#522 Is it a birthday?
Fr Sam writes
The Church’s year very naturally revolves around the two great feasts of Christmas and Easter, with Advent and Lent as the hors d’oeuvre in each case. But the third great feast of the year is Pentecost, Whitsun, with the flames of fire that show God’s life living in Jesus’ first disciples. It’s sometimes described as the Church’s birthday, though I rather prefer to think of it as a kind of graduation: having spent time with our Lord in his birth, death and resurrection, we are now ready to go out into the world ourselves, with God’s Holy Spirit to help us.
In more prosaic news, the PCC met this week and made some important decisions, including looking at our churchyard regulations and, excitingly, authorising works on the Parish Rooms to renovate the toilets and the outside garden area. Work on these will hopefully be starting in the next few weeks…
This Sunday: the Spirit is upon us
This Sunday is the feast of Pentecost, when we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the first apostles, and the amazing things they did in the early days of the Church.
In our first reading, we hear of the day of Pentecost and the sermon Peter preached after receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 2.1-21). Our Gospel reading shows us Jesus proclaiming, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink” (John 7.37-39).
Image: From Pentecost by El Greco
Services this Sunday
| 9.30am | St Paul’s | Parish Mass | Fr Sam Tanna-Korn |
| Anthem: Come down O Love Divine – Harris | |||
| 10am | Woosehill Church | Holy Communion | Revd Cara Smart |
| 11am | St Nicholas’ | Community Eucharist | Fr Sam Tanna-Korn |
Eagerly I seek you
The next parish quiet day will take place on Wednesday 17 June between 10am and 4pm. It will be at St James Finchampstead and will be led by Fr Sam. The theme is “Eagerly I seek you: Praying with the Psalms”. If you are interested, speak to Fr Sam or email Mary Cassidy mary.cassidy@spauls.org.uk
Tea and coffee are provided, but please bring your own lunch.
Patron Saint of the Internet
An International Exhibition, ‘The Eucharistic Miracles of the World’ is coming to Wokingham from 23 May to 7 June 2026 at Corpus Christi Church, Sturges Rd. Free Entry.
This exhibition was designed and created by St Carlo Acutis (1991-2006), an Italian teenager and computer whiz-kid, referred to as the ‘patron saint of the internet’.
The Relic of St Carlo Acutis will also visit the church on 30 & 31 May 2026. A number of events are planned for these 2 days. More details can be found online.
Woosehill Church Magazine
The latest edition of the Woosehill Church Magazine is now available online and at the back of church.
This week’s calendar: an English scholar
Monday 25 May is the feast day of the Venerable Bede, an eighth-century English monk, historian, and biblical scholar whose writings preserved much of early Christian and English history while helping generations of Christians understand Scripture more deeply. Bede is known as the “Father of English History” and was declared a Doctor of the Church nearly a thousand years after his death, reminding us that careful study, faithful teaching, and a life devoted to prayer can shape the Church for centuries.
