Visit the church web site at www.ststephensw12.org. You can read all the latest news about the parish. You can also read the sermons which are posted each week

Sponsor a mug! - £2.50 a mug or £5.00 and take one home with you. We would like to commission a set of St Stephens mugs for coffee after church. This will mean that we no longer need to use paper mugs and throw them away (environmentally unfriendly)

Have you booked up yet for the Church night away in September. We have booked a conference Centre near Guildford for one night (price £49.99). Take the chance to get to know other people in the church community. The strength of the church is also its weakness. The reality of inner city ministry is that there is a regular turn over of people living in the area. The diversity of people means that we are not building a naturally formed community. This means that we continually need to recreate ourselves as a mission community.

Please do consider whether you would be able to give by standing order to the church - simpler all round and we can reclaim the tax from the Government 

Processional Hymn     250     All creatures of our God and King

Collect of the Day
God our redeemer, you have delivered us from the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of your Son: grant, that as by his death he has recalled us to life, so by his continual presence in us he may raise us to eternal joy; 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.

First Reading                Acts 16.9-15                                      (p. 876)
During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.  From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. From there we travelled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.  On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptised, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

Gradual Hymn              253        For the beauty of the earth

GOSPEL                         John 14: 23 – 29                              (p. 879)
Jesus said to his disciples: 23‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.  25‘I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. 28You heard me say to you, “I am going away, and I am coming to you.” If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. 29And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.’

INTERCESSIONS
Please pray for
- The sick and suffering: especially Felix Okike, Lucilda Bernard, Joan Andrew, Elizabeth Dorsett, Clive Heywood, Ron & Ivy Smith, Susie Leach, Norbert Edwards, Brother Paul Anthony, Sylvia Steed, John Asbridge, Caroline Nevill, Ruth and Tracey Davies, Esmay Young, Roger Cox.

Offertory Hymn             275     We plough the fields, and scatter

Communion Hymn      309     Let all mortal flesh keep silence

Nothing can trouble, nothing can frighten
Those who seek God shall never go wanting
Nothing can trouble, nothing can frighten
God alone fills us

Post Communion Prayer
God our Father, whose Son Jesus Christ gives the water of eternal life: may we thirst for you, the spring of life and source of goodness, through him who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Recessional Hymn      170        Jesus is Lord!

Coffee in Church after the service

Please do stay for a coffee after church and introduce yourself to someone you might not know.

Sunday School meets in St Stephen’s school
Sunday Youth meets in the Glebe Maisonette
Small Children are welcome to  play in St Thomas’s Chapel, near the porch
Baptised Communicants of other Churches are encouraged to receive communion
Children and other non-communicants are invited to come to the altar for a blessing
The Ministry of Healing is offered in the Chapel, after Communion is given

Acts 16.9-15 ©  1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Pub. Hodder & Stoughton.  Post Communion (6th of Easter) ©  1985 Anglican Church of Canada: The Book of Alternative Services.  Invitation to Confession (Easter Day until Eve of Ascension) ©  1988 Continuum (Mowbray) (Adapted).  Some material included in this service is copyright: ©  1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ, USA. Some material included in this service is copyright: ©  The Archbishops' Council 2000

NOTICES

THIS WEEK:

Christian Aid Week begins today

THIS MONTH

There will be a Labyrinth Service for young people on May 27th at 6.30 (three weeks time).  The service will be to mark Pentecost

NEXT SUNDAY:        20 May 2007   Seventh Sunday of Easter
The Ascension of our Lord

10 am SUNG EUCHARIST
Celebrant and Preacher – The Reverend Dr Bob Mayo
Acts 1.1-11  (p 240), Luke 24:44-53 (p 244)

What about today’s Gospel?
1. Who is Jesus going to send in his place?
2. Why does Jesus want the disciples to be glad for him?
3. Why is Jesus willing to suffer and to die on the cross?

The Bushcity Youth Academy of Performing Arts requires people able to teach drama, singing and dance, on Tuesdays between 6.30 and 8.30 pm.  Please contact Elaine Yoda on 07917 166775 or 020 8746 1823

Home Communion – Available to any unable to come on a Sunday.  Talk to Father Bob (8743 3166) if you or anyone else might be interested.

Any enquiries about pastoral concerns, baptisms, weddings or funerals please get in touch with Father Bob. The only time that Bob will be unavailable is between Friday pm and Sunday am.