Welcome
We are looking forward to resuming worship in our building on Sunday 18th April at 10.30am.
If you are coming to worship, please read our guide on what to expect and watch this short reminder video .
Our detailed COVID-19 risk assessment has been reviewed before re-opening for worship.
You can access recent worship on our YouTube channel, and other forms of worship.
The behaviour of plants and animals clearly indicates that Spring is here!
The snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils at the Jephson Gardens and parks have been a delight this year. New life is all around us in the countryside! The days have been warmer, if a little changeable; days filled with new colours in our gardens. It is time to come out of our winter state of mind and to prepare for the new season.
We are now in the last week of Lent, Holy Week, a time for thinking, reflecting and preparing for Easter. On Good Friday there will be a pre-recorded Good Friday online Meditation service for anyone to access on YouTube.
To the Cross
It is worth reflecting for a moment on those who journeyed to the cross with Jesus and then stayed with him while he died. St John tells us that Mary his mother was there, his aunt (Mary, the wife of Cleopas), and Mary Magdalene (John 19: 25-27). The beloved disciple was also there. It is astonishing that Mary, his mother, made it this far. Although she had been given information about the unique nature of her son by angels and prophets, could anything has prepared her for this? Yet she did not turn back. She stayed with her son and was there as he took his final agonised gasps of breath; she was there when his lifeless body was removed from the cross, an image that is so beautifully and painfully portrayed by Michelangelo in his sculpture, “Pieta”.
Those who were there at the foot of the cross were afterwards able to support and encourage one another in their darkness and despair and confusion. In fact, in some of his final words from the cross, Jesus entrusted his mother to the beloved disciple for his care and protection in the days to come. It is often the case that those who travel together through dark times can offer the greatest level of understanding to one another.
It is interesting that two of those who had stayed with Jesus through the agony of his crucifixion were the first to witness his resurrection (John 20: 1-9).
Mary Magdalene, arriving at the tomb before dawn on the Sunday morning, discovers that the stone has been rolled away from the entrance. On hearing her news, it is the beloved disciple who runs with Peter to the tomb, goes inside, sees and believes. And it is Mary Magdalene herself who is the first to meet the risen Jesus (John 20: 10-17). It is those who stayed with Jesus through the darkness, who were the most open to the believing the Easter message. Somehow, the experience of the cross gave them the capacity to experience great light.
So I would like to encourage you to join us during Passion Week and Easter (Easter Sunday Service on zoom at 10:30 am); experience something of the darkness of the cross; and to share the joy of resurrection. Those who follow the story of Jesus from his entry into Jerusalem to Calvary to the empty tomb, find that they can live with true hope in God who can transform even the deepest darkness of their lives and of the world.
Wishing you a blessed Easter
Jeongsook
I pray that we may all stay strong in our faith, help each other in every possible way, and look forward to the day when we can also resume singing our hymns ( loudly!) once again.
Please stay safe and may God bless you all !
Rev Jeongsook Kim