Open To AllBy the Revd David Burgess
There are a lot of special services and church-based events going on in our parishes in the next few weeks, as we move through Lent and into Easter. Some of the information I’ve noted here is available elsewhere in the Newsletter, but I thought it would be good this month to gather it together in one place and to add some new information as well.
Firstly, the Churches Together Group is holding two Lenten Lectures on Thursday 5th and Monday 9th March, both at the Great Missenden Catholic Church, and both starting at 7:30 pm (not 7:45 pm, incidentally; we were all initially given an incorrect start time). Full details of these lectures appeared in last month’s Newsletter, and there is also an article this month from Allan Whittow.
In between these, the Spring Deanery Confirmation takes place at St Peter and St Paul, Great Missenden, on Sunday 8th March at 6:00 pm. Bishop Alan will confirm 20 candidates from the Wendover Anglican Deanery, including at least two and probably three young people from our parishes, at that service. All are welcome.
Lent proceeds fairly quietly then for a few weeks (well, two, anyway); but I’d like to highlight the services on the Sundays of the 22nd and 29th. The first is our School Family Mothering Sunday Service, the second is a joint four-parish Communion, and our preacher and celebrant at the latter is the Ven. Karen Gorham, the Archdeacon of Buckingham. Both services are at 10:00 am. Again, all are welcome, as is the case with every public act of worship we hold.
Moving into April, Holy Week is a special time in the four parishes. A small selection of our congregations makes a point of attending all the evening Holy Week services on offer – three complines and a Communion – and underneath jokes about being members of the ‘100 percent club’ lies a sense of genuine fellowship and togetherness as they follow the events of Holy Week as recorded in the Bible almost in real-time. Why don’t you join them?
Good Friday sees a walk of witness (10:30 am starts at St Leonards and Hawridge) across the hilltop villages, concluding with a devotional hour service at Cholesbury Village Hall which is mirrored at midday at The Lee.
There are other services and events in the build-up to Easter Day (of which more next time) for which I haven’t the space here. Please treat this, though, as less a recital of dates and events than an invitation to join us as we prepare for the most special day in the Christian calendar on Sunday 12th April.
Stop press
Our four-parish summer course is in two sections this year. We meet in the St Leonards Church Room on the six Wednesday evenings of 22nd April, 6th May, 20th May, 3rd June, 17th June and 1st July.
In the first two meetings we’ll be looking at The Shack. This is a rare thing: a Christian novel which has made an impact on the mainstream fiction market. We’re running the two sessions as a mini-book club, and we’d especially appreciate participation from non-church members. All we ask is that you read the novel before you come; we’re buying several copies to distribute.
In the other four sessions, we’re going to be looking at the very beginning of the Bible – the first few chapters of the book of Genesis (those who have read The Shack will know that our two themes aren’t unconnected). It’s a more conventional Bible-study approach, but this type of meeting has proved extremely positive and rewarding for those who have taken part.
And our summer series, like everything else, is open to all!