A very warm welcome to all
Refrain for Psalm 126:
“The Lord has indeed done great things for us.”
Fifth Sunday in Lent
Readings: Isaiah 43: 16-21; Philippians 3: 4b-14
Gospel: John 12: 1-8
In our Gospel today
The 5th Sunday of Lent Year C invites us to focus on new beginnings and God’s mercy. In the first reading, the people are told that God will do something new for them. God offers a fresh start, no matter what mistakes we have made in the past. We are encouraged to forget past failures and look forward with hope.
In Philippians, Paul emphasizes the importance of making Christ the centre of our lives. He urges us to press on toward our spiritual goals, always striving to grow closer to Jesus. This teaches us to keep moving forward, even when the journey is difficult.
In our gospel reading Jesus comes to Bethany, the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus (whom he had raised from the dead). Mary, the same Mary who had sat at the feet of Jesus as her sister Martha had been ‘distracted with much serving’, is once again centre stage. Once again Martha is serving, and again Mary is rapt with love and devotion, sitting at his feet.
Mary springs into action. In one spontaneous, reckless and wasteful gesture of extravagance, she anoints the feet of Jesus with expensive perfume and wipes them with her hair. It’s a very intimate, and a very shocking scene. For a woman to let her hair down in public in this way and behave towards Jesus with such physical intimacy must have aroused considerable attention and scorn. But she is overcome by her love for Jesus and cannot but worship him with the best that she has.
Holy Week and Easter
Bishop Anne will be leading worship on Good Friday (2pm An Hour at the Cross) and Easter Sunday (10am Sung Eucharist). During our vacancy it is not possible to offer the full range of Holy Week services at St Mary’s. For other times in the week please see the services at SS John’s and James that are advertised along with ours on the Easter publicity. It is hoped that members of all three churches will take this opportunity to worship together during the Easter festival. Rev Roger promises that ‘there will be a mystery Easter gift for all who make it to the three churches during Holy Week’.
Holy Week Services
Please note the following services for your diaries:
- TUESDAY 15th 7:00pm Stations of the Cross – St John’s
- THURSDAY 17th 6:30pm Maundy Thursday Communion with Foot-Washing – St James
- GOOD FRIDAY 18th 11am Start of Aberdeen Churches Together ‘Walk of Witness’ – St John’s
- GOOD FRIDAY 18th 2:00pm Hour at the Cross – St Mary’s
- EASTER SATURDAY 19th 8:30pm Easter Vigil and Service of Light – St John’s
- EASTER SUNDAY 20th 9:30am & 11:00am – St John’s
- EASTER SUNDAY 20th 10:30am – St James
- EASTER SUNDAY 20th 8:00am & 10:00am – St Mary’s
Lent Course
For this year’s Lent Course, we are invited to take a deeper dive into the Bible readings from the previous Sunday. Meeting in the crypt at 7pm on Thursdays. Our Sunday preachers will have highlighted some things for us but what more could we mine together from these passages as we seek to keep a holy and fruitful Lent?
SEC Net Zero Action Plan
Following our use of the SEC Heat Hack Programme we are now focusing on taking some actions to make our energy usage more sustainable and efficient. We are hoping to reduce our energy bills, do less damage to the planet and make St Mary’s a more comfortable place to meet, worship and socialise. Please see the noticeboard at the back of church to see what we’ve already been doing. Please let us know what you think about the options for aligning with our Three C’s targets and feel free to add your own ideas.
Fundraising and Social Events Calendar
The Fundraising and Social Events Group met at the beginning of the month to plan fundraising, donation and social events for 2025. Please see the noticeboards for the calendar of activities. There are spare copies of the calendar in the Choir Vestry which you can take home to update your own calendars.
Sunflower Competition started last Sunday
Last year we had some fun with tomato and other plant seedling sales, even if we didn’t all harvest ripe tomatoes! This year we thought it would be fun to have a sunflower growing competition. We’ll provide the seeds, compost and pots for a suggested donation of £5. In the autumn we’ll see who has grown the tallest sunflowers and award some prizes. In the process we can keep the pollinators happy!
Easter Egg Collection
Our Easter Egg Collection is well underway, and the eggs are already piling up. Our charitable donation initiatives have been very well supported and successful and very much appreciated by the recipients. Thank you very much for all the donations so far!
Services and events commencing this Sunday and for the coming week
Sunday 6th April 8am Holy Communion (1970 Liturgy): Reverend Roger Dyer
Sunday 6th April 10am Sung Eucharist (1982 Liturgy): Reverend Roger Dyer
Wednesday 9th April 10am Holy Communion: Reverend Ferdinand von Prondzynski
Friday 11th April 6pm Compline: Iain Stewart
Sunday 13th April 8am Palm Sunday Holy Communion (1970 Liturgy): Reverend Ferdinand von Prondzynski
Sunday 13th April 10am Palm Sunday Sung Eucharist (1982 Liturgy): Reverend Ferdinand von Prondzynski
Next Sunday’s readings: Isaiah 50: 4-9a; Psalm 31: 9-16; Philippians 2: 5-11
Gospel: Dramatised Passion Narrative from Luke (separate booklet)
“God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking mercy.”
(Pope Francis)
For any pastoral matters please contact our Assistant Priest Revd Roger Dyer on 07719 458571 or revrogdyer@btinternet.com