Thoughts from The Vicarage with a Well, the World Day of Prayer and Thank you.
Greetings ! Please find Pews News attached along with a pastoral letter that I commend to you in the light of escalating conflict in the Middle East from the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem and Primate of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East. He calls the global Church to join ‘in urgent, unceasing prayer. We implore God to protect the innocent—the mothers, the children and the elderly—who are caught in the crossfire’.
Tomorrow, Friday is the World Day of Prayer. This is being marked in St Michael’s with a service at 3pm led by a dedicated team from The Sacred Heart and St Michael’s – all are welcome!
This week’s readings hold two themes upon which I have pondered in the light of the events of the last week. John tells of how a woman met Jesus at a well. You may like to read it before coming along on Sunday. It’s John 4.5-42 in which two thirsty people meet at a well. The woman went to the well because her water jar was empty – she didn’t go looking for God. She wanted to go to the well at a time when not many people would be around, and Jesus? He was tired and thirsty. Two aspects strike me.
Firstly, it speaks to us about how faith is often shared. Not by argument or persuasion but through encounter, vulnerability and simple testimony. At first glance the Samaritan woman is an unlikely evangelist. A female, a Samaritan, viewed by Jews with suspicion and an outcast … morally suspect, with a complicated marital backstory. Jesus, is tired, thirsty and asks for help. He is the vulnerable one and in some way he becomes her guest. We don’t hear condemnation, authority, or instruction from Jesus. And what does Jesus do? It is to her that he reveals who he is. And the women …. She leaves as a witness without her jar – because she has found something has been awakened. “Come and see.” She does not offer arguments. She offers encounter and the water of life. . She tells her story, and that is enough to open the door. Her fellow Samaritans come to see Jesus for themselves in verse 42.
Secondly, the reading speaks to me of ‘common humanity’ as seen through the lens of the Gospel. One of the greatest gifts that Jesus offered the Samaritan woman was presence. He saw her—not her community or her reputation. Jesus reminds us that we have so much more in common than that which separates us. It’s remarkable that with one simple conversation this woman discovered the truth of who Jesus was. She could see him, while the disciples he was traveling with were still uncertain about Jesus and the fullness of his identity. We are far more united and have more in common than that which divides us. Each one of us, unique, beloved by God and adopted as His child.
Thank you to all those who have prayed for those on our prayer list recently – amongst them, Penny writes ‘we would be really grateful if you could thank people for all their prayers – it has meant a great deal to us to feel that prayer support especially in the early days when he was so poorly’.
And finally a prayer:
Lord Jesus,
you open your heart to all people,
calling us your brothers and sisters,
people made in the image of God.
Prevent us from closing our hearts to others,
from choosing to see our differences rather than all that we have in common.
May we love as you love.
Amen
Every blessing,
Julie
Diary Dates
- Monday March 9th 2.00 – Lent group @ Christine’s home
- Wednesday March 11th 7pm – Come & See Lent gathering @ Meridian
- Sunday March 15th – Mothering Sunday 9.30 St James
- Sunday March 15th – Mothering Sunday 11.00 All Saints
- Sunday March 15th – Mothering Sunday 11.00 St Michael & All Angels
- Meridian Monday March 16th 2.30 – Lent group @ Christine’s home
- Wednesday March 18th 7pm – Come & See Lent gathering @ Meridian
- Monday March 23rd 2.00 – Lent group @ Christine’s home
- Wednesday 25th 1.30 – Lambourn CE Primary school Easter celebration @
- Wednesday March 25th 7pm – Come & See Lent gathering @ Meridian
- Friday March 27th – Lambourn school breaks up
- Sunday March 29th – Palm Sunday Benefice service Blessing of Palms St Michael & All Angels
- Monday of Holy Week March 30th 7pm – Holy Communion & Homily St Michael & All Angels
- Tuesday Holy week March 31st 7pm – Holy Communion & Homily St James
- Wednesday of Holy Week April 1st 7pm – Holy Communion & Homily All Saints
- Maundy Thursday April 2nd – Holy Communion & stripping of altars St Michael & All Angels
- Good Friday April 3rd 10.00 – Walk of Witness meet at Sacred Heart
- Good Friday April 3rd 11.00 – Veneration of The Cross Sacred Heart Church
- Good Friday April 3rd 12.00 – Good Friday Liturgy St James
- Good Friday April 3rd Requiem & Anthems – St Michael & All Angels
- Holy Saturday April 4th 7pm – Easter Vigil St Michael & All Angels
- Sunday April 5th Easter Day 9.00 – Easter Day Holy Communion All Saints
- Sunday April 5th Easter Day 10.30 – Easter Day Holy Communion St James
- Sunday April 5th Easter Day 10.30 Easter Day Festal Sung Eucharist St Michael & All Angels
- Sunday April 5th Easter Day 6.30pm – Festal Evensong St Michael & All Angels