Holy Trinity, Bickerstaffe March 2016
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Holy Trinity, Bickerstaffe March 2016 The World Peace Prayer Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth. Lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust. Lead me from hate to love, from war to peace. Let peace fill our hearts, our world, our universe. Amen. Bible verse and prayer for 2016 "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:1-2 Page 2 Contact Details Website www.holytrinitybickerstaffe.co.uk. Twitter @HolyTrinityBick VICAR Reverend Captain Andrew Housley, CA 10 Church Lane, Aughton, Ormskirk L396SB. Tel: 01695 423204. Mob: 07788 256 776, E-mail: [email protected]. ASSOCIATE MINISTER Reverend Martin Adams, The Vicarage Intake Lane, Bickerstaffe, Ormskirk L39 0HW. Tel: 07939 396934. E-mail: [email protected]. Requests for weddings and baptisms should in the first instance, be made to the Vicar at the end of the Family Service. Arrangements for funerals and interments may be made with the Vicar by telephone. CHURCH WARDENS Mrs Irene McCarthy. Tel: 01695 421800, Mob: 07818 205 597. E-mail: [email protected]. Mr Jonathan Rawlinson. Tel: 01695 728799 E-mail: [email protected]. CHURCH WARDEN EMERITUS Mr Merrick Rimmer. Tel: 01695 727848. MAGAZINE & WEB Mrs Jo Housley (Magazine Editor) Tel: 01695 423204. E-mail: [email protected]. Mr Edward McCarthy (Webmaster) E-mail: [email protected] Mrs Hilary Rosbotham (Treasurer incl. Mag. Finance). Tel: 01695 723873. ORGANIST Mrs Vera Gregson. PCC SECRETARY Ms Anne Rosbotham-Williams. Telephone 01695 722034. READER EMERITUS Mr Colin Johnson. Mr Allan Powell. Telephone 01695 727169. SUNDAY CLUB Mrs Ann Ashburner & Mr Jon Ashburner. Telephone 01695 721795. Page 3 Letter from Andrew Housley Dear friends, Throughout our lives, we spend time tidying and deciding what to keep and what we throw away. My desk always seems to need a good tidy, and I am amazed how much paper needs to be recycled and odd bits thrown away. When we get to key times of the year we usually give our homes a good tidy, usually at Christmas and Easter so that we can relax in a nice tidy and clean home following a busy time. Tidying a desk or a home can often take longer than expected because we can find something we forgot we had, maybe an old photograph. The photograph can trigger a memory and we may like to dwell on that memory for a moment. The church year is marked by seasons and celebrations. The season of Lent is a penitential season when we are encouraged to tidy our lives by getting rid of what gets in the way of our closer walk with God. When we get to the celebration of Easter, we are encouraged to rediscover the new life we have been given in Christ. At times we need to rediscover what Christ’s death and resurrection means for us. Too often, things get in the way of us appreciating our Christian faith. As we continue though Lent on our journey towards Easter, may we continue to tidy our lives so what we may see and know God’s love for us. And God held in his hand A small globe. Look, he said. The son looked. Far off, As through water, he saw A scorched land of fierce Colour. The light burned Page 4 There; crusted buildings Cast their shadows: a bright Serpent, a river Uncoiled itself, radiant With slime. On a bare Hill a bare tree saddened The sky. Many people Held out their thin arms To it, as though waiting For a vanished April To return to its crossed Boughs. The son watched Them. Let me go there, he said. (The Coming, R.S.Thomas) Andrew Bishop Paul’s Easter Message: The Empty Tomb A central image from the Easter story is the empty tomb. The stone rolled away, the body gone. Jesus is not contained in the prison of the stone-cold cave; he is not imprisoned by death. He is free, alive and unpredictably present in the world. As we grasp that, we are freed to grasp the central hope and promise of Easter. The kingdom does not end in defeat. Jesus’s story reaches a climax as he bursts through the barrier of life and death. The tomb is vacated because Jesus is alive and present in the world. And then the energy, the ‘dunamis’ as the apostle Paul says, the dynamic power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead, becomes available to us in the Page 5 outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. An outpouring that reminds us that God cannot be contained. Not by a tomb, not by a temple, not by a church building. He is alive and present in the lives of those who are working to make a bigger difference; alive, present and recognised in the lives of those who make a bigger difference in His name. The image of the empty tomb presents a challenge for me and for all who are actively seeking for and praying for the renewal of the church. We see in it the certainty that God is working in the world, that his mission – as Jesus commanded in Matthew 28 – “go make disciples of all” – calls all to be “out there”. So how does this speak to our efforts, our desire, our belief under God that in this Diocese we are called to be a bigger church making a bigger difference? We believe that the Church is ordained by God as the best way to learn more about what it is to be a disciple. We know Jesus is the Lord of the church and we are called to worship Him and to come to the Father through Him in the Spirit’s power. And so we commit ourselves to worship in the fullest sense, offering our whole beings to be that living sacrifice of service that follows the model of Jesus. And over the centuries we have shaped buildings to help us in this. Some beautiful. Some less so. Some functional. Some that have become difficult to use in any meaningful sense. These are vessels of love - not empty tombs - but sadly they have the potential to be a place that Jesus has left, where we don’t feel the presence of the living Lord, where people endure a sterile, unattractive and joyless expression of their faith. But of course they also have the potential to be much more. To be houses of the bigger church, bursting with energy, hope and presence. Full of those loving the Lord, seeking to love him more, taking risks, falling down and being picked up again. Doing it all in the strength of the Page 6 Lord. The building not an empty tomb, but a vibrant hub for the community. A place of love and service where people recognise the risen Lord in the Christians that worship there. Jesus broke free of the tomb once for all, so that God’s kingdom would not be contained but would grow through the world. This Easter our joy and our calling in our turn is to release the great news of Jesus’ resurrection, sharing His love in all places with all people Christ is risen: He is risen indeed. Alleluia! + Paul Services in March St Michael, Holy Trinity, Aughton Bickerstaffe 6th March Mothering Sunday 8.15am Andrew 10.45am Martin Purple Holy Communion Mothering Sunday Joshua 5.9-12; 2 Corinthians 5.16-21; 10.30am Andrew Luke 15.1-3,11b-32 Mothering Sunday 4.00pm Martin Holy Communion 13th March Lent 5 8.15am Martin 10.45am Mark Purple 10.40am Martin Morning Praise Isaiah 43.16-21; Baptism Philippians 3.4b-14; John 12.1-8 Page 7 20th March Palm Sunday 8.15am Andrew 10.45am Andrew Red Family Service Psalm 118.1-2,19-29; 10.30am Martin Luke 19.28-40 Parish Praise 4.00pm Andrew Holy Communion 24th March Maundy Thursday 7.00pm Andrew 7.00pm Martin 25th March Good Friday 10am Martin/Bill 10am Andrew Good Friday Liturgy Hot Cross Bun Service 2pm Andrew/Jo Taize Prayers around the Cross 27th March Easter Sunday 6.00am Martin 7.00am Andrew White The Service of Light Early Service at Isaiah 65:17-end Mossock Hall 1 Corinthians 15.19-26; 8.15am Martin Luke 24:1-12 Holy Communion 10.45am Martin Family Communion 10.30am Andrew Family Communion Please invite friends and neighbours to our services! Page 8 Worship and Learning 6th March: The waiting father Luke 15.1-3, 11b-32: Summary * The religious elite grumble about Jesus mixing with sinners. * In response, Jesus offers his fullest account of what God is like. * Jesus tells a parable in which God is like a father who waits to welcome us home. A personal prayer: Merciful God, meet me in the low places of my life, the unclean places, the arrogant places, and bless me with the repentance and the courage of the prodigal son. Meet me in the resentful places, the judgemental places, the ungenerous places, and take from me the unforgiving traits of the elder brother. Meet me in the loving places, the caring places, the hopeful places, and grant me the humility and compassion of the Father.