This month we enter the Season of Lent. Lent is a season where we are invited into a time of focus and concentration, of stopping to notice what matters most in life. Just as Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness before the joy and excitement of Easter. In our own lives, there are times we can experience our own wildernesses. The wilderness of long-term physical and/or mental illness. The wilderness of grieving for a loved one. The wilderness of losing our job/independence/security.
Yet in this wilderness, as we recognised, acknowledged and declared at Christmas – Emmanuel – God with us. God with us in the pain. God with us in our loss and sickness. God with us in the moments of joy. God with us in looking forward to a hopeful future.
As winter recedes, everything in our beautiful natural world starts to grow again. Bulbs produce flowers, trees release new leaves, birds build nests. Lines come to my mind from Isaiah 43: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”
We are reminded that is the way with God. New life comes from old, or what seems dead. And if we take time to look, there is newness all around. I wonder if we can perceive it?
There’s newness in our church – in the reviving of Churches Together in Headingley
There’s newness in our Partnership – in the calling of an additional minister
I wonder, can you name the newness in your own life?
So, this Lent, I invite us to recognise and acknowledge where we see newness in our churches, communities and world. And let us not be afraid to name it, share it and thank God for it.
Love and peace,
Nicola
| CALENDAR | |||
| MARCH | |||
| 2nd | SUNDAY | 10.45am | Morning Worship led by Rev Phil Chilvers We shall be joined by our friends from Headingley Methodist Church |
| 9th | SUNDAY | 10.45am | 1st Sunday of Lent. Morning Worship led by Mr Alex Walker, Lay Leader, South Leeds URC |
| 11th | Tuesday | 12.30pm | Guild Lunch |
| 16th | SUNDAY | 10.45am | 2nd Sunday of Lent. Morning Worship led by Rev Jamie Kissack, Moderator of the Yorkshire Synod |
| 23rd | SUNDAY | 9.30am | Morning Worship at Headingley Methodist Church |
| 30th | SUNDAY | 10.45am | MOTHERING SUNDAY. Morning Worship, including the Sacrament of Holy Communion, led by our Minister, Rev Dr Nicola Robinson |
| APRIL | |||
| 6th | SUNDAY | 10.45am | Passion Sunday. Morning Worship led by our Minister. We shall be joined by our friends from Headingley Methodist Church |
World Day of Prayer
The World Day of Prayer will be held on Friday, 7th March.
The theme is ‘I made you wonderful’ and the Service has been created by Christian women in the Cook Islands. They took their inspiration from Psalm 139:14: ‘I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made’.
We are not holding a Service in Headingley but have been invited to join with St Peter’s Church, Bramley, for their Service at 2pm. Address: Hough Lane LS13 3NF. Please contact Joan if you wish to attend. She will be leaving straight after the Lent Lunch and may be able to offer you a lift.
GUILD LUNCH
The February Guild Lunch often coincides with Shrove Tuesday, but this time the late Easter brings the start of Lent to the first week of March. We shall still hold our lunch on Tuesday, 11th March, and enjoy some pancakes together, hoping you are still happy to keep the tradition in our own way. We shall meet as usual at about 12.30pm for lunch at 1 o’clock and, as ever, all are welcome – just let us know you would like to come.
CHRISTIAN AID
Christian Aid was formed at the end of World War II and celebrates its 80th Anniversary this year.
Christian Aid Week will be held during the week 11th to 17th May this year and the focus of its appeal will be on Burundi.
They have suggestions to make this year special but if you have any ideas about how we could do something to celebrate this anniversary then please let Joan McShane know.
LENT PROJECT 2025
At their meeting in February, Elders recommended that we again support the Zarach Bed Poverty Charity for this year’s Lent Project. Our charity last year was ‘Caring for Life’.
Zarach is a charity dedicated to raising money to support the estimated 900,000 children living in bed poverty across England.
A Deputy Head Teacher at an inner-city Primary School in Leeds founded the charity in 2017, after being shocked to hear that one of her pupils was living in an unfurnished home with his mother and two siblings. He was always tired and struggled to learn because he was forced to sleep on bed bug infested cushions from an old sofa. Unimaginable circumstances for most of us to find ourselves in.
Zarach collaborates closely with schools and professionals in the community to support affected families to ensure good sleeping arrangements for years to come. They aim to improve a child’s ability to engage at school and to support their physical, emotional, and learning opportunities.
Please let Susan Bollon have your donations (cheques please, if possible) over the coming weeks up to the end of April. Cheques should be made payable to Zarach and Gift Aid forms will be available in the vestibule.
Thank you. Kate Henderson
WHEN IS EASTER?
We all know that Easter is a moveable feast and that to many of us it comes as a surprise each year. ‘Isn’t Easter late this year?’ is heard quite often in 2025 and indeed, as the date is on 20th April, it is, but why?
Easter Sunday can fall on any date between 22nd March and 25th April but which date depends upon the heavens and the Lunar cycle. Quite simply (!!), Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after the Spring equinox. If the full moon occurs on a Sunday – then Easter Day is the following week.
The Spring Equinox is assumed to be 21st March – so, should there be a full moon on that day and it were a Saturday – then Easter Day would be Sunday 22nd March.
It sounds very scientific but . . . the Spring Equinox is not always on the 21st March and the Full moon is not the true full moon but an artificial construct – they lost me at this point! And in addition, the Eastern Orthodox Church may celebrate Easter one, four or five weeks later. And, sadly, no-one seems to have informed the supermarkets of this calculation as it appears that Easter is about to be celebrated straight after Christmas – with the odd venture into Valentine’s Day and Mothering Sunday – sorry ‘Mother’s Day’.
Very often the celebration of the Jewish Passover and Easter overlap. The Last Supper is traditionally a meal Jesus shared with his disciples during the week of Passover and both the Easter and Passover festivals are celebrations of Liberation; the Jewish nation celebrating freedom from Egyptian slavery and for us, the Liberation to New Life. For both faiths, the period of reflection before Passover and Easter is important and, for Christians also the contemplation of Christ’s suffering contrast with the joys of the Festival.
The picture above is of a marble slab from Ravenna which is a calendar to show the date for Easter from 532AD to 626 shown as part of the Roman and Lunar calendar.
CHURCHES TOGETHER IN HEADINGLEY
LENT LUNCHES
The Lent Lunches will explore ‘Confession of Faith’. We have five great speakers lined up (details below).
A special welcome has been extended to Fr David-Ephrem Berryman, the Orthodox Chaplain to the Universities Chaplaincy in Leeds, who will begin our series of talks.
Please note we shall be hosting the Lent Lunch on 28th March; please offer your help with refreshments.
