Church news

Palm Sunday

09 April 2022

As we’ve experienced the fluctuations in weather in recent days, from warm sunshine to rain and hail, so you don’t know what to expect from one day to the next, you may be feeling the same about life at the moment. It may be a mixture of ups and downs. Some of us are struggling with illness in the family, worries about finances, uncertainty about where we’re going in life….. and the news continues to report on unspeakable horrors in Ukraine. Where can we turn to for hope in such times? 

One of my ‘go to’ verses is Isaiah 43.1-2, ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.’ Our God doesn’t abandon us, he accompanies us in all the joys and sorrows of this life. So let us be united in prayer, as we pray for one another, for those with illness in the family, those who have dropped everything to go and help, those who need particular care and support in the world today, and ask our loving heavenly Father to walk closely beside them.

This coming Sunday we will enjoy the celebration of Palm Sunday, and yet in the coming days the journey of Holy Week is one of ups and downs, leading to the sacrifice and suffering of the cross, the emptiness of Holy Saturday, and then the great joy of Resurrection on that first Easter Day. This too gives me hope, that our God who is so closely connected with suffering and loss in the person of Jesus Christ in Holy Week is also the one who bursts from the tomb in victory in the person of the Risen Christ. 

Services Tomorrow, Palm Sunday:

• 8am BCP Communion at St Andrew’s
• 9.30am BCP Communion at St Peter’s
• 10am Holy Communion at St Michael’s
• 11am Sung Eucharist at St Andrew’s

Holy Week:

Maundy Thursday, 7pm service at St Michael’s for the whole Benefice, led by Andrew and Sue.

Good Friday, 2pm ‘Hour at the Cross’ at St Andrew’s, a reflective service for the Benefice led by Jennifer Rowlands.

Good Friday, 9am start at St Andrew’s, ‘A Walk in the Dale’ (see the attached). Come for the whole walk, sections of it, or join us for coffee at the Friends Meeting House in Airton, for lunch at Kirkby Malham, or for Tea and Hot Cross buns at St Peter’s at 4pm, finishing back in Gargrave around 5pm. Please let Paul McWhinney know if you are planning to come. 

With our prayers, Andrew and Sue.