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STATIONS OF THE CROSS 2014 IX: The Daughters of Jerusalem Eloise Pontefract

15TH MARCH 2015

DEAR WOMAN Vicar’s Blog

The mistake we often make with Mary, the mother of Christ, is to leave her in Bethlehem with the cattle lowing and the baby awake.

(No crying.) There is nothing wrong with Bethlehem; and those nine months of labour and the child born to a virgin have rightly become a central doctrine of the Christian faith. But if we leave Mary, the mother of Jesus, seven miles south of Jerusalem we miss the opportunity to meet Mary, the disciple of Jesus.

Luke 1:26-56 is remarkable in that we meet a young woman totally open to the work of the Holy Spirit in her life and prepared to allow a supernatural angelic encounter to shape her life and understanding.

Not only does she grasp the immensity of God’s plan, but she is abandoned to God in worship, my soul magnifies, and submitted to His

will—may it be to me as you have said.

Luke 2:41-51 gives us a very human glimpse of Mary, a mother consumed by anxiety for her missing son. Jesus, nearly a teenager, has gone missing, and Mary and Joseph play out the ‘I thought you had him!’ scenario. We identify easily with Mary (and Joseph) the mess. I like it that they lost God. Perhaps the oddest moment in Mary’s motherhood is recorded in John 2. Her insistence that her boy will sort out the wine problems at a wedding is met with ‘Dear woman, my time has not yet come’ from Jesus. Does this passage mess a little with your head as it does mine?

Mary gets her way, and the wedding party get their wine. What precisely was God’s will in all this? Had his time come, or hadn’t it?

A B B E Y D I A RY THIS SUNDAY: March 15th 9am BCP Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 4pm Informal Worship, the Grid & Junior Church

‘Dear woman’ is heard on the lips of Christ one more time when her Son addresses her from the cross shortly before he dies (John 19:26.)

Seeing a friend and a mother about to be destroyed by loss, he places them in each other’s arms…’Dear woman, here is your son.’

And then Mary loses her Son for a third time in Acts 1 . When Christ ascends in glory to heaven Mary is recorded as a woman faithful in prayer and committed to the early church.

Mary the mother of Christ, rightly has a place in our theology as the ‘Theotokos’, the God-bearer. In her motherhood she also has a place in our discipleship, as an inspiration.

THIS WEEK EACH DAY 9am Morning Prayer MON 16th 2.30pm Service of Thanksgiving for Joan Hinwood WED 18th 10.30am Communion THUR 19th 10.30am Time for Chat 7pm Choir Practice FRI 20th 10.30am Creative Response SAT 21st 9am Children & Youth Team Meeting in Eilmer House 10am The Meeting Place

NEXT SUNDAY: March 22nd 9am BCP Communion 10.30am Morning Prayer & Healing Ministry 4pm All-age Communion

ADVANCE Mar 23rd Holy Week Festival begins Apr 24th BBC Election Hustings Apr 26th Vision Sunday & AGM

JOHN 3:14-21 14

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’ 16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Additional Reading: Numbers 21:4-9

DISCIPLESHIP 1.

Divide your small group into two or three smaller groups.

There are eight verses in John 3:14-21. Choose one word that represents the significance of each verse and then compare your eight answers to those of the other groups.

2.

Which one word would represent the entire passage and why? Debate this.

3.

Read Numbers 21:4-9. How would you describe the heart of God and His people in that passage? And in John 3:16?

4.

‘We have to wait until we die in order to experience the fulfilment of John 3:16.’ Explain why you agree or disagree with this statement.

5.

How do we practically ‘come into the light’ (v21) as disciples of Jesus? Provide a few examples.

D A I LY R E A D I N G S Monday Psalm 126 Jeremiah 17:5-18 John 9:18-end Tuesday Psalm 132 Jeremiah 18:1-12 John 10:1-10 Wednesday Psalm 119:153-end Jeremiah 18:13-end John 10:11-21 Thursday Psalm 141 Jeremiah 19:1-13 John 10:22-end Friday Psalm 144 Jeremiah 19:14-20:6 John 11:1-16

REGULAR GIVING If you would like to give regularly to the mission and ministry of the Abbey as part of your discipleship, please e-mail alan@malmesburyabbey.com.

ELECTION HUSTINGS

BOOKSHOP VACANCY

Malmesbury Abbey are working with BBC Radio Wiltshire to host an Election Hustings on the evening of Friday 24th April. The debate will be recorded for radio broadcast and chaired by former Channel 4 political editor Elinor Goodman. You can apply for a ticket (or to ask a question) from the BBC Wiltshire website or by using a form available at the back of the Abbey.

After four wonderful years Pam Harrison is stepping down as Assistant Manager of Malmesbury Abbey Books—a role which relates particularly to stewards, tourism and stock. If you would be interested in finding out more about this 15-20 hour paid post please speak informally with Rob Hitchings (the Bookshop Manager) or Neill. We are looking for somebody to start after Easter.

PA L M S U N D AY

EASTER BREAKFAST

Breaking news! The preacher at our outdoor Holy Communion service on Palm Sunday, 29th March, at 10.30am will be the Rt Revd Dr Lee Rayfield, Bishop of Swindon. If the weather is atrocious the service will be indoors—we’ll leave the donkey outside.

At 6am on Easter Day there will be a dawn service. Normally about 30 of us renew our baptismal vows in darkness at the font at the West End before sharing communion at the East End as the sun rises. This year we will be going for breakfast together at Amanda’s afterwards. £10 gets you a full English and a coffee or tea. Please put your name down with Sandie in the office.

12th CENTURY BEAUT Y 21st CENTURY CHURCH

NOTICEBOARD P O S T M A N PAT When is a church not a church? When it’s a postal service. This weekend we’d like to invite you to take a pack of our amazing Holy Week brochures and deliver them across the town in the next 48 hours. Why? We’ve found that when we produce a colour brochure at Easter and Christmas, and then deliver them to every household, more people then come to the events and services during this period. Better still we’d also encourage you to identify key events to invite your neighbours and colleagues to, and offer to buy them a ticket. Also, why not invite friends to an Easter Day service, which tend to be spectacularly joyous.

C H R I S T I A N A I D LU N C H Come along and join us for a Soup Lunch organised by Malmesbury Christian Aid on Friday 27th March from 12.30pm onwards, at the United Reformed Church (West Street entrance). Cost is £3 for Soup and Cake and proceeds will go towards supporting Christian Aid’s work in all parts of the world, supporting people in poverty and fighting against the causes of poverty. For further information please contact Dick Gray (richard.gray@tiscali.co.uk or 01666 823979). Christian Aid is 70 years old this year!

Enquiries 01666 826666 // Box Office 01666 824339 office@malmesburyabbey.com www.malmesburyabbey.com issuu.com/malmesburyabbey

HOLY WEEK FESTIVAL 2015 MAR 23-28 THE GARDEN LABYRINTH MAR 25 & 27 LATE NIGHT LABYRINTH MAR 28 ART//STATIONS OF THE CROSS Meet the artists (10am) MAR 28 COMEDY & JAZZ //PAUL KERENSA with PETER JAMES & ROSIE ARCHER* MAR 29 THE KAIROS ENSEMBLE//REJOICING BLUES* MAR 30 PROFESSOR SIMON CONWAY MORRIS* ‘Does the Resurrection make scientific sense?’

MAR 31 THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1923)* with Anthony Hammond (organ) APR 1 GLORY! PRAYER APR 2 THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC* JS Bach & Messaien Quartet for the End of Time GOOD FRIDAY ALLEGRI, PURCELL & HANDEL (6.30pm) APR 4 BBC WILTSHIRE//EASTER FROM MALMESBURY ABBEY* (7pm) EASTER DAY SERVICES at 6am, 9am, 10.30am, 4pm & 6.30pm Events at 7.30p m unless otherwise stated Full brochure at issuu.com/malmesburyabbey *Tickets now available from the Abbey Bookshop or at www.ticketsource/malmesburyabbey