Diary Dates

(3 weeks away) Sunday 14^th May : APCM (following the service) – all welcome

Sunday 21^st May : Christian Aid Lunch Choice of Casseroles plus dessert selection

Tickets available from next week

See also Invitation To Christian Aid Afternoon Tea May 8th from Barbara - below

Saturday 24^th June : Summer Fair 

Friday 29^th September : Macmillan Coffee Morning

Saturday 18^th November: Christmas Fair Food Bank The Spearhead Trust has been grateful for contributions to their foodbank, collected at Hazelwell. Please bring your donations and leave on the table at the back of church.

Alternatively, consider donating to a local foodbank in the course of your weekly shop via local supermarket collection.

Reflection on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13 - 35 )

From 

I reflect on this episode and on the mood of the two disciples and realise how often I am in the same situation. How often I feel deeply disappointed and disoriented by the events around me, how often I am angry and frustrated like these two. The Resurrection seems something vague, that does not really fill me with hope. Yet I too feel this deep yearning to meet Jesus, whom I had hoped would be light of my life, giving it direction and meaning.

I pray to recognise that Jesus is at my side, even when I am sure he is far away. I am not directly aware of his presence, because he is walking at my own pace, patiently waiting for me to open my heart to his words and to the words of the Bible. I pray to be given the grace to feel my heart burning at his presence.

• Like Cleopas I walk with you, Lord, in all sorts of shapes; but I do not always recognise you. Open the scriptures to me, show me your face in those I walk with, put some warmth into my heart.

Did you ever meet someone while on a journey- in a place, train or bus, hitchhiking, looking for asylum, a Sunday walk, a queue in a hospital, or the dentist, and you have a personal chat? People in the doctor's waiting room tell all sorts of personal details about themselves and their children. It was the same for the disciples on this Sunday walk. The disciples on the road at a bad time in their lives met a stranger who made some sense of some of their troubles. Jesus made sense of their distress by his presence and his word. A good chat can heal a bad day. A good prayer can do the same.

This story offers a rich image of prayer. You start out on your own, perhaps quite hopeless, if life has been going badly. Jesus comes by unobtrusively; you welcome him and tell your story. He listens intently, then gently throws light on what had been bothering you.

Friendship grows and by the end of the prayer you don’t want him to leave, but you know he will always be watching out for you and will meet you again tomorrow.

‘Stay with me, Lord, because it is nearly evening