“For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”
(1 Corinthians 12:13)
One of the quandaries I sometimes have is that because of Jesus’ grace heaven will include people that I might not ordinarily want to hang out with. How do we get rid of our prejudices and accept that the good news of Jesus is for all? I’m not alone in this pondering.
Peter – the rock that Jesus was to build his church on – had a dream to teach him that God’s love was to be extended beyond the Jews and to include Gentiles too. Breaking his own prejudices. It was against Jewish law for Jews to associate with Gentiles (Acts 10:28) and yet God puts Peter in the path of Cornelius. Cornelius was a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment, he was God fearing and gave generously to those in need and prayed regularly (Acts 10:1-2).
An angel gets Cornelius to reach out to Peter (Acts 10:1-8). Peter is prepared for the encounter in a dream (Acts 10:9-23). Then as he meets Cornelius his eyes are opened to the realisation that ‘God does not show favouritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right’ (Acts 10:34-45). As Peter shares what Jesus has done for the whole world (Acts 10:34-43) God’s Spirit is poured out in Cornelius’s household and Peter baptises them in Jesus’ name.
Cornelius was an upstanding citizen but of a different background to Peter, but how prepared are we to welcome as brothers and sisters those that might not be so upstanding but have equally encountered Jesus through the power of his spirit? How is God challenging us today?
Claire Coleman
This Week’s Sunday Service – 11am
Join us for our regular Sunday morning worship. This week is an All Age service Acts 10:44-48 exploring when the good news about Jesus began to spread beyond Jewish people to embrace all nations.
Thy Kingdom Come
Thy Kingdom Come is an initiative encouraging churches to extra prayer between Ascension Day and Pentecost (9th -19th May, this year). It will start with an Ascension Day service at 12pm at St. Luke’s (after Cafe4All).
We truly want God’s kingdom to come into the lives of those we love, into our community and town. In its basic form we commit to praying for five people every day for 10 days straight
This year we want to encourage prayer triplets, something that could naturally come out of study groups and/or volunteer groups/ friendship groups. We want to encourage these prayer triplets to meet at least a couple of times during those 10 days and pray together for each person’s five.
There will also be the normal daily prayer sessions special Thy Kingdom Come events – check out the calendar and website for more information.
St. Luke’s APCM – Next Sunday
On Sunday 12th May, we will be having our Annual Meeting. The service that Sunday will have a focus on giving thanks for what God has been doing with us and considering some of the challenges and issues we face. After the service from 12:30-1:00pm, we will have the official business: a chance to ask questions on the reports and elections of Church Wardens and PCC members. If you would like to consider joining the PCC, please talk to Paul and fill in a nomination form. The annual report and further information is on the website and paper copies of the annual report are available at the back of church.
The Event, Youth meeting at St. Luke’s, Sunday 12th May
On Sunday 12th May St. Luke’s will be hosting The Event. This is an evening where young people from across Thanet gather to have fun, eat, hear a message from God’s word and worship together.
It would be really good to have a team that would be able to help me with cooking, set-up, registration and being a loving presence. It will be a long day with church and APCM at St. Luke’s, but it is a great way to serve our community. If you are able to help – please let Claire know.
Pentecost Sunday – 20th Anniversary for Paul and Fiona
On Sunday 19th May, Paul and Fiona will be celebrating 20 years at St. Luke’s. We invite people to send in photos of church life from the last twenty years. In addition, we plan to make this a special gift day to raise money for two new church noticeboards. One noticeboard costs around £1,000.
Paul and Fiona’s celebration BBQ
On Sunday 19th May we will be holding a celebration BBQ for Paul and Fiona who have been at St Luke’s for 20 yrs. It will be held in the field behind church. It starts after the normal service at St Luke’s. There are forms to sign up: to attend, to contribute food and to indicate dietary requirements.
Update from Dick and Caroline Seed
You can read all the latest from Dick and Caroline Seed, who are our CMS mission partners working to support theological education across Africa. Read link letter on the mission desk or here.
Training for Open the Book
ACTS are seeking to use Bible Society’s Open the Book in local Primary Schools. It involves acting out Bible stories in school collective worship / assembly. If you are interested there is a training session at Birchington Baptist on Saturday 11th 10:30am-2pm.
Links to Share:
This year we are going for a history theme…
Martin Luther
I enjoy listening to a history podcast, called the Rest is History. They recently did a fiver post series on Luther. In this blog, Graham Tomlin – an expert on Luther – gives the series 9/10. But he has one quibble. Read blog (6 minutes read). You can also check out this Podcast which discusses in more detail some of the understandings of Luther’s teaching and ideas. Listen to Podcast (90 minutes).
What would Christians 200 years ago thought about Christians today?
David Sandifer takes us back to the attitudes of Christians in the early nineteenth century, at a time when Christians were shaping the moral outlook of the nation. Although, we may be quick to dismiss their way of thinking as irrelevant to modern times, he wonders whether we need to look afresh at ourselves from their perspective. Read article. (15 minute read)
Finally, let’s remember that Jesus’s good news is for people from all nations, ethnicities and backgrounds.
Yours in Christ
Paul Worledge
(Vicar, St. Luke’s Ramsgate)
Weekly Calendar
Sunday 5th May
Family Service (St. Luke’s Church), Acts 10:44-48, 11:00am-12:00pm
Tuesday 7th
Daily Prayer (St. George’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Christ Church Toddlers @ St Luke’s (St. Luke’s Church Hall) – 9:30-11:30am
Study Group (Lyndhurst Road) – 2:30-4:00pm
Wednesday 8th
Study Group (Langdale Avenue) – 10-12 noon
Study Group (South Eastern Road) – 7:30-9:30pm
Thursday 9th
Daily Prayer (St. Luke’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Cafe4All (St. Luke’s Church), Coffee and Chat for all – 10:00-11:30am.
Ascension Day Communion (St. Luke’s Church) – 12:00-1:00pm.
Friday 10th
Play and Praise (St. Luke’s Church Hall) – 10:00-11:30am
Gather, Women’s Drop-In (St. Luke’s Church) – 12:30-2:30pm
Creative Group Singing Practice (St Luke’s Church) – 4:30-6:00pm
Saturday 11th
Daily Prayer (St. George’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Thy Kingdom Come (St. George’s Church) – 10:00-12:00pm
Sunday 12th
Family Service (St. Luke’s Church), Acts 1:15-17, 21-26, 11:00am-12:00pm
APCM (St. Luke’s Church) – 12:30-1:00pm
The Event (St Luke’s Church) – 6:00-8:00pm
Online Forms
Under the ‘Contact’ tab on the website, there are now three forms that you can use to help us in managing the church:
- Events Application Form. Use this if you are organising a church event that needs a church room booked, advertising or ticketing.
- Submit a Notice. Use this if you want to ask us to include a prayer request or other notice in the church notice sheet or email.
- Maintenance Reporting Form.Use this to report any non-urgent issues with our buildings or grounds.
St. Luke’s Website
- What’s On – a page which lets you know what is happening this week and gives information about upcoming events.
- Notices – You can read the latest notices on this page.
- Sermons – Read a transcript of a recent sermon or watch the YouTube version recorded at St. Luke’s. You can also listen to the sermon through the podcast website castbox.
Safeguarding Training
If you volunteer in anyway at church the national authorities are strongly encouraging you to take at least the Basic Module in safeguarding training once every three years.
If you have not completed the training in the last three years, then the module can be completed online and takes about ninety minutes. You can access the training by following this link. You will need to first register, to access the training. Once the training is completed, you will be sent a certificate. Please forward that certificate to James (office@stlukesramsgate.org), so that we can keep records of who has done the training.
St. Luke's Church Ramsgate 