Week by week we will be posting worship resources and services for Sunday Worship for Newent Benefice.
Please see the links below for great resources for children, young people and families
(This includes Pocket Prayer guides on different styles of prayer to try out)
Daily Hope
Church of England
This booklet of prayers has been released for use during the Coron-19 crisis
Baptist
Methodist
New Channels
Holy Trinity Brompton
Church Without Walls
Hill Songs
Max Lucado
Terry Virgo
Please see the link for information for the Convention 27 – 31 July
Come Holy Spirit
A wonderful clip to celebrate Pentecost
Talk by Dan Browne from The 4
File 1 has the opening and file 2 the majority of the talk
From Ascension Day to Pentecost, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York are inviting us to join with many across the world to pray the prayer – Thy Kingdom Come – that people will be encouraged to try praying and that 5 people we know would discover the love of God for themselves. You can find ways to get involved each day by going to
Virtual Prom Praise 2020 – The Orchestra of All Souls Langham Place London
We are grateful to David for another series of his reflections
Reflection 1 Pondering
Reflection 2 Cultivation
Reflection 3 Fruitfulness
Christian Aid say:
“We have been working hard to reduce the impact of Covid-19 on the communities we work with. The world’s poorest countries have the weakest health systems, and many of the most vulnerable people are now being exposed to this deadly virus. They will struggle to get the healthcare they need, and with the cost of not earning a living while in lockdown or quarantine.
Our partners are already embedded in these communities. We are inviting all churches to pray with us, and to donate to our coronavirus appeal, so that our partners can save more lives. The prayers, information about our response, and how to donate are on the homepage of our website.”
Please use the link below for information including how to donate or send and e-envelope.
(We will be circulating e-envelopes to those on our contact list)
Each day during Christian Aid Week they will be live-streaming worship
There will also be a daily Fun Quiz
As people are no longer able to attend national, regional or local VE Day 75 commemorations or events due to the Covid-19 pandemic, The Royal British Legion is playing a central role in the delivery of a range of remote activity for people to participate in from home.
Programme for the Day
- 11.00am 2 Minutes Silence
- 11.15am The RBL VE75 Livestream
- 8.00pm VE Day 75: The People’s Celebration BBC1
- 9.00pm “We’ll Meet Again” Singalong
VE Day 75 Learning Pack for 7-14 year-olds
For more information on each of these please click the link below
Messy Church
In addtion from Monday 4 May, Messy Church national site will have resources for families for VE Day
VE Day 75 in Newent
At 11.00am on VE Day a number of people gathered spontaneously and socially distanced. A poppy posy and list of the fallen were laid at the War Memorial and Graham Barton, Acting Standard Bearer and Deputy Parade Marshall, paraded in Highnam.
Last Sunday, low Sunday, seemed especially appropriately named this year. The high feast of Easter had been celebrated, differently but with energy and imagination, but then after many of us had rested, came the announcement of three more weeks of lock-down and sobering news from our hospitals and care homes of deaths and staff struggling heroically with such challenging conditions. What we knew with our heads moved to our hearts as the marathon nature of the race we must run became yet clearer. All of us, without exception, will be managing a range of emotions, alongside the practical tasks of living each new day with all that it will demand of us. All of us, without exception, have been and continued to be inspired by our front-line health workers and careers, and so many more, those who go to work to ensure basic services continue, those who care for children at home, all struggling with adversity, all of us need to know that kindness we are called to show others and ourselves.
But the great truth of the Easter feast is that it is not a one-day wonder, it lasts a full 50 days, taking us from the confused and frightened first disciples with not much of a clue as to what was going on other than a dawning realisation that hope was somehow restored, to the Emmaus Road, the upper room with doors closed and brave Thomas the only one with the courage to voice his doubts, to the lake shore with nets full of fish and Jesus cooking breakfast, to Pentecost and the outpouring of the gift of the Spirit. The Easter feast asks us to go on a journey with highs and lows as we discover what it is to live resurrection life. That life does not deny the darkness, the reality of death that we hear of each day in the news and that many of us know all too close at this time, but it does assure us that this is not the last word.
There is rightly a sense of this being a new season, and yes, it is a marathon and not a sprint, yet this is Easter too, and we will need to run it at the right pace, with kindness that allows us to rest and recover, offering mutual support and encouragement, not in competition.
With Bishop Rachel, I remain deeply inspired by the life we share in this Diocese which it is our immense privilege to lead. Thank you for all you are doing. In these days of Easter take time, rest, work, cry, care, mourn, laugh, love, sleep and know it is the risen Christ with whom we walk. We may struggle to understand, we may doubt, but the one who has come through the darkness is with us.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Below are a series of devotions by Pete Greig who has written and spoken much on the subject of 24/7 prayer. I found these helpful and am grateful for having been pointed in their direction by members of our church family.
Devotion 1 – Unleashing Love in a Time of Fear
Devotion 2 – Unleashing Courage in a Time of Containment
Devotion 3 – Unleashing Depth in a Time of Distraction
Devotion 4 – Unleashing Life in a Time of Death
Reflection 1 by Rev David King
Reflection 2 by Rev David King
Reflection 3 by Rev David King
Jesus is condemned to die

Reading: Matthew 27:15-26
15 Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. 16 At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus[b] Barabbas. 17 So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” 18 For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him. 19 While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.” 20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. 21 “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor. “Barabbas,” they answered. 22 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify him!” 23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” 24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!” 25 All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
Refrain:
For God alone my soul waits in silence. From Him comes my salvation.
Reflection:
- How could such injustice have been allowed to happen?
- Where were the lawyers to defend Jesus?
- Where were the people who knew Jesus was innocent?
- Would I have stood by and let this happen?
But injustice happens all the time; and how often I stand by and do nothing! Father forgive us for our failure to defend the innocent and to speak out against unjust laws. Help us come to the aid of those who are unable to fend for themselves.
Silence
Refrain:
Lord, by your cross and resurrection, You have set us free.
Jesus carries the cross and Simon helps him


Reading: Mark 15:16-20 + Luke 23:26
16 The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. 17 They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. 18 And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” 19 Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
26 As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.
Refrain:
For God alone my soul waits in silence. From Him comes my salvation.
Reflection:
- Did Simon of Cyrene realise who he was helping?
He could never have guessed that 2000 years later we would be remembering his part as a supporter of Jesus in his mission to save us from sin. The chance for us to help Jesus lies before us. We can still support Jesus in his mission of salvation. This is our great privilege, that God has called us, individually and as a church, to carry our cross, to risk all for the love of God.
Silence
Refrain:
Lord, by your cross and resurrection, You have set us free.
Jesus is stripped and is nailed to the cross


Reading: John 19:23b-24 + Luke 23:32-43
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.”[a] So this is what the soldiers did.
32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”[c] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” 36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” 38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews. 39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[d]” 43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Refrain:
For God alone my soul waits in silence. From Him comes my salvation.
Reflection:
Forgiveness! Reconciliation! Isn’t this what it is all about! I need to be forgiven for all my sinfulness, for my coldness and lack of love, for my sub-standard commitment. More importantly, I need to offer God’s forgiveness and reconciliation to others.
Silence
Refrain:
Lord, by your cross and resurrection, You have set us free.
Jesus dies on the cross

Reading: John 19:28-37
28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
Refrain:
For God alone my soul waits in silence. From Him comes my salvation.
Reflection:
Jesus truly dies, because he is truly man. He hands over his last breath to the Father. O, how precious is that breath! The breath of life was given to the first man, and it is given to us in a new way, after the resurrection of Jesus, so that we are able to offer every breath to him who gave us breath. The meaning and value of a life are determined by the manner in which it is given away. There is no greater love than that which leads us to lay down our life for our friends. Those who are attached to life will lose it. Those who are ready to sacrifice it will keep it.
Silence
Refrain:
Lord, by your cross and resurrection, You have set us free.
Jesus is taken down from the cross

Reading: John 19:38-40
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.
Refrain:
For God alone my soul waits in silence. From Him comes my salvation.
Reflection:
For those who were there when Jesus was taken down from the cross, there must have seemed no hope. They were just doing what was right for Jesus out of their love for him. But, precisely because of his suffering and death and sacrifice, we can know now, that there is always hope.
Silence
Refrain:
Lord, by your cross and resurrection, You have set us free.
Jesus is laid in the tomb

Reading: John 19:41-42
41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Refrain:
For God alone my soul waits in silence. From Him comes my salvation.
Reflection:
When Jesus was placed in the tomb, and the stone rolled in place, and the guard was stationed. Humanity had done all that it could, stooped as low as it could ever go. It is Friday… But Sunday is coming… And indeed has come… So while we wait, we remember, and worship the one who makes every day a Sunday – a resurrection day!
Silence
Refrain:
Lord, by your cross and resurrection, You have set us free.
On Maundy Thursday we have traditionally gathered for an Agape Meal and remembered the Last Supper with a Breaking of Bread as part of our time together. While we are unable to gather in that particular way, you may like to use the prayers below as part of your main meal on Maundy Thursday. They were compiled by the church in Bourton on the Water.
In addition to your meal, you will need a candle, a glass (for water or wine).
If you are gathered with more than one person feel free to substitute we/our language for I/me etc.
As you light the candle:
I light a light as a sign of the hope I share in Christ; and to remind me of my sisters and brothers in Christ who, at this time
like me, must worship in their own homes.
As you pour your glass of water/wine:
I pour a glass of water/wine as a sign of the life I share in Christ; and of the common life I share with Christians around throughout the world.
As you place your plate:
I place my plate as a sign of the sustenance Christ brings to my body and my soul; and to remind me of those with whom I long to break bread, but who are scattered to their homes.
Until we are able to gather round the Lord’s table again, may God bless our community and hold us firm.
Amen
“Where are we?”
Over the past few weeks, there have been innumerable examples of acts of kindness, neighbourliness, volunteering and generosity, as well as empty supermarket shelves, fights for loo rolls and hoarding. Hardly surprising. Uncertainty, fear and stress all bring out both the best and the worst in us, or maybe reveal the best and the worst that is in us. In the main it seems that the best is more in evidence, which is what we should expect as love is stronger and overcomes fear.
We have been called on to practise ‘social distancing’. I find that an unfortunate and unhelpful phrase. Thankfully, what we are discovering and witnessing is that as people keep a physical distance they are finding a new social closeness.
Some years ago, Mother Mary Clare of the Sisters of the Love of God (the Fairacres Community in Oxford) wrote a booklet ‘Aloneness not Loneliness’. That theme has always been vital but now it takes on a heightened significance for our times. We are witnessing many people discover the truth about which Mother Mary Clare wrote, which is helped by all the opportunities that social media provide, but it needs the disposition of the heart to want to reach out to others, to know that we are made for relationship, not for being isolated and ‘lonely’. The perspective of being alone, of ‘physical distancing’, heightens our awareness of the need for relating, for caring as well as being cared for, and this, it seems to me, is what we are seeing across our nation at the moment.
We are seeing a shift back from ‘I’ to ‘We’. Wouldn’t it be marvellous if that shift proved vastly stronger than Covid-19 and so shaped the next years of our society?
The shift is evident not only in local acts of kindliness and reaching out but also, even, between nations. Over against reports of President Trump wanting to buy up and keep for his country vaccine research laboratories, there is the increasing recognition that if the wealthier and better resourced nations of the world do not assist the poorer, then Covid-19 will not only spread even faster in Africa and Syria with terrible consequences but re-infect other nations in the future. Helping other nations is, therefore, in the richer nations self-interest as well as humanitarian interest. Inter-nationalism may yet prove stronger than the more recent growing strength of nationalism. The ‘We’, over against the ‘I’, applies corporately and nationally as well as individually.
The question, ‘Where are we?’, is the same question that God asked of Adam in the Garden of Eden. ‘Where are you?’ was not just a question about where he was hiding in the garden but about how things were going with him, how he was in himself. So of us and our society. This crisis gives us the opportunity to reshape and work for good in a new way. If there is an enduring shift back to ‘we’, then we shall be witnessing again the ongoing power of redemption.
Link to “All our certainties are gone”, a new song composed by Jon Pocock from Lee Abbey Devon Community.
Bob Hartman wrote the Lion Story Teller Bible used by Open the Book Teams. This session inspires us with the power of the Christian message through bible stories.