On Wednesday (March 2nd) we mark Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.There will be an Ash Wednesday Holy Communion and imposition of ashes service at St Mary and All Saints' Church, Dunsfold at 10am. St Peter's Church, Hascombe will hold their Ash Wednesday Holy Communion service at 7.30pm on Wednesday evening.On Thursday, March 3rd, we will be holding the first of our six Lent course meetings which this year are being held in the Vestry at Hascombe Church starting at 7pm. We will be studying a book called The Journey by John Pritchard, the former Bishop of Oxford.The meeting will last an hour and if you can't be with us in person, or prefer to join us from your home, please click on the following link. The Zoom connection will go live at 6.50pm.<a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86285911070?pwd=RFBFNHBPTVE1cVlUbzkvd0szOGFrUT09">https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86285911070?pwd=RFBFNHBPTVE1cVlUbzkvd0szOGFrUT09</a>
Following the shocking events of last week, as one great global crisis was dramatically eclipsed by another, could I encourage us all to continue in prayer for the deeply challenging situation in Ukraine? The Diocese in Europe (with their chaplaincy in Kyiv) has set aside Tuesday at 6pm as a time of focussed prayer for the people of Ukraine and its churches, whilst Pope Francis and our archbishops have urged us to make Ash Wednesday a day of prayer and fasting for peace. Along with our archbishops, we 'lament with the people of Ukraine, and we pray for the innocent, the frightened and those who have lost loved ones, homes and family' - as well as praying for a ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian forces from the region so that proper grievances can be aired and a diplomatic solution reached. Bishop Andrew
The Church of England has ditched all £20 million of its investments in Russian companies in response to what the archbishops of Canterbury and York described as Vladimir Putin’s “act of evil” in Ukraine.Church leaders have also called for an end to the “immoral flood of corrupt money” from Russia into Britain.As a direct result of the invasion, the church confirmed to The Times today that it was immediately selling its investments in Russian firms and had issued a ban on any further investment.Through the Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board, the church has a portfolio of £13 billion in investments, with its largest holdings in companies including Meta (formerly Facebook), Amazon, Google’s parent company Alphabet and Samsung.A spokesman said: “In response to the attack on Ukraine by Russia and supporting the sanctions announced by the UK and other governments . . . the Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board issued instructions to our managers to exit all of our current direct holdings in Russian companies and to make no further investments in Russian companies.
Representatives from the six major religions are among more than 1,000 faith leaders to have signed a letter to the prime minister urging him to reconsider the controversial nationality and borders bill, which goes through the report stage in the House of Lords today (Monday).The leaders, representing the UK’s major faith groups, say they are “horrified and appalled about the potential repercussions” of the bill and called on Boris Johnson to make urgent changes “even at this late stage”.Signatories include the former archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, Zara Mohammed, and the senior rabbi of Masorti Judaism, Jonathan Wittenberg.The faith leaders say the 11th-hour plea is a crucial last opportunity to make changes. It states: “While there is still conflict and injustice in the world, there will always be desperate people needing to seek sanctuary from war, persecution and suffering. We cannot close our door on them, but this bill does just that.“We assert that the values that bind UK citizens together, especially those concerning human dignity and life, will be fundamentally damaged by this bill.”The letter calls on the prime minister to make substantial changes to the bill. They include abandoning the government’s plan to criminalise and restrict the rights of all people arriving in the UK seeking refugee protection outside pre-arranged schemes, including those coming via irregular routes, such as by boats or lorries. The signatories say this policy was made “without a basis in evidence or morality”.They also call on the government to urgently address the bill’s failure to establish safe routes, which would help people seeking sanctuary to reach the UK, saying that this failure fundamentally undermines its aims. They urge the prime minister to be “compassionate and ambitious” in opening schemes such as family reunion, resettlement and routes for unaccompanied refugee children in Europe.The letter calls on the prime minister to show “political leadership” and promote “compassion, human life and dignity”. Faith leaders have asked the prime minister to meet to discuss their concerns.The letter was coordinated by the ecumenical Joint Public Issues Team, made up of the Methodist Church in Britain, the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the United Reformed Church, working with the Church of Scotland.
