Weekly Bulletin for St Mary's and the Villages

Collect

Most merciful God,
who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ

delivered and saved the world:
grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross
we may triumph in the power of his victory; through....

Additional Collect

Gracious Father, you gave up your Son out of love for the world:
lead us to ponder the mysteries of his passion,
that we may know eternal peace through the shedding of our Saviour’s blood,
Jesus Christ our Lord.  

Today: Lent 5 (‘Passion Sunday’)  

Principal Readings 

Ezekiel 37.1-14 Psalm 130 Romans 8.6-11 John 11.1-45

Barton

8.00 Said Eucharist
9.30 Parish Eucharist

6.00  Said Eucharist with hymns 

Monday 

9.30-11.30 Toddler Time (St Mary's Hall)
Wednesday (The Annunciation)

9.30 Eucharist  (St Mary's)
Thursday

2-4 Sewing Bee (St Mary's Hall)
7.00 Ladies’ Singing Group (St Mary's Hall)
Saturday 10-12 Mini Easter Fair / Coffee Morning (St Mary's Hall)

Next Sunday: Lent 6 (‘Palm Sunday’)
Principal Readings 

Liturgy of the Palms: Matthew 21.1-11 Psalm 118.1-2, 19-end

Liturgy of the Passion: Isaiah 50.4-9a Psalm 31.9-16* Philippians 2.5-11 

Matthew 26.14 - end of 27 or Matthew 27.11-54

Barton

8.00 Said Eucharist
9.30 Parish Eucharist

6.00  Evening Prayer

Reflection: Straws in the wind

One of the problems with John’s Gospel is that it’s not easy bedtime reading. There’s someone out there who so memorised Mark’s Gospel that he could recite it from beginning to end – I defy anyone to manage that with John, and defy them even more to offer a running commentary on it. 

So many familiar landmarks are missing in John – the Transfiguration, for example, and the institution of the Eucharist, and in their place we get long, often complicated sections on ‘the water of life’ or the true vine’ (as well as some memorable, luminous verses like ‘I give you a new commandment, that you should love one another as I have loved you’). Nevertheless, there’s something about John which makes reading and making sense of it a real challenge.

Today, though, we get something nice and simple. With the raising of Lazarus we’re on familiar miracle territory – we meet it in the OT in the Elijah and Elisha stories, and, of course, in the raising of the little girl in the synoptic Gospels, the raising of the son of the widow of Nain in Luke, and even the disciples get a look in with the story of Tabitha in Acts. Or are we?

In the Lazarus story there’s the odd awkward point to negotiate. Martha and Mary each reproach Jesus for not turning up to save Lazarus (‘ ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ ) and there’s something uncomfortable about Jesus choosing not to go to Lazarus’ aid immediately, and sparing Mary and Martha so much grief in order (as it feels) to create a bigger ‘splash’. And we won’t even mention the unpleasant matter of the stench of decomposition. It’s a far more unsettling story than those in Matthew, Mark and Luke.

One explanation of it all is that it’s there to show Christ as the Lord of Life, one who can reverse the powers of Death – which is all very well, but – as a meditation I once read on Lazarus said – poor Lazarus is just back for a visit, and one day will have to go through the trauma of death a second time. In that meditation, he’s quite cross about being summoned back to life and all its troubles, and only does so out of obedience. 

Another ancient tradition says that Lazarus never spoke again (something also said of the three young men in the furnace whom we encounter in the book of Daniel). These are but legends and reflections andnot scriptural, but they do suggest an unease about the return crossing of the boundary between life and death. As a miracle, it’s a bit ambiguous.

Except, of course, that John’s Gospel studiously avoids the word ‘miracle’ – in fact it’s not a very New Testament word at all. Instead, John speaks of signs ,(‘semeia,’ a Greek word which crops up in English in words like ‘semaphore’). Once we come to read the Lazarus story as more than a way of reducing strain on the NHS, or a spot of showing off by the Almighty, we might have a key to getting our heads round John’s Gospel.

Sprinkled liberally throughout John are Signs of who this character Jesus might be. Cana in Galilee is the setting of the first one (and a thousand curses on biblical translations which describe it as a miracle, and put us off the scent immediately). Who is it who transforms the ordinary into the glorious? Who is it who provides bread for the hungry, restores sight to theblind, and – in the case of Lazarus – overcomes the power of death? 

Throughout John people ask ‘How can anyone produce these signs?’ - and in considering the question start to come to life-changing (and in some cases rather unwelcome) conclusions.

As we enter Passiontide, there’s a lot from St John, concluding, of course, in the Passion reading from John on Good Friday, and the traditional use of John 20 on Easter morning. These stories will require us to ask the question time and again ‘who is this?’ as we encounter hints and signs and nudges in our journey. We can ignore them, of course, or explain them away, but better to let them get under our skin and nettle us a bit. What is going on? Where is God at work in all this? And what sort of a God is it who chooses to make the place of execution into the place where he is most clearly seen in glory?  

Straws in the wind, which we may overlook as we boggle at how to avoid paying duty on the bar-bill at the wedding or at dodging the queue at McDonalds, or bringing the dead back to life– but enough straws blowing in the same direction, enough quiet (and not-so-quiet) signposts, to cause us to pause and look closer – and allow ourselves to be draw into the mystery.

Have a good Passiontide.

For our prayers

Church:

The Church in Korea. 

Christians in the Middle East. 

Our keeping of Passiontide. 

Archbishop Sarah, to be enthroned at Canterbury on Wednesday of this week.

World: 

Those in authority. 

Gaza, Iran, and all the lands of the Middle East. Ukraine, Sudan, Mexico. 

Peacekeepers and Peacemakers.

Those leading in the protection of our planet and the resolution of the issues surrounding migrancy. 

Our Community: 

Parish cycle of prayer: Lindsey Lodge & St Andrew's Children's Hospices. 

MacMillan & Marie Curie nurses. 

Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: Nature Conservation 

The world’s half-forgotten troubled lands:

Afghanistan, Myanmar.

Those in need. 

All who are fleeing war, poverty or climate change. 

People living under the shadow of fear, deprivation or illness; 

the anxious, the lonely and mourners. 

Those struggling to make ends meet. The homeless. 

Those in hospital or who watch with them. 

Especially, please pray for: 

Those on our Parish prayer boards

The Departed. 

Notices.

St Mary's Mini Easter Fair 10-12 next Saturday morning in the Hall

British Summer Time begins at 02.00 next Sunday morning, (meaning the 8.00 is actually taking place at 7.00, the 9.30 at 8.30 and the 11.00 at 10 if you don’t put your clocks forward). The only people I’ve ever met who enjoy the day the clocks go forward are insomniacs and people working a night shift….

Lent Study Morning: f you’d like a copy of yesterday’s study morning, drop David R a line for one.

Archbishop Sarah’s Enthronement.

Though we’ve had an Archbishop for weeks, Archbishop Sarah gets The Full Works on Wednesday of this week at Canterbury. Keep her in your prayers as she becomes very visibly the ‘first among equals’ of the endlessly squabbling Anglican Family worldwide. 

Walter Hilton of Thurgarton, whose feast-day it is on Tuesday, was a significant writer (in English) on spirituality during the Hundred Years’ War, and was practically a local lad, as a monk at Thurgarton Priory a few miles south of Southwell. 

We often forget that Mediæval England was a rich source of serious spiritual writing and thinking in the past, and often look only to the Big Names of  continental Europe. It’s possible to be holy even in the (ancient) diocese of Lincoln

Access to St Mary's Hall 

If you're a user, the electronic system for access is now live, and all group leaders have an access fob. 

The door will lock automatically behind someone going in or out. This greatly helps us with conforming to the requirements of Martin's Law in terms of keeping the building secure while it's in use. It also makes it easy to lock yourself out, so fob-holders, don't be tempted to put your fob down inside while you nip out to get something from the car!

To leave the building simply press the green exit button by the side of the door. Do not use the emergency button which has a plastic cover, since that would mean someone coming out to re-set the system before anything can lock again!

APCM Season

Just a heads-up that we're approaching the season of Elections of Churchwardens, Annual Parish Meetings and the like. Please keep a lookout for further details in the coming weeks.