Newsletter 17/03/2023
Dear friends,
In our society we can find ourselves in a bit of a minefield when it comes to our opinions, particularly if we have any sort of public presence. As a minister in the church, I am always conscious that my views could be taken to be my own and also representative of the Church. I remember when we were training that we were always encouraged to not be partisan in any of our sermons. However, we cannot honour the calling of God to be the person God has called us to be if we deny the opinions which come from our character.
The important thing for us as Christians is to test those views as to whether they are life-giving or not. Sometimes our views will offend people and we need to remember that Jesus himself often offended people with his views. That is not to say we should deliberately set out to be contrary but that we should not be scared to speak out against things such as injustice because we are concerned about offense we may cause.
It is a very difficult balance and one which I am sure that none of us, myself included, get right at all times throughout our lives. I am sure we can recall those examples where someone has spoken out publicly against some form of injustice - perhaps we might think of Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, William Wilberforce, any number of individuals throughout history who have either spoken or taken action against injustice. But thinking of those people may also make us feel small - we cannot hope to make the impact which they made with their influence.
It is at times like that I recall the phrase which was used by JFK one of the times he spoke as president: "All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing". It is then that we remember those individuals did not act alone but with the support of people behind them as well. We can all make a difference and there is always injustice which we can speak out about. Jesus spoke out often against injustice and encouraged his disciples to do the same. As we head through the rest of Lent, let us take up his call to action and proclaim "good news to the poor, freedom to the prisoners, sight to the blind, freedom from oppression and the year of the Lord's favour." And let us all, wherever we are on our journeys with God, keep the faith!
Mothering Sunday
This Sunday is Mothering Sunday (19th March) and that will bring up many memories and emotions for everyone across a whole range of experiences. We are going to have different services across our three churches so do go wherever you would feel most comfortable. These are:
9:15am - Holy Communion @ St. John the Evangelist, Littlewick Green
10:30am - God in Quiet @ St. Mary the Virgin, Hulrey
11:00am - Holy Communion (BCP) at St. James-the-Less, Stubbings
The communion services will focus on the theme of Mothering Sunday so do go along to those if you are looking to celebrate Mothering Sunday. If you wish to have a quiet and reflective service with some meditative liturgy and songs, then join us at God in Quiet which happens in Hurley where we can have some space to bring wherever we are before God.
Easter Services
We are approaching Easter so do join us over the coming weeks as we journey through the memory of Christ's Passion, Crucifixion and Resurrection. Our services are below but if you want to know more about any of them please get in touch.
26th March
8am - Holy Communion (BCP) @ St. James-the-Less, Stubbings
10:30am - Holy Communion @ St. Mary the Virgin, Hurley
2nd April (Palm Sunday)
10:30am - Parish Communion @ St. Mary the Virgin Hurley (including blessing of the Palm Crosses) - children will be welcome to help lead the procession around the churchyard!
5pm - Palm Sunday Evensong (BCP) @ St. James-the-Less, Stubbings
6th April (Maundy Thursday)
7:30pm - Holy Communion @ St. John the Evangelist, Littlewick Green (including stripping the altar and followed by a Keeping of the Watch)
7th April (Good Friday)
10:30am - Prayers at the Cross @ St. Mary the Virgin, Hurley
1:30pm - Reflections on the Cross @ St. James-the-Less, Stubbings
8th April (Holy Saturday)
4pm - Easter Vigil Service @ St. John the Evangelist, Littlewick Green (including blessing the Paschal Candles)
9th April (Easter Sunday)
6:30am - Dawn Service @ St. James-the-Less, Stubbings
9:15am - Holy Communion @ St. John the Evangelist, Littlewick Green
10:30am - Holy Communion @ St. Mary the Virgin, Hurley
11am - Holy Communion (BCP) @ St. James-the-Less, Stubbings
APCM
That time of year is here when we hold our Annual Parochial Church Meeting. This will happen on Sunday 30th April where we will have a parish service at St. James-the-Less at 10am followed by the APCM afterwards in the Soltau Centre at 11:15am.
Do join us for the service and the meeting where we elect churchwardens and reflect on our journey as a parish over the past year. If you would like to either stand as churchwarden or join the PCC then please talk to me in the first instance.
Cycle of Prayer
We now have a cycle of prayer on our website, the first of our resources to help us in our journey of prayer. It is designed to be a prompt for us to help pray for different places, people and organisations around the parish so do please make use of it as you see fit. There are some suggested prayers in there for both daily and weekly use and you can find it all here on our website.
Morning Prayer at 9:15am
Just a reminder that Morning Prayer is now happening in our parish rooms (Soltau Centre, Sunday Cabin, Priory Room) over the winter months.
Wednesday St. James-the-Less, Stubbings
Thursday St. John the Evangelist, Littlewick Green
Friday St. Mary the Virgin
Our churches are open for private prayer:
Littlewick Green – open every day 11am – 4pm
Hurley – open every day 8am – 4pm
Stubbings – open Monday to Friday 9am – 12 noon
Parish Office
As you may be aware, our Parish Administrator Claire is having medical treatment at the moment and is in the office only occasionally. In the meantime, we will be running reduced hours in the office so the best way to get in touch is via the office e-mail (office@burchettsgreenparish.org). There should be someone in the office on Monday and Thursday morning and I will be available as many Wednesday mornings as I can. For anything which you need I can also be contacted on vicar@burchettsgreenparish.org and 01628 822974, - please note the vicar's day off is Tuesday
Blessings to you all,
Tom