Sunday 7^th March-The Third Sunday of Lent

A warm welcome to everybody in our churches today

All our worship is offered to the glory of God

The liturgical colour this week is purple, the colour of repentance and sorrow.

Sunday Morning’s Readings

 “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish

just as they did.” (Luke 13:5)

Call to Worship: Our focus today is on the virtue of repentance. So with repentant hearts, lifted by the knowledge of God’s gracious forgiveness and new life in Jesus Christ, let us come with praise to Almighty God.

New Testament: 1 Corinthians 10: 1-13 The Apostle Paul uses the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness as a picture of his Corinthian readers’ Christian pilgrimage.

Gospel: Luke 13: 1-9 Jesus uses the stories of two recent incidents, followed by a parable, to call his hearers to true repentance.

Gospel Acclamation: Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory. The Lord is a great God, O that today you would listen to his voice. Harden not your hearts.

All: Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory.

 Deanery Prayer Diary

(A piece written by Alan, The Bishop of Thetford

for our Deanery Prayer Diary)

I recently had the privilege of visiting Redenhall Deanery for the first time. In the space of 36 hours, I met most of the clergy, saw a glimpse of the parishes and communities served by the churches, and also enjoyed a warm welcome service at St. Mary’s Diss.

It was good to see a deanery where there seem to be genuine bonds of fellowship and support across the benefices and among the people. There are, I am sure, many practical ways of helping one another, but this prayer diary is something else, something of huge importance.

To hold our colleagues and our neighbours before God in prayer is a wonderful gift, and a wonderful service. It is good to have the notes that come with the prayer diary, that highlight particular areas of concern. Sometimes we will have direct knowledge of the people and places for whom we pray, and my recent visit has certainly helped deepen my own prayers for you as I now have faces to put to names, and memories of churches and villages to go with names.

But sometimes we may struggle to know what to pray for someone we haven’t seen recently, or may wonder how we can pray for a parish we haven’t yet really got to know. The Bible offers many examples of prayer that can help at these times, and I am particularly fond of St. Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians in chapter 3 verses 14-21. This was one of the first Bible passages given to me by a friend when I was beginning to explore my own faith, and it makes a perfect prayer for our neighbours across the Deanery.

“I pray that you may have the power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

+ Alan Thetford     Ash Wednesday 2010 

 Down, but not out

1.1 million still in the local C of E each Sunday

According to the latest attendance figures available (2008), attending a local C of E church is still all part of a typical week for 1.1 million people; around 1.7 million people continue to attend some sort of Church of England service each month. For every 50 people attending church or cathedrals on a typical Sunday, another 10 attend during the week and an extra 37 in total over a month.

Regular attendance is down. The total number of adults, children and young people regularly attending local churches has dropped two per cent overall in the six years since 2002. 

The Rev’d. Lynda Barley, the Church of England's Head of Research and Statistics, comments: "It is important to see these trends in the context of wider changes in a society where fewer people are willing to join and take part in membership organizations. Political parties have seen their memberships fall by around 40 per cent in recent years. Even in a General Election year, almost double the number of members of the three main political parties taken together will attend a Church of England parish church on Sunday."

Roydon Church-Easter Lilies

There is an order form for those wishing to purchase Easter Lilies in remembrance of loved ones both in the March Herald and at the back of the church.

Billboard

Billboard on the side of the road: Keep your eyes on the road! Stop reading these signs!

Car

At a garage selling cars: “The best way to get on your feet....miss a car payment.”

Mix-up

What do you get when you cross an atheist with a Jehovah’s Witness?

Someone who knocks at your door for no apparent reason.

Respect the pastor’s free time

This a true story; a little Baptist church had made so many demands on its old minister that he had retired early, just to get away. As the new minister was installed a few months later, the church elders stressed how important it was that the congregation respect the new pastor’s free time. Everyone nodded enthusiastically.

Next morning in the parsonage the phone rang before 6am. The pastor leapt for the phone, heart pounding. “Good morning, pastor,” said a cheery voice. “I just wanted to catch you before you begin your day off...”

Thoughts of Spring

No matter how harsh the winter

And deep the driven snow,

No matter how vice like its icy grip

It’s a comfort to all that we know,

That when all the snow has melted

And the birds once again start to sing,

The green shoots of nature’s new cycle

Will herald the arrival of spring.

Colin Hammacott