This week’s Worship
Easter Day, Sunday 17th April
9:15 am Easter Communion, Croston
11:00 am Easter Communion, Bretherton
11:00 am Easter Communion, Mawdesley
Wednesday 10:00 am Holy Communion, Croston
Friday 9:00 am Morning Prayer, Mawdesley
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
An Easter message from the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell who reflects on an ‘unsettling and frightening’ time for everyone this Easter.
‘Lent seems to have lasted a long time this year. Moreover, the world feels more fragile, more dangerous and less hopeful. While we were wondering whether to give up chocolate or not, a war started in Ukraine. Covid has not gone away. Household bills soar. Families face ghastly decisions about whether they dare switch on the radiator or not. This is an unsettling and a frightening time. We are all longing for better news. As spring takes a firm hold, and the beautiful banks of the city walls (in York) turn yellow with the daffodils in bloom, where can we find hope for the world?
This past week, I have been leading services at York Minster standing at the foot of the huge Lent cross. What do we see there?
Well, first of all, we see yet another horrible example of human cruelty and human suffering. We see what is worst in us and what is most painful. But at the same time, we see God. And our view of God is changed. For Christians believe that Jesus is God come down to earth, God sharing our humanity.
Therefore, it is God who is sharing in the sufferings of the world, bearing the brunt and feeling the bite of our cruelty and sinfulness.
It doesn’t make the suffering any less real. It doesn’t answer the question of why such suffering happens in our world.
But it does show us that God is not absent or distant from the sufferings of the world.
Moreover, because at the heart of the Christian faith is not just the cross of Christ but his resurrection, then Christians believe that the same God who in the death of Jesus plumbs the depths of our suffering, in his resurrection raises us up as well, showing us that death and suffering never have the final word.
Love triumphs.
The cross and resurrection of Christ give us hope and show us that things can change. This is the good news we celebrate this weekend.
So we pray for peace this Easter.
We pray for an end to the pandemic.
We pray for stable government across the word.
We pray for a greater sharing of the world’s resources.
We pray for climate justice.
Change is always hard work. It takes a lot of energy, effort, love and patience. This is as true for the world as it is for us as individuals. We, too, may be facing the challenge of change: a new job, mending a relationship, starting a new exercise or health routine, or approaching exams with an unfamiliar path beyond.
Wherever you are this Easter, and however you might be feeling about life in these hurting and confusing times, I pray that you may know God’s presence, and that you may see in the cross and resurrection of Christ, God opening a door of hope in the heart of pain and difficulty, an opportunity to change, the hope of a better world.
Happy Easter!
Most Reverend & Right Honourable Stephen Cottrell,
Archbishop of York
Archbishop Stephen is also preaching at the Easter online service
So as we proclaim in our church services this Sunday and throughout this Easter season;
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
May we all respond boldly and with conviction that,
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
May the risen Christ be known among you, in faith, hope and love, this Easter time and always.
Michael (Rector)
Tel: 01772 600548, email: revmwoods@gmail.com
Note: The Rector will be on holiday this week returning on Friday
Mawdesley Prayer Group, Tues. 26th April 10:45 for 11am start.
Meet at Robin Hood Cottage (Bluestone Lane, opposite Nook Lane) Hope you can come and join us. Please bring a Bibles and the “signs of life” booklets which we’ll be using as a basis for study during Lent.
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Please pray for the family and friends of the recently departed:
Allyne Clarkson, Jean Rigby, Ella Snape
Rest eternal grant unto them O Lord may light perpetual
shine upon them, may they rest in peace and rise in glory.
Dates for funerals
Jean Rigby 12:30 pm Tuesday 26th April, Bretherton Parish Church
Please be Vigilant
Flagstone thefts from churches in the Northwest
Please keep an extra watch over the churches
and report any suspicious activity to the police
immediately, also take a note of number plates.
Covid Guidance
- Do not come to church if you are feeling unwell or have experienced any COVID-19 symptoms in the past seven days
- We are no longer required to wear face masks but please be mindful of those who may be less confident and choose to wear a mask.
- Please do continue your support of the Food Ban
Thank you for your support throughout 2021 but as we all hear in the news financial pressures are increasing and more families are struggle with the basic necessities, your donations are so important and will continue to make a real difference to people’s lives.
Facebook & YouTube Online Worship
An Act of Worship from Blackburn Cathedral will be available every Sunday from 9am. You can view this on the Cathedral YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4GsctW6SLc or on their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/BlackburnCathedral
This weeks Church of England worship for Easter Day comes from Trinity Church North Ormesby, Middlesborough.
The Archbishop of York , Stephen Cottrell is preaching on The Resurrection, and is joined by The Revd Bridget Woodall.
You can view this from 9am on Sunday at https://www.facebook.com/thechurchofengland or via
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGVvG-4j-yA
The Easter message Bishop Julian, the Bishop of Blackburn, can be accessed here and on our Facebook pages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEdvWG9kPH0&t=2s
St. Michael & All Angels
Childrens Sunday Club every 1st and 3rd Sunday
St. Peters Mawdesley w Bispham-Tea Party Meeting
Tuesday 19 April @ 7pm in the Parish Room.
Hopefully things will be on track so it should not be a long meeting. Thanks as always for all your efforts. Revd David
A prayer for Ukraine:
Almighty God, seated above all the affairs of humankind and sovereign over nations and leaders,
hear our prayer for Ukraine at this time of war,
that lives may be spared, that national boundaries be respected and that forces of aggression be restrained.
Grant, Lord God, peace in your world in our time.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Also pray for the people of Russia
that they may be freed from this ruthless dictator.
Humanitarian Disaster – ways to support for the people of Ukraine
See our Facebook page and posters in Church for ways to support this locally. The disasters and emergency committee appeal can be found at: www.dec.org.uk which is an effective way to offer your support.
Could you make an Easter donation to Church?
All our churches rely upon the generous donations of our parishioners to provide the financial support that both maintain our buildings and provide care and support to all those in the local community. Although some use standing orders or other methods of online giving, many donors use cash, either on the plate or in weekly planned giving envelopes.
Any donations you could make will be greatly received and one off donations or regular giving can be made by using ‘Online banking’ facilities, the bank details you will require to do this for each church are:
Bretherton – St. John the Baptist
St. Johns Bretherton PCC Account,
No: 10031333, Sort code: 16 17 41
Croston – St. Michael & All Angels
St. Michaels PCC Account,
No. 11215462, Sort Code 16-17-41
Also if you have no facility to transfer funds electronically, envelopes can be dropped off with our Treasurer Derek Alty,
12 Lostock Road, Croston.
Mawdesley w Bispham St. Peter
Mawdesley PCC Account,
No 87032805, Sort code 60 24 02.
If you decide to make a donation electronically you may be given the opportunity to set up a standing order, which would greatly help support our regular income.
The Collect
Lord of all life and power, who through the mighty resurrection of your Son overcame the old order of sin and death to make all things new in him: grant that we, being dead to sin and alive to you in Jesus Christ, may reign with him in glory; to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be praise and honour, glory and might, now and in all eternity. Amen
First Reading
Peter testifies that Jesus’ resurrection is not just for the Jewish people. Forgiveness and healing is on offer to all who believe.
Acts 10.34-43
Then Peter began to speak: “I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached – how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.
He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen – by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Second Reading
The resurrection is the cornerstone of faith. Christ is the first-fruits of the victory over death, and through Christ all will be made alive.
1 Corinthians 15.19-26
If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.
But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power.
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
The Gospel
Mary Magdalene encounters Jesus in the garden. The risen Lord reveals himself to us in our despair.
John 20.1-18
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’
Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.“’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Prayer after Communion
God of Life, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection have delivered us from the power of our enemy: grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his risen life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
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