Revd. Hall Opens the Welcome Service

Revd. Phill Summers

Bible Reading Lynne Owens Organist and Steward

Bible Reading Vivienne Thomas Steward

District Chair Revd. Rachel Parkinson Delivers the Sermon

Revd. Phil Summers Makes His Commitment to the Circuit

Shropshire and Marches welcomes Revd. Phil Summers to the Circuit. His pastoral oversight will cover Knighton, Builth and Presteigne chapels. Over the past ten years Phil has been a minister to churches in Gloucestershire. An accomplished storyteller, he regularly leads Storytelling workshops.

Phil's Welcome Service, which took place at Knighton Chapel in August, was led by District Chair Revd. Rachel Parkinson and Circuit Superintendent Revd. Richard Hall. It was in light of Phil's storytelling ministry that Revd. Parkinson's sermon explored the power of the biblical accounts in Genesis 28:10-17 and Acts 17:16-28. Drawing on insights from these verses Revd. Parkinson emphasised that blessings God bestows upon us, are at times, in spite of our failings and that these seemingly random blessings can come when we are in extreme and difficult circumstances and least expect them. They may also be linked to a vision, which when interpreted, is a manifestation of God's grace.

Revd. Parkinson posed the question, "Does God show up more when we are in a hard place or are we more likely to hear God at these times?" For illustration, in the extract from Genesis, we see Jacob so desperate that he uses a stone for a pillow, yet he falls asleep, and he dreams:

12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." 16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it." 17 He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."

Here, it is God's constant presence and the promised fulfilment of His words to Jacob that remind us of God's presence in our own lives, and the promises He makes to us coming to fruition. Similarly, from the account in Acts of Paul in Athens, which concludes:

26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for "'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring."'

we grasp that we are created and hard-wired to seek God; a God who is not difficult to find and although we may not all have such vivid encounters with God we must always seek and expect His presence.

Following the sermon Revd. Summers made his commitment to serve the Circuit. Revd. Parkinson blessed his ministry with the hope that his storytelling go beyond the walls of the churches he will preach in.