Bowland Benefice
Pews News 16 March 2025
Second Sunday of Lent Collect
Almighty God,
by the prayer and discipline of Lent
may we enter into
the mystery of Christ’s sufferings,
and by following in his Way
come to share in his glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
This week in the Benefice
Friday
14 March 10.00am

Churchill
church yard
tidy up!

Saturday
15 March

6.30pm

Beetle Drive in
Upton
Snodsbury
Village Hall

Sunday
16 March

10.30am

Benefice Holy
Communion in
Upton
Snodsbury

Monday
17 March

12 noon

Meet and Eat
in The Parish
Room, White
Ladies Aston

Saturday
22 March 10.30am

Broughton
Hackett Coffee
Morning

Sunday
23 March
3 rd Sunday of
Lent

9.30am

Holy
Communion in
White Ladies
Aston

10.30am

Songs of Praise
in Upton
Snodsbury

11.00am

Late breakfast
Café Church in
Peopleton
Enjoy this Saturday’s fast and furious fun in the form
of a Beetle Drive in Upton Snodsbury Village Hall!
We once again welcome Revd Alma Organ and
husband Robin to our Benefice in Upton Snodsbury
to lead our Benefice Service of Holy Communion.
A coffee morning to raise funds for the upkeep of St
Leonard’s, Broughton Hackett takes place next
Saturday, 22 March, at 6 Manor Court. For more
information or to offer help please ring Di on 07530

406096.

Come along next Sunday at 11.00am to Peopleton for
a Café Church Service. A relaxed and informal time
with croissant, coffee, singing and prayer. Stef Jones
who founded the charity Onwards and Upwards which
aims to support and change the lives of ex-prisoners,
will be coming along to tell us about its work.

Lent is a time of preparation, waiting and penitence
and the five weeks of Lent leading up to Holy Week
make for an appropriate time to reflect upon our own
lives - our struggles, our goals, our prayers - in light of
Christ’s life, death and resurrection.
The second week’s theme is Forgiveness and

Community

The reading for this week is Ephesians 4: 31-32 – a
passage on letting go of anger and bitterness and
forgiving those who have sinned against us.
In this second week of Lent, we are exploring what it
means to be forgiven by God, and consequently what
forgiveness looks like in our own relationships and

church communities.

This is such an important area to consider both on
our own and communally, and Lent is a great time to
reflect and deal with what is sometimes a very
difficult and challenging subject.
The tradition of giving something up over Lent can be
a hugely beneficial practice, but it’s important we
don’t turn it into a time of discipline for the sake of
discipline, or a season of self-improvement purely for

our own sake.

Are we giving up chocolate to help draw our sight
towards God and as an act of spiritual discipline, or
because we want to be a bit healthier and feel better
about ourselves over a time that it is popularly
considered a detox period?

There is nothing wrong with the latter, but the former
is surely what Lent is meant to be about.
Forgiveness is perhaps the ultimate call to ‘give
something up’; it is the process in which we are able,
by the grace of God, fully and lovingly to ‘let go’ of the
things which might be damaging our relationships -
things done to us or things that have happened

between us.

This can be a long and difficult process, but the truth
of Easter is that forgiveness is possible, not only for us
as sinners but for us as those who have been sinned
against by brothers and sisters.
God welcomes everyone, no matter who you are or
what you’ve done. Forgiveness and community;
harmony and love are possible for us because of who
God is and what He has done for us. His death on the
cross, and the celebration on Easter Day tells us of
the unending and unlimited love and support
available to us in all our human relationships today.

A Prayer

God, help us to be a community of loving people. We
pray you’ll be the centre of and inspiration for all of
our relationships, inside and outside the Church. Help
us to live in the reality of your love and forgiveness
today by forgiving others who have hurt us. Help us to
forgive ourselves, too, as we know in our hearts the
power of your forgiveness over us. Amen.