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Today is the final Sunday of our church leaders Majors Richard and Caroline Mingay. Richard brings the Bible message and speaks about the lasting imperative and deep meaning of this Cross for us, for our church and for our Community. The cross must always be central.

The theme of our worship is ‘Choosing Joy’. We make so many conscious choices daily and I wonder how many of those choices are to do with our spiritual attitude and well-being?

I have preached before about the importance of being a life-giver. There is nothing more attractive than a person who is positive and generous, who sees the best in others and in their own situation. Choosing Joy is an intensely spiritual act. It has past, present and future dynamics:

We choose joy because we consciously remember what God has done for us;
we choose joy because as a consequence such joy is a present reality;
we choose joy because the Hope of Christ is everlasting – there is a future dimension.

This is no ordinary joy. This is the JOY of the Lord Jesus Christ, the JOY He promised us. As we delve deeper into these thoughts, my prayer is that you will each choose and experience the joy of the Lord now and forever.

Major Richard Mingay

Today is the first of our two Vision Sundays per year when our worship, prayer and teaching focusses on different aspects of Regent Hall's theology of welcome:
"We will be a visible, vibrant church bringing God’s transforming welcome to life in the world, in the heart of London and in to people’s lives"

Because today, sadly, is the last Regent Hall Vision Sunday for Richard and I, we're going to go full circle and return to the first Vision Sunday teaching focus back in May 2019 when this particular season in the life of the corps first began. And this will hopefully provide opportunity to think and pray about how far we've come so far!

Major Caroline Mingay

Trinity Sunday is the annual Christian festival celebrating the doctrine of the Trinity or ‘God who is three-in-one and one-in-three’. Introduced in the ninth century, at a time when faith and belief was under threat, Trinity Sunday reminds us to be good guardians of the non-negotiables of Christian faith.

Today our Bible message is given by the Regent Hall Community Engagement leader, Emma Neil.

Pentecost – the birthday of the Church! It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles and other followers of Jesus while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks as described in the book of Acts.

God knew that when Jesus went up to heaven, his followers would need access to the same power that Jesus had and so he sent the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2: 4 says,
‘When the day of Pentecost came, the believers were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where thy were sitting. They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.’

Those people present at the first Pentecost had encountered Jesus and were empowered by the Holy Spirit to go and out and win others for Christ, that same power is ours today so let’s celebrate the birthday of the church and then go out there and make a difference for Jesus!

Major Alison Stone

This week I conclude our series considering worshipping God with our senses by speaking about the sense of taste. What does the Bible teach about taste and how we worship God?

Certainly, you might think of the stories of the children of Israel and how they ate manna in the desert – the manna that came directly from God. Here was divine provision of sustenance. Then we remember how Jesus changed water into wine. Here was a Kingdom story, again of provision, that reminds his followers of the new spirit and life that would be available through his eventual death and resurrection. Note the symbolism of the manna / bread and the wine here.

But what about you and me today? How consciously do we go deeper in our understanding and appreciation of Christ’s work for us, when we physically participate in tasting food? We look forward to exploring this question further together in worship and truth.

Psalm 119 says: “How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! From Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.”

May God bless and inform our understanding by His Word today!

Major Richard Mingay