18/05/2014 MALMESBURY ABBEY

‘Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Last Wednesday night we filled the Abbey for a large Diocese of Bristol service where hundreds of churchwardens (including our own, truly awesome, Lesley Wilson and Diana Crowe) were commissioned for a year serving in leadership and administration in their local churches. At the service the Bishop of Bristol, Mike Hill, recounted this true story: A local church wanted to tell every member of their community about Jesus so they purchased 13,000 DVDs about the life of Jesus and delivered them through the letterbox of every front door in their community in Buckingham-shire. The vicar was delighted until the Parish Office received a call from a sur-prised member of their town saying that the DVD in the box just delivered was-n’t about Jesus at all, but was in fact the Hollywood movie ‘When Harry met

Sally’ starring Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal. (A really funny film, but not some-thing you’d show at the parish supper.) The parishioner in question also in-formed the press of this huge mistake and the press ran the story that the local church had delivered ‘When Harry met Sally’ to every house in the town by accident, and had a bit of a laugh at the church’s expense. The vicar then

Vicar’s blog: Stars

HOSPITALITY THAT INVITES PEOPLE CLOSER

STABILITY THAT DRAWS PEOPLE DEEPER

CREATIVITY THAT LIFTS PEOPLE HIGHER

THIS SUNDAY: May 18th 8am BCP Holy Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 4pm Informal Worship, Junior Church & The Grid 6pm The Mix//The Campbells EACH DAY 9am Morning Prayer WED 21st 10.30am Holy Communion 7.30pm HiTS Training THURS 22nd 10.30am Time for Chat 4pm Evening Prayer 7pm Choir Practice SAT 23rd 10am Healing in the Streets NEXT SUNDAY: May 25th 8am BCP Holy Communion 10.30am Morning Prayer with Bishop George Bagamuhunda 4pm All-age Communion June 3rd Glory! Prayer Meeting June 9th Small Group pastors training June 20/22 Church Weekend Away July 2nd Music for Autism July 15th WOMAD at the Abbey July 28/29 Holiday at Home Aug 3rd New Wine

Sep 13th Archbishop in Malmesbury Oct 7th Confirmation at the Abbey Oct 17/18 BBC History Weekend Oct 31st glo in the dark Junior Church party Nov 18th Glory! Nov 30th Advent Sunday

Abbey Diary phoned his Bishop (Bishop Mike) in a bit of a state. However the journalist hadn't done his research before he ran his story, and in fact only one DVD starred Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, the other 12,999 were all about Jesus. But because of the local media coverage, massive numbers of people sat down to watch a Hollywood movie with a glass of wine and instead saw a biopic of Christ. On the back of this, the church had over 400 inquiries about their forthcoming Alpha Course, and many, many people came to faith and were baptised. Two weeks ago I hope I mentioned that the Last Word in the Bible is one that the Spirit and the Bride say together: Come! We live with hope today be-cause Christ is coming again. Today, as we enter Revelation 2, we discover both the resilience and the frailty of the early church. Issues far more serious than delivering the wrong DVD were perplexing Christians in the first cen-tury. But last week we were left with the mysterious, beautiful, but over-whelmingly encouraging image, that Christ holds the imperfect church, the seven stars, in his right hand. (Revelation 1:20) Before he speaks to the church, he reveals that he holds it, eternally.

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Revelation 2:1-29

‘To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your persever-ance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4 Yet I hold this against you: you have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favour: you hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victori-ous, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

8 ‘To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9 I know your afflictions and your poverty – yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Sa-tan.10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. 11 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.

12 ‘To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 13 I know where you live – where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful wit-ness, who was put to death in your city – where Satan lives. 14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: there are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immoral-ity. 15 Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolai-

MONDAY Psalm 29 Ezekiel 1 Rev 4:1-6a

TUESDAY Psalm 47 Ezekiel 2:1-8 Rev 4:6b-11

THURSDAY Psalm 141 1 Chr 29:10-20 Rev 5:8-14

FRIDAY Psalm 45 Zechariah 1 Rev 6:1-8

Additional Reading: John 15:18-21

WEDNESDAY Psalm 144 Ez 2:9-3:15 Rev 5:1-7

tans. 16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.

18 ‘To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like bur-nished bronze. 19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. 20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. 24 Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, “I will not impose any other bur-den on you, 25 except to hold on to what you have until I come.” 26 To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations – 27 that one “will rule them with an iron sceptre and will dash them to pieces like pottery” – just as I have received authority from my Fa-ther. 28 I will also give that one the morning star. 29 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

daily readings

1. Read Revelation chapter 2 out loud. Note the letters to the four churches here. Can you spot the similar pattern in each letter?

2. What does it mean for you to be part of a church community (remember the packet of Smarties!)?

3. In what ways do you think our church is a lamp-stand shining the light of Christ in the world?

4. How does the Spirit speak to our church today?

5. What disrupts us from hearing the Spirit speak?

6. How has the church brought you comfort? How has the church brought correction in your life?

small group resource

Approximately 20 candidates have so far signed up to be baptised in Malmes-bury on Saturday 13th September at 4pm by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Weather permitting this will take place in the river and an outdoor celebration will follow in the Abbey grounds. For more details and to sign up please go to www.abcbaptisms.wordpress.com

Archbishop of Canterbury

Books on Revelation The Abbey Bookshop is stocking three recommended books on Revelation for our 3 months series: Reversed Thunder by Eugene Peterson; Revelation for Eve-

ryone by Tom Wright; and Understanding Revelation by Paul Langham.

Lunch with the Bishop of Kigezi As part of a Tearfund visit to the UK, the Bishop of Kigezi, the Rt Revd George Bagamuhunda, will be preaching (on Revelation 3) at the Abbey, next Sunday, May 25th at 10.30am. He will be joined by Revd Byomuhangi Reuben, director of the Water & Sanitation project that the Abbey supports at Harvest each year, through Tearfund. Please bring a plate of savoury food if possible so that we can share a light lunch with the Bishop and other visitors after the service.

Neill is on Easter & annual leave for two weeks between Friday 23rd May and Friday 6th June. Please direct all pastoral enquiries thorough the Parish Office during this time.

Noticeboard

The Last Word

May 4th

Revelation 1:1-8 The Last Word on Scripture

May 11th

Revelation 1:9-20 The Last Word on Christ

May 18th

Revelation 2 The Last Word on the Church (1)

May 25th

Revelation 3 The Last Word on the Church (2)

June 1st

Revelation 4&5 The Last Word on Worship

June 8th

Revelation 6&7 The Last Word on Evil

June 15th

Revelation 8&9 The Last Word on Prayer

Revelation at Malmesbury Abbey

Vicar on Rapa Nui

On Saturday 28th June at 10.30am Linda Sullivan is being ordained Deacon in the Church of England. On Sunday 29th June at 3.30pm Revd John Mona-ghan is being ordained Priest in the Church of England (John is currently a Deacon.) Both these ordinations take place at Bristol Cathedral. All are very welcome to support Linda and John at these services. If you are intending to go could you let Sandie know by Friday 13th June so she can inform the Ca-thedral of our numbers. At the Abbey on June 29th there will be one Festival Communion at 11am; preacher, the Revd Linda Sullivan.

Ordinations

Contact

ABBEY OFFICE Mon &Tues (9.30am-12noon) Weds, Thurs ,Fri, (9.30am-2.30pm) 01666 826666 www.malmesburyabbey.com sandie@malmesburyabbey.com Staff members can be contacted by name@malmesburyabbey.com NORMAL CAFÉ HOURS Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday: 9am-4.30pm Wednesday: 12noon-4.30pm Sunday: Closed all day clare@malmesburyabbey.com

12th CENTURY BEAUTY 21st CENTURY CHURCH

Pigeon, Phone or Tablet? We would love you to be reading this News Sheet on your phone or tablet rather than in paper form. If you would like to receive an e-mail every Friday from the Parish Office, with a link to this News Sheet online and other additional notices and links, please contact Sandie Brown at office@malmesburyabbey.com. You can also visit issuu.com/malmesburyabbey to find the latest News Sheet.

Hope 2014: Church Weekend Away Please read the flyer available at the back of the Abbey for more information about our programme on a farm in Grittleton. We want as many people to be able to attend as possible, either camping or commuting. It would be helpful if you could sign up as soon as possible by contacting the Parish Office, or on the sign-up sheet at the welcome desk in the Abbey. Come expecting, come to re-ceive, come to worship...