February Vicar’s Letter

Dear Friends,

 

A good number of people attended the Ash Wednesday Eucharist to mark the beginning of the Season of Lent.  We worshipped “in the round” on the dais and in the chancel, receiving the sign of the cross in ash on our foreheads, a sign of each person’s personal commitment to a spiritual discipline of reflection and pilgrimage over the coming weeks.  The choir sang the anthem “Ave Verum Corpus” to help us reflect and meditate, and after the service all left quietly to begin their Lenten discipline.

 

Many people observe Lent by abstinence and restraint, by charitable works, and by giving time and energy to prayer and study of the faith, perhaps by joining a Lent Study Group.  The tradition of "giving up something for Lent" is still going strong, but Lent is not about self deprecation, it's about preparing ourselves to celebrate God's great love for each of us in Jesus Christ at Easter.

 

Lent is also an opportunity for us to travel together towards Holy Week and Easter as a congregation, so that we may grow together spiritually as a church community.  If you would like to join the Lent Study group meeting at the Vicarage on Wednesday evenings from 8:00pm to 9:00pm throughout Lent, do let me know.  We are following a course by Dr Paula Gooder called “A Way Through The Wilderness” which is based on Isaiah and late joiners will be welcome!

 

If you were at church on the 1st Sunday of Lent, you probably took home with you one of the small wooden crosses given out as a kind of spiritual aid to help you remember to keep this Lent as a spiritual pilgrimage.  You may also have taken home a copy of the Bishop of Guildford’s Lent Call.  The Bishop’s Lent Call is a charitable appeal, but it is also the personal invitation of our bishop to each one of us to Prayer, Fasting and Giving.  Local church and community projects will be supported through the Bishop of Guildford’s Foundation as well as clinics and schools in Zimbabwe through Tear Fund.

 

One way to support the Bishop’s Call is by sacrificing a meal and donating the money saved.  I hope that as many of our congregation as are able will support the “Soup & Roll” Lunches being held in the church every Friday of Lent at 12:00 noon to help people to do this.  A simple lunch will be provided by the church and there will be an opportunity to donate the money saved to the Bishop’s Lent Call.

 

Our own Lent charity this year is “The Peace & Hope Trust” which works in Nicaragua.  Over the last 3 years we have been very fortunate to be supported by annual grants from the Parish of Hersham’s Mission Support Team.  Des Humphrey, a member of the congregation at St Peter’s went out to Nicaragua last year with his son to work on one of the trust’s projects.  Des will be coming to our Lent Lunch on Saturday 13 March at 12:30pm to tell us about that experience with an illustrated talk.  Please do support the Lent Lunch.  It is a great opportunity to experience Lent together and raise funds for our Lent charity.

 

Our Holy Week Visitor this year will be the Revd Mark Rudall, Director of Communications for the Diocese of Guildford and he will address us at Compline on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week.  Mark’s addresses will lead us into Maundy Thursday, the night in which we recall Jesus’ command to his disciples to love one another, their celebration of the Passover together, the washing of their feet and institution of the Eucharist, Jesus’ anguished prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, and his betrayal and trial at the dead of night.  After the solemnity of the Maundy Thursday Eucharist, the youth groups will share a meal together, then keep The Watch in church as usual.

 

The new experimental cross hung in the Sanctuary at the East end of the church to provide a much needed focus for our worship marks a new beginning for us.  How appropriate that this new focus for our worship should finally arrive now, during this time of deep reflection in the life of the Church.  I hope that it will aid us all in our prayers and meditations and that it will focus our hearts and minds always on the sacrificial love of God that stands at the heart of our faith.

 

With every good wish for a prayerful Lent,

 

 

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St Christopher’s Church

Church of England

Hinchley Wood

Diocese of Guildford