Jerusalem was thronged with people who had come to celebrate the harvest thanksgiving festival. As the Holy Spirit settled on the disciples, the onlookers thought they were drunk. But the crowds were ‘cut to the heart’ by Peter’s stirring speech and three thousand believers were baptised and came to faith that day.

As we continue our whistle-stop tour through the New Testament, we see that the early church faced many of the same questions and challenges which we wrestle with today. Time has moved on and the culture was very different, but people are essentially the same. As the writer of Ecclesiastes observed about a thousand years earlier (Eccles 1:9) – What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

I don’t know whether that’s comforting or just plain terrifying. It certainly bears out the old adage that ‘History repeats itself. Has to. No-one listens.’

The crowds who thronged Jerusalem for the harvest thanksgiving festival may have received more than they bargained for. But we can also see that disciples and new believers alike were fired up (sorry!) to go out and share the gift they had been given.

Are we ready and willing to play our part in the history of God’s church by doing the same – receiving God’s gift and then giving it away?

You’ll have had it in your diaries for ages and now the details of the day are finalised….

A mix of keynote speakers (find out more about the Vision for Busbridge&Hambledon and get to have your say), First Aid courses, exercise classes, drumming and seminars! Something for everyone.

More information as well as booking forms are available in today’s service and on the Busbridge&Hambledon website. We’ve made extra efforts to make the children’s work even more fun and the day includes a mix of ten pin bowling (Pathfinders & Ichthus) and Ark & Explorers will have their own drumming course and circus workshop! It’s going to be a fantastic day with plenty of activities and fun for all ages across Busbridge&Hambledon. Fill out your booking form as soon as possible as some seminars have limited numbers. You won’t want to miss it!

Those who have studied languages will know that to have any hope of becoming fluent you have to immerse yourself completely in a language and live somewhere where you will speak and hear the language every day.

In Jesus, God immersed himself in humanity and experienced everything that it means to be human.  The ascension completes the incarnation. If the incarnation brought the divine to humanity, then the ascension brings humanity into the very throne-room of heaven. Jesus left his home in heaven to come to us, now he brings humanity home.

Now there is a human voice in heaven. Now God is fluent in ‘human’. God completely understands the language of the human heart; all our hopes, needs, fears and agonies. God completely understands the idioms of human nature: our strengths and our weaknesses.

Jesus brings us back to our true home with our Father and his presence beside him is a living, breathing, scar- bearing reminder of how we come to be there. With Jesus there, in heaven, I have one who ever lives and pleads for me. My name is graven on his hands; my name is written on his heart and I know that, while in heaven he stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart.

There is also a Table Top Sale at Godalming United Church, Bridge Road on Saturday 29^th June 1.30pm – 3.30pm. Items for sale will be children’s toys, clothes or equipment for 0 – 10 yrs. Tables for sellers just £5 each and must be pre booked. To book a table please contact Kathleen on 01483 417264 or email kathleenvarley@live.co.uk.