NEWS

There will now be a weekly service of Matins on Wednesday mornings at 8.45am at Barsham. These services will be suspended during the coldest months of December and January.

At the PCC meeting on the 3rd March it was agreed that Barsham Church should support the Church Walking Pilgrimages scheme, which enables pilgrims travelling on foot or bicycle to seek free overnight sanctuary in churches along their route, enhancing the spiritual nature of their trek and making it affordable. Barsham lies usefully on the Via Beata Way, a 340-mile pilgrimage route from Lowestoft to St David’s. All the pilgrims need is access to drinking water and a loo, and a place to lay their bedroll. Further information can be found on the website www.ChurchWalkingPilgrimages.org.

If any experienced bellringers are keen to start ringing at Barsham, please contact the Rev Josh Bailey.

Food Bank donations in February amounted to 210 items. These gifts are so much appreciated and sadly, with the current squeeze on the cost of living, ever more donations are going to be needed in the months ahead.

The February sales table organised by Bridget raised £115. The legacy teddy bears raised a further £261 at auction, bringing the cumulative total to £621. Very many thanks to Sarah Jane for her considerable efforts with the bears.

FORWARD PLANNING

The proceeds from the Sales Table to be held on Sunday 27th March will be sent to the Ukraine Fund.

There will be a Service of Confirmation for Benefice confirmands at Holy Trinity, Bungay on Sunday 1st May at 3pm. At the same service the Revd Edward Land will be licensed as Associate Vicar and Heather Land as Director of the Lightwave Community Choir.

The concert by the SuAnLo Trio has been rescheduled again and is now confirmed for the afternoon of Saturday 21st May at Barsham Church: a summer afternoon concert with tea and cakes. Further details will follow. The Trio comes from San Sebastian on the Basque coast of Spain. Loreto Aramendi (‘Lo’) is Professor at the Conservatoire of San Sebastian and principal organist at the Basilica de Santa Maria del Coro in San Sebastian, and she regularly performs all over the world. Ana Salaberria (‘An’) is an accomplished singer and teacher of classical and popular music who performs with well-known musical ensembles. Suzanna Guterl (‘Su’) is a flautist who performs as a soloist in a variety of musical groups.

The church and the Barsham Village Hall Committee are organising a Queen’s Jubilee Lunch at the Village Hall on Sunday 5th June. Details to follow.

SNIPPETS – An Easter Anniversary

On Easter Day 1912 the high altar cross that we use to this day was given by the then Patron, the Rev RAJ Suckling, in memory of his sister, Mary Sarah Suckling (1844-1910). The latter, known within the High Anglican All Saints Community as Sister Mary Theresa, had been the Sister Superior at the St John’s Hospital for Incurables at Cowley in Oxford, which was run by the All Saints Sisters of the Poor.

The cross (pictured on the front cover) was designed and made in its entirety by an unnamed female, possibly one of the sisters at Cowley. It is inscribed on its reverse:

‘AMDG pray for the soul of Mary Sarah Suckling of the Parish of the Most Holy Trinity, Barsham and in grateful and thankful memory of her life as ‘Succourer of Many’. She became a professed sister of All Saints and fell asleep in Jesus on June 15th 1910. Her body rests under the shadow of St John’s Hospital, Oxford R I P.’

AMDG, a Latin acronym for Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (For the Greater Glory of God), is also the motto of the Society of Jesus – the Jesuits. The inscription references Paul’s letter to the Romans (16:1-2), comparing the work of Mary Sarah Suckling with that of a woman called Phebe, who lived at what is now Kechries on the Peloponnese in Greece. Paul describes Phebe as a sister, a saint and a ‘succourer of many’:

‘I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea. That you receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and myself also.’

APRIL DIARY

Sunday 27th March – Fourth Sunday of Lent, Mothering Sunday. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Canon John Fellows.

Sunday 3rd April – Fifth Sunday of Lent, Passion Sunday. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Jonathan Olanczuk.

Sunday 10th April – Palm Sunday. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Josh Bailey.

Thursday 14th April – Maundy Thursday. 7.30pm Holy Communion with foot-washing, Holy Trinity, Bungay.

Friday 15th April – GOOD FRIDAY. 12 noon Meditation. Rev Josh Bailey.

Saturday 16th April – Holy Saturday. 9pm Compline and Vigil, Holy Trinity, Bungay. Rev Josh Bailey.

Sunday 17th April – EASTER SUNDAY. 11am Sung Eucharist (CW). Rev Josh Bailey.

Sunday 27th April – Second Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Canon John Fellows.

Sunday 1st May – Third Sunday of Easter. 11am Sung Eucharist (BCP). Rev Jonathan Olanczuk.

Sunday 1st May – Licensing of Edward and Heather Land and Service of Confirmation, 3pm at Holy Trinity, Bungay.

Every Wednesday at 8.45am – Matins at Barsham

Every Wednesday at 10am – Holy Communion (CW) at Holy Trinity, Bungay.

Church correspondent: Robert Bacon 01502 710945, [email protected]