That we might know him by his wounds
We enter this Sunday into the season of Passiontide, a season we will mark from now until Easter Day. The collect prayer of the church for Passion Sunday prays this
Most Merciful God, who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ delivered and saved the world: grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross we may triumph in the power of his victory; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen
As I get older, each passing year, seems to make me appreciate more fully a faith that doesn’t shy away from death. It is strange perhaps to many in this world that the symbol of hope for Christians is also that of death. How can a faith that is life giving and life centred, that is about hope and joy, hinge on the very fact of death? It is the greatest truth and the strangest of paradoxes. That as the prayer suggests: Jesus through death both delivered and saved the world.
As we come closer to that moment in the year, as we walk the same journey of Jesus through Holy Week, to the cross and eventually into the garden of resurrection then I pray that we will all have some space to dwell on what this means for our lives here in Fishponds. How are we people of both the cross and the resurrection for this world? This weekend there are 4 different services to join in with. A more informal service of café church will focus on what it means to be obedient to God through the Book of Jonah. Our other services take the focus of Passion Sunday.
SERVICES THIS WEEKEND – 26th MARCH – PASSION SUNDAY
8am – All Saints – Said Holy Communion
10am – St Marys – Sung Holy Communion
10.30am – All Saints – Cafe Church – Jonah: Chapter 2: The Storm
6.30pm – Passiontide Music and Readings
THE WEEK AHEAD
Tuesday 28th March 10.15 – Y5 Easter Service – All Saints
19.30-21.00 – Lent Group 1
Wednesday 29st March 9.00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints
14.00-15-30 – Lent Group 2
Thursday 30nd March 10am – Holy Communion at St Mary’s Church
Friday 31st March 11am – Living after Loss
Saturday 1st April 10am – 12.00 – Repair Café and Community garden – All Saints
12.00 – 2pm – Saturday Lunches – St Marys
Sunday 2nd April 10am Palm Sunday Procession and Communion – St Marys
10.30am – Palm Sunday Communion and Junior Church
7.15 – Generations – The Vicarage
Blessings and Prayers for you all in this Passiontide
Revd Lizzie
St Mary's, Fishponds 