#310: We hail thy presence glorious, or, a pre-Lent Special
Dear friends,
The photo above is of some of the flowers Cara has been sent since she has been signed off work- she sends her thanks for every gesture of support and love from the parish- every one of them has been very welcome.
This email is a bonus email to draw a few key events and so on out…
Don’t forget Bishop Steven is coming to take questions tomorrow night (Shrove Tuesday) at 7.30pm at Luckley House School. Do come along!
- Ash Wednesday sees services at 10.30am (17 Martin’s Drive), 7.30pm (Woosehill) and 8pm (St Paul’s). Both of the evening services will be Livestreamed as well. We haven’t yet worked out how to impose ash over the internet but cards with ash on will be available for people to take home from Wed, for themselves and for others.
- Lent is a really important season in the life of the Church and in each of our lives as individual disciples. If discipleship is always about trying to live out a life which answers the question “Who do you think Jesus is?” then that is especially true in Lent. What are you going to take up for Lent? Or put down? Or give up? What will you do to stand by Jesus in the wilderness and walk with him to Holy Week?
Please don’t forget to engage with the information about the Parish Giving Scheme. If you want to use this opportunity as an invitation to revisit the level of your giving at the moment then that would be great, but the main aim of joining the scheme is to streamline the way people give to Church and how we reclaim Gift Aid. Using the PGS makes it easier to do both. It is as easy as setting up a new Direct Debit- and don’t forget to cancel your old Standing Order once you have.
And finally, there is clearly a huge amount of prayer happening all over the parish and the world at the moment for the people of Ukraine and for the whole situation there. There are a number of ways you can join in- come along to Morning Prayer online at 8.30 on Mon, Wed and Thurs and at 9am in St Paul’s on a Tues and Fri- meet with a few friends to pray- come into St Paul’s and light a candle and read the Collect for Ukraine which is printed out there- join in with the Pope’s call to fast on Ash Wednesday as a way of praying- or read through this booklet which a friend of mine has collated in Cambridge where she is a college chaplain:
If you have any specific suggestions or ideas of what we can do and what we can do together then please let me or Louise Cole know so we can try to make it happen. Thanks.
