Berrington Village Pump Edition 134 (Feb - Mar18)

The Reverend Sarah Hare writes
Dear Friends
Since Christmas I have had several phone calls from excited couples who
got engaged at Christmas and they want to get married in our churches in
2018. It is a pleasure and a privilege to take weddings across our team and I have already taken
my first wedding this year of a lovely couple in Sheinton which was a real joy.
I think as soon as the Christmas merchandise was off the shelves it was replaced with either
Valentines Day items or Easter Eggs! Perhaps I will get some more phone calls after Valentine’s
Day when engagement rings have been given and maybe some diamonds! Henry Kissinger said –
“A diamond is a chunk of coal that made good under pressure.” At the base of these beautiful
stones is carbon – ash in another form and Valentine’s Day this year is the same day as Ash
Wednesday which is the start of Lent. On Ash Wednesday we offer people in our services the
opportunity to have the sign of the cross on their head in ash. This reminds them of the love
shown to each one of us when Jesus died on the cross and is a sign of our recognition of this.
Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday are days about love, love for one another and love for each
one of us from and for a God who wanted to be in a relationship with us. Lent for Christians is
about preparing for the amazing revelations of Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday when
Jesus died and Easter Sunday when Jesus overcame death and came back to life.
During Lent 2018 we will be holding a Lent Group to which everyone is welcome.
We will be using the York Course ‘On the Third Day’ by Bishop John Pritchard The resurrection is
the Big Story that turned a little Jewish protest movement into a world-transforming religion.
And yet by Easter Monday we’ve almost forgotten about it and are planning our summer
holidays.
How can we re-capture the explosive power of the resurrection that ricocheted around the
world? How can we live in the glow of resurrection and be an Easter people? How can ‘there and
then’ become ‘here and now’?
Come and join us as we follow this course in Lent 2018.
The Lent Group will be held at The Guildhall in Cound on the 15 th , 22 nd Feb, 1 st , 8 th , 15 th and 22 nd
March. Refreshments will be available from 7pm and we will start at 7.30pm.
With every blessing as we enter this season.
Rev Sarah
Team Vicar in Wenlock Team of Parishes, Contact Details: 3 Grenville Drive, Much Wenlock,
Shropshire, TF13 6HB Tel - 01952 728045 E-mail – wenlockteamvicar@aol.co.uk
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