14 April 2024
10:00 | 
Posted by
Dr Platts |
Acts 3:12-19
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
Peter addressed the people,
‘You Israelites, why do you wonder at this,
or why do you stare at us,
as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?
The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus,
whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate,
though he had decided to release him.
But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One
and asked to have a murderer given to you,
and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.
To this we are witnesses.
And by faith in his name,
his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know;
and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health
in the presence of all of you.
‘And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance,
as did also your rulers.
In this way God fulfilled
what he had foretold through all the prophets,
that his Messiah would suffer.
Repent therefore, and turn to God
so that your sins may be wiped out,
1 John 3:1-7
A reading from the first letter of John.
See what love the Father has given us,
that we should be called children of God;
and that is what we are.
The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God’s children now;
what we will be has not yet been revealed.
What we do know is this:
when he is revealed, we will be like him,
for we will see him as he is.
And all who have this hope in him purify themselves,
just as he is pure.
Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness;
sin is lawlessness.
You know that he was revealed to take away sins,
and in him there is no sin.
No one who abides in him sins;
no one who sins has either seen him or known him.
Little children, let no one deceive you.
Everyone who does what is right is righteous,
just as he is righteous.
Luke 24:36b-48
hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
While the eleven and their companions were talking about what they had heard,
Jesus himself stood among them and said to them,
‘Peace be with you.’
They were startled and terrified,
and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
He said to them,
‘Why are you frightened,
and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and my feet;
see that it is I myself.
Touch me and see;
for a ghost does not have flesh and bones
as you see that I have.’
And when he had said this,
he showed them his hands and his feet.
While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering,
he said to them,
‘Have you anything here to eat?’
They gave him a piece of broiled fish,
and he took it and ate in their presence.
Then he said to them,
‘These are my words that I spoke to you
while I was still with you—
that everything written about me in the law of Moses,
the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’
Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,
and he said to them,
‘Thus it is written,
that the Messiah is to suffer
and to rise from the dead on the third day,
and that repentance and forgiveness of sins
is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations,
beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.
07 April 2024
We held an All age Eucharist for this first Sunday in April. still part of the great festival of Easter. The first lesson was read by a member of the Sunday School, Annabelle, her first time reading in Church Well Done!
There was no official choir, but those who were there sat in the transept with our good fried Sylvia who played the piano for us as Joanna is on holiday.
Father Chris lead an interactive review of the story of Doubting Thomas with lots of audience participation!
There was coffee after the service
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
The whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul,
and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions,
but everything they owned was held in common.
With great power the apostles gave their testimony
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great grace was upon them all.
There was not a needy person among them,
for as many as owned lands or houses
sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.
They laid it at the apostles’ feet,
and it was distributed to each as any had need.
1 John 1:1-2:2
A reading from the first letter of John.
We declare to you what was from the beginning,
what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes,
what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—
this life was revealed,
and we have seen it and testify to it,
and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—
we declare to you what we have seen and heard
so that you also may have fellowship with us;
and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you,
that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness,
we lie and do not do what is true;
but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins,
he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned,
we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
My little children,
I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.
But if anyone does sin,
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins,
and not for ours only
but also for the sins of the whole world.
John 20:19-31
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
It was evening on the first day of the week,
and the doors of the house where the disciples had met
were locked for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood among them and said,
‘Peace be with you.’
After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again,
‘Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’
When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
‘Receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them;
if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’
But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples told him,
‘We have seen the Lord.’
But he said to them,
‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands,
and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’
A week later his disciples were again in the house,
and Thomas was with them.
Although the doors were shut,
Jesus came and stood among them and said,
‘Peace be with you.’
Then he said to Thomas,
‘Put your finger here and see my hands.
Reach out your hand and put it in my side.
Do not doubt but believe.’
Thomas answered him,
‘My Lord and my God!’
Jesus said to him,
‘Have you believed because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen
and yet have come to believe.’
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples,
which are not written in this book.
But these are written so that you may come to believe
that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,
and that through believing you may have life in his name.
31 March 2024
A joyful and busy Easter at ST Mary's with Services on Maundy Thursday and the Gethsemane Watch, the solomn liturgy for Good Friday, The Easter Eve service with 2 baptisms, and then the Eucharist on Easter Sunday morning with 3 Baptisms.
Once again we follow Jesus to the Cross and are given salvation by his rising again.
Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed Alleluia!
Isaiah 25:6-9
A reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
On this mountain
the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.
And he will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
he will swallow up death for ever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
Lo, this is our God;
we have waited for him,
so that he might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Acts 10:34-43
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
Peter began to speak to those assembled in the house of Cornelius:
‘I truly understand that God shows no partiality,
but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right
is acceptable to him.
You know the message he sent to the people of Israel,
preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all.
That message spread throughout Judea,
beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced:
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and with power;
how he went about doing good
and healing all who were oppressed by the devil,
for God was with him.
We are witnesses to all that he did
both in Judea and in Jerusalem.
They put him to death by hanging him on a tree;
but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear,
not to all the people but to us
who were chosen by God as witnesses,
and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
He commanded us to preach to the people
and to testify that he is the one ordained by God
as judge of the living and the dead.
All the prophets testify about him
that everyone who believes in him
receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’
Mark 16:1-8
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark.
When the sabbath was over,
Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James,
and Salome bought spices,
so that they might go and anoint him.
And very early on the first day of the week,
when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
They had been saying to one another,
‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’
When they looked up,
they saw that the stone, which was very large,
had already been rolled back.
As they entered the tomb,
they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe,
sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.
But he said to them,
‘Do not be alarmed;
you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.
He has been raised; he is not here.
Look, there is the place they laid him.
But go, tell his disciples and Peter
that he is going ahead of you to Galilee;
there you will see him, just as he told you.’
So they went out and fled from the tomb,
for terror and amazement had seized them;
and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
24 March 2024
We were blessed with a dry day for our Palm Sunday procession from the Church Hall up to Church.
Those who were able to walk met in the Church Hall where Father Roger Blessed the palm crosses and read the Palm Gospel. Meanwhile, those who preferred not to walk met in Church and heard the Palm Gospel read. We processed up to church singing and waving our palms. One we arrived, the children went off to Sunday School and we continued with the Eucharist, reading the Passion Gospel, and Father Roger preached.
The Choir sang 'O Saviour of the World' in the setting by John Goss as the Anthem.
At The end of the Service we admitted a new Junior Chorister, Arthur, and Awarded Sebastian his light blue ribbon, the whole choir sang 'Lead me Lord' to welcome Arthur.
There was coffee after the service.
We enter Holy Week the services for which are shown below.
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark.
When jesus and his disciples were approaching Jerusalem,
at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives,
he sent two of his disciples and said to them,
‘Go into the village ahead of you,
and immediately as you enter it,
you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden;
untie it and bring it.
If anyone says to you, “Why are you doing this?”
just say this, “The Lord needs it
and will send it back here immediately.” ’
They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street.
As they were untying it,
some of the bystanders said to them,
‘What are you doing, untying the colt?’
They told them what Jesus had said;
and they allowed them to take it.
Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it;
and he sat on it.
Many people spread their cloaks on the road,
and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields.
Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,
‘Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!’
Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple;
and when he had looked around at everything,
as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
Isaiah 50:4-9a
A reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
The servant of the Lord said:
The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher,
that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens—
wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.
The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious,
I did not turn backwards.
I gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting.
The Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who are my adversaries?
Let them confront me.
It is the Lord God who helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Philippians 2:5-11
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Phillipians.
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Mark 14:1-15.47
Hear the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark.
It was two days before the Passover
and the festival of Unleavened Bread.
The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way
to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him;
for they said,
‘Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.’
While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,
as he sat at the table,
a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard,
and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head.
But some were there who said to one another in anger,
‘Why was the ointment wasted in this way?
For this ointment could have been sold
for more than three hundred denarii,
and the money given to the poor.’
And they scolded her.
But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; why do you trouble her?
She has performed a good service for me.
For you always have the poor with you,
and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish;
but you will not always have me.
She has done what she could;
she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.
Truly I tell you,
wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world,
what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’
Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve,
went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.
When they heard it, they were greatly pleased,
and promised to give him money.
So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.
On the first day of Unleavened Bread,
when the Passover lamb is sacrificed,
his disciples said to him,
‘Where do you want us to go and make the preparations
for you to eat the Passover?’
So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them,
‘Go into the city,
and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you;
follow him, and wherever he enters,
say to the owner of the house,
“The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room
where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”
He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready.
Make preparations for us there.’
So the disciples set out and went to the city,
and found everything as he had told them;
and they prepared the Passover meal.
When it was evening, he came with the twelve.
And when they had taken their places and were eating, Jesus said,
‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me,
one who is eating with me.’
They began to be distressed and to say to him one after another,
‘Surely, not I?’
He said to them,
‘It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the bowl with me.
For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him,
but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!
It would have been better for that one not to have been born.’
While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread,
and after blessing it he broke it,
gave it to them, and said,
‘Take; this is my body.’
Then he took a cup,
and after giving thanks he gave it to them,
and all of them drank from it.
He said to them,
‘This is my blood of the covenant,
which is poured out for many.
Truly I tell you,
I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day
when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.’
When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
And Jesus said to them,
‘You will all become deserters; for it is written,
“I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.”
But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.’
Peter said to him,
‘Even though all become deserters, I will not.’
Jesus said to him,
‘Truly I tell you,
this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice,
you will deny me three times.’
But he said vehemently,
‘Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.’
And all of them said the same.
They went to a place called Gethsemane;
and he said to his disciples,
‘Sit here while I pray.’
He took with him Peter and James and John,
and began to be distressed and agitated.
And he said to them,
‘I am deeply grieved, even to death;
remain here, and keep awake.’
And going a little farther,
he threw himself on the ground and prayed that,
if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
He said, ‘Abba, Father, for you all things are possible;
remove this cup from me;
yet, not what I want, but what you want.’
He came and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter,
‘Simon, are you asleep?
Could you not keep awake one hour?
Keep awake
and pray that you may not come into the time of trial;
the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’
And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.
And once more he came and found them sleeping,
for their eyes were very heavy;
and they did not know what to say to him.
He came a third time and said to them,
‘Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?
Enough! The hour has come;
the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Get up, let us be going.
See, my betrayer is at hand.’
Immediately, while he was still speaking,
Judas, one of the twelve, arrived;
and with him there was a crowd with swords and clubs,
from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders.
Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying,
‘The one I will kiss is the man;
arrest him and lead him away under guard.’
So when he came,
he went up to him at once and said,
‘Rabbi!’ and kissed him.
Then they laid hands on him and arrested him.
But one of those who stood near drew his sword
and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
Then Jesus said to them,
‘Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me
as though I were a bandit?
Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching,
and you did not arrest me. But let the scriptures be fulfilled.’
All of them deserted him and fled.
A certain young man was following Jesus,
wearing nothing but a linen cloth.
They caught hold of him,
but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.
They took Jesus to the high priest;
and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes were assembled.
Peter had followed him at a distance,
right into the courtyard of the high priest;
and he was sitting with the guards, warming himself at the fire.
Now the chief priests and the whole council
were looking for testimony against Jesus to put him to death;
but they found none.
For many gave false testimony against him,
and their testimony did not agree.
Some stood up and gave false testimony against him, saying,
‘We heard him say,
“I will destroy this temple that is made with hands,
and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.” ’
But even on this point their testimony did not agree.
Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus,
‘Have you no answer?
What is it that they testify against you?’
But he was silent and did not answer.
Again the high priest asked him,
‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’
Jesus said, ‘I am;
and “you will see the Son of Man
seated at the right hand of the Power”,
and “coming with the clouds of heaven.” ’
Then the high priest tore his clothes and said,
‘Why do we still need witnesses?
You have heard his blasphemy! What is your decision?’
All of them condemned him as deserving death.
Some began to spit on him, to blindfold him,
and to strike him, saying to him,
‘Prophesy!’
The guards also took him over and beat him.
While Peter was below in the courtyard,
one of the servant-girls of the high priest came by.
When she saw Peter warming himself, she stared at him and said,
‘You also were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.’
But he denied it, saying,
‘I do not know or understand what you are talking about.’
And he went out into the forecourt. Then the cock crowed.
And the servant-girl, on seeing him,
began again to say to the bystanders,
‘This man is one of them.’
But again he denied it.
Then after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter,
‘Certainly you are one of them; for you are a Galilean.’
But he began to curse, and he swore an oath,
‘I do not know this man you are talking about.’
At that moment the cock crowed for the second time.
Then Peter remembered that Jesus had said to him,
‘Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.’
And he broke down and wept.
As soon as it was morning,
the chief priests held a consultation
with the elders and scribes and the whole council.
They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.
Pilate asked him,
‘Are you the King of the Jews?’
He answered him, ‘You say so.’
Then the chief priests accused him of many things.
Pilate asked him again,
‘Have you no answer?
See how many charges they bring against you.’
But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed.
Now at the festival he used to release a prisoner for them,
anyone for whom they asked.
Now a man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels
who had committed murder during the insurrection.
So the crowd came and began to ask Pilate
to do for them according to his custom.
Then he answered them,
‘Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?’
For he realized that it was out of jealousy
that the chief priests had handed him over.
But the chief priests stirred up the crowd
to have him release Barabbas for them instead.
Pilate spoke to them again,
‘Then what do you wish me to do with the man
you call the King of the Jews?’
They shouted back, ‘Crucify him!’
Pilate asked them,
‘Why, what evil has he done?’
But they shouted all the more, ‘Crucify him!’
So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd,
released Barabbas for them;
and after flogging Jesus,
he handed him over to be crucified.
Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace
(that is, the governor’s headquarters);
and they called together the whole cohort.
And they clothed him in a purple cloak;
and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him.
And they began saluting him, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’
They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him,
and knelt down in homage to him.
After mocking him,
they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him.
Then they led him out to crucify him.
They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country,
to carry his cross;
it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.
Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha
(which means the place of a skull).
And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh;
but he did not take it.
And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them,
casting lots to decide what each should take.
It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.
The inscription of the charge against him read,
‘The King of the Jews.’
And with him they crucified two bandits,
one on his right and one on his left.
Those who passed by derided him,
shaking their heads and saying,
‘Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days,
save yourself, and come down from the cross!’
In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes,
were also mocking him among themselves and saying,
He saved others; he cannot save himself.
Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now,
so that we may see and believe.’
Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.
When it was noon,
darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.
At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice,
‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’
which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’
When some of the bystanders heard it, they said,
‘Listen, he is calling for Elijah.’
And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine,
put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying,
‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’
Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
Now when the centurion,
who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last,
he said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’
There were also women looking on from a distance;
among them were Mary Magdalene,
and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.
These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee;
and there were many other women
who had come up with him to Jerusalem.
When evening had come,
and since it was the day of Preparation,
that is, the day before the sabbath,
Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council,
who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God,
went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead;
and summoning the centurion,
he asked him whether he had been dead for some time.
When he learned from the centurion that he was dead,
he granted the body to Joseph.
Then Joseph bought a linen cloth,
and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth,
and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock.
He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses
saw where the body was laid.
The third Sunday in March, so our double offering this morning. Mattins in the Church with Father Roger, and aservice with crafty activities in the Church Hall. All on a grey wet dreary day most fitting for Lent!
The Choir sang the Jubilate in B flat BY CV Stanford, and as the anthem, Oh Saviour of the World setting by John Goss.
There was coffee and cheering chocolate biscuits afterwards!
Despite the weather the spring flowers are coming on!
Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, meet in the Church Hall for the Palm SUnday Gospel and procession to the church.
Jeremiah 31:13-34
A reading from the book of the prophet Jeremiah.
The days are surely coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to bring them out of the land of Egypt—
a covenant that they broke,
though I was their husband,
says the Lord.
But this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,
says the Lord:
I will put my law within them,
and I will write it on their hearts;
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
No longer shall they teach one another,
or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’,
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; f
or I will forgive their iniquity,
and remember their sin no more.
Hebrews 5:5-10
A reading from the letter to the Hebrews.
Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest,
but was appointed by the one who said to him,
‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’;
as he says also in another place,
‘You are a priest for ever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.’
In the days of his flesh,
Jesus offered up prayers and supplications,
with loud cries and tears,
to the one who was able to save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
Although he was a Son,
he learned obedience through what he suffered;
and having been made perfect,
he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,
having been designated by God
a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
John 12:20-33
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.
They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee,
and said to him,
‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’
Philip went and told Andrew;
then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
Jesus answered them,
‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Very truly, I tell you,
unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,
it remains just a single grain;
but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Those who love their life lose it,
and those who hate their life in this world
will keep it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me,
and where I am, there will my servant be also.
Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.
‘Now my soul is troubled.
And what should I say—“Father, save me from this hour”?
No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.
Father, glorify your name.’
Then a voice came from heaven,
‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’
The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder.
Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’
Jesus answered,
‘This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.
Now is the judgement of this world;
now the ruler of this world will be driven out.
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth,
will draw all people to myself.’
He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
10 March 2024
Today we have our break from Lenten solemnity with Mothering Sunday. Our regular Eucharist was the main part of the service, but at the end the Children joined us and the Junior Choir sang 'Grannies and Grandads' from Andrew Carters Children's Bless the Lord.
We were given posies of flowers and pieces of Simnel cake to take home!
A reading from the book of Numbers.
to go around the land of Edom;
but the people became impatient on the way.
The people spoke against God and against Moses,
‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt
to die in the wilderness?
For there is no food and no water,
and we detest this miserable food.’
and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.
The people came to Moses and said,
‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you;
pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.’
So Moses prayed for the people.
And the Lord said to Moses,
and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’
So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole;
and whenever a serpent bit someone,
that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
Ephesians 2:1-10
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Ephesians.
You were dead through the trespasses and sins
in which you once lived,
following the course of this world,
following the ruler of the power of the air,
the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient.
All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh,
following the desires of flesh and senses,
and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.
But God, who is rich in mercy,
out of the great love with which he loved us
even when we were dead through our trespasses,
by grace you have been saved—
and raised us up with him
and seated us with him
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
so that in the ages to come
he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace
in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not your own doing;
it is the gift of God—
not the result of works,
so that no one may boast.
For we are what he has made us,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
John 3:14-21
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John,
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not perish
but may have eternal life.
‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Those who believe in him are not condemned;
but those who do not believe are condemned already,
because they have not believed
in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the judgement,
that the light has come into the world,
and people loved darkness rather than light
because their deeds were evil.
For all who do evil hate the light
and do not come to the light,
so that their deeds may not be exposed.
But those who do what is true come to the light,
so that it may be clearly seen
that their deeds have been done in God.’
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