March 10 Magazine for Website
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From the Vicar Revd Anne Donaldson Couples at our Marriage Preparation day and folk on the current Alpha course have made similar comments: how nice to have time to sit and really talk to each other. How true, but what a comment on our life nowadays!! Surely relationships of one sort and another are what makes life really hum, aren’t they? So why do we do so little about them? Like anything else that matters in life, they are worth investing in – and that means investing time. Precious time. Pressured time. Time is the hardest thing to give nowadays it seems, and yet the most valuable – far more valuable than money or things. I think of the little boy who said that he really wouldn’t mind not going abroad for a holiday, or not having a Wii, what he really wanted was time with his parents. A teenager said that he’d had a great weekend, even though he was doing something he didn’t particularly like, because it was ‘quality time with Dad’. Lent is a time in which we are encouraged to assess our lives: are they what we want them to be? For a Christian: are they what God would want them to be? (Christians have given our lives to God, so our lives belong to Him and we are simply stewards of them) So maybe it would be good to take some time this month to think (and pray) through what your priorities are in life. And then look at how you spend your time: does that reflect your priorities? For example, if you say that your husband / wife / partner / children are top priority, how does that work itself out through your diary? And when you are together are you really ‘with’ them or are you busy doing / thinking something else although in their presence? There’s nothing quite like giving someone your full attention, and it sounds like it’s a rare commodity today Christians would take that one step further and ask exactly the same questions of our relationship with God: how often do I give God my full attention, rather than gabble a quick prayer and rush off somewhere? How often do I concentrate on God enough to allow Him to get through to me? and yet I say that I give my life to Him and He is my Lord and Master – how does that actually work out in my life? I hope you can find the time for such thoughts, and find them helpful in your life, whatever the outcome. Anne Church News Lunches for Charities: Thursday 4th March for Citizens Advice Bureau Thursday 4th April for London City Mission Come and join us – everyone, of all ages, is welcome to these free lunches at 1pm in the Wilshere Hall, Cappell Lane, Stanstead Abbots. The lunches are followed by Holy Communion at 2.30pm. Some come for that only, some go after lunch, and some stay for both!! The lunch in February raised £55 for Send a Cow. April Parishes Magazine Items for the next magazine, should preferably be emailed to [email protected] or left at the Vicarage by 14th March at the latest please. Copy can also be given to Lynne Heraud. Transport to Church. If you would like a lift to church please phone one of the Churchwardens (see back cover of this magazine). From our Registers We offer our condolences to the families and friends of Frederick Johnson South Street 5th February (Harwood Park ) Please note The Vicar’s day off is now Tuesday. The Administrator works on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9.15am until 2pm. WOMEN’S WORLD DAY OF PRAYER in St Margarets’ Parish Church Friday 5th March 2010 at 7.30pm (or St Marys Church, High Street, Ware at 10.30am) Over 3 million people world wide will be praying and worshipping during an annual day of prayer, all using a service prepared by Christian women in Cameroon, ‘Africa in miniature’ ‘LET EVERYTHING THAT HAS BREATH PRAISE GOD’ Women, men and young people all very welcome to attend Lunches for Charities Free lunch – all collection goes to the charity of the month 4th March for Citizens Advice Bureau Every year the Citizens Advice services touches around 2 million lives, helping those people to deal with 6 million problems. They use two approaches to help people resolve their issues: they offer free, high quality, independent advice, and they initiate campaigns for policy change. Every Citizens Advice Bureau is an independent charity, they rely on the financial support of people in their communities to ensure that they are available to give advice when needed. This also helps to maintain their online practical, reliable, up-to-date advice guide, in seven languages at www.adviceguide.org.uk . In this recession CAB have been particularly valuable and increasingly busy. 1st April for London City Mission The London City Mission exists to share with the people of London, patiently, sensitively and individually the transforming love of God in Jesus Christ, and to enable them to join his Church. Their dedication to urban mission was far ahead of its time and they continue to play a strategic role in this work, with great commitment to the poor, to immigrants and to all alienated groups. St Margarets Church Restoration Fund A big thankyou to everyone for their support for the Christmas Concert on 21st December, despite the snow, a profit of £525 was raised through ticket sales and the raffle. Special thanks go to the Hoddesdon Women’s Club Choir who sang at the event. Ruth Swallow Mad Hatters FAIRTRADE Tea Party at Allnations College, Easneye 7th March 2010 - 3pm-5pm Free Entry Fairtrade tea and cake / Fairtrade products for sale Quiz and games Recycled Mad Hat Competition – prizes for adults and children! All hats to be made from recycled materials Lent Group Lent started on Ash Wednesday, and is a time to do something to draw nearer to God in preparation to celebrate Easter fully. So it is traditional to have a study group . This year we are following the course written by our 3 Bishops in the St Albans Diocese, which is part of the ‘Challenge 2010’ – but you don’t need to register for this part! READ it LEARN it PRAY it DO it The more ideas and viewpoints the better the discussions, so please do try to find the time to come to one or several of the study nights. They are on Wednesdays in the Wilshere Hall, Cappell Lane (next to St Andrew’s church) from 8.00pm-9.30pm. March 10th Luke 13. 1-9: Jesus invites repentance March 17th Luke 15. 1-3: 11 b-32: The prodigal son March 24th John 12. 1-8: Mary Anoints Jesus March 30th Luke 23. 1-49: The Passion Mothering Sunday Sunday March 14th Flowers for the Mums in all our services. St John the Baptist 9.30am: Family Eucharist St Andrew’s 10.15am: Worship for all ages together St Margarets’ Parish Church 11.00am: Family Service th Palm Sunday Service 282828 thth March On Palm Sunday we use palm leaves folded into crosses to remind us that Jesus was welcomed into the city of Jerusalem by people waving Palm branches – and then killed there, on a cross, less than a week later. 10.00am Walk starting from station car park to 10.30am Communion Service for all three churches at St Andrew’s, with a reading of Jesus’ last days instead of a sermon MAUNDY THURSDAY Thursday 1st April Jesus shared a last supper with His friends before His arrest later that night 8.00pm Sung Eucharist at St John’s 8.00pm “The Last Supper” at St Andrew’s GOOD FRIDAY Friday 2nd April Possibly the most important day in the Christian year. The day on which Jesus was crucified was ‘good’ because He who was sinless took our sins on Himself, and died for those sins, so that those of us who go to Him in sincere sorrow may be forgiven, and reunited with God. 10.15am Good Friday service at St Andrew’s and making an Easter Garden 12noon-3pm Three Hour Vigil at St Margarets (St Luke’s account of Jesus’ last hours) while Christ was on the cross, (come and go during hymns) 7.30pm “The Way of the Cross” choral service at St John’s www.challenge 2010.org dare to make a difference by living the words of Jesus * READ a verse from the bible each day in Lent, * LEARN it, PRAY about it and then * DO something to make a difference. * Share what you have learned and what you have done. It’s not too late to register on the Challenge website. The verses, will be sent by email or by text (for a small charge) or will be available through Twitter and RSS. Alternatively the verses will be available at the back of each church It’s simple, it’s risky, it’s life changing: “Carers Corner” There are lots of people caring for a partner, a parent, or a child locally. It would be great to support each other in this important task, from 8pm - 9pm upstairs in the Wilshere Hall, next to St Andrews Church Monday 29th March and 26th April whoever you care for, please come. If you need a lift, or someone to sit with your loved one, please ask the Vicarage on 01920 870115. SAYC (Stanstead Abbotts Youth Club) Fridays 7pm – 9pm during term time In the Wilshere Hall (next to St Andrew’s Church), Cappell Lane, Stanstead Abbotts.