Services

Almighty God,
who sent your Holy Spirit
to be the life and light of your Church;
open our hearts to the riches of your grace,
that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit
in love and joy and peace;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Readings for the Weekend
Isaiah 44:6-8
God challenges any other pretenders to divinity to match what he has done for is people and, even more difficult, foretell what he is going to do for them in the future. He is going to continue being their defender.
Romans 8:12-25
The Spirit of God teaches us to call God our Father, as we are adopted to be Christ’s brothers and sisters. We, and all of creation, wait in longing for all God’s children to accept their adoption.
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
The farmer tells his workers to let the weeds and wheat grow together until the harvest because there is a risk of uprooting wheat while pulling up weeds. Harvest will be the time to separate them.

Reflection 
Reflecting on the years he spent in labour camps, Alexander
Solzhenitsyn has this to say:

I learnt one great lesson from my years in prison camps
I learnt how a person becomes evil and how he becomes good.
Gradually I came to realize
that the line which separates good from evil
passes not between states,
or between classes, or between political parties,
but right through every human heart.
Even in hearts that are overwhelmed by evil,
One small bridgehead of good is retained.
And in the best of hearts,
there remains an unuprooted small corner of evil

(Gulag Archipelago, volume 2)

Thanksgiving
We give thanks for the life of Mary Magdalene who we commemorate on Tuesday 22nd July.

This week we pray for:

	The meeting of primates and bishops of the worldwide Anglican Communion gathering for the Lambeth Conference at Canterbury (England)
	The Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Revd. Rowan Williams, the President bishop of our Province Bishop Mouneer Anis and for Michael our bishop as they attend the Lambeth Conference at Canterbury.
	The staff of the Anglican Communion at London Office.
	The Unity within the Anglican Communion
	The Christian unity.
	All who are being persecuted for their faith
	The peace of the world
	Justice and social welfare of all people
	Those who work to protect the species and harvests of our world
	All who live in poor or slum housing and for those who have no homes
	The victims of crime, violence and abuse
	All who are ill and in need of care especially
Roger Howells   George   Mavis   Hanna   Jean   Mirian Torrison  Elizabeth    Madhu   Christa   Jane     Shahid    Janet   Sheehan    Michael  Pat