May 23rd 2021
Pentecost
This Sunday is Pentecost, sometimes referred to as the Birthday of the Church. After Easter and Christmas it is the most significant date in the Churches calendar. So this Sunday we hope many of you will feel safe about returning to church to help celebrate this. Weather permitting, we will worship outdoors in the cloisters with a Holy Communion at 10:00am (No (9:00am this week). This means we will be able to sing, whilst still maintaining appropriate safe guidelines. We will even attempt to live stream the service to Facebook, although this really is pushing our technical know-how to the limit. Of course it wouldn’t be a birthday without cake, so we also plan to offer refreshments afterwards too. As I write this it is wild, wet and windy outside and the Vicarage heating has come on. The Met Office and BBC Weather are currently both showing just a 11% chance of rain on Sunday morning with a temperature of 10° so wrap up warm. We will keep the service short with plenty of songs to clap and jump up and down to!!
There will also be an evening service this Sunday at 6:30pm – a simple evening prayer using Iona liturgy.
On Friday evening (May 28th) we welcome our first theatre group of the season as they bring us Shakespeare’s ’The Tempest’. The weather is looking better, so bring a picnic with friends and settle in for a wonderful evening’s entertainment. Tickets will be available on the door but we prefer it if you can purchase in advance:
https://www.thisismytheatre.com/thetempestatelstowabbey
We will also have a supply of individual pots of locally made Ice Cream and Sorbets for sale to add to that ‘theatre experience’.
A full list of the open-air performances planned for the summer are on this website via the following page (with a link to how tickets may be purchased):
www.elstow-abbey.org.uk/outdoor-theatre-2021/
and
www.elstow-abbey.org.uk/tickets
YouTube and Facebook links:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCju96FsrCXN40xhxZUQQYyQ
During April 2021 our YouTube channel had over 200 views with over 700 minutes watched. If you haven’t done so yet, please subscribe to our YouTube channel.
https://www.facebook.com/ElstowAbbey
Rev’d Fr. Paul Messam
Priest-in-charge of the Elstow Abbey and Elstow Team.
Assistant Area Dean of Bedford
Abbey Vicarage
Church End
Elstow
Bedford MK42 9XT
01234 261477
07711098209