon or embroidery thread or even string, as we are going to make a plait of three strands during our reflective time together.
Sunday 2nd May at 10.00 am Sunday Zoom Service
A Service of bible readings and prayer. See the final sheet of the BTNews for the songs. Invitations to the above Zoom services are being emailed. If you haven’t received the link, or are having problems, please contact any member of the Team Clergy. Dial in option is available.
Sunday 2nd May Bexley Team Children’s Church
Here is the link for Children's Church this week https://youtu.be/vQsmAeuGJMk
The Diocese ofRochester are producingmaterial for children during lockdown.
All of the Ministry@Home sheets can be found on the main Diocese website under
(under 18s) or click here. Diocese of Rochester | Family Worship in the Home (anglican.org)
Bible Readings Acts 8 v26-40 1 John 4 v7 -21 John 15 v1- 8
The Collect: Almighty God, who through your only- begotten Son Jesus Christ have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: grant that, as by your grace going before us you put into our minds good desires, so by your continual help we may bring them to good effect; through Jesus Christ our risen Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and forever.
The Additional Collect: Risen Christ, your wounds declare your love for the world and the wonder of your risen life: give us compassion and courage to risk ourselves for those we serve, to the glory of God the Father.
Rev’d Clive writes-
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aybe during lockdown your mind has wandered back to past activities recently denied. One such was a visit to a Kentish vineyard set delightfully on a south facing slope. Said vineyard products rivalled anything from across the channel and was called English sparkling wine. We of course brought a few samples home.
To achieve this excellence we learnt about the care that was given to the vines which sometimes included heroic efforts to protect them (from frost), skilled pruning and a rose bush planted at the end of each row; disease of which would be an early harbinger of problems for the vines.
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Jesus described himself as a vine, his Father as the vine grower and his disciples as branches of the vine and (John 15 v1-8). This too was a powerful image of Israel – God’s vineyard see for example Isaiah 5 v1- 7. Branches that bear no fruit are removed and branches that do bear fruit are pruned to make them more fruitful. What is the key to being a fruitful branch of the vine? The answer seems to be in Jesus’ command to ‘Abide in me, as I abide in you’ (v4a). Instructions to ‘abide’ appear eight times in this short passage. There is a wonderful promise attached to abiding in Jesus: ‘ask for whatever you wish and it will be done for you’ (v7b) but there is also a sterner side ‘whoever does not abide in me is thrown away and withers’ (6a). The teaching is summed up in positive fashion in v8 – ‘My Father is glorified in this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.’
It is well worth meditating on ‘Abide in me’ – what does it mean to abide in Jesus? For me some words come to mind... trust... surrender...intimacy...letting go... I would love to be a ‘fine vintage’ for the Lord but probably like many of us I can shy away from the pruning despite its promise of vigorous and health growth! A recent thought returned to my mind ‘God has better things planned for me than I will allow myself‘.
Diocesan Living in Love and Faith taster daytook place on Saturday 1stMay, 9.30am to 1.00 pm. This online Diocesan event offered an opportunity to learn about the vision and purpose of the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) project which explores Christian teaching and learning about identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage. There will be other opportunities for discussions on this topic in the months to come.
Contact Rev Ren for more information.
Ascension Day- Thursday 13th May: The four churches of the Team will be holding an open-air Ascension Day Eucharist at 7.00 pm in the grounds of St Barnabas Joydens Wood: Please note that as the service will be outdoors, congregational hymn singing will be permitted! Rev’d Ren Harding presiding; Rev’d Edward Barlow preaching.
Zoom Prayer Course Prayer is central to the lives of Christians throughout the world, but it's something that can be difficult to do and even harder to talk about! So, Rev'd Matt will be running a short introductory course (on Zoom) entitled 'Prayer and Praying for Others'. This two session course will be on Wednesday 5th and Wednesday 12th May, from 8pm-9.15pm. This will be an opportunity for us to consider what happens when we pray, how to pray when we get a bit stuck, and how we can pray for others. Open to everyone, from life-long Christians to those just beginning a journey of faith (and everything in between). Please contact Rev Matt to register your interest or for more information. Thank you! matthodder10@gmail.com 07889873125
Clive will be leading a holiday to Austria and Oberammergau including the Passion Play 22-29 June 2022. If you would like a hard or e-copy of the holiday/pilgrimage brochure please let Clive know.
FINANCIAL GIVING TO THE TEAM CHURCHES
For StBarnabasAny contributions can be dropped off at the Treasurer’s house or at the Vicarage. Or you can give by BACS transfer. In all cases, if you are a taxpayer please “Gift Aid” your giving. If you have any questions regarding this please contact, David Peters on 01322 529796 or by email davidpeters45@hotmail.co.uk
For St James, North Cray Contributions can be dropped off at 91 The Grove, or made by BACS transfer, contact Suzy Higgs on 07799072548
For St John's You can give to the continuing upkeep and ministry of St John's via our Just Giving page: www.justgiving.com/stjohntheevangelist-bexley
For St Mary’s If you ordinarily make your financial contributions in church but, in the present circumstances, wish to contribute by cheque then please make your cheque payable to St Mary’s Bexley PCC and send it c/o C. Lee 11 Holmesdale Road, Bexleyheath, DA7 4TJ. Your continued support is very much appreciated.
Each week the musicians at St James North Cray offer links to a selection of songs and music for us to enjoy. These can be found on our website www.stjamesnorthcray.org.uk/welcome/music/
St John’s Sermons are posted each Sunday at fatheredwardbarlow.wordpress.comSocial Media - engage with us via Facebook (/stjohnsbexley), Twitter (@stjohnsbexley) and Instagram (@stjohnsbexley)
THE BEXLEY TEAM CLERGY
Team Rector: Rev’d Ren Harding renharding@hotmail.co.uk 01322 528923 07836644782
Associate Priest: Rev’d Sue Twynam susantwynam@btconnect.com 01322 559501 07952 468127
Team Vicar: Rev’d Edward Barlow fr.edwardbarlow@gmail.com 01322 521786
Team Vicar: Rev’d Clive Wood revclivewood@gmail.com 01322 270942 07982 392809
Team Curate: Rev’d Matt Hodder matthodder10@gmail.com 07889873125