Welcome to St Jude’s for our special Dedication Sunday service. If you are new, or making an occasional visit especially for today, we hope you find the gathering enjoyable and encouraging. Everyone is invited to stay on after the service today for a finger food lunch in the Parish Room.
Our usual children’s and youth program is on today. Children and youth will be invited to head off from church with their leaders at around 10.45 am. These programs will be on a three-week break from next week, returning Sunday 23rd July. BUT… parents of babies and toddlers, don’t forget there is a creche in the Parish Room on the first Sunday of each month, including next Sunday 2nd July.
On Dedication Sunday, which commemorates the opening of our building, we give great thanks to God for the provision of this place in which we worship. To have a place where we can gather in Christ’s name is a wonderful gift of God, and is not to be taken for granted. Many Christians around the world cannot even meet publicly, let alone in a place as prominent, spacious, and beautiful as St Jude’s.
At the same time, we are reminded that “the church” is not the building, but the gathering of Christ’s redeemed people. A fundamental part of the Christian life is that God’s people gather together regularly, in anticipation of that heavenly gathering for which we have been bought with Jesus’ blood. Our gathering here is one of thousands of such gatherings taking place around the world, this very day.