Newsletter 24th January 2016

NOTICES:
​Final Reminder - the next meeting of the PCC is Monday 25th January at 7.00pm.
​The coffee morning will be held on Tuesday 26th Jan from 10.00am. All are welcome for a chat and refreshments.
​The next service will be Feria on Thursday 9.30am.
​The service next Sunday (4th in Ordinary Time) is also at 9.30am
​The winner of last week's tote was number 53. ​

FROM THE PULPIT:
​No matter how much we value our freedom we still need rules and laws. In fact it is these which help to preserve our freedom by pointing the right way for us and protecting us from harm. The Law of God - the Torah - was given to Moses in order to guide God’s people along the path of life. When we look to Jesus we see how he brought the Law to life by living out its precepts. No longer were there just words on a page, but a real example of how to live in a godly way. The words of Jesus in the gospel today illustrate for us what a life looks like when it is filled by the presence of God. We as the Church are here to continue to live this out. It is not just an individual calling, because no one person has all the gifts we need.  Together we are the different parts which make up the Body of Christ. Above all we need to keep our eyes on Jesus, so that we can be sure that we too are living out the commandments of God.
                                                                          Father Richard

First Reading: Nehemiah 8:2-6. 8-10
 A reading from the book of Nehemiah.
 Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, consisting of men, women, and children old enough to understand. This was the first day of the seventh month. On the square before the Water Gate, in the presence of the men and women, and children old enough to understand, he read from the book from early morning till noon....

​Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-30
 A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians.
 Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink....

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 18
 The law of the Lord is perfect,
               it revives the soul.
               The rule of the Lord is to be trusted,
               it gives wisdom to the simple.
Response: Your words are spirit, Lord,
                    and they are life...
 
​Gospel: Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21
 A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke.
 Seeing that many others have undertaken to draw up accounts of the events that have taken place among us, exactly as these were handed down to us by those who from the outset were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, I in my turn, after carefully going over the whole story from the beginning, have decided to write an ordered account for you....