Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. 
Rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.

(Joel 2.12–

This week we move fully into the season of Lent. Mirroring the time that Jesus spent in the wilderness, the church has traditionally set aside the forty days leading up to Holy Week as a time of reflection and self-discipline in preparation for Easter. There are many traditions that are associated with Lent, but they all centre on the need for repentance, a change of mind and heart that once again focuses our attention on the way of Christ.

To support us in this, in addition to our church services this Lent and Holy week, we are running a Lent Course based on a book by Rose Hudson-Wilkin, the Bishop of Dover. The course has five sessions that reflect on various topics that lead us through the season of Lent towards Easter. The first session reflects on the ideas of identity and belonging and how our views of ourselves and where we fit can influence or constrain what we believe we can do. Matthew 16.13–17 helps us think about Jesus’ question “Who do you say that I am”. The song “Alexander Hamilton” then tells the story of how Hamilton did not feel constrained by his background, even though throughout the musical it is a constant theme. Then Deuteronomy 26.1–11 leads us into the idea of a community identity.

All the session topics are as follows:

There will be an afternoon session held in St Mary’s parish rooms from 1.30pm until 3.00pm and an evening session held in the All Saints link from 7.30pm until 9.00pm. If you are thinking of coming, could you please let one of the ministers know, so we have some idea of numbers.

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Lent, and we have the following services:

10.00 am – St Mary’s – Holy Communion with Baptism

10.30 am – All Saints – Holy Communion

In addition to our Lent course, we have our usual mid-week services. Next Sunday is the fourth Sunday of the month, so there will be Café Church at All Saints, where we continue our look at characters from the books of Samuel. Next Sunday we will be looking at Samuel and how God’s idea of a leader is different from ours. This gives the following services for the coming week:

Wednesday 21^st

• 9.00 am -All Saints – Celtic morning prayer
• 1.30 pm – St Mary’s parish rooms – Lent course
• 7.30 pm – All Saints link – Lent course

Thursday 22^nd – 10.00 am – St Mary’s – Holy Communion

Sunday 25^th

• 8.00 am – All Saints – Said Holy Communion
• 10.00 am – St Mary’s – Holy Communion
• 10.30 am – All Saints – Café church

As we enter Lent let us pray for God’s help in the words of this Sunday’s collect:

Heavenly Father,

your Son battled with the powers of darkness,

and grew closer to you in the desert:

help us to use these days to grow in wisdom and prayer

that we may witness to your saving love

in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Yours in Christ

Mark

LOVE IN LENT

This week marks the beginning of Lent. Details of our Lent Courses based on themes drawn from the musical ‘Hamilton’ are included below. Please let the leaders know if you would like to join in from next week (21 Feb). The course book ‘The Room where it Happens’ by Rose Hudson Wilkin is available on Kindle (£3.50) or there are now some copies of the book @ £6.99 available in each church.

This year Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day coincide on 14 February. To begin with this seems like an unhappy collision – and yet, the more you think about it, LOVE is at the heart of both.

Ash Wednesday is a wonderful time to come to church to say sorry while remembering that we are loved everlastingly. Held secure in God’s love, we gain courage to see and admit our faults – maybe even laugh at ourselves. Walking around on Ash Wednesday with the sign of Christ’s cross on our foreheads could make us feel a bit conspicuous. Or, instead, we could wear it with a grin on our face and a glow in our hearts, as we recall how Christ ‘took all my guilt and shame, when he died and rose again’.

That we are lovable despite our brokenness is at the heart of George Herbert’s enduring poem called Love III. The poem encourages those with a tendency to beat themselves up to stop navel-gazing and fix their eyes on the God of Love in Christ who welcomes them to sit and eat with him. 

SUNDAY WORSHIP 11th February 2024

The Sunday before Lent

Readings: 2 Kings 2:1-12; 2 Corinthians 4:3-6; Mark 9:2-9

WORSHIP and EVENTS IN THE WEEK AHEAD

LOVE  by George Herbert ( country parson and poet 1593-1633)

Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,

Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning

If I lack’d anything.

‘A guest,’ I answer’d, ‘worthy to be here:’

Love said, ‘You shall be he.’

‘I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,

I cannot look on Thee.’

Love took my hand and smiling did reply,

‘Who made the eyes but I?’

‘Truth, Lord; but I have marr’d them: let my shame

Go where it doth deserve.’

‘And know you not,’ says Love, ‘Who bore the blame?’

‘My dear, then I will serve.’

‘You must sit down,’ says Love, ‘and taste my meat.’

So I did sit and eat.

Meeting around God’s table brings us into contact with people we may dislike, disagree with or disapprove of.  Yet, we are all forgiven sinners in need of God’s grace. Wherever you are on 14th February, enjoy the Love-Feasts of Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day in equal measure.

Every blessing,  

Diane (curate at All Saints and St.Mary’s Churches Fishponds)

Let there be Light

“Let there be light” is one of the first acts of creation. God creates light in a place where there had been nothing. So the theme and use of light have been wrapped and bound with God, creation and humanity from the beginning. We see this threaded through the Old and New Testament scriptures. There is also a deep resonance and connection to light in daily rituals, living and worship. It is a sign of hope, of possibility, of beginnings and of healing. It connects to us on a level that is beyond words, often being of significance and comfort in times of loss and despair. Lights are also a sign of life and welcome. When entering a town or village as natural light fades, then it is the lights that come from the homes and houses that bids a welcome, a sign of life.

February brings with it the festival and season of Candlemas. The end of Epiphany, and for us this year a (very) short time before Lent. In All Saints and St Marys we have spanned this festival of Candlemas over the two weeks and so continue in this for the coming Sunday. Jesus is brought to the Temple by Mary and Joseph and there he is held by Simeon who makes proclaimations about the child Jesus and what he will be to people. “A Light to Lighten the Gentiles and for the glory of my People Israel”. The light that will bind the nations together. There is a tension in who Jesus is from the very beginning. He will be a figure who attracts both positive and negative reactions. He will bind together and yet also be the source of conflict. He will bring his friends, followers, family and mother both great joy and pain.

Candlemas is a betwixt and between time, and holds these tensions of hope and sorrow together. It has for me always been a significant festival to reflect on and listen to God in.

Join us for worship this weekend

10 am – Creative Church – St Marys – Candlemas Light

10.30am– Holy Communion with Band and Junior Church – All Saints

6.30pm – Candlemas Choral Evensong – St Marys

THE WEEK AHEAD

Monday 5th 20.00 – Celtic Evening Prayer (All Saints)

Wednesday 7^th              09.00 – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

Thursday 8th                 10.00 – Holy Communion at St Mary’s Church

Saturday 10th Feb 12.00-2.00 – Saturday Lunches at St Marys Church

Sunday 11th Feb           10.00 – Sung Holy Communion St Marys

10.30 – Muddy Messy Church All Saints

19.15 – Generations – All Saints

“Simeon held the child in his arms and beheld his salvation: Anna gave thanks to God and proclaimed her redeemer”

Blessings

Lizzie

When do you take down your decorations?

Stores seem to take them down on Boxing Day-ready for the Easter eggs! Many people take them down between Christmas and New Year. Many of us take them down at Epiphany, that time when we mark the arrival of the Magi. But there are others who leave theirs up until Candlemas, which we celebrate this Sunday. Why?

For centuries many Christians have observed Candlemas as the end of the Epiphany Season. It is the last iof the childhood/infancy stories of Jesus .Candlemas, also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the Feast of the Holy Encounter is a beautiful and deeply significant event,.

Under Leviticus 12, a woman was to be purified by presenting a lamb as a burnt offering, and either a young pigeon or dove as sin offering, 33 days after a boy’s circumcision. Jesus is the first born male, belonging to God, requiring  a ‘redemption‘ by presenting a sacrifice. So, this rite is a meshing together of religious observance and cultural rite within the Judaic community and society. The sacrifices themselves have a hierarchy based on wealth-the wealthier the family, the more valuable the animal that is sacrificed. Joseph and Mary show their poverty in only being able to offer the humblest, cheapest option. 

Yet this Judaic life event becomes something new, changed. Simeon and Anna , devout Jews who represent the nation of Israel, speak prophetic words over Jesus. Mary is given much to consider, the warning that she will experience agonising pain deep in her soul.. This is  key event, a standard event in Jewish life completely transformed. Whilst Jesus is at the centre of this account, it is Mary who emerges as a key figure, yet she says nothing at this time. As someone who has not shied away from talking with angels, this silence indicates a thoughtful processing, a dawning awareness of what her future holds. Much as thus story is centred on Jesus and what he will accomplish, it is also about Mary as she becomes the model disciple.

From this comes the long established tradition of blessing of candles. These candles symbolise Christ as the light of the world. Tradition has evolved that we bring candles to church to be blessed at this service or receive them during the service. It’s a celebration of this light that is now dawning amongst us and the candles take that symbolic light out into the world.

So, as we celebrate Candlemas this weekend with the lighting and blessing of candles we rejoice in Christ being the light of the world and remember that candles are sources of light and warmth, and constant reminder of the eternal light and warmth of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit illuminating our lives.

Sunday 28 January Candlemas

08.00am Said Holy Communion (All Saints)

10.00am Sung Holy Communion (St Marys)

10.30am Café Church – The book of Samuel (All Saints)

The Week Ahead

Monday 29th Jan

• 20.00 – Celtic Evening Prayer - All Saints

Wednesday 31st Jan                                                        

• 9.00 – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

Thursday 1st Feb

• 10.00 – Holy Communion at St Mary’s Church                                                        

Saturday 3rd Feb

• 12.00-2.00 – Saturday Lunches at St Marys Church
• 2.30pm – Organ Open Afternoon at St Marys Church                                                                                     

Sunday 4th Feb

• 10.00 – Creative Church St Marys
• 10.30 – Holy Communion with Band and JC at All Saints
• 18.30 – Choral Evensong – St Marys

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen

Blessings

Revd Kester de Oliveira

Jesus performed this first miracle in Cana in Galilee.
There he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

John 2.10 (GNT)

As we progress through the season of Epiphany, we follow the gradual unfolding of the stories that reveal who Jesus is. This Sunday we will be thinking about the wedding in Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine. This is the first miracle that is recorded in the gospel according to John. We are told that this revealed his glory and his disciples believed in him.

But John’s gospel is not a tale of some wonder working hero stepping in to fix everyone’s problems with a wave of his hand. It is only Jesus’ disciples and some of the servants who know where the wine had come from. Jesus’ glory is the glory of a servant, that shines out in his service of others. It is a glory that is most fully revealed in Jesus’ death on the cross.

We will be looking a little more at this in our communion services on Sunday morning at All Saints and St Mary’s. on Sunday evening we will be taking a broader look at the whole season at the Epiphany carol service. This gives the following services for Sunday across the benefice:

We have our usual pattern of midweek services this week, with Celtic Morning Prayer at All Saints on Wednesday and Holy Communion at St Mary’s on Thursday. Next Sunday, we have our usual fourth Sunday pattern with Holy Communion at 8.00 am at All Saints and 10.00 am at St Mary’s. At 10.30 am at All Saints we have Café Church, where we will start looking at some of the colourful characters in the books of Samuel in the Old Testament. This gives the following services for the coming week:

As we continue our journey through this season of revelation, may we also reflect that glory, the glory of the servant, who gave up his life for us.

Mark

Water and Worship

This week there seem to be two themes emerging in our worship – water and worship. The reading from Revelation takes us into the vision of St John as we are transported to a world of ritual and worship which binds heaven and earth. There we are asked to gaze on the lamb, and are challenged with that question – who is the Messiah that we worship? Nathaniel in the gospel reading is also challenged with that same question as Jesus passes by and he makes the decision to follow him.

Water is a theme that runs through Epiphany, with the feast of the Baptism of Jesus. This is picked up in our muddy/messy church worship this week as they start to explore the 4 elements, water, fire, earth and air.

Our services this Sunday – 14^th January 2024

8am – Said Holy Communion – All Saints

10am – Sung Holy Communion – St Marys

10.30 – Muddy/Messy Church – All Saints

7.15pm – Generations – All Saints

We look forward to worshiping together and continuing the bonds of fellowship and peace in Fishponds in our Church families. Please find attached the weekly sheets for this week and the roots materials for creative fun and reflection.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Wednesday 17^th 09.00 Celtic Morning Prayer

Thursday 18th 10.00 – Holy Communion at St Mary’s Church

Saturday 20th 12.00-2.00 – Saturday Lunches at St Marys Church

19.00 – Winter Quiz All Saints

Sunday 21st 10.00 – Sung Holy Communion St Marys

10.30 – Holy Communion with Hymns All Saints

18.30 Epiphany Carols – St Marys

Epiphany for me is a beautiful season, a way to continue the joy and blessing of Christmas without some of the pressures of it. It is a season that helps me through the still dark days of January and leads me to the lighter months of spring. It is a time I can still hold onto the sparkly lights yet one that I know propels me forward. Still to come in Epiphany for us as churches is the lovely Epiphany Carol Service at St Marys ( Sunday Jan 21^st) and the Winter Warmer Quiz at All Saints (Saturday Jan 20^th) – save the dates and see you there.

The Epiphany Collect this week is beautiful and so I leave it here for your prayers this week.

Almighty God

In Christ you make all things new

Transform the poverty of our nature

By the riches of your grace

And in the renewal of our lives

Make known your heavenly glory. Amen

Blessings – Revd Lizzie

Here I am to Worship

Dear Friends

They went into the house, and when they saw the child with his mother Mary, they knelt down and worshiped him.

Matthew 2:11

Epiphany (meaning revelation) celebrates the Wise Men’s discovery and worship of the Christ-Child at Bethlehem. So, this week it feels appropriate to ask ‘What is the point of worship?’ So I would like to offer three views on worship:

• Worship is the capacity to appreciate what is of value outside ourselves. Without worship something in us dies. Worship takes us beyond ourselves. Our emotions and spirits can become deeply touched by God. Richard Harries, former Bishop of Oxford
• Worship is the well of life for all Christian living. How can we have ideas about God if we do not seek to encounter God? When we seek God with fervour and feel his touch, we are like clay taken up by fire. The courtesy of reverent worship has an effect on the courtesy and care with which we live with others. George Guiver, former vice-principal at Mirfield (a college that trains priests)

We warmly invite you to encounter God’s loving presence in the worship offered across the Benefice this coming Sunday and in the week to come.

SUNDAY WORSHIP ON 7^th January 2024

WORSHIP and EVENTS IN THE WEEK AHEAD

• Mark Earey, an Anglican adviser on worship and liturgy, is passionate about ‘Worship that Cares’. He says that good worship takes us on a journey in four stages: 1 Gathering (Why are we here?), 2 Word (What is God saying to us?), 3 Response (What should we do about it?) and 4 Dismissal (How then shall we live?).

Even our more informal services – Creative Church at St.Mary’s and Messy Muddy Church at All Saints -follow this fourfold pattern. At Creative Church we gather around tables with a cuppa to start, then hear a Bible reading and reflection on a theme, next we respond with a craft and are invited to name people and situations to include in the prayers, finally we go out after a blessing.

At Messy Muddy Church we gather either outdoors or indoors, hear a Bible story, respond by choosing between a few creative activities, pray together and sing or say a blessing. In 2024 Messy Muddy church is taking the four elements: Water – Fire – Air – Earth as exciting entry points into the Bible. January’s service will be water-based as we explore the Baptism of Christ. Expect to get wet!

Praying or singing along to the beautiful words of this hymn by Tim Hughes may help you prepare to worship the Christ-child, before you join us at one of our services this Epiphany

Light of the world you stepped down into darkness, opened my eyes, let me see.
Beauty that made this heart adore you, hope of a life spent with you.
So here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, here I am to say that you’re my God.

You’re altogether lovely, altogether worthy, altogether wonderful to me!

Revd Diane (curate)

PS Please could you return your Mary and Joseph Posada Kits to St.Mary’s this Sunday. Thank you.

The presents have all been unwrapped and all the and the wrappings have all been taken away by the refuse collectors. The various pot plants that we received all look bright and healthy, having not had time to be neglected. The cosy new pullovers have been packed away in the drawer, because of the mild weather we are having. The last of the turkey leftovers have finally been eaten. Only the tree remains to remind us of the Christmas festivities. It is at this point in the season that we turn our gaze away from Christmas and towards the New Year.

2023 was a year marked with wars in Ukraine, Israel, and Sudan. There were major earthquakes in Turkey and Morocco. Wildfires devastated the Hawaiian island of Maui and areas of Greece. However, there has been much good news as well. The Covid-19 pandemic is officially over. The election of President Lula da Silva in Brazil has seen a massive reduction in deforestation. COP-28 agreed, at least in principle, that the wealthy countries should help those countries most affected by climate change and that fossil fuels need to be phased out. So, what are we praying for in the coming year?

In society around us, the cost of living and the lack of affordable housing press on many around us. The strains on the health service, social care and education are becoming ever more pressing. International tensions are building with various nations vying for economic, political, or military strength. And climate change remains the biggest long-term challenge that the whole world is facing together.

This Sunday, we take a brief glance back at the baby in the manger, with the story of the visit of the shepherds before we start into the new year on Monday. What can the generous love of God that we see in the Christ child say about our approach to the coming year? What can the vulnerability of a baby say about the risks we need to take to make a difference?

We have a couple of opportunities to think about this on Sunday. As this is the fifth Sunday of the month, we have our benefice service. This month, this will be held at St Mary’s. in addition, there is Holy Communion at All Saint’s at 8.00 am. There will be no 10.30 am service at All Saints. As such, the Sunday services are as follows:

8.00 am – All Saints – Holy communion (said)

10.00 am – St Mary’s – Benefice communion

There are the usual weekday services this week with Celtic Morning Prayer on Wednesday and Holy Communion on Thursday. Next Sunday follows the first Sunday pattern with Creative Church at St Mary’s and Holy Communion at All Saints. In addition, as we are celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany next Sunday, there will be Holy Communion in the evening at St Mary’s. This gives the following services for the coming week:

Wednesday 3^rd

9.00 am – All Saints – Celtic morning prayer

Thursday 4^th

10.00 am – St Mary’s – Holy Communion

Sunday 7^th

10.00 am – St Mary’s – Creative Church

10.30 am – All Saints – Holy Communion

6.30 pm – St Mary’s – Holy Communion

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who put so much effort into making Christmas special at All Saints and St Mary’s. From the Family Café to Midnight Mass, the light of Christ shone out through every person’s contribution. I pray that God may bless us in all we do together or individually throughout the coming year.

Yours in Christ

Mark

As we enter into the third week of advent we are asked to be a people who rejoice. To be people of Joy. This Sunday, Advent III, is also traditionally known as “Gaudete” Sunday, a day of refreshment from the austerity of Advent. The readings for this Sunday take on a new energy as we are a people who are invited to “Rejoice and pray without ceasing”. (Thessalonians) They mark a moment when we know that we are getting closer to Christmas – it is literally just around the corner!

As from the 17^th December there is also an tradition from the 6^th Century of marking these final days of Advent with the O Antiphons. They mark the different ways in which we name Jesus – Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai and Sapientia – which reads “Ero Cras” meaning “Tomorrow I will be there”. Each day from now till Christmas we can consider who it is that we are waiting for – God with us, King, Morning Star, Key of David, Root of Jesus, Lord and Wisdom. The titles which are ascribed to Jesus. Each day from now until that morning, we are encouraged to enter more deeply with joy into what it means to worship God in Jesus Christ.

In this last week of Advent, among all the carols and preparation, I am looking forward to holding onto this time of space and reflection, to staying with the waiting season a little longer and commend to you the O Antiphons as a way of doing this.

Our Sunday services for the 17^th December are as follows:

10:00am – Creative church – St Mary’s

10.30 am – Holy Communion with Hymns – All Saints

6.30pm – Carols by Candlelight – St Mary’s

THE WEEK AHEAD

Wednesday 20th 09.00 – Celtic Morning Prayer at All Saints Church

18.30 – Carols Around the Yew Tree at All Saints Church

Thursday 21st 10.00 – Holy Communion at St Mary’s Church

2pm – ASFC Christmas Crafts

Saturday 23rd 12.00-2.00 – Saturday Lunches at St Mary’s Church

4pm – Family Carols with Christingle – St Mary’s

Sunday 24th 08.00 – Holy Communion – All Saints

10.00 – Sung Holy Communion – St Mary’s

10.30 – Service of the Word – All Saints

19.30 – Carols By Candlelight – All Saints

11.30pm – Midnight Mass – St Mary’s

Christmas Day 10am – Christmas All Age Communion – St Mary’s

10.30am – Christmas All Age Communion – All Saints

Blessings

Revd Lizzie