Long time no blog!

Hi folks I have just returned from a Circuit Meeting where I was taken to task by one of my readers for not blogging so I thought I needed to make sure I posted something in case other readers were suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

As a point of information I have now sold 59 copies of my book 'A Bang or a Whimper' and have finished recording the audio version of the book which should be available next week or the week after at the latest for the really good price of £10 per copy (will probably be 3 or 4 discs). Don't forget the printed version is available for just £6 and you can email me for further details or to place an order.

Vestry Prayers - this Sunday coming is the first Sunday In Advent in year 'C' of the Revised Common Lectionary so I will be posting a vestry prayer sometime tomorrow for those who find these useful.

Christmas is coming and I would like to advertise two events that are coming up at Pleck Methodist Church that I will be involved in - the first one is an afternoon Carol Service on Wednesday 9th December at 2-30p.m.which is really intended for people who may not wish to come out in an evening. The second one is an event called Carol Praise which will take place at Pleck Methodist Church on Wednesday 16th December at 7p.m. with music provided by HIMS Ancient and Modern. If ou want more details please let me know.
If you are free on either or both of these days we would love to see you there.

Vestry Prayers

I have been looking at the statistics for this blog and note that many of my visitors arrive here after looking for vestry prayers. There was a comment posted yesterday on one of my earlier prayers indicating that the person was disappointed that I had stopped posting them.
I didn't post any for this year because I thought people might by my book and I have to say thank you to the twelve people who have - I really do hope you are finding it a useful resource - a number of the churches in our circuit use it in the less glossy format (the original version was totally self published)and I am always amazed how good the prayers come over when read by stewards.
In view of the apparent demand I have decided to start posting prayers again and hope to continue doing so each week - it would be helpful to get some feedback occasionally so if you are using these prayers you might consider just making a comment.

Vestry Prayer ordinary 13

Gracious heavenly father whose promises are yea and amen, we gather today to bring our worship and praise, and it is right that we should do this because you are our ever loving God. You are the God of many promises and you said that where two or three were gathered in your name you would be in the midst. As we come together today we claim that promise knowing that in doing so you will be in out midst today. We ask you to bless our brother/sister N.... as they share your word with us later on, may it be that like the disciples and followers of old we will hear only you speaking to us as they minister to us.
Pour out your blessing on us Lord as we ask in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Vestry Prayer Easter 6

Heavenly Father we have come into your presence with a desire to worship you and to bring our praise and adoration to you the king of kings and Lord of lords.
We ask that you would help us Lord through your Holy Spirit, to worship you freely and in spirit and in truth.
Bless our brother/sister N... as they share you word with us and enable us to be open to your word.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen

Vestry Prayer Easter 5

Lord God as we gather today in fellowship, we are reminded that you sent your Son to be the way, the truth and the life. In our worship today may it be that we will hear you speak to us through the words we sing and read together, and through the words of your servant N... as they bring your word to us.
To you O God be all glory honour and praise.
Amen

Vestry Prayer Easter 4

Loving shepherd we come into your house today mindful of the way you provide and care for us like the shepherd of old. Help and guide us as we worship you today, enable our brother/sister N... to lead us and bring your word to a hungry flock. Help us to hear the voice of the shepherd in all that is said, sung and done in our time of worship and lead us into the coming week refreshed because we have been with you beside the still waters.
We ask all these things in the name of Jesus our shepherd, priest and king.
Amen

Vestry Prayer

I had an email the other day from someone asking me what happened to my idea of posting prayers for use in the vestry each week. The simple answer was there was no feedback so I thought people weren't interested and perhaps it was something there was not really any need for, although lots of vestry's I go in to have various old vestry prayer books in use.
I have had a think about this and decided to give it another go so in a little while I will post prayers for the remainder of this month and hope that someone out there will find them a useful tool.

Vestry Prayer for Sunday 15th July

Almighty God, and loving father, we come to you today and look to you to speak to us through your servant n......., and through the words we hear, read and sing. Help us to worship you in spirit and in truth and to do this freely.Help us to love our neighbour as you love us.
We ask your blessing on all who gather here today and that we will be encouraged in our walk with you through our fellowship today, in Jesus name. Amen.

An apology

Sorry to any readers who were looking for a vestry prayer for this week - I have been having some problems logging in to my blog which appear to have sorted themself out so here I am. I did speak to one dissapointed reader who has been taking the prayers in for the stewards at her church to use, so it looks like at least one group of people are using them - perhaps I should continue and try to post earlier in the week.

Vestry Prayer

Loving God we come today and gather as members of your family to bring our praise and adoration to our loving heavenly Father. We recognise that sometimes it is easy to make excuses for why we might not come or why we might not do your will, but today Lord we ask that through our brother/sister N you will challenge us to renew our walk with you. We ask your blessing on our service today and pray that we will enjoy this time of fellowship with one another, but more importantly that we will enjoy our fellowship with you. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen

Vestry Prayer - slight delay!

Been a bit busy this week so prayer has been a bit delayed should be on the blog by 10a.m. tomorrow morning (Saturday) and thanks to those who commented on last weeks hope you found it useful!

Vestry Prayer

Here we are a vestry prayer for Sunday 24th June.
God our father, we come to you today to bring our praise and worship, and we look to you to speak to us as you spoke to Elijah. We know that you can speak in a variety of ways even in the silence and we pray Lord that you would open our hearts and minds to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
We pray for N....... as they lead our worship this morning/evening and ask that you would use them to bring us your word in a clear understandable way. May it be we will be greatly blessed in our fellowship today, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

Nearly a week!

Yes folks it's almost a week since I made my first post and I was tempted make a comment about a week being a long time in politics, but then I realised I am not a politician.
Have just checked the stats on sitemeter and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised how many are actually looking at this blog!
I see one of my friends from Bentley in Walsall also reads the Recorder along with another member at Bentley so that's at least three of us in the circuit.
I've been looking at some of the other Methodist blogs and there seems to be some good stuff out there and in the sense of putting something remotely spiritual on this blog I was thinking of posting a Vestry Prayer each week because I know there may be some hard pressed stewards who would appreciate this - I did do a book of vestry prayers for year B as my project for the end of my local preacher training course and it was very well received in our circuit. Any thoughts on this folks?