Welcome to Church today
The Cross is the surest, truest and deepest window onto the very heart and character of the living and loving God.
The God who made the world has the cross at His heart.
March 7th Third Sunday of Lent
An Angry God in a Holy Place
Broadwey 10.30am Family Worship (Rector)
Bincombe 9.15am Holy Communion (Rector)
Upwey 10.30am Parish Communion (Revd Pat Jones)
Buckland 6.00pm Evening Service (Rector)
Isaiah 55: 1 ‑ 9; 1 Corinthians 10: 1 ‑13; Luke 13: 1 ‑ 9 pp 827ff
Bibles - page 742 1151 1046
The Prayer for Today
Almighty God,
whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain,
and entered not into glory before he was crucified:
mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross,
may find it none other than the way of life and peace;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, Amen
Introduction to the Peace
Since we are justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has given us access to his grace.
The peace of the Prince of Peace be always with you
and also with you.
COMMUNION We welcome all who are members of their own Churches to receive the sacrament at any of our Communion Services. If for personal reasons you prefer to dip the wafer into the Chalice, please feel free to do so.
Today’s Gospel Luke 13.1-9
Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them - do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig-tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig-tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
“‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig round it and fertilise it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut
it down.’”
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1 Corinthians 10.1 - 5
I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
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Blessed Assurance - Jesus is Mine
I wonder how many people - you may be one of them ‑ who come to Church ‑ or even those who don't come to Church have a ‘story faith', that is, a belief in the facts of the Christian faith, but without response or commitment. Do you really know that you are a child of God and have that assurance, that confidence, in the truth of God's promise of pardon and life to believing sinners? ‘Faith' declared Martin Luther, ‘is a living deliberate confidence in the grace if God ‑ and such confidence makes us joyous, intrepid and cheerful towards God.' James Denney observed that "In the New Testament Christian assurance is simply a fact."
So, if I am a Christian, do I understand myself? Do I know my own identity? My own real destiny? Repeat after me, if you are able...
I am a child of God. God is my Father; heaven is my home; every day is one day nearer. My Saviour is my brother; every Christian is my brother, or sister, too.
Say it over and over to yourself first thing in the morning, last thing at night, as you wait for the bus, any time when your mind is free, and ask that you may be enabled to live as one who knows it is all utterly and completely true. For this is the Christian's secret of a ‑ happy life? ‑ yes, certainly, but we have something both higher and profounder to say. This is the Christian's secret of a Christian life, and of a God‑honouring life. May this secret become fully yours.
J. I. Packer, "Knowing God", page 207
Our God never gives up
- Adam and Eve disobeyed the very First Rule. But God never gave up.
- Abraham wandered, and Sarah laughed. But God never gave up.
- Moses hid and shook with fear. But God never gave up.
- Saul went insane. But God never gave up.
- David plotted against Uriah. But God never gave up.
- Ahaz sold out to Assyria. But God never gave up.
- Israel fell into pieces. But God never gave up.
- The Jewish people became exiles. But God never gave up.
- John the Baptist was beheaded. But God never gave up.
- Peter denied he even knew him. But God never gave up.
- The disciples all ran away. But God never gave up.
God never, never, never gave up and he has not given up today!
Notices Benefice Website - www.theweytojesus.org.uk
Monday 7.00pm Chat and Payers at The Rectory, Broadwey.
Tuesday 10.00am Holy Communion – St Laurence Upwey
Tuesday 10.30am - St Laurence Coffee Morning and Bring & Buy
- 12 Noon Pru Bollam – 80 Elwell Street, Upwey.
Thursday 10.00am Holy Communion at St Nicholas Broadwey
Saturday 12.30pm Wedding at St Nicholas Broadwey
Lindsay Stanwix and Thomas England
March 14th Mothering Sunday
Listening with Mother
Broadwey 10.30am Mothering Sunday Service (Pat Jones)
Bincombe 9.15am Morning Service (Terry Landsbert)
Upwey 10.30am Mothering Sunday Service (Rector)
Buckland 9.15am Holy Communion (Rector)
Exodus 2: 1- 10; Colossians 3: 12 - 17; Luke 2: 33 - 35
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As you talk to the Lord in prayer please remember...
To pray that we may know that we are walking with Jesus....
To make space and time for the Lord to meet with you...
To thank God for all the blessings we receive from Him day by day...
For the families of our Military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq...
To say Thank you to God for belonging to Him and to His family..
To ask God to bring more people into our (all four) Church family..
To ask God to bring you nearer to Him as we prepare for Easter...
To Thank Him that we have had a ‘Successful’ Ofsted in our School...
To pray for those who are searching for a spiritual meaning to life...
To pray for all who work in the medical and caring professions...