This weekend’s Bible readings:
Exodus 2:1-10 (p 58) and Luke 2:33-35 (p 1028)
The Promises of Jesus:
Our Lent course this year, at All Saints@6, is on the subject of the “Promises of Jesus”. Everyone is very welcome, whether you usually come to All Saints @6 or not!
Please note that there will be no meeting this weekend, as many regulars will be away. We’ll be back next week.
Lent Appeal:
Before Lent, we focussed on our giving, to God and to our churches, through service and through financial support. Once again our Lent appeal is for our ministry and mission in this community. In this case, giving won’t be aggregated and shared between our three benefice churches, but will be allocated to the church in which it’s given. However, many of our costs are shared, so if you’d like to support the work of the benefice across the board, please let one of our treasurers know and we’ll make sure that happens.
Palm Sunday:
On Sunday 24th March at 6pm in St Mary's there will be a service of music and readings to mark the start of Holy Week. There will be music sung by our benefice choir from Bach's St John Passion and readers will take us through the passion narrative as recorded by John in his gospel. Please do come along as we begin our observance of the holiest of weeks.
Be more informed about Palestine:
Basma will be re-running her talk about the Palestinian people on 16th March at 3.00 pm in Dane End Memorial Hall. For tickets, please contact Sue on 01920 318674.
Knit & Natter group:
If you like knitting or crocheting, come and join us for a couple of hours in Standon village hall at 2pm usually on the 2nd Thursday of each month. Tea & cakes will be available. Our next meeting will be on Thursday 14th March. For more information please contact Diane on 01950 821130 or Marion on 01920 745683.
FOSM Afternoon tea & talk 23rd March:
This will take place the Standon Lordship and Jim Nicolson will speak about ‘My uncle, the Battle of Britain VC’. Tickets, at £25, are available from Diana on 07718 734897.
Issues with the contactless donation point in St Mary’s:
The PCC resolved on Tuesday to replace the temporary contactless station with a more permanent one. The original one was installed to see if it would be worth the investment, and it has proved to be so, with many preferring this method of donating. We are awaiting delivery of the new one, but meanwhile, the QR code available in church works for contactless giving. The QR code in this sheet can be used for giving to costs shared across the benefice.
The Future of World Day of Prayer in our area:
Margaret, who has been organising World Day of Prayer for the past 12 years, is retiring from the committee. We are looking for people to take World Day of Prayer forward in our area beyond 2025. For many, many years our local churches have been involved in (Women’s) World Day of Prayer. Will you help to continue this tradition? It’s not hard work and is very worthwhile. If you feel called to help please speak to Margaret.
This year’s service was attended by 46 people from 6 different Churches (Anglican, Roman Catholic and Congregational) and raised £247.45. All who attended were moved by the service.
Sunday lunch at the Star:
Our next Sunday lunch at the Star will be on Sunday 24th March at 12.15pm. If you would like to join us please contact Heather before Monday 18th March. We would love to see some new faces so if you haven’t joined us before and you are on your own, we have a very happy time together and you would receive a very warm welcome. Phone Heather on 07909 065560 for more information.
Pre-orders for the Real Easter Egg - £5 each:
Marion is taking orders now for the Fairtrade Real Easter Eggs, with a new story booklet to celebrate the real meaning of Easter. The last order date to get them in time for Easter is Sunday 10th March. Payment with order is preferred. Profits go to the food bank. You can email Marion on [email protected].
Benefice Bookstall:
Lizzy’s Christian bookstall has been well received and she has received orders from several people. She will have more stock over the coming months, but if there’s a book that you would like her to get for you, please speak to her.
St Albans Easter Monday Pilgrimage, 1st April:
Hundreds of people will journey to the Cathedral from across the diocese and beyond for an Easter celebration. The informal service of Holy Communion will start at 3pm, but the procession into the Cathedral will start from 2.30pm. The service, led by Bishop Jane, will include singing and some short Easter reflections. Dogs are welcome and most sit on the floor, although chairs are available if you’d prefer that. People are invited to bring along a picnic to have in front of the Cathedral beforehand.
Website:
Our benefice website is on the www.achurchnearyou.com platform. The benefice page can be reached via this link: https://www.achurchnearyou.com/benefice/32-240BF/. The forward from https://ubsms.org.uk should point to that page.
Services for the next few weeks
Midweek services each week:
Tuesdays, 9.30am Holy Communion (BCP) & Bible study, St Catherine's
Wednesdays, 9.30am Morning worship & Bible study, St Mary's
Sunday services:
10th March 10.30am Holy communion, St Mary's
17th March 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's
10.30am Holy communion, All Saints
6.00pm Lent course at All Saints@6, All Saints
24th March 10.30am All age worship, St Mary's
6.00pm Service of music and readings for the start of Holy Week, St Mary's
31st March 10.30am Easter communion, St Mary's
7th April 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's
10.30am Morning worship, All Saints
6.00pm All Saints@6, All Saints
10th April 10.30am Holy communion, St Mary's
6.00pm All Saints@6, All Saints