Dear All Saints and St Mary’sIn 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. At10.30 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 am All Saints Holy Communion (said)10.00 am St Mary’s Holy Communion10.30 am All Saints Café ChurchWe 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 February 9.00 am All Saints Celtic morning prayerThursday 27th February 10.00 am St Mary’s Holy CommunionSunday 2nd March 10.00 am St Mary’s Creative Church 10.30 am All Saints Café Church 6.30 pm St Mary’s EvensongOne 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. MarkMark SimmsLicensed Lay MinisterBenefice of all Saints and St Mary Fishponds
Waiting on WaitingDear All Saints and St MarysThe 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 Calendar 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 - the services are10.00am - Sung Holy Communion - St Marys10.30am - Holy Communion with Hymns - All SaintsThe week aheadMonday 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’sSunday 23rd 8.00am - Holy Communion - All Saints 10:00am - Sung Holy Communion - St Marys 10.30am - Café Church - All Saints Blessings and peace to you all.Revd Lizzie
Dear Friends,It’s been lovely this week seeing more sunshine and feeling that the days are getting a bit longer again. There are snowdrops in the churchyard and there is the real sniff of Spring in the air-though I wish the temperature was a bit higher!As we near the end of the Candlemas octave we also reach the end of the period of celebration and reflection that started back with Lent. I will miss the specialness of the services and the music but am also looking forward to what is to come. However, change is bittersweet., It’s endings as well as beginnings, and our Candlemas text reminds us of a moment of change and transfer. The Old Covenant becomes the New, with Jesus handed into the care of the aged Simeon to be blessed, knowing that at this supreme moment his role on this earth is completed, and he steps out of the narrative. Later, John the Baptist will do the same, notwithstanding the mix of drama and chronicle that ends his story.This is a meeting of the human and divine, grounded in family and community. Jesus is explicitly anchored in his society, but Simeon prophecies that that same community will be fractured and reassembled to be a new thing by what is to come. He will expand and transform Judaism, embrace the Gentile, create something new but also that contains and continues what is right from what already exists. Luke very specifically reminds us that Jesus is Jewish and remains Jewish. All that he becomes-all that he does-needs to be interpreted in this context.This Sunday 4th Sunday before Lent08.00am - Holy Communion – All Saints10:00am – Sung Holy Communion with Candlemas Procession - St. Mary’s10:30am – Muddy Messy Church – All Saints7:15pm – Generations – All Saints LinkThe week aheadMonday 10th - 10.30am - Tiny Tots – All SaintsTuesday 11th 10:30am – M4T - St. Mary’sWeds 12th 9:00am - Celtic Morning Prayer – All SaintsThursday 13th 10:00am – Holy Communion - St. Mary’s 1.00pm - Funeral – St MarysFriday 14th 12.30pm - Concert – St MarysSaturday 15th 12.00 – 2:00pm - Saturday Lunches – St Mary’s 3pm – Interment of Judith West followed by refreshmentsNext Sunday 16th Third Sunday before Lent10:00am - Holy Communion – St Marys10.30am Holy Communion – All SaintsMay the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. AmenBlessings Fr Kester de Oliveira
