This Sunday acts as a pivot point in Lent, as we come together for Mothering Sunday in different ways. It is a day that has different depths and meanings for people. It is often a moment of celebration, thanksgiving and joy. It can also be a day tinged in sadness. For many it holds both these things simultaneously. The gospel reading might seem odd at first, as Jesus speaks from the Cross. Jesus invites his friend John and his mother Mary to be each other’s family. To reach across to each other in their grief and sadness and find the love and cherishing that is needed at that moment. It is a breaking and a remaking. It is a despite all odds a life-giving moment. What does it mean to be a family? That is a question that Jesus is often asking us. Who is my mother and my sister and my brother?
As we come together in different ways to celebrate being the family of God may we hold each other in all of these moments and know that we are loved and cherished by God and each other.
This Sunday we have:
8am – Holy Communion – All Saints
10am – All Age Communion – St Mary’s
10.30am – All Age Mothering Sunday Service with Activities for Children – All Saints
7.15pm – Generations Youth 11+ – St Mary’s
The week ahead (Please note the change of evening for one of our Lent Groups)
THE WEEK AHEAD
Monday 11th
10.30am – Tiny Tots – All Saints
Tuesday 12th
10.30am – Music for Toddlers – St Mary’s
7.30pm – Lent Group – All Saints
Wednesday 13th
9.00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints
2.00pm – Lent Group – St Mary’s Parish Room
Thursday 14th
10.00pm – Eucharist – St Mary’s
Saturday 16th
12.00pm-2.00pm – Saturday Lunches at St Mary’s Church
Sunday 17rd
10.00am – Sung Holy Communion St Mary’s
10.30am – Holy Communion with Hymns – All Saints
6:30pm – Passiontide readings and Music – St Mary’s
God of love, passionate and strong, tender and careful: watch over us and hold us all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
St Mary's, Fishponds 