The Parish Magazine February 2023

the parish noticeboard — 1
Notices
Sunday 5 February 10.30am Christingle Family
Service for Candlemas
Join us on Candlemas Sunday for our Christingle Family
Service. Bring your Christingle with you (directions to
make one on the right) to join in our special celebration for
Candlemas which is traditionally the day that Christians
celebrate the presentation of the child Jesus in the Temple
and when all the candles used in churches throughout the
year would be blessed. There will be a cash collection in
aid of the Karun School in South India that St Andrew's
Church has supported for many years — see page 23.
Ash Wednesday 22 February 7.30am
In Western churches Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, six
and a half weeks before Easter, and traditionally began
a 40-day period for fasting and abstinence (Sundays are
excluded), in imitation of Jesus Christ's fasting in the
wilderness before he began his public ministry (see bottom
right for service details)
Marking Lent with Morning Prayer
Every Tuesday from 28 February during Lent our regular
Morning Prayer service in St Andrew's Church at 9.30am
will include a reflection from The Beatitudes followed by
coffee, tea and conversation in The Ark.
In addition, during Lent, Morning Prayer will also
be said on each Friday morning at 9.30am. Everyone is
welcome to join us in the church.
Why pancakes before Lent?
Author and broadcaster, David Winter reflects on Shrove Tuesday and
Ash Wednesday ...
Ever wonder why we eat pancakes just before Lent?
The tradition dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, when
Christians spent Lent in repentance and severe fasting.
On the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the church bell
would summon them to confession, where they would
be ‘shriven’, or absolved from their sins, which gives us
Shrove Tuesday. At home, they would then eat up their last
eggs and fat, and making a pancake was the easiest way to
do this. For the next 47 days, they almost starved.
Pancakes feature in cookery books as far back as
1439, and today’s pancake races are in remembrance of a
panicked woman in Olney, Buckinghamshire in 1445. She
was making pancakes when she heard the shriving bell
calling her to confession. Afraid she’d be late, she ran to
church in a panic, still in her apron, and holding the pan.
Flipping pancakes is also centuries old. A poem from
Pasquil’s Palin in 1619 says:
And every man and maide doe take their turne,
And tosse their Pancakes up for feare they burne.
The ingredients of pancakes can be used to highlight
four significant things about this time of year:
— eggs for creation
— flour is the staff of life
— salt keeps things wholesome
— milk stands for purity
Shrove Tuesday is always 47 days before Easter Sunday
and falls between 3 February and 9 March. This year it's on
Tuesday 21 February.
The Parish Magazine - February 2023 7
How to make your Christingle
for our Family Service at
10.30am 0n Sunday 5 February
You need an orange, four cocktail sticks,
some dried fruit or sweets, tin foil, a
candle and some red ribbon or tape.
— The orange is the world.
— Red ribbon or tape is wrapped
around the orange to represent
the blood of Christ and God’s
love for us and that Jesus died
for the whole world.
— The dried fruit and sweets are
symbols of God’s creation and are placed on three of the
four cocktail sticks in the orange.
We leave the fourth stick empty to remind us of the
poor and hungry in the world.
— The four sticks can also represent spring, summer,
autumn and winter.
— The lit candle symbolises Jesus, the light of the world.
Some tips: It's a good idea to slice a piece off the bottom of the
orange so that it does not roll over when you put it down. Make
a hole in the top of the orange big enough to take your candle
and put foil in the hole before placing the candle inside.
Our Christingle service will be in St Andrew's Church
at 10.30am on Sunday 5 February when will be celebrating
the gift of Jesus as a light in our world. It will involve lots
of fun and it would be great to see you there with your
Christingle.
Why 'Ash'
Wednesday?
Holy Communion with
the Imposition of the
Ashes in St Andrew's
Church on Wednesday 22
February at 7.30pm
Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent,
is about getting things right between us and God. The
tradition goes back to the Old Testament and the sins of
the Israelites. When they finally came to their senses,
and saw their evil ways as God saw them, they could
do nothing but repent in sorrow. They mourned for
the damage and evil they had done and in repentance,
covered their heads with ashes.
In the early Christian Church, the yearly 'class' of
penitents had ashes sprinkled over them at the beginning
of Lent. They were turning to God for the first time, and
mourning their sins. Soon many other Christians wanted
to take part, and to do so at the start of Lent.
Ash Wednesday became known as either the 'beginning
of the fast' or ‘the day of the ashes’.
At St Andrew's this tradition of 'ashing' continues
during a Holy Communion service when members of the
congregation can, if they so wish, receive the mark of
ashes on their forehead. It is entirely optional.