Tag: lent

Week beginning Sunday 13th April 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

Palms – Hands, Branches and Donkeys

Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end (or so some say). This week, Palm Sunday arguably marks all three. It is an ending of Lent. A beginning of Holy Week. And it marks an interjection in the midst between the two.  A day of remembering, retelling, taking part in the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. A day which marks the beginning but also draws us to the ending . A week which sees processions, fickle crowds, rowdy temples, unjust trials, eating, sleeping, praying, dying and rising. It is the story which for Christians holds profound truth about who God is and how God acts. May we all be invited into this Holiest of weeks together.

This Sunday our worship allows us to open the palms of our own hands to receive God with the palm branches as we re discover again this life giving story.

PALM SUNDAY – Sunday 13th April

8am – Holy Communion – All Saints

10am – Sung Palm Sunday Holy Communion Service- St Marys

10.30 – Palm Procession Service – All Saints

7.15 – Generations Youth Group – All Saints

The week ahead

Tuesday 15th

11am – Pat Jones Funeral – All Saints

6.30pm – Holy Communion – All Saints

Wednesday 16th

9am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

6.30pm – Taize – All Saints

Thursday 17th

10.30 – Chrism Mass – Bristol Cathedral

6.30pm – Agape – All Saints

7.30pm – Maundy Thursday Holy Communion – St Marys

Friday 18th

10.30 – Good Friday Children’s Activities – All Saints

1.30pm – Liturgy of Good Friday – St Marys

2pm – Last Hour – All Saints

Saturday 19th

12-1.30pm – Sat Lunches

 7.30pm – Easter Eve Holy Fire, Vigil and First Communion of Easter – St Marys

Sunday 20th

10am – Easter Sunday Holy Communion – St Marys

10.30am – Easter Sunday Holy Communion – All Saints

6.30pm – Easter Choral Evensong – St Marys.

Oh….and a interesting poem I discovered this week to ponder about a Donkey by GK Chesterton ( because…why not on Palm Sunday)

When fishes flew and forests walked
   And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
   Then surely I was born.
With monstrous head and sickening cry
   And ears like errant wings,
The devil’s walking parody
   On all four-footed things.
The tattered outlaw of the earth,
   Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
   I keep my secret still.
Fools! For I also had my hour;
   One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
   And palms before my feet.

God Bless

Revd Lizzie

Week beginning Sunday 9th March 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

Lent 1

As a young man, on two occasions I decided to give up alcohol for Lent. One year, I was successful, not drinking a drop until Easter Day. Yippee! I was so proud of that achievement – which, of course, defeats the whole object of a Lenten discipline. This is not meant to be about our moral strength or determination. Rather, Lent is a season to be more attentive to the presence of God, and our neediness. So, on the other occasion, I managed to avoid alcohol for 36 hours – but, by the Friday evening after Ash Wednesday, I gave up. I can remember sitting in the pub with my pint of beer, thinking “I’ve blown it. What a weakling!”. Until I remembered that wonderful story about two people who go into the Temple (Luke 18). The Pharisee is proud of his achievements; the other one – you or me – says “God, I’ve blown it again. Sorry. How can you help me be better next time? Thank you for not abandoning me”.

Services this weekend for the 9th March 2025

8:00am Holy Communion – All Saints 

10:00am Holy Communion – St. Mary’s

10:30am Muddy Church – All Saints

4:15pm Generations (Crazy Golf)

The Week Ahead

Mon 10th

10.30am – Tiny Tots – All Saints 

7.30pm – Lent Group 

Tues 11th

10:30am – Music for Toddlers 

Weds 12th

9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints 

1pm – Lent Group – St Marys 

Thursday 13th

10:00am – Holy Communion – St. Mary’s 

Saturday 15th

9.30am Safeguarding Training – All Saints 

12–2:00pm – Saturday Lunches  – St. Mary’s 

Sunday 16th

10:00am – Holy Communion – St. Mary’s 

10:30am – Holy Communion – All Saints 

Revd Bob.

Week beginning Sunday 23rd February 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

In the church’s year, we have now left the season of Epiphany, and Lent is rapidly approaching. Lent has traditionally been used as a time for reflection and self-examination. It is a time when we can consider our relationship with God: where it is and where it might be going. It is a time to reflect again on what God is calling us to. It is a time to examine whether we have wandered from the path of Christ and how we can follow it more closely.

This year, at All Saints and St Mary’s, we will be using the book Searched me out and known me by Charlie Bell to help us in our reflections. The book uses a psalm, along with the gospel reading set in the lectionary, to consider the themes of Lent and Holy Week. It starts on Ash Wednesday and continues with each of the Sundays in Lent and each of the days from Palm Sunday to Easter Day. For each of these days, there is a psalm, the gospel reading of the day, a reflection, and some questions for thought or discussion. The material can be used by individuals, but it is more helpful to use it in groups.

We will be running two lent groups. One will be on a Monday evening at our house. The other will be on Wednesday afternoon in St Mary’s parish rooms. They will start with the Ash Wednesday material on Monday 3rd March and Wednesday 5th March, respectively. If you would like to find out more, please contact Kester or me. Lizzie has purchased some copies of the book. In addition, it is available from various online retailers, including Eden and Amazon.

This Sunday, the lectionary is still with the general theme of who Jesus is, with the story of the calming of the storm. We will be looking at this in our Holy Communion services at 8.00 am at All Saints and at 10.00 am at St Mary’s. At 10.30 am at All Saints, we have Café Church, where we will be continuing our journey through Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome. This month the theme is Peace. We will be thinking about God’s love for us and how we can know peace with him. Then we will reflect on how this can make us more resilient during tough times.

This gives the following services for Sunday 23rd February:

8.00 amAll SaintsHoly Communion (said)
10.00 amSt Mary’sHoly Communion
10.30 amAll SaintsCafé Church

We have our normal midweek services with Celtic Morning Prayer on Wednesday at All Saints and Holy Communion on Thursday at St Mary’s. Then on Sunday 2nd March we have our normal first Sunday pattern with Creative Church at St Mary’s and Holy Communion at All Saints. In the evening, there is Evensong at St Mary’s.

This gives the following services for the coming week:

Wednesday 26th February9.00 amAll SaintsCeltic morning prayer
Thursday 27th February10.00 amSt Mary’sHoly Communion
Sunday 2nd March10.00 amSt Mary’sCreative Church
 10.30 amAll SaintsCafé Church
 6.30 pmSt Mary’sEvensong

One future date for your diaries is the World Day of Prayer on Friday 7th March at 2.00 pm in All Saints. This year’s theme is “I made you wonderful” and is based on material from the Cook Islands.

As we look forward to getting a clearer vision of God and for his plans for us and the world, let us pray that Lent may be a time of growth, discernment, and vision, so we may come to Easter in the joy of the resurrection and the triumph of Christ over sin and death.

Yours in Christ.

Mark

Week beginning Sunday 16th February 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

Waiting on the Waiting

The middle of February brings us into a betwixt and between time. The days are still cold, yet they are also noticeably longer and lighter. We are moving away from winter, but spring is not quite here. There are glimpses of what is to come, and yet it feels as if we are still in the thick of it.

Easter, the ever-moveable Calander feast comes as late as possible in 2025, and so that gives a rare opportunity of a three-week gap before Lent even begins. It feels a bit like the waiting room, before the waiting room. Or the departure area, that isn’t quite yet the actual departure area. What possible purpose could this extra waiting space bring? 

I want to rush through it…to not consider its importance or notice its possible usefulness. Yet, perhaps it is a time to slow the steps down and not race through the year wishing it away – getting to of 2025 and looking back saying “Where did the year go?”  These three weeks before Lent can be a blessing, a time of not requiring more from me than the attention to just the space it brings. So it is not a drag, or a bind to reach March – but the move from the speed of a sprint, into a steady jog, so that we can walk more easily into the year, and on the way hear more clearly God’s call on our lives. 

This Sunday 16th February

10am – Sung Holy Communion – St Mary’s

10.30 – Holy Communion with Hymns – All Saints

The Week Ahead

Monday 17th

No Tiny Tots – Half term!

Tuesday 18th

No Music for Toddlers – as its half term! 

Wednesday 19th

9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints 

Thursday 20th

10:00am – Holy Communion  – St. Mary’s 

Saturday 22nd

12.00 – 2:00pm – Saturday Lunches  – St Mary’s  

Sunday 23rd

8.00am – Holy Communion – All Saints 

10:00am Sung Holy Communion – St Mary’s 

10.30am Cafe Church – All Saints 

Blessings and peace to you all.

Revd Lizzie