Book & Plant Fair

Getting ready for all the visitors

"Don't let anyone leave without buying at least ten books ..."

Tea ladies!

Lots of customers ...

Taking a break. I don't think Shirley was about to hit someone ...

Not quite ten books each, but not bad!

Plant sales outside the church

Service with a smile!

Celebrating the Year of Pilgrimage

St Asaph Cathedral will host a special service on Sunday 4 May at 3.30pm to mark the end of the Diocesan Year of Pilgrimage.

Bishop Gregory is keen to see representatives from every Parish in the Diocese at this event and clergy are asked to bring at least two members of each congregation with them to this exciting celebration.

The service will be an opportunity for reflection on the past year and offer the chance to give thanks. A cairn will be built in the centre of the cathedral with items from the Year of Pilgrimage and pilgrims will be able to place their pilgrim's shell on the cairn at the beginning of the service.

Pilgrims will also be able to pick up a certificate marking their participation in the celebrations and have it stamped after the service. Children representing our church schools sharing shell-shaped biscuits made in school as part of their learning.

At the end of the service everyone will be given small flasks of water and parchments of sand to deliver to their churches on the following Sunday to symbolise "journey and refreshment". A special liturgy of "Receiving the Gifts of Sand and Water" will be distributed to all churches so that the flasks and parchments can be presented to all churches in the diocese.

Clergy will not have to robe for this service as the Diocesan family sit together for worship and reflection. We look forward to seeing you on May 4th!

Easter flowers

Flowers in the church this Easter. Click on any photo for a larger version.

Holy Week

From the Vicar : Holy Week
In just a week’s time we will begin Holy Week, which is described in more detail than any other in the life of Jesus. In its drama it provides an opportunity to perhaps reflect on our own Christian  commitment, loyalty and life.

• Can we relate the stories of the Passion, which we read in the Gospels to our own lives? 
• Are we like any of that whole host of characters which we meet in the story? The different disciples, Peter, Judas, Caiaphas, Pilate and members of the crowd.
• Can we imagine what went on each day? Can we see ourselves behaving like those who figure in the Passion of Christ?

It was certainly a difficult time for Jesus and may well be a difficult time for many of us too, as all of us have those “Good Friday” times in our lives – pain, suffering, anxious times and, sadly, loss – perhaps of a person, but also of a relationship.

Some may be held up on their life journey at Good Friday, in difficult times. They are  in need of all our care, love and support, until they are able to gently move forward.

Holy Saturday can be that day of waiting and hoping for better things, a time of waiting for Resurrection. All of this can remind us that Holy Week leads us to another day which we can be part of – that final day of Holy Week.

Easter Day will once more remind us that we are a Church, Parish and People of the Resurrection.

For the children, I guess, a good Easter Day will be measured by the number of Easter eggs on Easter Sunday morning! However, when we eat an egg we know that the shell needs to be broken - sometimes we want to hang on to things just as they are, our habits and our fears too, yet God calls us out of our shells into a whole new way of living - the loving way, for God and each other - perhaps our shells will need to be broken!

A Happy, Blessed and Peaceful Easter.

Michael

Transfiguration Sunday

From the Vicar : Lent 2014
This first Sunday in March, Transfiguration Sunday, means we are preparing for Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday, this week. Once again we will travel through these six weeks towards the events of Holy Week and Easter.

Travelling as a group of people builds relationships, understanding, shared experiences and all are welcome on the journey.

On this particular journey we have the opportunity to be close to the greatest travelling companion of all – Jesus – and so discover more about ourselves, each other and the One who helps us define who we are and where we are.

Weekly worship will reflect our growing together and, of course, the Church is open each day for people to drop in, perhaps light a candle, offer a prayer or simply find some quiet space.

Have a good Lent and so look forward with Jesus to a wonderful Easter.

Michael

“Lord, give us the eyes of faith, to see your presence in the world.
Where fear closes our eyes, help us.
Where tears blind us, heal us.
Where busyness keeps us from noticing, slow us.
Where pride gets in the way, release us.
Set us free to see your love at work in the world.”
Amen

Candlemas

From the Vicar - Candlemas 2014
This note is written at Candlemas, forty days after the birth of Jesus, when we can look back, upon Christmas and Epiphany, and forwards towards Lent and Holy Week.

It is a time to perhaps take breath, reflect upon our own lives - where we have travelled, where we are now, and to remind ourselves that the future is in God’s hands.
For some, travelling with Jesus might mean major life changes, for others it is the fulfillment of a lifetime search, for most people, it is a mixture of both. Candlemas, in one sense, marks the true end of the Christmas / Epiphany Seasons and points us already, towards Lent and Easter.

To remember what old Simeon said, we will bless candles in Church for people, and so provide a focus for prayer.

Some useful information follows, from a contributor to our Newsletter, about Candlemas, which we will celebrate at our Holy Eucharist on 2nd  February.

By the way – how are the New Year Resolutions working out!

Michael

Candlemas

Candlemas (February 2nd) was the most unshadowed, serenely hopeful feast of the pre-reformation church.  Like almost all such feasts, its meaning  goes further back than Christianity. Candles have been symbolic of life and resurrection since ancient times, and therefore closely associated with returning spring and the growth of crops and creatures. In the days of the early Church's Christmastide and of winter, was the time when people's thoughts turned to spring.

From the eleventh century the Church's candles for the coming season were paraded and consecrated at Candlemas. These were always costly real beeswax candles, because tradition held that bees came from Heaven. The procession and blessing of the candles at this time went back to the pagan torch processions which had wound about the fields bringing light to invigorate the soil before the spring sowing.

Being the only form of domestic lighting, the cheaper tallow candles and rush lights had scores of superstitions attached to them. According to the flame's colour or how it flickered, they would foretell who would live, prosper, marry or die during the year. In some places the Yule candle was relit for a family feast on Candlemas Night to mark the dedication of Spring.  In Dorset, a large candle was often a gift, and the family would have cakes and ale or punch by its light until it went out.  Children were allowed to stay up late on this night, if on no other.

But farming folk had to be practical too, February food was lean and February work hard. Thomas Tusser, the great verse recorder of the farming year, pointed out vigorously in his instructions for the months that if a man failed to till and to keep his working stock in good condition, that would impoverish both his land and himself, although marling and manuring were necessary as well. The farmer was to plough and to sow beans and peas to dry against next winter. Mustard was to be sown in new-turned soil, and hemp seed sown to strangle nettles. Vines and osiers should be pruned and replaced if necessary, while land to be left for hay should now be manured. Barley for malt and seed corn should be threshed, except for a small quantity to give the labourers indoor work if the weather turned sour. Land should be fenced with hedges, and standing willows planted to shade the cattle.

Such end-of-winter tasks bring home vividly how closely every family in a society without shops depended on the new springing of seed and the rising of sap in the local fields. They also illustrated how deeply the folk rituals which accompanied them were embedded in the way of life of country folk.