St John The Evangelist - Bury St Edmunds

12/06/2026

12/06/2026

2nd Sunday after Trinity

Exodus 10.2-8a Psalm 100
Romans 5.1-8 Matthew 9.35-10.8(9-23)

During this period of ‘ordinary time’ we will read and hear from so many passages of scripture telling of Jesus’ ministry and stories and parables he told to those who followed him. It is a time of rich growth and learning, really there is nothing ordinary about it.

It is a time to reflect on these passages, to think what they might mean to us now and what we as a church can learn from ancient scripture. Not just the Gospels but the writings of the Old Testament and the letters that the early Christians received, these are letters and history for us now as much as they were for those people then.

We will hear passages full of sayings that we may have heard before. My question is always: will we see them in a new light now? Or will we just think: oh I have heard this before, it says the same thing every time.

Sometimes we will hear things in a new light, the same words hit us differently and be transformative in some way, whether in a small way or a way that changes everything.

In this week’s Gospel reading we hear one of those phrases: “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few”, words many of us will have heard before. Similar phrases and analogies can be found out of faith circles, too.

Jesus has realised there is just too much for him to do by himself. His mission and ministry is growing in such a way that so many people are coming to him to hear his words of wisdom, to his words of the news which is always good, to be healed.

He is a victim of his own success. So, he needs to make a decision. He needs to send those out whom he trusts, who understand his message, the twelve are put into action. They will be able to reach those that Jesus currently can’t, he cannot be in two places at once, he cannot proclaim his message in all places, he has no time to heal all those who travel to see him.

These twelve trusted people can help so they need to go. Jesus warns them that it will be difficult, the life of spreading faith can be full of pitfalls. They will need to use their wits, to witness division and violence, but still show the calmness and positivity of his work.
Often churches now can have similar problems, in my experience over the past 10 years or so many things that others and I have thought of, prayed for and dreamed of haven’t been able to come to fruition. The question that comes back again and again is – have we got the people to do this? We know (most of the time) that we cannot do it alone, even if we think we can – I have tried to do things by myself and realised that I cannot bear the burden as one person.

So sometimes we must put dreams or plans to one side because we can’t keep calling upon the same people to help with something else. Sometimes we try being open to what we would love to do ... but we can’t deliver it because we need people to help who can stir up action, and sometimes it just doesn’t happen.

I have come to realise that this may be because it is not yet the right time or the idea isn’t quite what it should be, God has his own time and ways of working, even if it can be frustrating.

It is not easy to spread the word, our numbers are not always what we want, but we need to be steadfast in our faith. Know the truth, but still be witness to the good news, the caring, the hospitality, to call out the injustices that we are called to give all people.

This is why this green time is much more than ordinary, it can give us the time and the space to really pray and reflect on what we are doing, on what we can do and to summon up labourers for the time to come.

So if these or other words hit you between the eyes and encourage you to take action, talk to someone, pray about it, spread the word. Use that impetus to add to the labourers to reap the harvest that is awaiting beyond the walls we build both literally and psychologically.

Rev Helen

Lark Valley and North Bury Churches
SERVICES WEEK BEGINNING 14 JUNE

SUNDAY 14 June 2nd Sunday after Trinity
8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) Culford
8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) All Saints', Bury St Edmunds
9.30am Holy Communion (CW) St George’s, Bury St Edmunds
9.30am Holy Communion (CW) All Saints', Bury St Edmunds
10.00am Eucharist (CW) Fornham St Martin
10.00am Eucharist (CW) Lackford
11.00am Sung Eucharist (CW) St John's, Bury St Edmunds

Monday 15 June Evelyn Underhill, spiritual writer, 1941

Tuesday 16 June Richard, Bishop, 1253
Joseph Butler, bishop, philosopher, 1752
6.00pm A Quiet Space St John’s, Bury St Edmunds

Wednesday 17 June Samuel and Henrietta Barnett, social reformers, 1911 and 1936
8.30am Morning Prayer (CW) St John’s, Bury St Edmunds
9.30am Eucharist (CW) St John’s, Bury St Edmunds
5.00pm Evening Prayer (CW) St George’s, Bury St Edmunds

Thursday 18 June Bernard Mizeki, martyr, 1896
9.30am Eucharist (BCP) All Saints', Bury St Edmunds

Friday 19 June Sundar Singh, sadhu (holy man), evangelist, teacher of the faith, 1929
5.15pm Evening Prayer (CW) St John’s, Bury St Edmunds
6.00pm Eucharist (CW) St John’s, Bury St Edmunds

Saturday 20 June

SUNDAY 21 June 3rd Sunday after Trinity
8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) followed by breakfast All Saints', Bury St Edmunds
9.30am Holy Communion (CW) St George’s, Bury St Edmunds
9.30am Holy Communion (CW) preceded by breakfast All Saints', Bury St Edmunds
9.30am Matins (BCP) Timworth
10.00am Eucharist (CW) preceded by breakfast at 9.15am West Stow
10.00am Eucharist (CW) Fornham All Saints
11.00am Sung Eucharist (CW) St John's, Bury St Edmunds
6.00pm Midsummer Team Evensong (BCP) followed by refreshments Wordwell

04/06/2026

Lark Valley and North Bury Churches
SERVICES WEEK BEGINNING 7 JUNE

SUNDAY 7 June 1st Sunday after Trinity
8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) All Saints', Bury St Edmunds
9.30am Holy Communion (CW) St George’s, Bury St Edmunds
9.30am Holy Communion (CW) All Saints', Bury St Edmunds
9.30am Holy Communion (BCP) Timworth
10.00am Eucharist (CW) West Stow
10.00am All Age Worship Fornham All Saints
11.00am Sung Eucharist (CW) St John's, Bury St Edmunds
3.00pm Wonder Club Lackford

Monday 8 June Thomas Ken, bishop, nonjuror, hymn writer, 1711

Tuesday 9 June Columba, abbot, missionary, 597
Ephrem, deacon, hymn writer, teacher of the faith, 373
10.00am Eucharist (CW) Fornham St Martin
6.00pm A Quiet Space St John’s, Bury St Edmunds

Wednesday 10 June
8.30am Morning Prayer (CW) St John’s, Bury St Edmunds
9.30am Eucharist (CW) St John’s, Bury St Edmunds
5.00pm Evening Prayer (CW) St George’s, Bury St Edmunds

Thursday 11 June Barnabas the Apostle
9.30am Eucharist (CW) All Saints', Bury St Edmunds
6-7pm Adorate! with Benediction at 6.50pm St John's, Bury St Edmunds

Friday 12 June
5.15pm Evening Prayer (CW) St John’s, Bury St Edmunds
6.00pm Eucharist (CW) St John’s, Bury St Edmunds

Saturday 13 June

SUNDAY 14 June 2nd Sunday after Trinity
8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) Culford
8.00am Holy Communion (BCP) All Saints', Bury St Edmunds
9.30am Holy Communion (CW) St George’s, Bury St Edmunds
9.30am Holy Communion (CW) All Saints', Bury St Edmunds
10.00am Eucharist (CW) Fornham St Martin
10.00am Eucharist (CW) Lackford
11.00am Sung Eucharist (CW) St John's, Bury St Edmunds

04/06/2026

1st Sunday after Trinity
Hosea 5.15-6.6 Psalm 50.7-15 Romans 4.13-end Matthew 9.9-13,18-26

The great story from Advent Sunday through to Trinity Sunday is now to be followed by the so-called ‘long green afternoon of the Church’s year’. But the Collect, or summarising prayer for this day (and week) is the same that has been prayed in this country at this time for nearly five centuries, ever since being collected and translated by Cranmer from far earlier sacramentary sources in Rome or France.

This prayer brings us back to the bedrock of our relationship with God. The channel of prayer must be kept open, with the will to keep God’s requirements, together with a humble acknowledgement of our own inadequacy and the openness to receive God’s grace offered to us.

This is how we live, or try to, although it is human to have lapses. We forget, we omit, or even get carried away in a wrong direction, as whole communities have sometimes done. The Old Testament records many instances where the people, who were the first in relationship with God, fell away from it. They were chided by the prophets, but often resented or ill-treated the messenger.

The reading from Hosea today gives utterances as of God speaking, sandwiching speech of the people in their attempt to regain favour and restoration (interestingly naming ‘the third day’). But they are not sorry enough! Simply going through the motions of offering sacrifices will not do if your attitude generally is unchanged. First you must show steadfast love and a reverent knowledge of God. Sacrifices may follow from that, but should be sacrifices of thanksgiving. (The word ‘Eucharist’ means ‘thanksgiving’).

Today’s psalm makes it clear that one cannot offer any part of the material Creation to God that is not his already. All-important is the attitude towards God, which then reaches out to his Creation. We need to give thanks in the right way, allowing faith to grow in strength.

St. Paul’s words today, from the great epistle to the Romans, are about faith, or trust, using the story of Abraham as example. It is human to know what is or is not reasonably possible (though knowledge of facts has developed over time). For Abraham and Sarah knew in their advanced old age that no legitimate heir could now be born to them. But word came from God that it would happen, and would herald a host of descendants. At that time, without a belief in an after-life, it was thought a man only lived on in his descendants. So Abraham was being promised life, not death, and he believed, despite the apparent impossibility. Such trust, or faith, is attached to many other Biblical miraculous events, notably the crossing of the Red Sea under Moses in the exodus from Egypt, never to be forgotten. And Jesus himself said that with faith anything was possible. (This has had some misunderstood and even tragic consequences. There is an Arab saying, ‘Trust in God, but tie up your camel’).

Being human, we have our limitations. It is easy to think that everything in this world can be somehow seen, or heard, and measured by us, but it’s a fallacy. There is so much that humans can never know, or understand. Some of it is known by other living beings on earth, which we should acknowledge and respect. God is made known to us in terms we can relate to; we anthropomorphise. When that apparently was not enough, there came the Incarnation, the great story with its denouement of giving people a direct link with the life of heaven.

Today’s Gospel shows the life-giving power of God in two unconnected parts. In this account the tax-collector called to follow is named Matthew, but in Mark and Luke he is Levi. All versions have the dinner at which ‘many tax-collectors and sinners’ happily sat with Jesus and the 12, scandalising Pharisees who ‘saw’ it. The guests, either by their moral conduct or their profession, were considered unclean, or social outcasts. The Pharisees, religious authorities, by contrast rigorously kept to the Law, and thought no learned Rabbi could or should associate with riff-raff. Jesus’ response to them echoes Hosea: ‘Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”’. Punctilious, outward observance is worth nothing if the heart is not fully compassionate. It remains true now that casual perfunctory service is not service, certainly not loving service.

The second part of today’s Gospel passage, (also found in Mark and Luke) interweaves narrative about two separate people of negligible social importance, but who are both blameless and desperately afflicted. They are both miraculously made well, apparently on the same day, the only other link being the number 12, with its many symbolic connections largely lost to us. The woman had suffered ‘uncleanness’ for twelve years; the little girl was twelve years old. However, in both we see a seemingly impossible full restoration of life. The woman had tried everything; Mark says she had spent all she had on long, painful treatment from different doctors, but was worsening, while any normal life was denied her. At the home of the official (Jairus) everyone knew the finality of death had come for the child. But the father’s faith had brought Jesus; the sick woman’s faith had not even needed Jesus’ conscious attention.

The power of God unmistakeably and amazingly to restore life from that last enemy, death, is here shown, and prefigures the Easter story, which is our support in all our lives. With all our limitations, we must still give thanks.

Marianne Atkinson