Our Minister Rev David Rees
looks after St John’s and 4
other Churches: Castle Hill,
Felixstowe, Saxmundham and
also Leiston LEP who joined
Ipswich and East Pastorate in
September 2020 .
These churches and another
14 churches and chapels are part of the
South Suffolk Area Partnership
May Advance
This is the regular publication containing news of events and our church life.
You could help by sending content to advance@stjohnsurcipswich.org.uk
The version available which can be read on line or downloaded.
Click here for a normal web version
Sound Version of Services Weekly on 01473 938542 Option 1 Latest
Filled from July 2022
Why not just listen
to the Latest service?
Services
Date
St John’s
01/05/22
Rev John Cook
Communion
08/05/22
William Glasse
15/05/22
Peter Dawson
22/05/22
Rev David Rees
29/05/22
Birgit E
05/06/22
Sue Liddell
Pentecost & Communion
St John’s URC Ipswich Diary
Regular Events at Present
Sunday 10.45am Worship for All. Communion first Sunday of each month included with the online service. Monday Tuesday Wednesday 7.30pm Local AA Group Meeting Thursday 5.00pm 2nd Hamilton Rainbows 6.15pm 40th Ipswich Brownies 7.30pm or 2:30 Church Meeting (5 meetings per year) Friday
Services
10.45 am on Sundays Worship for All
at which you will find a warm welcome
Services last about 45 minutes. Our Worship Leaders include Ministers, such as our own Ipswich and East Minister Rev David Rees plus some excellent lay preachers, including our own two lay preachers, Sara Pells and Peter Dawson. We use a large screen to project elements of the service including the hymns. Also we sometimes join with Castle Hill via a live stream and on those Sundays the service starts 15 minutes earlier at 10:30. Currently people are using facemasks throughout the service.
Minister’s Letter
Specification of the Organ
The
1916
two
manual
and
pedal
tubular
pneumatic
organ
by
Bishop
from
the
previous
building
was
rebuilt
with
electric
action
by
W
&
A
Boggis
of
Diss
in
the
new
church.
It
is
placed
in
an
elevated
position
in
the
Worship
Area
and
is
controlled
from
a
detached,
moveable console.
Certain
specifications
changes
were
made
to
take
account
of
the
new
acoustic
conditions
and a few ranks were added.
The Pedal reed pipes (which had been prepared for) were installed in 1993.
30 years to prepare
Most
of
the
Gospel
readings
in
church
this
year
are
taken
from
Luke’s
gospel.
Early
in
that
gospel,
there
is
a
short
verse
that
has
puzzled
and
fascinated
me
in
equal
parts.
It
simply
says, ‘When Jesus began his ministry, he was about thirty years of age.’ (Luke 3:23)
Tradition
has
it
that
Joseph
died
fairly
young,
and
that
Jesus
had
to
take
upon
himself
the
support
of
his
mother
Mary
and
of
his
younger
brothers
and
sisters.
It
was
not
until
they
were
old
enough
to
take
the
family
business
on
their
own
shoulders,
that
he
felt
free
to
leave Nazareth and go into the wider world and start his second career.
Whether
that
is
true
or
not,
we
don’t
really
know,
these
thirty
years
gave
him
the
opportunity
to
prepare
for
the
three
years
of
ministry
by
living
out
his
own
teaching
in
normal
daily
life.
Had
he
always
been
a
home-less,
wandering
teacher
with
no
human
ties
or
obligations,
it
might
have
been
said
to
him,
“What
right
have
you
to
talk
about
human
duties
and
human
relationships,
you,
who
never
fulfilled
them?”
But
Jesus
was
able
to
say,
not just, “Do as I say,” but, “Do as I have done.”
William
Barclay
tells
the
story
that
the
Russian
writer
Leo
Tolstoy
was
a
man
who
talked
about
living
the
way
of
love;
but
his
wife
who
bore
13
children
wrote
poignantly
of
him,
“There
is
so
little
genuine
warmth
about
him;
his
kindness
does
not
come
from
the
heart,
but
merely
from
his
principles.
His
biographies
will
tell
of
how
he
helped
the
labourers
to
carry
buckets
of
water,
but
no
one
will
ever
know
that
he
never
gave
his
wife
a
rest
and
never
--
in
all
these
thirty-two
years
--
gave
his
child
a
drink
of
water
or
spent
five
minutes
by his bedside to give me a chance to rest a little from all my labours." Hmmm.
No
one
could
ever
speak
like
that
of
Jesus.
He
lived
at
home
what
he
preached
in
his
ministry.
Though
Jesus
was
God
in
human
form,
he
had
to
live
as
we
live.
And
because
he
spent
these
thirty
years
in
Nazareth,
he
knew
the
problems
of
making
a
living,
the
haunting
insecurity
of
the
life
of
the
worker,
the
ill-natured
customer,
the
person
who
would
not
pay
his
debts,
the
wonderful
‘salt
of
the
earth’
neighbours
and
the
neighbour
who was a bigot.
It
is
central
to
the
incarnation
–
that
God
became
truly
human
–
that
we
face
no
problem
of
life
and
living
which
Jesus
did
not
also
experience,
and
his
teachings
are
based
on
that
grounded experience.
So,
give
thanks
for
those
30
years.
And
perhaps
ask
God
to
let
you
know
what
your
next
stage of life and ministry is, however long your time of preparation has been.
David
Contact Details
St John’s URC Ipswich
Our Postal Address is: St John’s United Reformed Church 1 Cowper Street Ipswich Suffolk IP4 5JD United Kingdom Office Telephone (Answer Machine) 01473 724961 Please Note currently we are still working out how to hire out any rooms due to covid-19 restrictions. Please use the adjacent contact form. Minister: Rev David Rees (Ipswich and East) email: minister@stjohnsurcipswich.org.uk Church Secretary:Mr Adrian Cubitt email: Secretary@stjohnsurcipswich.org.uk Webmaster webmaster@stjohnsurcipswich.org.uk Website which is https for security www.stjohnsurcipswich.org.ukYou can use the form below for any enquiry
