For general enquiries, please contact the Priests in Charge:
Revd Claire Burnett - parishes of the Walesby group, except Tealby: claire.burnett@lincoln.anglican.org
Revd Bryan Dixon - Barkwith Group of parishes, plus Tealby in the Walesby group: revbryan@icloud.com
For specific parish enquiries, see also the contact details on www.achurchnearyou.com
Getting married? Marrying in church is personal, meaningful and spiritual just as you want it to be. Churches are special and unique places to get married in - the prayers, promises and the whole service of celebration become part of your marriage, on the day itself and beyond.
There are a wide range of theological opinions within the church, this article reflects the views of the author
'Spoiler alert!'
This Sunday is Mothering Sunday, a day when traditionally all went back to their mother church, to the place where they were nurtured, loved and formed into the ways of God. These days of course we often refer to, and celebrate it, as Mothers’ day, a day to thank those who have mothered us in all the ways we can be cared for. It is a day of celebration, when we are hopefully able to join together with our families and loved ones.
We are also in the season of Lent though, which may originally have followed directly after Epiphany, just as Jesus’ time in the wilderness followed immediately after his baptism. However, Lent has now become firmly attached to Easter, as the principal occasion for baptism and renewal, and for the reconciliation of those who had been excluded from the Church’s fellowship for serious faults.
This explains the characteristic nature of the season of Lent: as one of self-examination, penitence, self-denial, study and preparation for Easter. As candidates for baptism were instructed in Christian faith, and as penitents prepared themselves, through fasting and penance, to be readmitted to communion, the whole Christian community was invited to join them in the process of study and repentance. The extension of this to cover forty days would remind them of the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness, being tested by Satan.
Ashes are an ancient sign of penitence and from the middle ages it became the custom to begin Lent by being marked in ash with the sign of the cross. The calculation of the forty days has varied considerably in Christian history. It is now usual in the West to count them continuously to the end of Holy Week (not including Sundays), so beginning Lent on the sixth Wednesday before Easter, Ash Wednesday. Liturgical dress is the simplest possible, the churches are kept bare of flowers and decoration, and the Gloria is not used. However, the Fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare or Refreshment Sunday) was allowed as a day of relief from the rigour of Lent, and the Feast of the Annunciation almost always falls in Lent. It is these breaks from austerity that are the background to the modern observance of Mothering Sunday on the Fourth Sunday of Lent.
A Prayer for this Week
Loving God,Amen
The Walesby Group, set into the north western edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, consists of 10 parishes, 10 worshipping communities and 11 church buildings. With a population of around 2100 we are a benefice of very small communities, living in the vast open spaces of this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. As worshipping communities we aim to grow ourselves in our faith and discipleship, support and engage with our local communities and bring new people to Christ.
We are blessed with beautiful buildings and faithful commitment from our congregations. As the group continues to integrate together, we are being enabled to offer a variety of worship and outreach styles. Lay ministry and leadership is key to all we offer, and encouraged as we endeavour to open the Kingdom and its values to all.
The Christian faith is focused on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. We also believe his death achieved something very special: the opportunity to reconnect with the God that we might believe in but might sometimes feel remote from.
We believe that Jesus was not just a human being but, in some way that we cannot fully understand, God as well. We believe in God the Father, the creator of the entire universe, and the Holy Spirit, who is the way we can experience Jesus today. Not three gods but one, who together are described as the ‘Trinity’ – a description not so much of philosophy but of the relationship at the heart of God.
In the most famous Christian prayer we pray ‘Our Father…’ This creator God wants a relationship with us, for us to be his children and to give us, as Jesus says, ‘life in all its fulness’ (John 10.10).
