Weekly News - 18th February 2024

This weekend’s Bible readings: 

Psalm 32 (p 560) and John 3:14-21 (p 1066)

The Promises of Jesus: 

Our Lent course this year will take place at All Saints@6, in Little Munden, on 18th February and 3rd, 10th and 17th March. The subject is the “Promises of Jesus”. Each time we will look at the following promises:

18th February Eternal life

3rd March Peace

10th March The Holy Spirit

17th March Jesus with us

Everyone is very welcome, whether you usually come to All Saints @6 or not!

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].

Pop Up Shop: 

The next pop up shop is on Sunday 25th February. There will be some Easter cards and the Real Easter Egg for sale/ to order along with fairly traded and responsibly sourced items and Christian gifts. All profits go to the local food bank. Thank you for your support.

Sunday lunch at the Star: 

Heather’s next Sunday lunch at the Star will be on Sunday 25th February at 12.15pm. If you would like to join us please phone on 07909 065550 by Monday 19th February.

World Day of Prayer: 

This year’s service is on Friday 1st March at St Mary’s Church, Standon at the earlier time of 2.30 in the afternoon, with refreshments afterwards. This is an ecumenical service open to all. The service is prepared years in advance and this year’s service has been prepared by the Christian Women of Palestine!

If you would like to help in any way or would like to know more about World Day of Prayer please speak to Margaret.

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.

Thank you from the Food Bank: 

A copy of the thank you card from Gemma has been put in each of our churches. A Sainsbury’s order worth £1,325 was delivered directly to the foodbank this week, funded by our donations.

Hope for Rural Churches 16th March, 9.30 – 4.30: 

The Diocese is running this day conference at Putteridge Bury Conference Centre, LU2 8DL. The Venerable Stewart Fyfe, Archdeacon of West Cumberland will be the keynote speaker. The event is open to ministry teams and any others who would benefit from the day. There is no charge and refreshments are included. Please book before 29th February, as catering numbers need to be finalised two weeks before the day. Rebecca will be collecting names and will make a block booking for our benefice; please let her know if you would like to go.

St Mary’s hassocks need some TLC: 

Several of the hassocks in St Mary’s have lost their D rings, which we use to hang them on the cup hooks on the back of the pews. If you would be willing to help sew on new tapes to re-secure the D rings, please speak to Marion.

Hospital transport looking for volunteer drivers: 

The dedicated hospital transport team offers lifts to local people who need them. It could be simply picking up someone in the village and taking him or her to the surgery, or it might involve a trip to an outpatients appointment at hospital. If you think you can offer some of your time (however little or large an amount), please speak to Wendy. Volunteers receive reimbursement for their petrol costs.

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), St Catherine's

Wednesdays, 9.30am Morning worship & Bible study, St Mary's

Sunday services:

18th February 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's

10.30am Holy communion, All Saints

6.00pm Lent course at All Saints@6, All Saints

25th February 10.30am All age worship, St Mary's

6.00pm Choral evensong, St Mary's

3rd March 8.00am Holy communion, St Mary's

10.30am Morning worship, All Saints

6.00pm Lent course at All Saints@6, All Saints

10th March 10.30am Holy communion, St Mary's

6.00pm Lent course at All Saints@6, All Saints

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