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Revd Ann's Weekly News Sheet, First Sunday after Easter

The traditional Easter Greeting to everyone is;

Alleluia, Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

Once again many thanksto everyone who helped in any way to make our churches look so beautiful over Easter.

Seeround

The April edition of Seeround is out now on line. The Diocesan Magazine ‘Seeround’ is for all of us. It is now available on line.

To sign up (no charge) go to www.stalbans.anglican.org/news/seeround

Prayer Group

Prayer group meeting on 13th April will be held at 8pm at 64 Westwood Avenue Hitchin and NOT at 9 Langbridge close as stated in PAX

General Election meeting

This is at Christchurch, Hitchin 7.30 pm on Wednesday 22 April.

Churches Together in Hitchin (CTH) is arranging a hustings at which candidates for the Hitchin and Harpenden constituency will respond to questions put by members of churches.  So that the meeting will have a good structure, CTH would like to gather questions ahead of the date so if you would like to put one, please submit it by the end of Sunday 19 April to John Richardson - 01462 435595 or 07505 426876 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Services and Events in the near future in the Benefice of St Ippolyts with Great and Little Wymondley

Wednesday 15th 9.30am Harwood Park Crematorium Funeral – Hugh Russell RIP

Wednesday 15th 11am Holy Communion at St Ippolyts

Wednesday 15th 2.30pm St Ippolyts Church – Thanksgiving Service for the life of Hugh Russell RIP

Friday 17th April 11.30am Memorial service in St Mary’s Church,  Little Wymondley for Phyllis Allardice RIP, followed by Burial of her ashes in the churchyard.

 

Sunday 19th April services

8.00 am Holy Communion St Ippolyts

9.30am Holy Communion with baptism St Ippolyts

Please remember Ferne, her parents and God parents, in your prayers as they prepare for this special day

11.00 am Parish Praise St Mary’s Little Wymondley

3.30pm Burial of Ashes in St Ippolyts Churchyard of Alan Rowan Robinson RIP.

No Service in Great Wymondley on 19th April

12.30 Tuesday 21st April 12.30pm Harwood Park Crematorium Funeral of Ronald Standley RIP.

 

Annual Parochial Church Meetings:  

St Mary’s Great Wymondley today, 12th April at 10.45am following on from the 9.30am service.

St Ippolyts Sunday 26th April 10.45am following on from the 9.30am service

Please make every good effort to attend these important meetings

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Alleluia, Christ is Risen! - Revd Ann's Weekly News Sheet

Alleluia, Christ is Risen!

He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

 

We extend our thanks today to The Revd Diane Fitzgerald Clark, for leading us through the services from Maundy Thursday to today, Easter Day.

Many thanks to everyone who has helped in any way to make our churches look so beautiful for this special day.

And thanks to all who helped at our Good Friday Worship and workshop in

St Ippolyts Parish Hall. All 31 adults and 19 children thoroughly enjoyed the activities and worship.

And thank you to all who helped and all who came to our Lent Lunches in St Ippolyts Parish Hall. The grand total raised was £551.64, (Actually we raised £641.64 as another £90 was raised last Wednesday!! M.S.H)  to be divided between the Missionary Charity ‘Us’ and Research into Motor Neurone Disease. Thank you.

Other notices

Seeround.

The April edition of Seeround is out now on line. The Diocesan Magazine ‘Seeround’, is for all of us. It is now available on line. To sign up (no charge) go to www.stalbans.anglican.org/news/seeround

General Election meeting

At Christchurch, Hitchin 7.30 pm on Wednesday 22 April. Churches Together in Hitchin (CTH) is arranging a hustings at which candidates for the Hitchin and Harpenden constituency will respond to questions put by members of churches.  So that the meeting will have a good structure, CTH would like to gather questions ahead of the date so if you would like to put one, please submit it by the end of Sunday 19 April to John Richardson - 01462 435595 or 07505 426876 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">

 

Services and Events in the near future in the Benefice of St Ippolyts with Great and Little Wymondley

Wednesday 8th April – there will NOT be a service today.

Thursday 9th April 1.45pm at Luton Crematorium, funeral of John Dyer RIP.

Thursday 9th 7pm Little Wymondley PCC meet at the Vicarage

Wednesday 15th 9.30am Harwood Park Crematorium Funeral – Hugh Russell RIP

Wednesday 15th 11am Holy Communion at St Ippolyts

Wednesday 15th 2.30pm St Ippolyts Church Thanksgiving Service for the life of Hugh Russell RIP

Friday 17th April 11.30am Memorial service in St Mary’s Church,  Little Wymondley for Phyllis Allardice RIP, followed by Burial of her ashes in the churchyard.

Tuesday 21st April 12.30pm Harwood Park Crematorium Funeral of Ronald Standley RIP

Annual Parochial Church Meetings:  

St Mary’s Great Wymondley Sunday 12th April at 10.45am following on from the 9.30am service.

St Ippolyts Sunday 26th April 10.45am following on from the 9.30am service

( there is still time to make sure you are on the church electoral roll for St Ippolyts and to nominate people for places on PCC or as Churchwardens. The nominations board is up at the back of the church.)

Please make every good effort to attend these important meetings

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">

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SSSSSSSSSh - Its Easter! from Revd Ann

SSSSSSSSSSSShhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh shall I tell you something? There’s to be an election next month? Oh did you already know?

 Like me no doubt, you have become a little tired of the same old subjects being talked about over and over again, promises, promises, all we have to do is vote on the big judgement day and everything will be just as we would like it to be.

Well maybe not, but even so I do hope you will use your democratic right and place a cross against someone’s name on 7th May. For if you don’t vote you will have no good reason to complain about the next government! Enough of my election soapbox.

This month of April begins with the wonderful days from Maundy Thursday to Easter Day, when once again we hear the same old subjects being talked about, Jesus washing his disciples feet, to show he came to serve others, Jesus sharing bread and wine with his friends and leaving us with a lasting memorial that week by week is re-presented in churches throughout the world, and Jesus having a cross placed against him and dying for you and me so that when the great Judgement day comes everything will be just as God would like it to be.

At our Easter Eve service in St Mary’s Great Wymondley the exclamation will be made;     

                                                                     ‘Alleluia Christ is risen!’ and everyone will reply ‘He is risen indeed, Alleluia!’   

 

The words have been said and sung over and over again at so many Easter Services but unlike election manifestos and party politics, the words ‘Alleluia Christ is risen!’ are words I never tire of hearing. God’s promise has been kept, love has conquered even death itself.

This time of year sees us busy in our gardens, the birds sing out, the hedges and trees come into leaf and the sound of the lawnmower is heard! Oh to be in England on a lovely spring day. Some of you will know that every Sunday afternoon I sit down and listen to gardener’s question time. Again and again the same subjects come up, the seed packets promise us success everytime, but we of course know differently. And how do you deal with slugs, expensive copper bands on the ornamental pots, grit around the hostas or special ‘slug pubs buried in the ground.  No, what they need is one of my ‘girlies’, there’s a whole new meaning to a hen party. Maybe that’s one party I would vote for!

I like to think my ‘girlies’ know the true meaning of Easter, their eggsclamation everyday, if we could just translate it, is I am sure, ‘Alleluia Christ is risen! (the vicar’s woken up and our food is on it’s way’).

I hope you will join in theirs and my song this Easter, at one of our churches, for as St Augustine sung all those years ago ‘We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song’.

Much love

Reverend Ann

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Holy Week, News sheet from Revd. Ann

.                                                                        Holy Week Services

Monday 30th 8pm Bible Reading and Compline ( a quiet service) at St Ippolyts

Tuesday 31st 8pm Bible Reading and Compline at St Mary’s Great Wymondley

Wednesday 1st April 8pm Bible Reading and Compline at St Mary’s Little Wymondley

Maundy Thursday 7.30pm Eucharist of the Last Supper. After this service there will be the opportunity to stay for silent prayer.

Good Friday 10am St Ippolyts Parish Hall, beginning with Hot Cross Buns and coffee/tea A service for all the family, complete with activities, songs, readings and prayers.

Good Friday 2pm-3pm Solemn liturgy in

St Ippolyts Church as we remember

Jesus’ last hour on the cross.

Easter Eve 8.30pm – 10pm

in St Mary’s Church Great Wymondley. Join with us as we celebrate the ‘ceremonies’ of Easter. A unique service of readings, hymns, and the drama of darkness and light. A time to renew our baptismal vows, and to receive Holy Communion. And at the end of the service, to celebrate with Champagne and Simnel Cake. If you have never been to this unique service how about trying it this year. (There will be incense used)

Easter Day Services

8am Holy Communion

St Ippolyts

9.30am Holy Communion 

St Mary’s 

Little Wymondley

11am Parish Praise and Communion

St Ippolyts Church

Services and Events in the near future

Wednesday 1ST April 9.15-10.30am

St Ippolyts School Easter Service, in school and church.

12.45pm The last of our Lent lunches in

St Ippolyts Parish Hall

Maundy Thursday 11am St Albans Abbey  Chrism Mass at this service Readers, and clergy renew their vows, and all the oils for Baptisms, and anointing services this coming year are blessed. All are  welcome to attend.

Thursday  End of term for the children of

St Ippolyts and Wymondley Schools, we wish them a happy Easter Holiday.

Saturday 4th – from 9am we will be decorating St Ippolyts church, please come and help, and make the church look really lovely for Easter. St Mary’s at Great and St Mary’s at Little Wymondley will also be decorated this morning so please join in.

Wednesday 8th April – there will NOT be a service today.

Thursday 9th April 1.45pm at Luton Crematorium, funeral of John Dyer RIP.

Thursday 9th 7pm Little Wymondley PCC meet at the Vicarage

##    A date for your diary    ##

The Archbishop of Canterbury,

The Most Revd Justin Welby

will be visiting our Diocese from 18th-20th June. We are hoping to have a coach to go to the special service on Saturday 20th June in St Albans Abbey. Please sign up on list at the back of the churches by 31st March, thank you. Cost -  £5

The Diocesan Magazine ‘Seeround’,

is forall of us. It is now available on line.

To sign up (no charge) go to www.stalbans.anglican.org/news/seeround

Annual Parochial Church Meetings: -

St Mary’s Great Wymondley Sunday 12th April at 10.45am following on from the 9.30am service.

St Ippolyts Sunday 26th April 10.45am following on from the 9.30am service

Please make every good effort to attend these important meetings

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March we forth!

March we forth...

‘God is working his purpose out as year succeeds to year’ is one of my favourite hymns, and it contains, the lines ‘March we forth in the strength of God, with the banner of Christ unfurled, that the light of the glorious gospel of truth may shine throughout the world’. In these cautious days those lines might be considered  to be neither very politically correct with their military undertones in marching, nor respectful of our multi-faith world, if it is suggesting that only Christianity has the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth!

And yet ... each and every Lent, just like this one, we March through Lent towards Holy Week and Easter, and we do it all in the strength of God. For we try our hardest to give something up, to fast from certain foods or fancies and in so doing call to mind Jesus’ forty days of fasting in the wilderness, in a way that we publically unfurl the banner of Christ for all to see, or do we just keep these things to ourselves?

The light of the glorious gospel of truth may shine throughout the world, if only we are bold enough to shine this light ourselves.

Now, in order to shine their best, my black shoes need to be lovingly polished every now and then. I know that they will get dirty in-between the polishing but still I religiously polish them for all to see. I remember my Dad every Saturday evening lining up all the shoes to be worn the next week, to church or to work, and his spending time making them shine for all to see.

Lent is really our opportunity to polish up our lives a bit, even though we know and realise that things will come along and make our lives dull and sometimes in need of a good clean up.

I learned my shoe polishing skills from my father. As Christians we should learn our life polishing skills from our Father who again and again dusts away our dross as he forgives us our sins.

The true banner of Christ was unfurled on that very first Good Friday, as Jesus said to His Father, ‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do’, Jesus didn’t say ‘Father when they come to their senses and repent, forgive them’ no! For the light of the glorious gospel of Christ was and is still for everyone to see. 

It’s just difficult to see sometimes because of the dust of our lives. So get polishing and praying this lent, for the party is to come, this Easter Eve in Great Wymondley. And I know I have said it before but if you have never been to the Easter Eve service before – where have you been! – does it take you that long to polish your shoes?

Carry on marching and polishing with love.

Reverend Ann.

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