Andy Butterfill, who has stepped forward to take on the treasurer’s role, has been worshipping and working in Hereford for many years, and has recently retired from a leading role at the County Hospital. Andy takes an active role in the music at St Peter’s, leads and hosts a house-group (together with his wife Jill), and has been a meber of the church’s Core Team since September 2009.

Helen Durant, who will start as Administrator in mid-March, is a recent arrival in Hereford, having moved here on her marriage to David last year. Helen is an actor, and also leads youth theatre work based at the Courtyard, as well as schools’ drama and storytelling workshops; she also has past experience of administration in libraries and museum work, and in business.

Calling all Moms: Join us next Sunday (14th March) to celebrate Mothering Sunday

Last week’s Notices – just in case you forgot to keep your copy… … 28th Feb Notices

You see, on the last Sunday before Lent, Quinquagesima in the Prayer Book, the set epistle reading is the whole of 1 Corinthians 13. So in 1999 and in 2021, and also this year, the set reading for St Valentine’s Day is all about love!

This set me thinking about the motivation for the Lent disciplines I and many others adopt – what is the motivation for the choices I make? It might be that I want to spend less on food, and give more to charity – a good cause! It could be that I want to spend more time in prayer and less in watching TV – again surely a good thing. It might be that I wish to learn to exercise some self-control, and challenge myself to be more patient – plenty of scope there.

But 1 Corinthians 13 makes it clear that any and all of these without love are worthless, and achieve – nothing! Being driven by “the desires God places in my heart” is without doubt a godly purpose. But might it not be even richer, more in keeping with this amazing chapter, to ask that the love of God draws us into actions, that His love fills our intentions, that His love informs our choices? Then our Lent disciplines will produce good fruit, to God’s glory.

This concept is highly counter-cultural in our contemporary culture. Self has been promoted over other. ‘We’re worth it’ and ‘We deserve it’ are tag lines frequently found in adverts. Imagine Jesus saying, ‘I will turn the stones into bread “because I’m worth it.”  The Holy Spirit led him out there in order to meet, in a real way, with God. He went with nothing but himself. Whatever cares or burdens he may have had were left at the entrance to the Judean desert.

The wilderness experience of Christ tells us that amidst and amongst everything else, it is good to stop and come before God. Self-examination before God is hard work but the rewards gained are of incalculable wealth. It is no accident that Lent leads us straight into Jesus’ ultimate expression of selflessness, the cross.

As we surrender more and more of ourselves to God it is my prayer that he will reveal more and more of himself to us. For this we need to be open to God, self-denying and self-sacrificing. We cannot fully partake in any other way.

The strawberry season and the taste of them seems a long way off! (Strawberries from overseas never seem to me to have quite the same flavour.)  It is not just a longing for spring and summer that makes me mention this: it is also my thinking about prayer and Lent.

Let me explain. As well as liking the taste of strawberries themselves, I also like the fact that there is a long aftertaste.  Hence the connection with prayer.  When you spend time in dedicated prayer, offered to God, then the flavour of that spills over afterwards, and lingers on, causing the rest of the day to “taste” different.  The more we pray, the more the rest of the day becomes lived in an awareness of God as well.  If you pray at the beginning of the day for the people you will be meeting, the things you will be doing, and ask God for the guidance of his Spirit to shape your thoughts and actions, then the consciousness of the whole day being lived in his presence will grow – the flavour will infuse the day.

If you were able to mark Ash Wednesday with a special sense of prayer, then the taste of that may well have lingered on, not only for the whole of that day but also for the beginning of Lent itself.  Each day needs marking with prayer.  Each day needs flavouring.  Each day we can begin anew, building on what has gone before, deepening our prayer and our life in Christ.  The Spirit himself is the Teacher, leading us into all truth.  The fullness of truth is Christ himself, and the Spirit’s task is to make Christ known.

Just as we can pray alone, so we can learn alone.  But just as we also need to pray sometimes with others, so we may well learn better with others.  Most of us benefit greatly from learning as part of a small group, whether it is a house/home group, Lent group, prayer group or some other kind of study group.  There is, for example, a new diocesan group about to begin for those wanting to learn more about how to be “prayer guides” of others.  Your parish or benefice will provide opportunities for you to study locally in a small group, just as there are other opportunities provided more widely within the diocese.

We are committed to growing in prayer and to learning how to pray better, but above all growing in holiness and discipleship.  The Holy Spirit is our Teacher, but the development of most of us will be helped as well by our learning as part of a home/house group so that we have the opportunity to discuss the real issues affecting us in our daily Christian living.

Use the opportunities that this Lent provides, but above all be strengthened in your walk with Christ along his way of the cross, and yours.

+Anthony

The “Big Idea” from the Bishop is, in his own words, that he is “calling publicly for Ash Wednesday (17 February) to be a day of prayer and fasting across the Diocese.  What I have in mind is to encourage every member of our congregations, and others who wish to respond to the call as well, to mark the day with extra prayer either in their homes, at work or maybe by coming into their church building.” Of course we want to affirm any call to take prayer seriously, so you will find elsewhere in this Update a plan for events throughout the day in St Peter’s.

But we may also ask what outcomes might come from such a day, and here I am afraid that the Bishop has left us (so far at least) on our own. So let’s go back, as always, to scripture. Jesus is recorded in both Matthew (chapter 7) and Luke (chapter 11) encouraging his disciples to pray by reminding them how generous their loving Father is, and telling us that our Father in heaven loves to give both “good gifts” (Matthew) and “the Holy Spirit” (Luke) to those who ask!

So what might the outcomes be? Let’s ask God to guide our prayers, so that we may use such a promise wisely, and in a godly way – and Romans 8 encourages with the promise that the Holy Spirit intercedes “according to the will of God”. Let’s get praying!

I’m sure you have all experienced those times when prayer is hard it seems as though the ceiling has become lower and hinders our prayers from rising.  When that happens, the best way through is praise.  Instead of a shopping list to God give him a song of praise, instead of words of complaint; a word of adoration for the beauty that  surrounds us and the love that he has lavished upon us.

As Psalm 150:6 puts it “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord”

Click on the ‘Paul’s Ponderings’ tab (top right) to see the original article.

Going Unnoticed….

I didn’t expect to be given star billing
But I wasn’t expecting to be written out of the picture either!
After all, without me the story would certainly be different
Bloodier and smellier for a start!.

I’m not cute and cuddly (but camels aren’t either, I can tell you!)
I don’t smile all the time
(but neither do babies, if the truth is told)
I’m not wise, rich, or famous
(mind you, these three didn’t even leave their names)
And as for angels – well, there are few beings more flighty, to my mind

Me, I’m practical, down-to-earth
So commonplace that I went unnoticed
amidst all the excitement of angels, kings, gifts
my contribution was hardly note-worthy, after all
(neither Matthew or Luke mention me, you know!)

But I was there, at that awesome moment
helping to root the cosmic into the solidity of earth
offering refreshment (Come all who are thirsty)
cleansing (he began to wash their feet)
and promising further surprises (you have kept the best until last!)
as eternal and mundane touched each other
at Bethlehem

And you who read my story
do you too feel unnoticed, overlooked
taken for granted?
If so, take courage
for I know now
that just by being there
I made a difference.

Written by Paul Towner, Christmas 2008

ACCESS is a group for young people (yrs 10-13).  We meet each week to have fun and to see what the Bible says  about  life and living as a Christian. Our name comes from Romans 5:1-2 which says we can have access to God through faith in Jesus.

Contact Andy Clark for more  information.

Practically every scene was set the stable, understandably, in a small farm-yard – as it were a small-holding, attached to the Inn. All the usual figures were there, such as ox, ass, and sheep, and some less-often spotted ones such as chicken and goats. But also included was something that gets no mention in the Bible stories, and which I have never scene in a church nativity, and which got me thinking – are there things in my “scene”, things in my daily life, which have become so familiar to me that I fail to notice them, fail to appreciate their contribution?

And I had to answer “yes” there are. And so as I enter into 2010 I want to resolve to be more aware, and be more appreciative, of the steady, everyday, blessings which I enjoy. I was taught as a child the chorus “Count your blessings, name them one by one”, and that is a very godly and healthy attitude to instil in one’s heart and mind. Maybe we can each make that a prayer, as the New Year begins?

Oh, you might be wondering what it was that I spotted in those crib scenes? I shall leave you guessing for a while longer!

[Editor’s Note: The answer to Paul’s question will appear on our website in a week or two – keep checking to see if your guess was correct. Why not leave your guess as a comment for others to enjoy?]

However, a New Year can mean different things to different people, some happy some sad. I came across this quote the other day, “An optimist stays up to see the New Year in; a pessimist waits to make sure the old one leaves.”

The start of a New Year can be an interesting and important time for many people because it is an opportunity to make a new start in many differing ways. Somehow we need key moments, like a New Year, to enable us to kick start a change in direction, to resolve to change our lives in some small way. So the start of a New Year is a good time to reflect on our lives and ask what needs to change and what do we want to continue and improve?

Here’s a thought: prayerfully decide on something that needs to change or something that you need to improve or do for the first time. Write the pledge down and seal the paper in an envelope; put a stamp on the envelope and give it to a trusted friend and ask them to pray daily for you and post it to you in two months time. You will be amazed when you receive your envelope.

And finally a tongue in cheek prayer for New Year’s Day: Dear Lord, so far this year I’ve done well. I haven’t gossiped; I haven’t lost my temper; I haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent. I’m very thankful for that.  But in a few minutes, Lord, I’m going to get out of bed, and from then on I’m probably going to need a lot more help. Amen