Jacqui Percy, Pam Williams, Sheila Perks, Sarah Whitling Pam Daley, Elizabeth Way, Jean Mowlam, Marie Cooper, Pat Ward
Alfred John Reid
David Hodgson and Debbie Morris (14th), Martyn Johnson and Jeremy Dussek (16th), Caroline Stocks (19th), Simon Blakey and Andy Livings (20th)
A very special greeting to Jeremy who celebrates his 40th birthday on Tuesday and to Andy who celebrates his on Saturday.
If you are here for the first time, please do introduce yourself to a sidesperson or minister and take a welcome card.
Baptised members of any Church are welcome to receive Communion. If you do not wish to take communion but would like a blessing please come forward, holding your service leaflet.
A collection for the work of the church is usually taken during each service. Please use the Gift Aid envelope if you are a UK taxpayer.
We have loop systems for the hard of hearing. At St Mary’s it is available in the main nave. At St Anne’s it can be used in any part of the church.
Children’s groups and crèche will now meet on the first, second, fourth and fifth Sundays during term time. The third Sunday will be our new Teaching Eucharist lasting 40 minutes with children taking part in the worship. Where possible a quiet supervised area will also be available in the Crèche room for parents and children during this service. During school holidays the Crèche area (unsupervised) will be available for parents to be with their children during the service if needed.
Children meet on the first, second, fourth and fifth Sundays during the 11:00 a.m. service. They leave with their leaders after the first hymn. All children are welcome.
Meets on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. in Rose Cottage at St Mary’s. All young people are welcome to participate in an interesting and varied programme. For more details see the YG notice board in both churches.
M*A*S*S meets on Thursday at 3:45 p.m.
Free, half hour music session on Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m. for children aged 0+ years old. We aim to sing nursery rhymes, Christian songs, play simple musical instruments, hear stories from the Bible, learn basic musical concepts and move to music. Parents or care-givers help their child through each activity or song. No previous musical experience is required. Squash and bikkies after each session.
For more information please Contact Mick Perrier on: 07967 595 881, or via mick@mperrier.freeserve.co.uk.
Please bring any donations of goodies for Easter for the troops in Afghanistan on Sunday 21 March. Give to Suzanne Smith at St Anne’s. Mini eggs, Haribos, mints or other non melting items will be gratefully received.
Cleaners are still urgently required on a regular basis for the main nave and side aisles of the church. Please sign up on the sheet at the back of church. For access ring benefice office 449 2243
Birthdays List -During March we will be asking everyone at St Mary’s to fill in the new birthday list. Name and date are all that is required! Your name will automatically appear in the pew leaflet on the appropriate date and them we can celebrate your birthday with you! (age not required).
Chimes is issued 10 times a year, which includes two bumper editions at just 60p a copy. It is a very interesting and readable publication ! Your subscription is urgently needed in order to maintain it. Have you signed up? If not please see one of the wardens today. £6 per year is much less than a daily newspaper!
If you have a birthday or anniversary in April (or have just recently had one) please can you send a photograph to Amy Watson for publication in the Chimes? Contact details 242 5003 amywatson@swanpublishing.org
Sheila would like to thank everyone for their prayers and good wishes, she is making good progress and hopes to be back with us soon.
| Service | First Reading | Second Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Morning St Mary’s | 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 | Luke 15:1-3;11b-32 |
| Morning St Anne’s | Genesis 37:3-4;12-36 | 1 Peter 2:16-25 |
| Evening | Isaiah 40:27-41:13 | Luke 15:1-3;11b-32 |
| Time | St Mary’s | St Anne’s |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 a.m. | Holy Communion Celebrant & Preacher: Revd Frank Berry |
|
| 10:00 a.m. | Teaching Eucharist Celebrant: Revd Jeremy Dussek Preacher: Mary Edwards Hymns: 448,296,136,21 Anthem: O Salutaris (Elgar) See the Lent Series |
|
| 10:00 a.m. | Matins Officiant & Preacher: Jonathan Hodgson Hymns: 457,544 Psalm: 32 |
|
| 11:00 a.m. | Teaching Eucharist Celebrant: Revd Rosemary Donovan Preacher: Mary Edwards Hymns: 418,121,27,119,226 See the Lent Series |
|
| 6:30 p.m. | Evensong Officiant & Preacher: Revd Frank Berry Psalm: 30 Hymns: 15,231,432 Anthem: My Song is Love Unknown |
| Day | Time | St Mary’s | St Anne’s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon-15-Mar | 9:00 a.m. | Morning Prayer | |
| Tue-16-Mar | 9:00 a.m. | Morning Prayer | |
| 7:30 p.m. | Lent discussion group followed by… | ||
| 8:30 p.m. | Holy Communion | ||
| Wed-17-Mar | 9:00 a.m. | Morning Prayer | |
| 12noon | Funeral of John Reid | ||
| Thu-18-Mar | 9:00 a.m. | Morning Prayer | |
| 3:45 p.m. | M*A*S*S at Moseley School | ||
| Fri-19-Mar | 9:00 a.m. | Morning Prayer | |
| 10:00 a.m. | SS John and Monica School visit | ||
| Time | St Mary’s | St Anne’s |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday 21 March, Passion Sunday Please note that ALL services will be at St Anne’s due to a lack of electricity at St Mary’s |
||
| 8:00 a.m. | Holy Communion | |
| 10:00 a.m. | Teaching Eucharist With visiting preacher Richard Wharton Chaplain of QE Hospital |
|
| 11:00 a.m. | Teaching Eucharist With visiting preacher Richard Wharton Chaplain of QE Hospital |
|
| 6:30 p.m. | Evensong | |
See also Events during Lent
| Date | Time | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Wed-17-Mar | 7:00 p.m. (coffee) for 7:45 p.m. start | Redeeming our Communities for Birmingham At South Birmingham College. Conversations to initiate the development of networks and partnerships in the city. For more information contact Jeremy. |
| Sun-21-Mar | After the 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. services | Birthday Celebrations Everyone is invited to celebrate Jeremy’s 40th birthday in the Parish Hall at St Anne’s. ALL are welcome. Jeremy says, ‘no presents please,’ but there will be a collection for the Diocese of Ho in Ghana to help the growth of the parish of St Mark’s Dzoanti. |
| Fri-26-Mar | 12 noon – 2:00 p.m. | Super Soup Lunches To support this national event organized by Christian Aid, Elisabeth Leicester is hosting a Mini Soup Lunch at 14 Sinclair Court, 39 Park Road, B13 8A. Everyone is invited. Please support this event. |
| Sat-27-Mar | 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. | St Anne’s Spring Cleaning Morning All hands to the deck to assist with sprucing up both inside and out. Can you spare an hour for vacing, dusting, weeding, clearing out pond in peace garden? Please come along many hands make light work. |
| St Mary’s Spring Cleaning Morning All hands to the deck to assist with sprucing up both inside and out. Can you spare an hour for vacing and dusting to make the church look really good for Holy week? | ||
| Sat-24-Apr | 10:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. | Benefice Quiet Day at Woodbrooke Quaker Centre, Selly Oak. The Tree of Life led by Joyce Sullivan. Cost for the day £10. Further Details from Elisabeth Leicester at St Anne's, Liz Blakey (449 3927) or Helen McNicoll (449 2898) |
At first glance the story of the Prodigal Son and the occasion of Mothering Sunday seem an odd combination to reflect upon, but it led me to notice an obvious point: that at the heart of this parable, central to the teaching of Jesus, there is no mention of a mother. I took the opportunity to imagine what role the mother might play in it. In Rembrandt’s famous painting of the reunion of the father and son, at what looks like the doorstep of their home, in addition to the three male witnesses at the event, and almost obscured in the shadow of the upper left hand corner, stands the figure of a woman observing the embrace of father and son. We could imagine that this figure might be the mother.
Mothering Sunday, as I understand it, was originally instituted as a celebration of the Virgin Mary and Mother Church and became the occasion for the reuniting of families. Among its many meanings, this parable profoundly signifies the reuniting of a family, including its tensions, expressed in the older son’s struggle with accepting his father’s joy at the return of the erring brother. If we consider the mother, the one who may have been there but had no active role in this story of humiliation, fear of judgement, and its culmination of a forgiving and joyous embrace of the once lost son, still we can imagine how she might have been, as Mary was at the birth of Jesus, the silent but wordless witness to the mystery of God’s working among us. She, too, in her way, can be celebrated as holding that place where there is nothing to do or say, but to ‘treasure up all these things and ponder them in her heart.’
So today, in this at first unlikely pairing of Mothering Sunday with the Prodigal Son, there is perhaps an invitation for us to consider how we might be called upon to embody in our own lives and relationships the qualities of each of the parenting players in this moving parable.
Merciful Lord, absolve your people from their offences, that through your bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the chains of those sins which by our frailty we have committed; grant this, heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.