Dear Friends,
It is good to be back in S. Michael’s Church today after a hard fortnight of exile. In the midst of the chaos, many of us have been fortunate to be able to gather at S. John’s Bishopdale for a Wednesday and a Sunday Mass, and then for the two Masses on Ash Wednesday. We have also been able to give Margaret Knights the liturgical farewell she deserved, despite the obvious difficulties. On those occasions it has been very clear to us that the Church is the community of people and the liturgy, not the building we are in.
S. Michael’s is still perched on the edge of a largely ruined city centre, where shops and offices and people and jobs have gone, and where many will be afraid to return even when permitted.
Some of you have lost houses altogether, or they have been severely damaged, and others of us wonder how long our buildings can continue to resist the wrenching and bucking of the ground beneath them. The emotional cost of all this is huge and painful. It is important for our health to share this with others, and the Revd Lynne Horwood and Claire Anstice and I are available if you need to unburden yourself. Some of us may need expert counselling, and we can help arrange that for you.
We are struggling to get everything lined up so that the School can return as soon as possible, but that may be much harder than we had thought.
Whatever happens we shall open S. Michael’s Church as often as possible, and keep it as a place of prayer for the city and for the broken world God loves so much.
Throughout Lent we are providing a list of the daily Mass readings so that when you cannot come to the altar, you can still listen with the Church to God’s word for us. Simple things, like praying the Our Father carefully every day, reading the Psalms for the day, or the Bible readings that are provided here, can be a refreshing discipline during Lent, and a strengthening thing for us in this hard time.
I hope that through Lent our Church community will be strengthened to face ‘the time of trial’, to be delivered from evil, and to give itself to God’s way wholly and joyfully.
May God bless you all.
Fr Peter Williams
Lent Readings: Week One
Monday Leviticus 19: 1–2, 11–18 Matthew 25: 31–46
Tuesday Isaiah 55: 10–11 Matthew 6: 7–15
Wednesday Jonah 3: 1–10 Luke 11: 29–32
Thursday Esther 14: 1, 3–5, 12–14 Matthew 7: 7–12
Friday Ezekiel 18: 21–28 Matthew 5: 20–26
Saturday Deuteronomy 26: 16–19 Matthew 5: 43–48
Tuesday Isaiah 55: 10–11 Matthew 6: 7–15
Wednesday Jonah 3: 1–10 Luke 11: 29–32
Thursday Esther 14: 1, 3–5, 12–14 Matthew 7: 7–12
Friday Ezekiel 18: 21–28 Matthew 5: 20–26
Saturday Deuteronomy 26: 16–19 Matthew 5: 43–48
