ALBIR  Sunday 30th and 6th – normal time of 9.45            Sunday 13 September until further notice 15:00

JAVEA  Anticipate that Sunday services will return to normal at the END of September

ALBIR Sunday 30th and 6th – normal time of 9.45 Sunday 13 September until further notice 15:00

JAVEA Anticipate that Sunday services will return to normal at the END of September

In response to several requests after Sunday’s sermon I write the following.

My Dear Friends, 

How are you feeling today? 

‘A bit hot and sticky’ ‘ Fine’ ‘ A bit fed up.  ‘ OK, but oooh my back!’

No, I mean how are you really feeling?

Well, the answer depends on how I start thinking about myself in relation to Life, Family, Friends, God!

In a sort of way I asked this question on Sunday in response to the Gospel reading from Matthew where Jesus asks his disciples ‘Who do people say that I am? And when they answered John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets he then says ‘But who do You say that I am?’

Simon Peter says ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God’.

Brilliant! And of course we all have to face that question repeatedly during our lives. We could be anywhere on our spiritual journey, from not knowing much about Jesus, to having a full deep and meaningful relationship with him. Wherever we are, we are loved and welcome.
But the question got me thinking. What would we say about ourselves? Would our description of our self just be the title of the job we did? Or would it be much deeper. Would it be an opportunity to unpack something of the awesomeness of being human?

So when someone says ‘Who are you, tell me about yourself?’   This is what you could say-

Without God I am but dust
But through the Grace of God I am 

An Awesome  creation, Wonderful and fearfully made

I am a Child of God, made in His image, and therefore unique in every way.

I am Loved more than I will ever know, and I have been loved form before I was ever born, and in all humility I know that I am Precious in the eyes of the Lord

I am a frail human being and I fall down, time and time again, but I am constantly forgiven, andthrough the grace of God I get back up again.

Interestingly, I did not choose God, but he chose me and through him I bear fruit, fruit that will last.
He was there when I was looking. He was there before I was looking, and he found me, and chose me when I was not even looking!

I am called by him to be here in this place, and I am called to do his will, and he gives me everything I need in order that I may do it.

He gave me gifts in order to build the kingdom of God, and with His and your help I will discern those gifts and use them accordingly. I am not very good at knowing what my gifts are, but I am very good at spotting yours. I see them at work in you every day. In humility I ask that God will reveal his will for me to follow, and in absolute humility, I will accept his gifts and use them accordingly.

I am a servant of the Lord, and I will endeavour to do His will.

Christ has no hands but our hands, and I will use my hands for his glory

God Gave me a mouth with which to Bless

God gave me a heart with which to love

God gave me a mind with which to see the wonder of his creation, and his presence in all people

God gave me a voice with which to sing his praise

I am a member of the Body of Christ on earth

I am part of this Christian fellowship

You are my Brothers and Sisters

On my own I am a worm and no man,

But through the Grace of God Jesus calls me by my name. Sometimes in the silence I hear it.

He knows the hairs on my head, and the secrets of my heart, he knows when I rise up, and when I fall down, and yet he loves me still.

I will never appreciate it, but I know it is true, that I was a gift from God to my family, and to my friends, and I brought Blessings. It is amazing what God can do.

I may never understand it, but my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit

The God who created the universe and everything in it, lives in my heart, and I in his.

Alone we have nothing, yet with God we possess everything

We are chosen, rescued, healed, forgiven, blessed, nourished, wanted, embraced, loved and because we are made in his image, we are beautiful. I see that in all of you.

When we are led by our ego, we are selfish and arrogant and rude, but when we are led by the Spirit we experience the Fruits of the Spirit which are Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, gentleness and Self Control

On our own we earn nothing, we deserve nothing and we accomplish nothing,

But through the Grace of God, in all humility we can say we are ‘Glory Bound’, and there is a place for us in the kingdom of heaven.

Bless you, Bless you, Bless you,
Fr Marcus

Good Morning Folks,

Hope you are feeling fine and dandy!
I recorded my sermon in La Merced, Calpe yesterday, so have a look if you feel like it. Just click the link below –

Today’s service led by Fr. Rodney, with Fr. Robin has not uploaded to YouTube. BUT it can be viewed now on Fr. Rodney’s Facebook page –

Fr

Click to watch

Our current pattern of Sunday worship continues tomorrow in Gandia, La Fustera, Calpe and (in a private garden) in El Campello. But please note the following message about Albir church.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION – If anyone was intending to come to Albir church tomorrow,  please note that this CHURCH WILL BE CLOSED for this Sunday.  
Frs Rodney and Robin will record their Eucharist, as usual and the link will be posted here for everyone who cannot, or who chooses not to attend one of our services. We know that the churches of many of our congregation members currently in the UK are still not holding public worship due to the pandemic. This service is viewed by many as a very welcome substitute.

The night has passed, and the day lies open before us;
Let us pray with one heart and mind.

Silence is kept

As we rejoice in the gift of this new day, so may the light of your presence, O God, set our hearts on fire with love for you; now and for ever. Amen.

Good Morning My Dear Friends, and welcome to another glorious day.
The words above are found at the beginning of our Daily Morning Prayer, and they set us up but immediately putting a whole range of things in to a beautiful perspective. Our Morning Prayer stems from the monastic tradition of Lauds where we wake up and give praise (laudate) to God. So in our simple version we begin by acknowledging where we are, and what we can do.
The night has passed – we have got through the darkness – and now we embrace the light, and the new day is full of opportunity. A new dawn, a new start, a new beginning, and the first thing we are called to do is join together with people of faith with one heart and mind. Even though we may well be using this prayer on our own, the words are ‘Let US pray’.
We are reminded that together we are the Body of Christ, and we do this living in union with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us pray with one heart and mind. 
We start the day praying that we are at one with our neighbours and fellow pilgrims. This is such a strong wake up call for any community that is divided, or any fellowship that is fractured. We are reminded that it is not our personal will that is important, but our discerning and practice of the will of God.

Divisions within churches, families, groups, communities and nations have been around for ever, and sometimes they are accepted as the way of the world. But they are not the way of faith, and the message of Jesus is very clearly one of love and peace, unity and reconciliation. So it is good to note that each day we are not condemned for our divisions, but rather given a new opportunity to come together in heart and mind, and we do this by the use of silence. We just be still in the presence of God.

We are then reminded that our first thoughts are those of rejoicing. Sometimes it is so easy to forget this. We wake with aches and pains, and for some of us it takes a while to get things moving. Then before long the great issues of the world can come and crowd our minds. But the monks had the great idea of starting with God before anything else, and it really works. The new day is a gift, to be received with thanksgiving and joy, and not to be taken for granted. In my experience if we begin with God, rather than the news, then we can find things to be joyful about. If we begin with the news, then our hearts can look for things to fill us with despair. (The monks spend their mid day prayers focussing on the needs of the world)

Once we have given thanks for the new day, we do two beautiful things simultaneously. We recognise that we are in the light and presence of God, and then we make our first request.

The Light of Christ reminds us of that Great Easter Proclamation. Every day is a resurrection day! A day of praise in which we give thanks that we are in the presence of God, and this prayer creates the opportunity to reflect on that.
Sometimes we take that presence for granted. Sometimes it feels as if we are on our own. Sometimes life is a struggle. But always God is with us. We have got through the darkness. All shall be well.
And then our request. But this is not just a polite suggestion, but a heartfelt desire that God will set our hearts on fire with love for you. If we pray that, the surely God will grant it.
‘Our hearts on fire’ leads us immediately to think of the Holy Spirit, guiding, cleansing and inspiring us to love God. If we live as though that is true, we will discover that it is.

This simple, but beautiful prayer sets us up for the day, and I commend it to you.

If you would like to follow the pattern of morning and or evening prayer, there are plenty of options from books Common Worship, Daily Prayer to a simple free phone app ‘Daily Prayer’ both from Church House Publishing.

All of the clergy in the team would be happy to chat with you about your prayer life if you would like that.

In the meantime, please pray for us, as we do you.

Bless you, Bless you, Bless you.

Fr Marcus

Here is the link to Fr. Marcus’ video for today –