THE PARISH CHURCHES of
NORTH MARSTON and GRANBOROUGH
Lent and Easter Season
We invite you to explore some of the resources that we have reflected on
during the seasons of Lent and Easter.
Read our Lent Reflections here
Reflection for Week 1 By Rev Janet Bayly
Fast from hatred and fast on love...
Reflection for Week 2 By Rev Petra Elsmore
Hello Spring...
Reflection for Week 3 By Rev Janet Bayly
Finding peace
Reflection for Week 4 By Rev Petra Elsmore
Where do we get our information from? Is it a source of life?
Reflection for Week 5 By Rev Janet Bayly
What energises you?
​By Malcolm Guite
​
Now to the gate of my Jerusalem,
The seething holy city of my heart,
The saviour comes. But will I welcome him?
Oh crowds of easy feelings make a start;
They raise their hands, get caught up in the singing,
And think the battle won. Too soon they’ll find
The challenge, the reversal he is bringing
Changes their tune. I know what lies behind
The surface flourish that so quickly fades;
Self-interest, and fearful guardedness,
The hardness of the heart, its barricades,
And at the core, the dreadful emptiness
Of a perverted temple. Jesus come
Break my resistance and make me your home.
MOTHERING SUNDAY
MOTHER'S SONG
By Gerard Kelly
I give you the earth,
My child, gift of love,
Its contoured face carved
By time and the weather’s knife,
Its patchwork of forests
Sewn with the threads of rivers,
Its oceans of salted life.
I give you your place
On this planet of wonders,
Crown jewel of the Heavens
In a dark black dome.
I give you the garden
God’s artistry has landscaped
To be your classroom and playground
Your palace, your home.
For joy I give you laughter,
For peace I give you sleep,
For fear and failure,
My embrace to call upon.
I give you the earth,
My child, gift of love, and
I give you my prayer,
That you live to pass it on.
By Malcolm Guite
At last, in spite of all, a recognition,
For those who loved and laboured for so long,
Who brought us, through that labour, to fruition
To flourish in the place where we belong.
A thanks to those who stayed and did the raising,
Who buckled down and did the work of two,
Whom governments have mocked instead of praising,
Who hid their heart-break and still struggled through,
The single mothers forced onto the edge
Whose work the world has overlooked, neglected,
Invisible to wealth and privilege,
But in whose lives the kingdom is reflected.
Now into Christ our mother church we bring them,
Who shares with them the birth-pangs of His Kingdom.
ASH WEDNESDAY
AFTER ASHES
​
From that ancient sacred place out into the cold sharp air
From the company of faithful faces and familiar prayer
We quietly make our way to home and hearth
Where unreserved tasks tread a homely path
A casual glance into an accustomed glassy space
A shock, for there upon our used and well known face
A black dark cross, a mark of sins committed, sins forgiven
Our Saviour for our sake by hate and fear was driven
To hang with cruel nails and pieced side
To wipe away our wilfulness and pride
Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return
But rejoice for Salvation you will gain if to Christ you turn
Though each will explore these truths in different ways
And frame our love and works to give Him praise
He reaches out in bread and wine
To turn the coolest heart to joy divine.
So with this act of penitence complete
We’ll begin our Lenten walk with willing feet.
​
By David Heffer
ASH
How elusive is my love?
For the love of the eternal flame
which is my God
Who sent his son
To save me from my sins
And I am made of dust
And on my forehead a gentle cross of ash
Unseen until in precious moments of prayer and meditation
I become aware
of another power
Greater than my words can explain
glimpsed though a window
On a speeding train
And I am a passenger
With ashen cross
And I believe Christ on Earth water and sky
And greater than my day to day, faith hopes and fear.
Is my belief
In the mystery of faith.
By Les Penrice
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