Friday 15 April GOOD FRIDAY
10am Good Friday Reflection
at St James North Cray
SUNDAY 17 April EASTER SUNDAY
9.30am Easter Day Holy Communion
3.00pm Forest Church for Easter
Team Rector’s Letter April 2022
For Christians, the events of Holy Week and Easter are times when we experience and reflect on a range of mixed emotions!
Palm Sunday, which this year falls on 10 April recalls the time when Jesus rode into the city of Jerusalem, cheered on by the crowds who saw in him a political leader who would free them from Roman oppression. People waved branches of palm trees – much as a modern crowd might wave football scarves when their team is winning, or the union jack flag when the Queen comes to town! Adulation and excitement were the key emotions of the crowd.
There is a more sombre mood for Maundy Thursday, which falls on Thursday 14 April this year. This recalls the time that Jesus shared a final meal with his friends – the Last Supper. On that occasion he showed the humility of his nature by washing the feet of his companions – a job usually reserved for the most insignificant servant. At that final meal, Jesus used the bread and wine as a visual reminder of his physical body, which was to be ‘given’ out of love for all humankind.
Good Friday is the day when the terrible events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus are remembered.
They are summed up in the words of two verses from the old hymn The Old Rugged Cross, often sung at funerals.
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.
So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.
In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.
And finally on Easter Sunday morning Christians join together in tiny chapels and churches and great Cathedrals to celebrate the joyful events of the very first Easter morning, when Jesus friends discover that the tomb in which his body had been laid was empty. They learn that Jesus has conquered death and comes to us in a new and wonderful way. The power of death and the evil has been overcome for all time. We will sing the joyful hymns of Easter, as we join our voices for those wonderful words...
Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son,
endless is the victory thou o’er death has won.
Reverend Ren Harding (Team Rector)
The Vicarage, 6 Tile Kiln Lane, Joydens Wood, Bexley, DA5 2BB
01322-528923 renharding@hotmail.co.uk
Team Rector’s Letter March 2022
My brother passed this poem onto me. He knows he wrote it down from a country church somewhere, but he can’t recall which one. We’ve done our best to track down the author, and the copyright, but have been unable to do so. Has anyone come across it?
I will be happy to acknowledge the author!
I commend it to you for your quiet reflection this spring, and encourage you to find God, not just in the church building, but in all the glory of his wonderful creation.
Over the Downs
Over the Downs at lambing time
The bells of a Sunday call
Whether or no I must bide from church
With my ewes and the lambs and all.
Fine folk passing, shaking their heads
God folk’s kind hearts grieve
I’d like to be doing my bit of praise
If my ewes would give me leave.
But he that took on him shepherd’s job
Still walks with my flock and me
Every Sunday at lambing time
I can say my prayer at his knee
And when my time comes place in my hand
A lock of wool from my sheep
Bury me where the Downs shall watch
Mother-like o’er my sheep.
And when I come to the gates of Heaven
St Peter will not refuse
To let me in, though I strayed from church
Because of my lambing ewes.
Reverend Ren Harding (Team Rector)
The Vicarage, 6 Tile Kiln Lane, Joydens Wood, Bexley, DA5 2BB
01322-528923 renharding@hotmail.co.uk
Team Rector’s LetterFebruary 2022
The Archdeacon of Bromley and Bexley, the Venerable Paul Wright is retiring in February 2022.
I’m sure Paul would be absolutely delighted by the comment of one member of the congregation that “…surely he isn’t old enough to retire!”
There is to be a formal Farewell Evensong Service for Archdeacon Paul in Rochester Cathedral on Sunday 20 February at 3.15pm, that a number of us are attending. This promises to be a very special occasion, as the church choir of St George’s, Beckenham are to lead the singing.
Archdeacon Paul has served the community for many years. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1980 and so has served over forty years as a Priest, mostly in the Diocese of Rochester. During this time, he has been incumbent of a number of churches –
St Augustine, Gillingham; St Paulinus, Crayford; St John, Sidcup; and Priest in Charge of St Luke, Bromley Common; St Augustine, Slade Green.
Since 2003 he has offered distinguished service as Archdeacon of Bromley and Bexley. He has steered many local churches through times of change and would be the first to recognise that sometimes change is painful and difficult, even when it is necessary.
On a personal note, I would want to recognise the support that Archdeacon Paul has given to me, and to my family. He will be very much missed. We pray for him, for his wife Jill and for the diocese as they seek to appoint Paul’s successor.
Reverend Ren Harding (Team Rector)
The Vicarage, 6 Tile Kiln Lane, Joydens Wood, Bexley, DA5 2BB
01322-528923 renharding@hotmail.co.uk
Team Rector’s Letter January 2022
My letter this month is adapted from a sermon that I preached a few days before Christmas, which seems to be relevant to us as we move into a new year.
THE DARK REALITY
As well as the usual problems of life, the pandemic has inflicted on many people, another layer of uncertainty, and, for many, another layer of FEAR! A sense of chaos and impending doom prevails.
People’s lives, already difficult, have been disrupted.
Perhaps you have seen on the BBC news, reports of a Pastor in Burnley bringing comfort and food parcels to desperate, lonely people. A Christian group in Blackpool delivering hot meals
to those who have very little and would otherwise go hungry,
because even if they have food, they can’t afford the gas or electricity to cook it.
How is this happening in our nation?
And it’s not just happening in areas of extreme deprivation.
I have been speaking to a local grandmother, herself suffering from the after-effects of covid who is caring for grandchildren who have special needs, as well as holding down a full-time job.
Someone else has been telling me that they feel exhausted with the pressure of keeping their business going, worrying if they will be able to pay their staff at the end of each month.
A family who has been rehoused out of furnished accommodation, into a flat with no furniture.
Tragic, heart-wrenching stories.
And every single one of us, in greater or lesser ways, and for many different reasons finding our lives dislocated. Out of kilter.
SO AGAINST THAT DARK REALITY, WHAT OF HOPE?
If we’re feeling weighed down now, weary of the worry and pressure, if we’re wondering what the New Year will hold, I believe God is saying something very clear to us:
Not everything that weighs you down is yours to carry.
God is saying:
In Jesus, who is Emmanuel, God with Us…
I will carry you. I will carry your burdens and your pain.
I’m there, with you, in the middle of the shattered plans, the disappointments, and the sense of helplessness and hopelessness.
God is saying:
In Jesus, who is Emmanuel, God with Us…
I’ve lived in these dark streets, these shadowed places. I’ve been one of the last and the least, the forgotten ones. I know how it feels.
God is saying:
In Jesus, who is Emmanuel, God with Us…
My Holy Love transcends all things. The Everlasting Light of my love will overcome all these many darknesses.
God is saying:
In Jesus, who is Emmanuel, God with Us, I have been there at the beginning of time, and I will be there at the end of time. For I am Lord of all, Lord of all worlds.
And though you may feel yourself to be insignificant, lost, alone.
I love you with an everlasting love.
And, in Jesus, I came to prove it to you.