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NEWS>>>>NEWS>>>>NEWS
22nd February (Ash Wednesday)
19:30 A Eucharist service with the Imposition of Ashes will be held at Old Buckenham. If you have palm crosses from previous years which you do not wish to keep could you please give them to Revd Alistair for recycling to ashes which will be used during the service.
A Lent group will be held for six weeks from Monday 27th February at 20:00 in the Church Rooms, Old Buckenham. The subject for study will be the Beatitudes. Nicki Lewis 01953 861 317
A View from the Rectory
When I was a child my family always used to sing hymns to pass the time on long car journeys. We were not particularly religious, we just liked the tunes. It has taken me a long time to get used to looking and hearing beyond fine hymn tunes to the content of the lyrics. It is true of course that a fine hymn can be spoilt by a bad tune, or indeed a good tune spoiled by a duff lyric, but when the two are in harmony real spiritual enlightenment can be glimpsed. My favourite hymn at the moment is ‘There’s a wideness in God’s mercy’.
There's a wideness in God's mercy
like the wideness of the sea;
there's a kindness in His justice,
which is more than liberty.
There is no place where earth’s sorrows
are more felt than up in heav’n;
there is no place where earth’s failings
have such kindly judgement giv’n
But we make His love too narrow
by false limits of our own;
and we magnify His strictness
with a zeal He will not own.
There is plentiful redemption
in the blood that has been shed;
there is joy for all the members
in the sorrows of the Head
For the love of God is broader
than the scope of human mind
and the heart of the Eternal
is most wonderfully kind.
If our love were but more simple,
we should take Him at his word;
and our lives would find assurance
in the promise of the Lord.
It says much of what I sense of the true nature of God. It is all too easy to forget, in fast paced, high-pressure times the crucial (and I mean crucial-things as central as the cross, or crucis of Jesus) importance of kindness. I witness even in our relatively relaxed communities far too many hard and unforgiving words. And I am not immune to the temptation to be harsh in speech and judgement. However, God is not like that, as Father Faber’s lovely hymn and indeed the person of Jesus teach us. I have to ask myself how I fall short of His standards of kindness. Perhaps I should make being kinder my New Year’s resolution? What about you? With every blessing, David Hill, Rector of the Six Villages Midweek Services Tuesday: Old Buckenham, First Tuesday of the month Holy Communion 10.00am- followed by Coffee and Chat at 10.30 in the church rooms.
Thursday: Banham, 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month, Holy Communion 12 noon We produce a weekly Sunday Pew Leaflet which includes services for the following two weeks, collects and post communion prayers, intercession prayer lists, diary of events and advance notices for upcoming events. There is also a monthly Six Villages Newsletter the middle pages of which contains news, events and pastoral information and is sent out to all the residents in the six parishes.
The Quidenham Group consists of the following six parish churches: Directions to the Church
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