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The Triduum What a beautiful beginning to Holy Week – congratulations on a hugely encouraging turn out at both parishes for Palm Sunday! Today begins the Sacrum Triduum, or Three Holy Days – of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the celebration of Easter. The Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be celebrated this evening at 7pm at St. John’s, and afterwards the Watch of the Passion will continue until midnight (although you are welcome to come and go as you…

Dearest friends, This week we have been enjoying the wonderful readings from Genesis giving us the first few chapters of the story of Joseph. (Genesis 37). It’s worth going back when you have a moment this week and reading the whole story (Genesis 37-46). It is a story where you can easily imagine Joseph asking the question ‘how much more of this can I take?’.  First he was sold into slavery by jealous brothers, then he was put in prison…

Dearest friends, It has been a terrific week in both churches as we have had an early taste of Easter Sunday with the celebration of school Easter services. At St. Luke’s we welcomed Haytor View Primary School – who sang us songs, read scripture, and explained why Easter was so important. At St. John’s we travelled the short distance to St. Catherine’s school in Heathfield, where once again the children sang, gave readings (and even some poetry), and explained why…

Dearest friends, Next Sunday we will be celebrating Mothering Sunday. It is a very old feast and comes on Laetare Sunday – a time in Lent when we take a moment to remember that we are already an Easter People, that we have already been saved, that we have already seen the resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ.  We take a breath and view the hard work we have undertaken so far, before girding ourselves for the coming weeks of…

Dearest friends, In Lent we will be following the Stations of the Cross on Saturday evenings before Evening Prayer.  But why? The 14 stations allow us to spend time with Jesus Christ in His last day on earth. We start with His condemnation and end as He is laid in his tomb.  Many churches have beautiful images, icons or even life size statues of each of these moments in His last day. Each gives us a moment to pause, to…

Dearest friends, This week we collected your palm crosses and burnt them to make the ash for Ash Wednesday (thank you Mark!)  There are never quite as many collected back as there are given out. We are reticent to give up those beautiful palm crosses that we took home from church last Palm Sunday.  They adorn our halls, our studies, our offices, our bedrooms, and we become used to their reassuring presence.  Each time we walk past them we feel…

Dearest friends, We start lent by being shriven of our sins. It is a moment of weakness and as St. Paul tells us, ‘..when I am weak, then I am strong’. (2 Cor’ 12:10) In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, our fragility gives us strength. Our willingness to expose our ugly sins to Christ, renews us. Reconciliation is the sacrament of love and of mercy, it is a moment to die to sin and to our own desires that we may…

Dearest friends, At the end of mass you will hear either myself or Deacon David say ‘Go now, and announce the gospel of the Lord’. I know that many of you will not have heard this before and even Deacon David has to work to remember it!  But when we get to the end of Mass it’s always struck me as rather odd that our dismissal lacks a certain energy and hwyl.  The word ‘Mass’ comes from the final blessing…

Dearest friends, Last week we celebrated the feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius. They were brothers who both entered the service of Christ together. Methodius was a monk and Cyril became a Bishop. Between them they are credited with many wonderful things (not least the invention of an entire alphabet) but at the heart of this celebration is the message of a joint purpose and calling. The brothers were missionaries in the slavic countries and nothing could stop them bringing…

Dearest friends, Last week was the memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes. In 1858 the immaculate Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France.  Mary appeared to this poor, 14 year-old girl to call us to change our lives for the better. To pray the rosary and to offer ourselves in service of the poor and the sick. A couple of years ago I had the chance to go to Lourdes on pilgrimage. I must admit I wasn’t expecting…

Dearest friends, Last week Rev’d Dave, Gareth and myself took a team away day at Sheldon Retreat. We spent some time reading and discussing the whole of St Peter’s second letter, praying together and talking about how we might develop a real visible sense that we are one benefice in partnership with St. John’s. As a result, we agreed to do the following things: We’ll also be continuing our town centre outreach (in which we hope to include Bovey soon)…