Where is this year going? Suddenly we are in March, and it doesn’t seem five minutes since we were celebrating Christmas. It is wonderful to see the days lengthening and the sun shining and warming the earth and preparing it so that the spring bulbs are bursting forth. Hellebores, daffodils, snowdrops, primroses and cowslips are all creating beauty and brightness in my garden. It is also nearly time to start planting the seeds for my allotment vegetables.
Thinking about this has led me to think about the fact that we are approaching Easter. When I plant my seeds, they look dead and unless I bury them in the soil, they will not do anything. Once they are in the soil the warmth and watering, plus God’s intervention will bring about new life in them and they start to grow and flourish. It was the same on that very first Easter, Jesus was dead, and everything seemed bleak and empty. His body was then buried in the tomb, but after three days and with God’s intervention, new life was breathed into His body, and He was raised to life again.
It is the same with us, before we accept Jesus’ offer of forgiveness and new life our lives are dead in our sin. Jesus comes and reaches out to us and if we accept Him, He breathes new life into our bodies, and we flourish and grow in our faith and life with Him.
So, as we go through Lent, preparing ourselves for celebrating Easter by examining our lives and our work for God as a church, let us not forget that it is God who waters and breathes life into our bodies and the work that we do.
If you don’t yet have the blessing of God breathing new life and forgiveness into your body all you need to do is ask Him to come into your life, forgive you for your past life and to breathe new life and forgiveness into you. Then don’t keep this blessing to yourself, make sure that you share it with someone at church and we will support and help you as you grow.
Sermon Series
- March 2nd – Café lite
- March 9th – Origins – Genesis 7-10 Flooding. ‘This is the account of Noah…’
- March 16th – Noah continued – Thursday night homegroup
- March 23rd – Origins – Genesis 11 Building. ‘Let us build ourselves a city…’
- March 30th – Origins – Genesis 12 Restoring. ‘I will make you a great nation…’
- April 6th – Café lite
- April 13th – Palm Sunday – John Cole preaching
- April 20th – Easter – including a baptismal service
- April 27th – Preacher TBC
Dates for your Diary
- Tuesday 4th March – Prayer meeting in the lounge at 7.30pm
- Wednesday 5th March – Oasis meeting in the lounge at 2pm
- Wednesday 2nd April – Oasis meeting in the lounge at 2pm
Lent Meeting Dates
- Tuesday March 11th – Lent 1 – ‘Thanksgiving’ – 7.30 pm in the Church
- Tuesday March 18th – Lent 2 – ‘Reviewing’ – 7.30 pm in the Church
- Tuesday March 25th – Lent 3 – ‘Tweaking’ – 7.30 pm in the Church
- Tuesday April 1st – Lent 4 – ‘Listening’ – 7.30 pm in the Church
- Tuesday April 8th – Lent 5 – ‘Dreaming’ – 7.30 pm in the Church
Easter Dates
- Thursday April 17th – Maundy Thursday communion service – 7:30 pm in the Church
- Friday April 18th – Good Friday walk of witness followed by service at 11 am at the Upper Icknield Way layby, followed by refreshments at Merriment
- Saturday April 19th – Low Saturday service for bereaved – 9:30 am in the church
- Sunday April 20th – Easter breakfast at 9 am followed by morning service 10.45 am including a baptismal service
Advance warning for your consideration and prayer!
Advance warning for you to prayerfully consider. At the next Church meeting on 20th May 2025, we will be holding the elections for deacons and secretary. Gill Brownell and Jo Drury are both up for re-election as deacons, and we have space for 1 more deacon if desired. Julie Mason is also up for re-election as secretary. Please prayerfully consider over the next couple of months if God is calling you to serve on the diaconate or if God is calling you to nominate someone else to serve on the diaconate. I have the nomination forms, and the nominations must be with me by Sunday 11th May.
And Finally…
A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, “Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.”
The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man’s mouth water.
The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful. But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.
The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.
The Lord said, “You have seen Hell.”
They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man’s mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.
The holy man said, “I don’t understand.”
“It is simple,” said the Lord. “It requires but one skill. You see, they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves.”
“Remember this, when Jesus died on the cross, he was thinking of you.”
