Thoughts from The Vicarage with No come & see and Bishop Olivia’s letter
Greetings as the latest snowmen gently melt away!
This Sunday at 9.00 in All Saints and 10.30 in St Michael’s the focus for the 3rd week of Lent is John 4.5-42, the amazing story of the Woman at the Well. And don’t forget that the week after is Mothering Sunday on March 19th.
There is NO Come and See this Saturday at The Vicarage in Lambourn. But if you’d like to find out more about The Beatitudes, explore spirituality and discover more about the Christian faith go to this link Come and See – https://mailchi.mp/oxford.anglican.org/come-and-see . Lambourn CE Primary school are using Come and See on Monday mornings in Collective Worship (assembly) which is great news.
Attached today is a letter from Bishop Olivia writing for International Women’s Day.
There is also a fab interview with the Vicar of Crowthorne. The Revd Laura Wheatley Downs shares her journey to ordination and discusses her PhD on shame and reconciliation along with some commentary on how the Diocese of Oxford is recovering from the pandemic. Read more.
Dr Bev Botting has analysed October 2022 church attendance figures in the diocese. The data shows that, overall, on-site church attendance recovery from Covid lockdown seems to have slowed down, and by October 2022 was at 81% of the 2019 level. That’s an amazing achievement after the disruption of COVID and all of the ongoing demands. We know the overall picture is still quite fragile. Recovery is taking longer than anticipated. Our findings suggest that numbers grow when appropriate provision is made and shrink when it is withdrawn. Have a read and see what you think.
The Interactive Stations of The Cross prayer walk in St Michael & All Angels is proving popular – all are welcome for quiet prayer, contemplation, and reflection. It is suitable for all ages, and you are welcome to pop in any time. Make sure you pop in before March 16th as there’s going to be some work going on in church which means it will be closed at times to keep us all safe – more news on that next week.
Lent groups continue as usual and if you fancy joining in simply contact Christine or myself.
Finally, How is your Lent going? Why not discuss it with a friend this weekend, saying what you have found or discovered, what you are finding tricky and what you are looking forward to about Holy Week this time round.
Lent is not only or primarily a solitary endeavour- let’s walk the road together. Radio 3 are broadcasting Compline at 9.30pm every Monday evening during Lent and Radio 4 has their excellent Lent Talks each Wednesday evening at 8.45pm. They will, of course, be obtainable on BBC Sounds.
God bless
Julie