Dear Brothers and Sisters

As a Nation we come to the end of our period of mourning for His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. Her Majesty the Queen and her family continue in mourning and we hold her and them all in our hearts. As a Christian community we also mourn for Jane Charman who, as many of you already know, died last week. And we continue to hold John, Eleanor and Cheri in our thoughts and prayers. Both Jane and Prince Philip went home to God during Easter week, the time when we focus most closely on what the Resurrection means to each of us. Many of us know from personal experience that faith in the Resurrection does not take the pain of loss away. We still grieve for those we are separated from. But our faith gives us the hope that our separation will not be forever and that in God’s time we will be united with our loved ones in our home in Heaven. Until then we hold on to our faith, we are comforted by our hope and we share the love of God with all those around us.

Sunday Readings

A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles

When Peter saw the lame man walk, he addressed the people, ‘You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.

‘And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.’                                                                                                                   (3 :12-19)

The Gospel according to Luke

Jesus himself stood among the eleven and their companions and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.                                                                                     (24:36b-48)

  • Services for Sunday 25th April                            Denton                                  9.30am.
  •             (Easter IV)                                                 Leathley                                11am.
  •                                                                               Fewston                                2.30pm.
  • Services for Sunday 2nd May                               Farnley                                  9.30am.
  •             (Easter V)                                                   Weston                                  11am.

Please remember in your prayers: Those who mourn, especially Her Majesty and John Charman. Our nation as it continues to make its way out of lockdown. Local businesses and all working out how their livelihoods can be re-established.  Our schools and teachers and the children and young people they care. Our farmers as they 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. Our neighbours in Europe and around the world where the pandemic is still raging. 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.

God bless you all.   

Stephen