Newsletter for
March 2nd
Quinquagesima Sunday
(Sunday before Lent)
C H U R C H N E W S
St. Andrew and St. Mary the Virgin
The Transfiguration - Mike Moyers
All about us at www.fletchingparishchurch.co.uk and all about our Organ Appeal at www.fletchingorgan.org
~ N O T I C E S ~
The organ music today is an early work by J S Bach – the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor. The Passacaglia (before the service) consists of variations over a repeated 8 bar phrase, stated initially in the pedal. In the Fugue (at the end of the service), the passacaglia theme is adapted, [and three ideas are passed between manuals and pedals] in a complex interweaving pattern.
You will be please to hear that our fund-raising has reached its target, with some headroom for any additional expenses that may arise. A big thank you to all who have so generously contributed to this project.
Ash Wednesday
THIS COMING WEDNESDAY on March 5th
with Holy Communion at 10 a.m. with ashing.
A great book for Lent this year is ‘My Sour-Sweet Days’ - an exploration of the petry of George Herbert. Two copies available for browsing.
Shrove Tuesday ….
…. is THIS COMING TUESDAY March 4th Soup and pancakes served from 12 noon in Church. School will be coming for pancakes, class by class, from 1.15p.m.
This coming Friday, March 7th
The new Discussion Group on March 12th
To be held at Pollard’s (Jennie Grice’s house), Bell Lane,
en route to Nutley at 10 a.m.
The Organ Project
Work is due to start at the end of June and further information on arrangements will be available shortly, once details have been confirmed with the organ builder.
Please remember in your prayers …
We pray for the Bishops. We pray for those involved in the selection of a new Archbishop of Canterbury. For all in leadership in the church that they will be faithful encouragers of the patient work of England’s parishes. For General Synod which met last week.
We pray for all those who suffer through war. We give thanks for delicate signs of peace in the Holy Land and Syria and continue to pray for Ukraine in their struggle
We pray for those who are sick. Especially Andy Johnson, Maureen O’Loughlin, Hayley Wilkins, Richard Bradley, Sue Collins, Stephanie Bassett, Bertie Going,
Scilla Palmer and any others known to us.
May they rest in peace, remembering David Baker and Julia Goodman. Also remembering Jake, whose grandparents live in Sheffield Park, who died in a car accident in Uckfield a few days ago.
Sunday’s readings …
Exodus Ch 34 v 29 - end
Psalm 99
and St Luke Ch 9 v 28 – 36
The Book of Exodus is an epic in every way. It tells the story of the birth of a nation and is dominated by the commanding figure of Moses.
Psalm 99 retells the story of that time in a form suitable for singing in worship.
Finally, St Luke’s Gospel draws a clear parallel between the shining face of Moses as he returns from his encounter with God on the mountain, and Jesus, transfigured, along with Moses and Elijah. A more powerful statement that Jesus’ teaching is the heir to the Law given to Moses is hard to imagine.
The background is the presence in Egypt of the people of Israel. Egypt had long been a refuge in times of drought because of the access to water provided by the River Nile.
From Abraham to Joseph, the Israelites had been a regular feature of life in Egypt. However, by the time of Exodus, a population explosion among the Israelites (largely working as slaves in Egypt’s brick industry) had made the Pharoah, Rameses II, uneasy.
Exodus tells the story of escape from Egypt (Chapters 1 to 19) and the giving of the law and building of the Tabernacle (Chapters 20 to 40). For three centuries, until the building of the Temple in Jerusalem, this Tabernacle, containing the Commandments, at the foot of Mount Sinai, was the focus for Israel’s worship.
