St Michael and All Angels with St Mark, Preston

Weekly Sunday Sheets and Church Magazine

St Michael and All Angels with St Mark Preston Fifth Sunday of Easter, 28 April 2024 Risen Christ, your wounds declare your love for the world and the wonder of your risen life: give us compassion and courage to risk ourselves for those we serve, to the glory of God the Father. Welcome to St Michael’s Church Large print newsletters, service leaflets and hymnbooks are available. Please ask the sides-people if there is anything you need, or let them know if you require a gluten-free wafer. You are invited to stand for the hymns and some other parts of the service if you are able, but if standing is difficult or uncomfortable for you, just remain seated, no one will mind. Hymns Opening: 676 Immortal, invisible Gradual: 430 Bread of heaven Offertory: 448 I come with joy Final: 721 Love Divine First reading: Acts 8: 26-40 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptised?” He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptised him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. Gospel Reading: John 15: 1-8 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. Notices NEXT SUNDAY: 8.30am: Holy Communion (Book of Common Prayer) in the Chapel. 10.00 am: All Angels Café Church, an informal all-age service. Thursday 10.30 am: Holy Communion in the Chapel Blue Flamingo, the Dementia-friendly Café meets in St Michael’s Church Hall every Tuesday afternoon from 1-3pm. Everyone welcome. The next Cupboard Love session will be on Saturday11 May, 9.30-10.30am in Church, accessed through the main door. Christian Aid breakfast on Sunday 12 May at 9am, following an additional 8.30am BCP Holy Communion service. Choral concert by the Rawstorne Singers, Sunday 19 May at 4pm, including choral favourites by Mendelssohn, Stanford and Bairstow, as well as works by female composers: Becky McGlade's 'Missa Brevis' and Gail Randall’s ‘The Call’. Tickets £10. Contactless giving to St Michael’s If you would like to make an offering to St Michael’s but have no cash, please consider the QR code below (larger version available at the back of church) for a link to our Give a little online donation page St Michael’s on YouTube: our services are uploaded to our YouTube Channel. Find it in YouTube or Google by typing in the name St Michael's Messages and following the link. Facebook: search St Michael and All Angels with St Mark’s Preston. Instagram: search St_michaels_church_preston website: www.stmichaelswithstmarkpreston.co.uk Vicar: The Revd David Roscoe Tel. 07506 552784, e-mail: d.roscoe@sky.com Artwork ©1994, Archdiocese of Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, art by Steve Erspamer, SM