Come and join us as we embark on an Easter Trail around Stoke Gifford. It starts at 10am at St Michael’s Centre, when a special trail pack will be given out. The pack includes:
A map showing the 8 stations dotted around Stoke Gifford
Symbols that take us through the Easter story
A word puzzle to complete
Items to collect to make an Easter garden at home
QR codes to scan that take us to videos of Eye Witness accounts from key characters in the Easter story
At 11.00, everyone will join back together in the church auditorium for a time of worship and reflection on what we have just discovered.
It promises to be a fun, engaging and interactive morning with an opportunity to reflect on the Easter story.
Good Friday 18 April
Good Friday Reflective Service
12pm in Church – Join us in Church for our Good Friday Reflective Service with Holy Communion. Stay for as little or as long as you like. Arrive or leave on the quarter-hour. Communion will be at 1.45pm.
Service of Celebration for the Life of Dave Carey.
Dave Carey – a much-loved member of our Church Family – sadly passed away last month. Dave was the Buildings Manager at St Michael’s for many years before his retirement in 2019. His hard work was integral to the vision and building of St Michael’s Centre, and the development of the Old School Rooms.
A Celebration of Life for Dave will be held on Wednesday 16 April at 10.30am in Church. There will be refreshments afterwards in the Auditorium in St Michael’s Centre. To help the family plan, we would like to get an idea of the number of people planning to attend. If you plan to come, please fill in this short form here.
Dave’s family have placed a book at St Michael’s Centre reception for people to share stories and memories of Dave. The family would love to read what Dave meant to people, so please do pop in to share yours. Please do continue to pray for Dave’s wife Kim and their children – Becky, Sarah and Toby.
For those who are not able to attend, the service will be live-streamed via our YouTube channel. Click here for the direct link
Always popular, these teas give a chance to connect together with old friends and meet new ones whilst enjoying a scrumptious tea.
Bookings are essential, so book early to secure your place! Why not come along to join in with our traditional Evensong service in church at 5pm after the tea? You would be very welcome.
During Lent 2025 we looked at the practice of Solitude, as part of our teaching series, Practicing the Way, where we learn habits to help us become more like Jesus, and develop a Rule of Life.
Distraction is one of the greatest threats to spiritual health in the modern world.
We all feel it — we’re bombarded by noise like never before.
Jesus has an invitation for us: Step away from it all (for some moments) to be alone with him, for the sake of our souls and the sake of others.
Jesus, scripture tells us, withdrew to the quiet places to pray. (Luke 5:16) If Discipleship involves following Jesus, doing the things that He did, what might this Solitude practice look like for us?
What can we expect?
We will be exploring the theme of Solitude and following individual sermon titles each Sunday
Introducing Solitude
The Quiet Place
Encounter with self
Encounter with enemy
Encounter with God
There will be a series of resources, including weekly exercises and readings, and additional resources to help us create life-changing daily rhythms.
This Practice is also perfect to use with Lifegroups with detailed videos and resources available.
Tom recommends we read 1 Kings 19:18-20 again and adds:
–He rests
What might rest look like for you before you enter solitude?
–He’s real
‘What are you doing here Elijah/[insert your name]?
Like Elijah can you answer this question honestly before God? You may want to write some things down.
–God renews
Elijah’s purpose and calling is reaffirmed at the end, but it takes time and a lots of waiting (40 days!).
Take time in the quiet and stillness to simply wait on God, with no agenda. You may hear his still small voice, you may not. At this stage just practise ‘waiting’ in the quiet for a five minutes or so, and enjoy His presence.
This year’s recommended Lent reading is “An Invitation to Solitude and Silence – Experiencing God’s Transforming Presence” by Ruth Haley Barton (ISBN-13: 9780281085781, 9780281085989)
Ruth also has a podcast on leadership, and in Season 5 she focused on this book. The first episode of that series can be found on Spotify here or on Apple podcasts here
If you haven’t read it it, we also recommend last year’s Lent reading “Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus. Become like him. Live as he did: Be with Jesus. Become like him. Do as he did” by John Mark Comer This book complements not only our Lent sermon series on Solitude but other spiritual practices that we are looking at as part of the Rule of Life
Presence – Contemplative Prayer Group
This group meets every Tuesday in the Church building at 12.30pm.
All are welcome as we explore the practice of silence and enjoy God’s presence together. Each session starts and ends with a reading and prayer.
