St Peter's Church (From Falmouth Packet)

St Peter's Church

1:32pm Monday 7th May 2012 in Flushing

The eucharist held on Sunday, 5th Sunday of Easter, was celebrated by the Rev Andrew Stevenson, priest-in-charge, who in his sermon said that every gardener knows that for plants to flourish they need to be fully attached to the roots and the stem. If a stem becomes detached, it withers and dies. What is true of plants is true of our faith. If we become separated from Jesus, our faith will wither. In the gospel reading this week, taken from John, chapter 15 v 1-8, Jesus uses the analogy of a vine and branches to emphasise this point to his disciples. Love is the standard by which we should measure ourselves, but love that does not bear fruit is as useless as a vine that does not produce grapes. The fruit of Christian love is joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, self-control and many more. If we, as Christians, remain fully attached to the vine, that is Jesus, we will produce fruit such as this and much more.

The first lesson, taken from Acts chapter 8 v 26-40, was read by Peter Ryan and the second lesson was taken from 1 John chapter 4 v 7-21. Organist and keyboard player was Joan Treloar, who was accompanied by Luke Stevenson on trumpet.

The next three-monthly charity is for The Umpja Youth Empowerment Centre in Arusha, Tanzania. This gives young disadvantaged people the opportunity to gain important qualifications and, consequently, employment.