Tuesday 18 February 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It is coming up to the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Diocese will be holding a Service of Prayers for Peace and Justice in Ukraine online TOMORROW, Wednesday 19th February at 18:00. Anyone is welcome to join in via this link.

Mission Sunday, 23rd February (Sung Eucharist)
Our service will focus on mission, and we will also be highlighting the charities we support and praying for them. Families are especially invited to bring food and toiletries for the Passantenhilfe Box. Children will be invited to bring these up during the service.
After the service, James Morgan will speak about his volunteer work with the Drop-in Day Room of the Heilsarmee in Bern.

LENT
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, 5th March. There will be a special Eucharist at 6.30pm.

Other activities during Lent include:

• Morning Prayer (online): 8.30am, Monday - Thursday (starting Monday 10th March)
• Lent Quiet Morning: Saturday 15th March, 9.30-1pm (in church)
• Joining a House Group? If you are interested in joining a house group for Lent, let me know. Depending on the numbers, we may encourage individuals to join one of the current groups (depending on how much room there is in each group) or run a separate group during Lent
• Nicene Creed: There is material produced by the Diocese reflecting on the Nicene Creed. If anyone is interested in more information, let me know.

Electoral Roll
Would you like to be on our electoral roll? This means you can vote at our Annual General Meeting. You need to be baptised but you don't have to be an Anglican: you can be a baptised member of any church in communion with the Anglican church. You need to have worshipped with us regularly for at least 6 months.
The deadline for completing the form to join the electoral roll is 2nd March. Please ask Tricia or me for more information.

Trust in God at All Times
I have just re-read David Watson's book Fear No Evil, which I first read as a student in my 20s. David Watson was an Anglican priest who had a very fruitful ministry of preaching, teaching and evangelism and who wrote several influential books on the Christian life. He died from cancer, aged 50, in 1984. His book Fear No Evil tells of how he dealt with the shock of learning he had cancer, his subsequent operation and treatment, his prayers for healing, and his reflections on suffering and death, faith and hope.

He often quotes the Psalms which he finds both express his pain and questioning, and are a source of encouragement and hope. As David (Marshall) said in his sermon last Sunday, the Psalms can speak into every kind of human experience, from praise and gratitude to anguish and pain, from joy and delight to doubt and despair. For David Watson, the Psalms helped him to be honest about his fears and questioning yet also to seek God in hope and trust.

Towards the end of the book, not long before his death, he writes:

'God offers no promise to shield us from the evil of this fallen world. There is no immunity guaranteed from sickness, pain, sorrow or death. What he does pledge is his never-failing presence for those who have found him in Christ. Nothing can destroy that. Always he is with us. And, in the long run, that is all we need to know.'

Love in Christ,
Helen