Dear All Saints and St MarysAs 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 20258:00am. Holy Communion – All Saints10:00am Holy Communion – St. Mary’s10:30am Muddy Church – All Saints4:15pm Generations (Crazy Golf)The week aheadMon 10th 10.30am - Tiny Tots – All SaintsMon 10th 7.30pm - Lent GroupTues 11th 10:30am – Music for Toddlers - St. MarysWeds 12th 9:00am - Celtic Morning Prayer – All SaintsWeds 12th 1.00pm – Lent Group – St MarysThursday 13th 10:00am – Holy Communion - St. Mary’sSaturday 15th 9.30am - Safeguarding Training – All SaintsSaturday 15th 12noon - 2:00pm - Saturday Lunches - St. Mary’sSunday 16th 10:00am – Holy Communion – St. Mary’s10:30am – Holy Communion – All Saints
Numbers, Poems and GraceDear All Saints and St MarysOn February 27th this week, the church remembered the Poet and Priest George Herbert. (1593-1633). He was a prolific writer. Through books, poems and hymns he managed to craft something about the ordinary life with God's remarkable and extraordinary grace. He is both deeply serious and yet hopeful and light to read. I was gifted a book of poems a few months ago, a collection by Janet Morley. In it, at the beginning of Lent, is a poem by George Herbert. It is called Trinity Sunday. Weird perhaps to think of Trinty Sunday at this point in the year - but the poem, albeit it brief, is more about the way in which three's come together for good and grace. There are three verses, three virtues, three nouns, three verbs to end. It feels that it combines the whole of the three theologies of creation, contrition and resurrection. I leave it here for your prayers and ponderings as we make our way towards Lent.Trinity Sunday by George Herbert Lord, who hast formed me out of mud,And hast redeemed me through thy blood,And sanctified me to do good;Purge all my sins done heretofore:For I confess my heavy score,And I will strive to sin no more. Enrich my heart, mouth, hands in me,With faith, with hope, with charity;That I may run, rise, rest with thee.This Last Sunday before Lent - 2nd March10.00 - Creative Church - St Marys10.30 - Holy Communion with Band and Junior Church - All Saints6.30pm - Evensong - St MarysThe week aheadMonday 3rd 10.30am Tiny Tots - All Saints7.30pm - Lent GroupTues 4th 10:30am – Music for Toddlers - St. MarysAsh WednesdayWeds 5th 9:00am - Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints10:00am – Holy Communion - St. Mary’s1.00pm - Lent Group - St Mary'sFriday 7th - 2.00pm - World Day of Prayer - All SaintsSaturday 8th 12–2:00pm - Saturday Lunches - St. Mary’sSunday 9th8:00am – Holy Communion – All Saints10:00am – Holy Communion – St. Mary’s10:30am – Muddy Messy Church – All Saints4.30pm – Generations – Crazy Golf at Frenchay.Revd LizzieVicar of All Saints and St Marys Churches, FishpondsInterim Co Area Dean Bristol City Deanery
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
