Dear Brothers and Sisters
Well, we are still waiting for more information on how the coming months will unfold as far as church is concerned. I know that you all want to know when we can sing again, share the peace, have both bread and wine at Communion and a cup of coffee and a chat after the service. It will come but we will have to be patient. If I were a betting man (which I’m not; the Scot in me is too tight to gamble) I would think that not much, if anything, will change in church until after Easter. We will have an Easter Day Holy Communion service in each of our parishes.
Even in a pandemic the work of the country continues. The next National Census takes place this month. We are being encouraged to complete this online this year due to the pandemic. This may cause some of us problems. If you need some help to complete your Census form online Nidderdale Plus have been designated as a Census Support Centre and will be able to help you. You can contact them on 01423 714953.
This week just gone saw the annual celebration of World Book Day, a day for celebrating literature and for children to dress up as their favourite characters for school. (Though clearly less so this year). Books are wonderful, they can change your life, but only one book can change your life completely. So, as we celebrate the power of the Word think about reading the Bible more often. Lent is the perfect time to do so. If you need some help or advice about where to start give me a call.
Things are looking up. The weather is getting better and new life is springing up all around us. But people are still getting ill, our key workers are still working flat out, people are dying, and families are mourning. So, we continue to stop at 6pm. each evening to pray for the Nation and to remember those who have died.
Sunday Readings
A Reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. (1 :18-25)
The Gospel according to John
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’ His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me. ’The Jews then said to him, ‘What sign can you show us for doing this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. (2:13-22)
Services for Sunday 14th March
Weston 9.30am.
Leathley 11am.
Services for Sunday 21st March
Denton 9.30am.
Fewston 11am.
Farnley 2.30pm.
Please remember in your prayers: Our Government praying for wisdom as they work out the details of how our lives can return to normal. Our schools and teachers and the children and young people they care for as they return to school from this week onwards. Our farmers as the work round the clock caring for their flocks. Our Front-line services, that we don’t take them for granted. All involved in the national vaccination drive. Couples planning to be married this year. The homeless and those who cannot feed their families. Our friends and neighbours and all who live in this Benefice. The sick, and the dying. Those who have died and all who mourn.
God bless you all.
Stephen