This Lent, we’ll be using the Lent materials Come and See provided by Oxford Diocese, exploring the Eucharist and what it has to teach us about Christ and our faith. Whether you’re new to faith, returning after a break, or have been part of church for years, this is a chance to pause, reflect and explore what the Eucharist might have to say to you. If you’d like, you can also sign up to receive free daily Lent emails with short reflections, plus a weekly video from Bishop Steven: https://oxford.anglican.org/come-and-see
There will be three different opportunities to interact with the material:
- Compline begins at St Mary’s on the first Sunday of Lent (February 22nd), with a talk at 8:45pm followed by evening prayer.
- Lent Study Group will run on Mondays from 2:30pm-4pm, starting on February 23rd, in St Mary’s Refectory.
- Making Group will run on Fridays from 2.30pm-4pm, starting on February 20th, in St Mary’s Refectory. Contact David Meara for more info.
On Wednesday 18th February there will be said services with ashing at 10am at St John’s and 11am at St Mary’s Kidlington. At 8pm in St Mary’s Kidlington we have a sung service with ashing.
Come and See – Discovering Jesus through the Eucharist
This Lent, we’re inviting you to Come and See – an opportunity to explore the profound meal at the heart of Christian life. Whether you’re new to faith, returning after a break, or have been part of church for years, this is a chance to pause, reflect and explore what the Eucharist might have to say to you. In addition to the group, you can also sign up to receive free daily Lent emails with short reflections, plus a weekly video from Bishop Steven. You do not need to sign up to take part in the group, but if you wish you can sign up here: https://oxford.anglican.org/come-and-see
Making Group
The Making Group will also be meeting on Friday afternoons from 2.30pm to 4pm in St Mary’s Refectory, starting on 20th February. It will be following the Come and See theme.
Compline Services and Talks – St Mary’s Kidlington 8.45-9.15pm
On each Sunday evening during Lent and on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week, starting at 8.45pm, there will be a short talk followed by the service of Compline (starting at 9pm).
The ancient office of Compline is a service of quietness and reflection at the end of the day.
Praying for Peace in the Middle East
Thank you to those who came to our evening gatherings for prayer for peace in the Middle East – one person joined us daily from New Zealand. These church gatherings will stop but we know that you will all be continuing to pray.
Some of you have asked if we can make a collection for humanitarian work in the region. We will therefore have a special collection on Passion Sunday, in the joint service at St Mary’s for the well-established charity ‘Embrace the Middle East’, which many of you may already have heard of and supported. We will have the facility for card donations, and of course you can donate at any point through their web site here: https://embraceme.org/emergency-appeal
Music and readings for Passiontide
You are also invited to the special Passiontide service in St Mary’s Kidlington at 5.30pm.
Below are the details of all our services in all our churches from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. You can also download a simple list here.
These services on Palm Sunday, 29th March, will lead us into Holy Week:
- St Mary’s Kidlington, 8am and 10am, Holy Communion
- St John’s Kidlington, 10am, Holy Communion
- St Mary’s Hampton Poyle, 10am, Holy Communion
- St Mary’s Kidlington, 8.45pm, Talk followed by Compline at 9pm
Please do join us for any service of preparation during this Holy Week:
Monday 30th March
- St John’s, 7.30pm, BCP Evening Prayer & Litany
- St Mary’s Kidlington, 8.45pm, Talk followed by Compline at 9pm
Tuesday 31st March
- St John’s, 7.30pm, Holy Communion using an Iona-style liturgy
- St Mary’s Kidlington, 8.45pm, Talk followed by Compline at 9pm
Wednesday 1st April
- St Mary’s Kidlington, 11am, Holy Communion
- St John’s, 7.30pm, Stations of the Cross
- St Mary’s Kidlington, 8.45pm, Talk followed by Compline at 9pm
Maundy Thursday 2nd April
- St Mary’s Kidlington, 7pm, Agape service with Washing of Feet and simple Agape meal leading into Vigil until midnight.
- St John’s, 8pm, Holy Communion with Washing of Feet, followed by Stripping of the Altar and Vigil until midnight
Good Friday 3rd April
- St Mary’s Kidlington, 12noon to 3pm, Reflections at the Cross
- St John’s, 2pm, Reflections at the Cross
- St John’s, 4pm, Family Service
Churches Together in Kidlington will be holding their usual Good Friday Walk of Witness, starting from St John’s at 9.45am.
Our Online Pause for Prayer will be held at 10am, Monday and Wednesday (but not Good Friday or Easter Monday).
Please do join us for any of our celebration services on this day, 5th April:
- St Mary’s Kidlington, 5.30am, Dawn Mass
- St Mary’s Kidlington, 10am, Celebration Eucharist
- St Johns, 10am, Lighting of the Fire and Celebration Eucharist
- St Mary’s Hampton Poyle, 10am, Celebration Eucharist
And continuing the celebration of Easter with fun activities for all the family (and filling time in school holidays!) do join us in St Mary’s on Tuesday 7th April, 10am to 3pm.
As well as focussing on the Eucharist in our Lent course and Compline addresses, this Lent we will also be talking about our parish finances and our personal giving.
Jesus talked about money all the time: Money is a gospel issue and how we handle money is important for people of faith. Jesus saw that the rich young man’s money was blocking him from truly following God, and in the parable of the talents he taught about accountability and the responsible use of all that we have been given. He recognised true generosity in the widow’s mite, spoke of money / wealth / riches in 11 of the 36 parables, and constantly reiterated the scriptural bias towards the poor and needy. How we use money is definitely a question for each of us to ask ourselves as part of our following of Christ so it’s appropriate to think about finance in the season of Lent.
All ministry costs money – some things are exciting to fund ( special events, equipment, ….) other things are less exciting (the gas bill, salary costs, ….) but all are equally needed for a healthy ministry. Right now we have a £20,000 deficit so we really need to address this. There will be information packs available for everyone through Lent and we will be thinking about this in three topics on Sundays in each of our churches and across all our varieties of worship:
- Who are we and what do we do? Are we even worth funding?
- What is our financial situation?
- What can I best do?
If you are not able to be in church during Lent we can also hand deliver or post the pack to you if you would like to receive one. You can also download the materials below. Thank you in advance for considering and praying about this.