Electoral Roll 2021-2022
We are currently updating our Electoral Roll, if you are not currently on the electoral roll or would like to amend your entry on the electoral roll then please in the first instance email Nikki (Parish Administrator) stjohnsca@gmail.com
3 Meditations for Good Friday
In a normal year we open St Mary’s church for 3 hours between noon and 3pm, the hours when Jesus was on the cross. We offer a series of meditations followed by silence. We cannot open the church this year but below are links to 3 meditations for you to use in your own time, as you think upon Jesus death on the cross. Each meditation includes a bible reading followed by a reflection from Colin. (The length is indicated in brackets).
Jesus arrested: John 18: 1-27 (10 minutes)
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Au3–5UP8oAdgp1lMZu6k_qscgbTSQ?e=HAi0wE
Jesus before Pilate: Mark 15:1-15 (5 minutes)
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Au3–5UP8oAdgp1kqsCtCyFkKgjz-g?e=inO2gp
Jesus is dead: John 19:31-42 (6 minutes)
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Au3–5UP8oAdgp1j9aONvrQsyxrz9g?e=hyQQP9
Easter Services 2021
Sadly, continued restrictions and safety concerns mean that we will not be opening our churches for public worship over Holy Week and Easter this year. However, we will be broadcasting live services on Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday. Good Friday meditations will also be available on the website. The live services will be available through our usual Facebook link
https://www.facebook.com/pg/stmaryslangdonhills/videos/?ref=page_internal
Maundy Thursday 1st April. 8pm Holy Communion (including the stripping of the altar).
Good Friday 2nd April. Recorded meditations available through our website.
Easter Sunday 4th April. 9am Holy Communion. (This will be Colin’s last service before retirement).
Lent 2021 in Langdon Hills.
Due to the current restrictions we will not be able to offer our usual Ash Wednesday service this year, nor will we be able to run our Lent course in our usual way. However, we can offer a meditation for Ash Wednesday (see the link below) and the opportunity to join our online Lent course on Zoom (more details below).
Ash Wednesday meditation
Follow this link to hear Colin’s recorded meditation on “The seven deadly sins of the keen Christian”! The bible reference is Matthew 6:5-8; 19-21.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Au3–5UP8oAdgbJki7SCnssHu-5ksw?e=MmiZAx
Lent course: “Let’s Talk About Race”
The death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement have brought the issue of race to the fore this year. I am very grateful to our own Paula Sofowora, who has adapted the “Let’s talk about race” course for our use. Please see the details below. Some of our existing small groups are already using this course. Paula and I are offering the opportunity to any who are not in existing groups to join us for an online Lent group using Zoom. We intend that the course will start during the week beginning 1st March.
If you would like to join us, please let me know by email to:
cchopkinson@aol.com
Please specify any times when you are not available. One of the few upsides of doing this course online during lockdown is that we can be flexible! So, we have deliberately not set a day or time in advance because we hope to set the day and time to suit the maximum number of participants. We can also be flexible about how many sessions we run to complete the material (see below).
The resources for the course will be emailed to participants.
PURPOSE
Racism and any form of discrimination is an affront to God and as Christians we must each play our part in eradicating all forms of racism and discrimination in our communities. This course aims to help us understand what the Bible says about race issues, and can be used as a practical check list for each of us to discuss and measure our own behaviour. Are we truly inclusive in our hearts and how we behave, at home, in the work place, church and society as a whole? Do we understand the meaning of Mark 12:30-31 ‘love your neighbour as yourself?’ ‘in our respective areas of influence?
COURSE CONTENT
There are 3 modules which may take 3 to 5 sessions depending upon the level of interaction and discussion.
1. Black and immigrant in the Bible
2. All one in Christ
3. Compassion and justice for all.
TARGET GROUP
Open to anyone.
Please read the resources prior to each session, consider incidents where you or someone that you love may have been discriminated against, reflect on the issues raised, how it made you feel and what if anything, you or they did about it.
Led by Paula Sofowora & Colin Hopkinson