Dear Friends,We have come to the final week of our walk with Jesus towards his crucifixion and resurrection as we reach Palm Sunday - on which traditionally the full account of the Passion is read before we mark the particular events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday later in the week.This term the children of our primary schools have been focusing on the story of Jesus washing his disciples feet as they deepen habits that help them live out one of their core values: "respect". As I spoke at their Easter services I was struck by the way the last week of Jesus' life offers us contrasting ways of being: the tenderness of care of the upper room where Jesus shows his friends what love feels like and the rough scorn and jeering cynicism which turns into violence as he is taken to the cross. Which kind of power do we want to trust I wonder? As we travel through Holy Week, each in our own way, perhaps we can pray for the grace to be so fully caught up in the love for which Jesus stands, and dies and rises that we can be its agents in a world that can so easily lapse the other way.God blessSamanthaServices:Palm Sunday 9am Parracombe, 11am Lynton, 5pm BarbrookMaundy Thursday 7pm LyntonGood Friday 2pm LyntonHoly Saturday 8pm LyntonEaster Sunday 6am Countisbury, 9am Parracombe, 11am Lynton and Martinhoe, 3pm TrentishoeLooking beyond Holy Week, I would encourage you to look at the resources that are being provided by the Church of England in preparation for the Coronation of King Charles III. We are being encouraged to pray during the 28 days from Easter Day to the Coronation on May 6th, reflecting on a calling to serve in love. The resources can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/coronation/reflections
Dear Friends,This week's readings emphasise the power of God to bring new life to desolate places and people. In the gospel, in particular, we see that this restoration of life, this transformation is not a magical immunity from suffering, but a sign of God's steadfast presence right in the midst of loss and grief. Jesus enters into the fullness of his friends' pain, and draws forth the resurrected Lazarus from the depths of death, foreshadowing his own death and resurrection to come.May these readings give us the courage to bring to God, in prayer, the desolate places and suffering people in our world, seeking for them the restoration and wholeness that is according to his will.God blessSamantha
Dear Friends,This weekend we reach the fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday in which we are reminded to "rejoice" in the midst of our Lenten journey. As it is Mothering Sunday, our gospel reading tells of Mary hearing about what being the mother of Jesus will bring. Whilst Mary has often been idealised through Christian tradition, the experiences recorded in the gospels show us a woman who knew the reality of the joys and sorrows of mothering and the presence of God upholding her in it all. "My spirit has rejoiced in God", she sings in her Magnificat, remembering God's covenant to the humble and the poor. We know that all around the world it is women, mothers and children that often bear the brunt of injustice and poverty, of war and disaster and oppression. Let us pray for transformation in all those places where women suffer disproportionately, and where particular oppression is targeted towards them. Let us give thanks for all those places and situations where mothers together have turned communities from violence and destruction towards new hope and creative activity.God blessSamantha
Dear Friends,The gospel for this Sunday is long. It gives us the full account from St John of Jesus meeting a Samaritan woman at the well, its a rich and evocative story. As I was writing my sermon I received the weekly mailout from my former parish in Oxford, in which Revd Gavin Knight talked about it as one of his most valued accounts in the gospels. It is an indication of just how rich this story is that he gave emphasis to things that this year I didn't fully unpack in my sermon, so I've offered his view at the end of this letter. It may be a good Lenten discipline to wonder which Bible stories you would take to refresh you on a desert island!This weekend begins the APCM season for our churches. I want to thank all those who have served as PCC members over the past year for the essential part you play in enabling churches to function. Please keep all who serve as PCC members and Church Officers in your prayers. It is the nature of small churches that in many cases most of the congregation are on the PCC, so in many ways this is a reminder for us all to pray for each other!God BlessSamantha"If I had to choose a select group of stories from the gospels in a ‘Desert Island Disks’ fashion, I would have to take this text to my desert island. Not only is it about fresh, living water (an all too important commodity when surrounded by salt water) but the narrative displays a beautiful opening up to God’s providence and care. Jesus, the needy one, comes to the well to drink. Yet he seeks out the one who is in the greatest need. The Samaritan woman is in danger. Social and religious convention should tell her that it is not becoming of any woman, not least a Samaritan woman to hang around public places alone. Conversing with a man, a Jew, in that state was asking for trouble. Jesus rises above social convention. The woman’s life is at stake, her spiritual and personal identity is dislocated at best and her reputation is persona non grata. Jesus sees through her façade. Jesus sees her as God intended. Jesus gives her life back. This is a miracle story, one that has many different and distinct features. I will treasure this on my desert island! " Revd Gavin Knight (St Michael and All Angels Summertown, Oxford)
