Category

EASTER

Website Admin
In CHURCH, DIOCESE, DONCASTER, EASTER, PAUSE FOR THOUGH, ST MARY'S, TICKHILL

Pause for thought – the Vine and the Vinegrower

The Vine and the Vine-Grower

I was pondering a new hobby – owning a vineyard! Sell some wine, drink some stock, make some money! However, it’s not that simple.

Grapevines take great care and time.  It takes three years to produce fruit, even six with some.   Vines should be pruned and trained to grow along a trellis or wires.
Vines grow best in the dirt that other plants dislike; rocky hillsides with low yielding soils.  It takes many vines to make one good bottle of wine.  It’s expensive to start a vineyard and takes many years before the owner sees a return on their investment.  Suddenly, it’s not so attractive!

Is it unusual then, that something so difficult would be the example Jesus used when talking about the relationship between God and His people?

Not really, because these are the perfect type of fields to demonstrate God’s relationship with His kingdom.

Think about it:

We’re difficult to tend.  We’re like that low yielding soil, full of rocks and like a steep hillside .We take careful pruning and time before we produce good fruit.  We’re costly.

Despite this God, the faithful vineyard owner, cares for us lovingly and with patience. He works the soil and prunes us, the branches intertwined with the vine itself that is Jesus, perfectly to produce fruit for the kingdom.

Revd. Neil Redeyoff,

Rector of The Parish of Holy Trinity and St Oswald’s, Finningley, with St Saviour’s, Auckley

Website Admin
In DONCASTER, EASTER, PAUSE FOR THOUGH, ST MARY'S, TICKHILL

A Gospel reflection – The Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd

 

As we begin to move on from the Easter narrative we have this wonderful image of Christ as the Good Shepherd.

With all the programmes on farms and the countryside we’ve had on television recently, and the knowledge that we have lambs being born locally, it is not difficult to appreciate the wonder of new life and the care that is taken with the livestock. Total commitment. On call 24 hours a day. Facing all the challenges new life brings. So it is for a good job to be done with this profession and within any sphere.

So, Jesus demonstrates His love for His ‘flock’ by giving His life. ‘Greater love hath no man….’ He is always looking for bringing in other ‘sheep’ who recognize His call and is prepared to die so that the flock may remain secure. Our Lord compares this calling with the hired hand who is only into shepherding for the money and lacks loyalty, running away at the first sign of danger. Under the hired hand the flock is in jeopardy from wolves. Under the good shepherd, the sheep bask in the reflected love of their Creator, offered to them by the Son.

John Marsden

Website Admin
In CHURCH, DIOCESE, DONCASTER, EASTER, ST MARY'S, TICKHILL, Uncategorized

A Gospel reflection – the appearance of Jesus after Resurrection

A Gospel reflection – the appearance of Jesus after Resurrection

 

Today’s gospel reading describes one of Jesus’ appearances after the resurrection. How was he greeted? Not with the intense joy we might expect; the gathered disciples were ‘terrified and amazed’. We have to forget two millennia of Christianity and get into the minds of those present. It is unsurprising that all the gospels describe the initial disbelief of those who first encountered the risen Christ,

To gain some understanding we need to recognise the Jesus’ resurrection was something totally new and different from the resuscitation of Lazarus and the boy from Nain. Jesus’ earthly body had been buried. The resurrected Jesus had been transposed into the glory of heaven.

St.Paul (in 1 Cor.15) describes this as four changes:

What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable,
What is sown is contemptible, what is raised is glorious,
What is sown is weak, what is raised is strong,
What is on earth a natural body, what is raised is a spiritual body.

We can’t visualise this difference any more than those disciples could immediately understand what stood before their eyes. But, in this Easter season we can add our gratitude for all that God did and does through Jesus.

John Hoare

Website Admin
In CHURCH, DIOCESE, DONCASTER, EASTER, PAUSE FOR THOUGH, ST MARY'S, TICKHILL

A Gospel reflection for after Easter

A Gospel Reflection

 

After all the pathos and drama of the Passion of Our Lord, and the excitement of His Resurrection we have the intimate narrative of Christ’s meeting with the disciples. It’s almost as if the dust was beginning to settle after a period of intense activity, or bits of the jigsaw were starting to fit into place after the jumbled chaos.

As the lockdown changes to greater freedoms so we begin to reconstruct as if building a new jigsaw. Next week sees the recommencement of the 10.30 am. Service in church ( with the same guidelines as previously ). Hopefully we would be more able to begin emerging and reconnecting with life in general.

Today we find the disciples fearfully together behind locked doors. Alone. Confused. Waiting. And the risen Jesus speaks with reassuring words, “Peace be with you.” Their Lord, and ours, breathes the Holy Spirit into them, bringing courage and hope for their futures.

The absent Thomas struggles to grasp what has happened. When Jesus appears for the second time the crucifixion scars convince Thomas, who makes a huge leap of faith declaring, “ My Lord and my God.” He had seen the light. Many of us have spoken about being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel as the vaccine rolls out and also infections fall. So the risen Christ brings peace to us too as we lean on the knowledge of God’s goodness to His creation, intimately concerned for each and every individual.

John Marsden

Website Admin
In CHURCH, DIOCESE, DONCASTER, EASTER, ST MARY'S, TICKHILL

A message for Easter

Happy Easter

 

The Rev. Canon Ian Smith, Area Dean of West Doncaster, writes

Do you have a favourite Easter hymn or song? If you do could you look it up and read the words please? We are possibly first attracted by the tune it has or an association of the hymn with a place or people special to us. But it may be the words and the combination of tune, people and place. It is so for me.

‘This joyful Eastertide’ was introduced to me in Woking in my very happy second curacy. Oh, getting the twiddly bits right was demanding but then the tune was one I could hum. Written in 1894, its words repeat ancient Christian truths; ‘Had Christ, who once was slain, ne’er burst his three-day prison, our faith had been in vain’ is virtually a copy of 1 Corinthians 15 verse 14.

The other verses remind me I can rest and die in a sure hope because of Jesus and his victory over death; that I should have no more to do with sin because of his resurrection and that the amazing truth, that ‘now hath Christ arisen’, can be repeated in the chorus, louder and louder. What Easter hymn do you like most and why? What does it teach you?

Website Admin
In CHURCH, DIOCESE, DONCASTER, EASTER, ST MARY'S, TICKHILL

Special online service for Good Friday – 2 April

Good Friday 2nd April  – 2.00pm – 3.00pm

An hour by the Cross – Devotional meditation & music

Join us for an hour of devotional meditation and music for Good Friday streamed on Zoom.  Here is the link –

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84564061695? pwd=dzBzbVYxb2dvc2tqMmtiVFR5TFVlUT09

Meeting ID: 845 6406 1695 – Passcode: 146048

For a copy of the simple service booklet, please click here.

Website Admin
In CHURCH, DIOCESE, DONCASTER, EASTER, ST MARY'S

A reflection for Palm Sunday

The Donkey and the Palm Leaves

This Sunday we celebrate Palm Sunday and remember Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. This image is rich in symbolism and meaning, exactly as Jesus intended. Jesus knew he was fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah, ‘Lo your king comes to you, triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey’. The donkey is an animal of peace, as opposed to a horse which was ridden in warfare, and in fulfilling this prophecy Jesus announces that his Kingship is one of peace. The meaning of the palm leaves comes from Leviticus when the Jewish people were told to celebrate their Exodus from Egypt by making booths from palm leaves.

We do not know what the crowds around Jesus on that day thought. The Gospels tell us that for much of his ministry Jesus kept his identity as the Son of God hidden and that even his close companions the disciples did not understand who he was until after his death and resurrection.

We know that we now can stand at the gates of Jerusalem holding our palm crosses ready to lay them in Jesus’ path as he rides before us. We can acknowledge him as the Prince of Peace, leading a new Exodus and bringing about our salvation as the people of God.

Jenny Hosker

Website Admin
In CHURCH, DIOCESE, DONCASTER, EASTER, PAUSE FOR THOUGH, Revd Ali, TICKHILL

A Lent reflection – Restoration and Joy through Repentance

Restoration and Joy through Repentance

The author of this Sunday’s psalm (Psalm 51) was probably writing about 600 years before Jesus was born and 1000 years before the season of Lent was fully established within the Church. Nevertheless the writer fully understood the Lenten theme of repentance in the presence of God. He seems to be laying open his guilt rather dramatically: “I have been wicked even from my birth”. Tradition portrays King David as the author of this psalm, giving his meditation after he had acquired another man’s wife and then murdered that man. This would certainly explain an expression of profound guilt . Here is reassurance that all and every sin can be repented of, if we truly have a change of heart and outlook as a result. Our own sins may appear more understandable and forgivable in God’s sight, than the sins that other people commit. But all sin requires repentance, and Jesus points out our tendency to see our brother’s or sister’s speck in their eye, past the log of sin in our own. We take stock of our lives especially during Lent so we can ultimately achieve what the ancient psalmist wished to: Restoration and Joy. We pray for “again the joy of your salvation” through a return to God’s presence. We yearn for a time when our combined tongues more fully “will declare your praise”.

John Hosker

In CHURCH, EASTER, TICKHILL

EASTER EGG APPEAL FOR THE HOMELESS

Would you like to bring some joy into the life of a Homeless person over Easter?

St. Mary’s Church will be collecting Easter Eggs in conjunction with the Cathedral Archer Project, next week, for Sheffield’s homeless and vulnerable people.

We are looking for people in Tickhill who would like to donate an Easter egg.  CAP will then pass these on to the homeless at their purpose build premises within Sheffield Cathedral.

If you can donate an Easter egg then drop it off in St. Mary’s Church between 10am and 4pm any day in Holy Week or at our 10:30 Easter Sunday Service.

More information about the Cathedral Archer Project can be found at www.archerproject.org.uk

In CHURCH, EASTER

STAINER’S CRUCIFIXTION

St Mary’s Church Choir and friends will be singing Stainer’s Crucifixion on Good Friday, 19th April, at 7 pm. You will be most welcome to join in the singing of this work.

The Crucifixion: A Meditation on the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer is an oratorio composed by John Stainer in 1887. It is scored for a SATB choir and organ, and features solos for bass and tenor. Stainer intended that piece would be within the scope of most parish church choirs; it includes five hymns for congregational participation. The work was first performed on February 24, 1887, the day after Ash Wednesday.

In CHURCH, EASTER, ST MARY'S, TICKHILL

Lent Appeal – United World Schools

Our Lent project this year is United World Schools.

This charity is dedicated to improving lives of some of the world’s poorest children through education.  They work in Nepal, Cambodia and Myanmar, partnering with local communities to build schools and provide teachers especially in isolated districts

We are invited to collect our change to be presented on Easter Day.  Please take a receptacle from church.

https://www.unitedworldschools.org/

In CHURCH, EASTER, ST MARY'S, TICKHILL

CHURCH CLEANING – TIME FOR SOME HINCHING

The end of the internal work on the tower is at last in sight.  We now have to think about cleaning the church after it.  Could you please spare some time between 9:00 am and 12:00 noon on Thursday 11 April and/or Friday 12th April.

We are looking for budding Mrs Hinchs (or Mr Hinchs) so that between us we can sweep, vacuum and dust all areas of the church following the work, and in time for Easter?

These occasions usually turn out to be quite enjoyable! As always, refreshments will be provided

Thank you

Hazel Horrigan

Cleaning Co-ordinator