Benefice
Newsletter
24 March 2021
This week is one of the busiest in a vicar’s year – well, it is if you are a vicar who doesn’t produce liturgy and sermons far in advance! It is the week before Holy Week and it is a time when most clergy, along with many lay people in the church family are working hard to make sure that the journey through Holy Week is available, fresh and in some way can connect us with the enormity of Jesus’ sacrifice for each and every one of us.
I know that some people find Holy Week difficult, it exposes the darkest side of our shared humanity. We can resonate with crowds at the gates to Jerusalem shouting ‘Hosanna’ and cheering as Jesus enters but, if we are honest, we can also resonate with the very same group of people who by the end of the week had turned against Jesus and shouted ‘crucify him’.
My prayer is that we can engage with the journey through the Holy Week Bags, and through the daily offering of worship, we can engage with the journey with the added benefit of knowing the outcome – that what follows on Easter Day is news of the resurrection of Jesus – good news of the possibility of lives transformed and eternal life. Death has been defeated despite our weakness.
During the next 10 days and beyond may we all draw closer to our Lord and Saviour. May our faith be deepened as we move towards the light of Christ this Easter.
Thank you to all who have contributed to the contents of Holy Week in a Bag, printed labels, stuffed the bags and distributed the bags far and wide. Your efforts have enabled us to journey through the week together spiritually even if we are physically still apart.
Join us on Zoom on Sunday 21 March at 10:00.
Follow this link, or use meeting ID 831 9434 4387 and passcode 190303.
Monday of Holy Week, 29 March
Informal Morning Prayer at 8.30am via Zoom
Informal Evening Prayer at 5.30pm via Zoom
Tuesday of Holy Week, 30 March
Morning Prayer (Common Worship) at 8.30am via Zoom
Evening Prayer (Common Worship) at 5.30pm via Zoom
Wednesday of Holy Week, 31 March
Morning Prayer (Common Worship) at 8.30am via Zoom
Stations of the Cross via Zoom at 7.30pm via Zoom
Maundy Thursday, 1 April
Morning Prayer (Common Worship) at 8.30am via Zoom
Tenebrae Service at 7.30pm via Zoom
Good Friday, 2 April
Sunday School workshops at 10.30am via Zoom
Meditations at the foot of the Cross 2.00pm via Zoom
Easter Sunday, 4 April
Eucharist 9.15am in church - All Saints
Eucharist 11.15am in church - All Hallows
No 8.00am Eucharist or Compline on Easter Sunday
If you already receive weekly invitations from Rev Christine to our Zoom services, you will automatically receive a list of links. Otherwise please contact Agnes or Rev Christine for the Zoom links. You will be sent the links for all of the services so that you can select the services you wish to join.
Those who suffer in body, mind or spirit, among them Sue P, Roger P, Richard H, Tim C, Kay G, Oliver D, Cedric G, Pam B.
The housebound: Ruth S, Margaret O, Diana B.
The Church: Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui; the Porvoo Churches: Armagh, Funen.
If you would like to add a name to our prayer list, please first obtain the consent of the person you wish us to pray for. Then tell Rev Christine whom to pray for and the reason why.
Those whose anniversaries fall on this week: Harold Edward Boulden, Anne Dorothy Woodbridge, Rennee Startin, Evelyn May Lorentzen, Helen Emma Tredgett, Donald Cock, Merville Thomas, Kit Bailey, Winnie Simms, David Young Scott, George Abbott, Edith Short, Marjorie Freeman, Iris Bird, Beryl Metcalf, Mary Anstead, Bill Wych, Jane Cosford.