It is so good to welcome you to our Parish Communion this Sunday 29th March. Please find your service sheet here –Parish Communion 2019 – Lent  –  please print this out or open it in a separate window so that you can take part in our service as we lead it on line.  The service will begin at 10am.

Can I suggest that you turn off the sound on your telephone  and give the dog a bone so that you can give this service your complete attention. Some of you may want to have some red wine and bread in front of you to be able to participate in Communion at a distance, as some did last Sunday.  Doing it on line means that we can celebrate communion in both kinds – bread and wine!

If your children would like to engage with one of the stories for today please do get them to look at this

and then discuss as a family these questions:  why did Jesus wait before he went to see his sick friend Lazarus and what does this story tell us about who Jesus is?

The Bible passage for this service is Ezekiel 37:1-14  – you might like to get your bible and put a marker in the page so that you can follow as Lucy reads the lesson and as I preach.  The Bible passage also follows below.

So far as the adults are concerned, subsequent to my video message on Tuesday, it now turns out that we cannot hold these live streaming services from church – they are closed, so we are inviting you to our dining table in our home – rather as the first communion would have been held round a table at Passover with Jesus.  As you wait for our service to begin, please do read John Barber’s wonderful description of the painting on the front cover of our service sheet which is on the second page – in which he reflects on how the painter’s work reflects the challenges of live in the wilderness – as Jesus faced temptation before the beginning of his ministry.

This service will be completely live and so please forgive us as we are not professional broadcasters!  I will try not to set fire to myself, but who knows what will happen!  However, I hope that, as you join us, you will experience the Lord Jesus drawing close to you in this Holy Communion as we come together at the same time even though spread by this emergency around all our homes.

Best wishes

Alex

At any stage before 10am please press on the triangular start button below and you will see a message which says ‘watch this video on You Tube’  just click on that link and there will be a countdown just before 10am to the beginning of the service

A prayer to know God personally – please say at end of sermon

Lord Jesus Christ

I am sorry for the things that I have done wrong in my life

Take a few moments to bring before God anything in particular which is on your conscience 

Please forgive me

I now turn from everything that I know is wrong.

Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free. Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your spirit.

I now receive that gift.

Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever

Amen

Bible Reading for 5th Sunday of Lent

Ezekiel 37:1-14

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me to and fro among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ”

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’ ”

 The Holy Bible: New International Version—Anglicised. (1984). (electronic edition., Eze 37:1–14). London: Hodder & Stoughton