Services This Week
Dear All,
Services this week are taking place in person or via livestream through our YouTube Channel. Please find gathering times and service sheet links below.
Friday 28 February
10.30am - BCP Holy Communion (Revd Dr Matthias Grebe)
Sunday 2 March / Last Sunday Before Lent
11am - Holy Communion
Sermon: ‘Seeing the Glory of the Lord’
Service Sheet: Here
Wednesday 5 March / Ash Wednesday
12noon - Holy Communion
Sermon: ‘From Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust’
Service Sheet: Here
Other notices:
Ash Wednesday: A special service, integrating the traditional liturgy and imposition of ashes with reflective readings and music, will be held in the church at 12noon on Wednesday 5 March to mark the beginning of the Lenten season. All are welcome!
Lenten Catechesis Classes: These seminar-style classes, covering the basics of the Christian faith, will begin on Wednesday 12 March at 7.30pm in the church and run for five consecutive Wednesdays during Lent (concluding on Wednesday 9 April). Sessions will run for an hour and tea & coffee will be provided.
Volunteer Rota: In addition to the sign-up sheet in church, we are making it easier to volunteer by attaching an online rota with the weekly email here. (N.B. There will be an initial delay before access is granted to the form, in order that only church members can see and edit it.) Please do consider if you are able to help out in any of the ways listed – we are particularly in need of regular volunteers to set-up tea and coffee and stay a little longer after each service to wash-up/leave away. Many thanks!
Giving: As always we are grateful for all of your gifts! Offerings may still be given during this time via a basket collection during live services, Standing Orders, or one time bank transfer, via BACS (Sort Code: 20-17-19 / Account Number: 30851477 / Account Name: St Edwards Church). There is now also a SumUp machine by the door of the church, for those of you who wish to give contactlessly: Simply power on, enter the amount you wish to give on the screen, and then tap your card.
Exciting Holiness (Thursday 27 February):
Born in 1593 into the aristocratic Pembroke family, George Herbert went up to Cambridge in 1614, eventually becoming a fellow of Trinity College. At the age of twenty-five, he became Public Orator in the University and then a Member of Parliament, apparently destined for a life at court. To everyone’s surprise, he decided to be ordained and, after spending a time with his friend Nicholas Ferrar at Little Gidding, he was made deacon in 1626. He married in 1629, was priested in 1630 and given the care of souls of the parish of Bemerton, near Salisbury, where he spent the rest of his short life. He wrote prolifically, his hymns still being popular throughout the English-speaking world. His treatise, The Country Parson, on the priestly life, and his poetry, especially The Temple, earned Herbert a leading place in English literature. He never neglected the care of the souls of Bemerton, however, and encouraged attendance at the weekday recitation of the daily office, calling to mind the words of his hymn, ‘Seven whole days, not one in seven, I will praise thee’. He died on 1 March 1633 and was buried in his church at Bemerton two days later.
King of glory, king of peace, who called your servant George Herbert from the pursuit of worldly honours to be a priest in the temple of his God and king: grant us also the grace to offer ourselves with singleness of heart in humble obedience to your service; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
