Dear Friends,

It was a huge joy and privilege to have Dom Gregory from Turvey Abbey as our preacher at Evensong on the First Sunday in Lent. As he stood in the pulpit, I experienced one of those rare moments when all time seems to condense and one has the ability to experience life in its totality. On the one hand at least a thousand years rolled away, on the other there was a vision of what the future could hold. Dom Gregory talked about the faith and loyalty of Jesus to his Father; about Our Lord’s acceptance of the path God had chosen for him. It all seemed so simple and so obvious – and so profoundly beautiful.

What struck me most forcibly, I think, was how difficult we like to make things. Once people become involved and institutions develop, with their rules and regulations, the dynamics shift and the organisation becomes almost more important than the thing it is set up to serve. So it is with the Church. The wonderful message of God’s redeeming love, brought to us in the life and death of Jesus, has become obscured and tarnished by centuries of ‘in-fighting’ and struggle for control. Of course, some of this is based not just on a desire for power, but on a genuine search for the ‘right’ way, and after long examination of conscience.

In Lent, we are required to examine our conscience and through prayer and study to try to enter into the passion of Our Lord and so draw nearer to God. We are to try to understand more fully his purpose for our lives. That is why I think I found Sunday evening such a moving experience. It would be wrong to pretend that there have not been tensions – and in some times and places, outright hostility - between the different organisations of the Christian Church represented in All Saints on Sunday night. But here, in a small village, in one corner of Christendom, that seemed totally irrelevant, and the magnitude of God’s redeeming love for all his people was what mattered. It was about celebrating what unites – which is the essence of our faith.

As we pray for grace that we may continue to keep Lent well, so let us pray that we may continue to celebrate what binds us together as Christians in this place.

Yours in Christ

Jo

The life and work of Turvey Abbey

The people of Iraq - and the country’s new constitution

For mothers and children.

Mothering Sunday. Please join us for our Family Eucharist for Mothering Sunday on March 21^st at 11.00am. It will be a service suitable for children – of all ages!

Annual Parochial Meeting. All Saints APM is on Tuesday 30^th March, at 7.30pm in Church. This is an important meeting at which we elect Churchwardens and members of the Parochial Church Council, the governing body of the Church. All members of the Church, whose names are on the Electoral Roll, are eligible to stand for the PCC and to vote at the meeting. It is a time when we review the year and present the accounts. It is also an opportunity for members of the parish to suggest matters of importance they would like the PCC to consider. Please will you take time to check that your name is on the Electoral Roll and if not ask for a form. If you would like to stand for election as a member of the PCC, please let me, or one of the Churchwardens, know. I do hope you will endeavour to come, we have a busy year ahead and I hope to bring you up to date with plans for the Church roof.

Jo Spray

Coffee Mornings. The next coffee morning will be at 10:15am on Saturday, 13^th March at The Byre, 6, Grove Court, Turvey by invitation of Mrs. Win Waller. There will be a raffle and a bring-and-buy stall, for which contributions especially of cakes will be much appreciated. Please come - all are welcome!

Last month's coffee morning at Marsh Cottage raised almost £270 towards Church funds. A big thank you to Hazel Hobbs for hosting another successful and enjoyable event and to all those who contributed to and helped with it.

Easter Lilies. Although it may seem early, we do need to order lilies in good time for Easter. If you would like to donate a lily or other flowers in memory of a loved one, please let Anne Claypole White know, ( 881661.

Mothers' Union. Next meeting is the Lady Day Service on March 25^th at 2:30pm in Church. This will be followed by tea in the Manor Room.

(Children under five please bring a grown-up)

Sunday 4^th April Palm Sunday

11:00am Parish Eucharist with the

distribution of palms and reading of The Passion.

Thursday 8^th April Maundy Thursday

7:30pm Holy Communion

Friday 9^th April Good Friday

11:00am ‘The Story of the Cross’ for families

2:00pm The Liturgy for Good Friday

7:30pm A Service of Readings and Music

Sunday 11^th April Easter Day

11:00am Parish Eucharist

6:00pm Evensong