06/07/2014 MALMESBURY ABBEY

She gave birth to a son, a male child, who ‘will rule all the nations

with an iron sceptre.’

You’ve seen them. What a bunch of nutters, standing out there in Bird-cage Walk in the rain, the snow, and less frequently the blistering Wilt-shire heat, to proclaim the Kingdom of God on a Saturday morning. For six years the Healing in the Streets team from the Abbey has been faithful and has seen God’s immense faithfulness, with a steady stream of people coming for prayer between 10am and 12pm, and an encouraging number coming back or writing to thank God for His healing or His blessing. What has developed over the years has actually been very biblical. Heal-ing prayer not disconnected from every other dimension of church, but connected in some way. Some have come to faith in Jesus Christ, some have made their way into the waters of baptism, some have chosen to come back week in and week out—Healing in the Streets is their church it seems—and others know the team members as a source of ongoing pas-toral care and friendship. And recently the offer of a cup of coffee has been welcomed by market stall holders. Healing in the Streets +.

Vicar’s blog: the Meeting Place

HOSPITALITY THAT INVITES PEOPLE CLOSER

STABILITY THAT DRAWS PEOPLE DEEPER

CREATIVITY THAT LIFTS PEOPLE HIGHER

THIS SUNDAY: July 6th 8am BCP Holy Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 4pm Informal Worship & Baptism, with Junior Church & the Grid 6pm The Mix//The Campbells EACH DAY 9am Morning Prayer MON 7th 8pm Baptism Prep 1 TUES 8th 9.30am Women Alive! WED 9th 10.30am Holy Communion THURS 10th 10.30am Time for Chat 2pm Wedding 4pm Evening Prayer 7pm Choir Practice SAT 12th 10am The Meeting Place NEXT SUNDAY: July 13th 8am BCP Holy Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 4pm Informal Worship, Junior Church & The Grid 6pm The Mix//The McAdams 6.30pm Choral Evensong July 15th WOMAD at the Abbey July 28/29 Holiday at Home Aug 3rd New Wine Sep 9th Glory! Prayer Meeting

Sep 13th Archbishop in Malmesbury Oct 7th Confirmation at the Abbey Oct 17/18 BBC History Weekend Oct 31st glo in the dark Junior Church party Nov 18th Glory! Prayer Meeting Nov 30th Advent Sunday

Abbey Diary So in July we’re allowing things to emerge a little more, and Healing in the Streets will become the Meeting

Place for a month. Churches across the UK have seen fruit when they've placed a new informal expression of church in ordinary market places. So the Meeting Place for us will be a trial of an Abbey Fresh Expression. It will be small and beautiful and broadly be healing prayer, pastoral care and prayer, hospitality to Mar-ket Stall holders and passers by, and probably around 11am some sort of worship, music or creative arts (weather permitting.) In fact some-thing undramatically similar to what has gone before. But we are asking the Spirit to lead us, to give us open and willing hearts, and to reveal to us how we might join with Him more fully in his mission in Malmes-bury. So a request to pray for the team, to come along and be a part if you wish, as church gets out on the street, and particularly an invitation to come for prayer or to be part of the worship or creative arts at 11am.

www.malmesburyabbey.com

Revelation 12:1-13:1

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who ‘will rule all the nations with an iron sceptre.’ And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. 7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient snake called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.’ 13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times

1. Read through Chapter 12 together. If you have access to different translations e.g NIV and The Message, you might like to try comparing the translations and see which one you find easiest to follow. 2. Many early commentators (and some still today) thought that the woman and her son (vv 1-6) must be Mary and Jesus. What are the similarities and differences between this story and the story of the Nativity as we have received it? What problems might there be with this as the single interpretation? 3. Get various people to look up and read out these additional references: Genesis 3:14 -16a; Isaiah 62: 1-5; Revelation 21: 1-4. What other Biblical images in these passages might add to our understanding of John's vision of the woman? 4. Both the woman and the child come under an attack by Satan, symbolised by the dragon (v4), but she and the child are saved by God (vv 5-6). How might these verses have been an encouragement to the persecuted Christians of John's day? 5. The woman fled into the wilderness to be nourished. End by discussing where your 'wilderness' is, the place you go for spiritual nourishment. Is it church on Sunday, a small group, a prayer triplet, Refresh or Creative Response, a conference like New Wine, or something else entirely. Pray for those seeking nourishment at the moment.

MONDAY Psalm 10 Jer 51:1-19 Rev 18:1-20

TUESDAY Psalm 150 Jer 51:49-64 Rev 18:21-24

THURSDAY Psalm 113 Isaiah 53 Rev 19:11-16

FRIDAY Psalm 100 Isaiah 30:27-33 Rev 19:17-21

small group resource +

Gospel Reading: Luke 10:17-20

WEDNESDAY Psalm 115 Isaiah 54 Rev 19:1-10

daily readings

and half a time, out of the snake’s reach. 15 Then from his mouth the snake spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her off-spring – those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus. 1 The dragon stood on the shore of the sea.

From Monday 14th July there will be a change in our normal Café hours, as we try to get a good balance between serving our community and tourists and looking after the well-being of our staff and volunteers. From July 14th the Ab-bey Café will be closed on Sundays & Mondays, and then open from 9am-4.30pm from Tuesday to Saturday. Obviously the café continues to close dur-ing services in the Abbey. Please contact clare@malmesburyabbey.com with any questions, or to join our excellent and hardworking café team.

Café hours changing

After our wonderful Holiday at Home at the end of this month, come and sing with us and listen to wonderful testimonies as we ‘Celebrate God’s Joy’ on Thursday 31st July at 3pm in Malmesbury Abbey. All will be welcomed and tra-ditional English Tea will be served after the service. For more information please contact Revd Mandy Churcher on 824416 or contact the Parish Office.

Songs of Praise

About 150 of us enjoyed a wonderful Church Weekend Away, Hope 2014, at Roberts Berry Farm in Grittleton last weekend; with excellent teaching from Bishop Lee and the Revd Paul Langham, a Ceilidh, Clay-pigeon shooting, lots of water fights, a Hog Roast and an inspiring outdoor Holy Communion. The Ab-bey is indebted to the generous hospitality of James & Ruth Cole, and to the hard work of many teams providing AV, stewarding, Youth and Junior Church, café, worship and transportation. The weekend was free of charge, but not free of coast; and for those who were present, there is the chance to give to help us break even on this event. Please put any gift in our normal collections in an envelope marked CWA, or drop it in at the Parish Office. Many thanks.

Church Weekend Away Offering

Neill has been invited by the Bishop of Bristol to become an Honorary Canon of Bristol Cathedral. His installation as canon will take place at Cathedral Even-song on Sunday 5th October at 3.30pm and you are very welcome to attend.

Honorary Canon

Noticeboard Prayer for Persecuted Christians Join us as we pray for persecuted Christians in Muslim countries during this month of Ramadan at 7.45pm on Monday 14th July at 18 West Street. For fur-ther information please contact Mike Langtree.

Come and join us at King’s Church, Abbey Row on Tuesday 8th July to hear more about the work of the Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust. Our guest speaker is Rod Law who will be talking about keeping safe in our homes, security etc. For more information please contact Helen on gordonsmall@talktalk.net

If you like smiling, serving refreshments and getting to know all the new faces that are appearing at our 4pm services please contact Clare MacDonald on cjef.macdonald@btinternet.com and offer your services for our 4pm refresh-ment team. With the holiday season approaching we are getting very low on volunteers and would really value your help just to serve and clear away; preparation will be covered.

Abbey Guild

Tea & Coffee at 4pm

June 29th Revelation 11 The Last Word on Witness

July 6th Revelation 12 The Last Word on Politics

July 13th Revelation 15 The Last Word on Judgement

July 20th Revelation 19 The Last Word on Salvation

July 27th Revelation 21 The Last Word on Heaven

The Last Word Revelation at Malmesbury Abbey

12th CENTURY BEAUTY 21st CENTURY CHURCH

Contact

ABBEY OFFICE Mon &Tues (9.30am-12noon) Weds, Thurs ,Fri, (9.30am-2.30pm) 01666 826666 www.malmesburyabbey.com issuu.com/malmesburyabbey sandie@malmesburyabbey.com Staff members can be contacted by name@malmesburyabbey.com NEW CAFÉ HOURS (From July 13th) Tuesday—Saturday : 9am-4.30pm Sunday & Monday: Closed all day clare@malmesburyabbey.com

Sermons & Weekend Away talks online

Our monthly Choral Evensong takes place next Sunday evening at 6.30pm. The Abbey Choir and leadership are committed to keeping this beautiful and an-cient service alive as a living act of worship to God. 17th century liturgy, read-ings from the King James Version of the Bible and beautiful choral music, next Sunday by Hadley, Howells and a new piece by James MacMillan. All are very welcome.

Choral Evensong

The talks by Bishop Lee & Paul Langham and most of the sermons from our Revelation series are available online at www.malmesburyabbey.com/media