Dear All,
Thank you for your email messages, phone messages and Facebook messages over the past weeks. It is amazing what a difference a short message makes, isn’t it, when we are all in lockdown.
I hope you are staying well, and that those who have been ill are on the mend. Please do hold the Jones family in your prayers on Monday as Glyn’s funeral takes place . And please could you pray for the family of Betty Tinworth, who sadly died this weekend and also Dave and Steve who are unwell at this time.
It was good to join with some of you for our online service this Sunday, at hobnob.org.uk/watch, where we focused on God as the loving Shepherd. Max preached about the fact that God knows each one of us by name and our need to follow Jesus our Shepherd, faithfully, by praying, reading our Bibles and looking out for the needs of others and we welcomed a reading and prayers from Sonia and Felicity in Horndon. We shared a song, ‘You never let go,’ by Matt Redmond, which reassures us that whatever we are going through, God never lets go of us. On the back of this letter or as another attachment to your email, is a Roots Adult Bible Study Sheet following on from this Sunday’s theme, which you might like to use during the week.
For those of you who use the Church of England Lectionary, the morning and evening Bible study readings for this week are:
| Day | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer |
| 4th Sunday of Easter | Nehemiah 9 6-15 and 1 Corinthians 10 1-13 | Ezra 3 1-13 and Luke 19 37-end |
| Monday 4th May | Exodus 32 1-14 and Luke 2 41-end | Deuteronomy 9 1-21 and Ephesians 4 1-16 |
| Tuesday 5th May | Exodus 32 15-34 and Luke 3 1-14 | Deut 9 23-10 -5 and Ephesians 4 17 – end |
| Wednesday 6th May | Exodus 33 and Luke 3 15-22 | Deut 10 12-end and Ephesians 5 1-14 |
| Thursday 7th May | Exodus 34 1-10, 27-end and Luke 4 1-13 | Deut 11 8-end and Ephesians 5 15-end |
| Friday 8th May Julian of Norwich | Exodus 35 20-36-7 and Luke 4 14-30 | Deut 12 1-14 and Ephesians 6 1-9 |
| Saturday | Exodus 40 17-end and Luke 4 31-37 | Deut1 5 1-18 and Ephesians 6 10-end |
Thank you for your continued support for the foodbank and thank you to Jane, Kelly and Paul and the staff at Orsett Shop for their support. Needs for the foodbank this week are, tinned potatoes, cooking sauces, tinned meat, cereal, tea bags, mashed potato, tinned rice pudding, tinned carrots, custard and tinned spaghetti. We still have our collection points at 24, Church Lane, Bulphan, 1 Lion Cottages, Horndon and The Rectory, Orsett and you can now leave donations at Orsett Shop as well as place an order over the phone to the shop who will deliver it to the Rectory. The shop’s number is 01375 891242.
I hope it won’t be too long before we are able to meet again but please be assured of my ongoing prayers for you all at this time.
Take care and God bless,
Sue