We do hope that the recent storms have not caused too much devastation for you and that any repairs can be made swiftly with minimal disruption. Unfortunately, the Churchyard has taken a bit of a beating although one of the fallen trees had been identified for surgical treatment anyway. We give thanks for God’s intervention on that!
We hope that you have managed to source the ingredients ready for Shrove Tuesday on 1st March 2022 and have been practising your flipping techniques. All our welcome to join us online or in the building for our service on Ash Wednesday 2nd March 2022 at 7pm.
Thank you to everyone who has returned their palm crosses for us to prepare the ashes for the service. As Lent approaches, you may well be considering what additional resources you may require throughout Lent. Do take a look at what is available through the Church of England website – churchofengland.org/livelent.
For those who wish to delve deeper, may we commend the following two books to you for this season:
- Embracing Justice: The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2022 by the Rev’d Dr Isobel Hamley.
- Hope and the Nearness of God: The 2022 Lent Book by Sister Teresa White.
For those of you looking for a Lent Course the following is available too, through the Bible Society.
The Bible Series is based on a book by Andrew Ollerton, The Bible: A Story That Makes Sense of Life. The book is about £15 but not required to join in with the series. It does however have daily readings so if people want to follow those readings they will need to buy the book.
The series is in 7 sessions: an Introduction followed by 6 sessions taking you through the bible: (2)Origins and Meaning; (3)Exodus and Freedom; (4)Exile and Peace; (5)Messiah and Love; (6)Spirit and Community; (7)Hope and Home.
The Bible Society website has resources for each of the 7 sessions. Details of these resources are below. You need to sign up (free) to access them.
If this is a bit too much, do feel welcome to join us for daily prayer at 9am each day (Monday to Friday). You do not have to say any fancy prayers or even feel obliged to come every day. The links for this and our study group are in the weekly notice sheet and on our latest website notice. May we encourage you to use this time for personal reflection and study.
Our Monday study group will continue to meet throughout Lent on Zoom and all are welcome to join us on Monday from 10.30am to 11.30am when we will be reflecting on the Psalm for the upcoming Sunday.
We are aware of the relaxing of Covid 19 guidelines throughout the UK. Our PCC have met to discuss how this impacts our Church community and to agree what can be done to ensure the safety and confidence of those wishing to attend services in the building.
We ask that, as individuals, we continue to respect the wishes of the most vulnerable of our Church family and continue to worship in a way that provides gives the utmost safety and protection to those attending our services. Indeed, we have seen the effects that long term Covid can have on people and we want to ensure that they feel able to come to the services at such an important time in the Church calendar.
We recognise that this can invoke strong feelings in many of us and would hope that, as a family, we can address this issues with empathy.
If you have any concerns, do please let us know by writing to enquiries@Penningtonchurch.uk so that we can be aware of any concerns.
We are sure you will join us in wishing all our Church family every blessing throughout this season and we hope to see you very soon.