Dear friends,

Yesterday we had a wonderful final Warm Space Café. One of our regulars made some curries to share with us all and, as we ate the spicy and delicious food, we laughed and chatted and generally caught up again as we have for the last 4 or so months. The café has been a special place for many in a variety of ways. For some it is a haven, where they know they can safely meet friends, for others it has been a place to form new friendships or the primary point of social contact in the week. The food has drawn us closer together as we have had reason to sit together, sharing what is going on in our lives and even, on occasion, praying together. We have heard the bugle, met dogs, told many jokes and discovered that Harry makes excellent curry! It has been a space for all ages with our youngest guest being under 2 and I probably shouldn’t guess at our oldest!

As you can hear, this experience has deeply impacted me and I feel we have so much to celebrate. Our volunteers are keen to see what is next and we would love to put some things on over the summer that are accessible to even more of our community. Come and speak to us and let us know how you would like to join in in the future! Finally, a massive thank you to all our volunteers who have worked so hard week after week, you have all been amazing.

Opportunities to eat together come up a lot at St Martin’s with our next opportunity being Maundy Thursday when we gather for our Agape Meal. It is a chance to reflect together on the powerful final meal that Jesus shared with his friends and followers. A chance to come together in communion as they did. Jesus was the sort of person that always invited everyone to parties and we read of him gathering with all sorts of people around the dinner table. I think that is a beautiful image of what church should be like, people from all sorts of places, with all sorts of backgrounds, eating together and, as happens so well over food, sharing their lives together – the good with the bad, the hope and the despair.

We have so much going on over the next 10 days that I won’t list it all here but do look at our Holy week services and see what is coming up that you might want to come along to. You are so welcome at all of it or any of it. This weekend we have our Lent Quiet Morning between 10 and 12, a chance to find stillness in the quiet of church. Then on Sunday we have our Palm Sunday services at 8:30 and 10:30, join us either for a quiet and reflective communion or an interactive and creative communion. Then, in the evening we will read the Passion story together as part of our Holy Week journey.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon and catching up.

Blessings,

Rev. Phil