We are here to help people love and worship God. We aim to be, and encourage others to become, committed and active disciples of Jesus,
who love God and worship him, who know the power of the Holy Spirit and who show God’s love in every part of their lives.
At the beginning of May two celebrations come together. We continue throughout May to celebrate Easter and the resurrection of Jesus; and on Sunday 5th May, the third Sunday of Easter, we celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day, the end of the war in Europe.
Easter, according to Saint John (see John 20:1-18), begins with a man and a woman in a garden. John tells the story of Christ’s resurrection in such a way as to remind his readers of the second creation story in Genesis chapter two, the story of Adam and Eve.
Like Saint Paul, John sees the resurrection of Jesus as the start of a new creation; or perhaps better, the renewal, the healing of God’s creation. It is the hope of God’s kingdom breaking into our fallen world. The risen Jesus is the beginning of this renewal and this hope.
The great themes of Easter are relevant to the celebration of VE Day: the defeat of the evil that mars and distorts God’s creation; the triumph of Christ over death and over those whose power is founded on death and violence.
On VE Day we give thanks for the defeat of a regime that was the very opposite of God’s kingdom, one that ruled by death and hatred; one that worshipped power and violence. We give thanks for the fragile peace that we have, until recent years, enjoyed in Europe.
We remember those whose sacrifice won for us the peace and the freedom that we too often take for granted. It is in the hope of eternal life in Christ that we remember them.
We pledge ourselves to being a people of peace, and in the Bible peace is much more than the absence of violence; it is life and security. In the VE Day Celebration we commit ourselves to do all that we can to build a world that honours the sacrifice of those who died in the Second World War; a world of peace and justice and fulness of life for all.
The world today seems to be more unstable and insecure than for many years. It gives a relevance to our celebration and our remembering on the anniversary of VE Day. It makes our prayers and our hopes more important; it makes it more urgent that we are peace-makers in our communities.
Peace and freedom were won for us: by Christ in His Cross and Resurrection and by those who gave so much to defeat the forces of the Third Reich. The anniversary of VE prompts us to ask what we will do with this freedom, how we will honour their gifts, what kind of world will we give to our children and grandchildren?
God bless you,
Tim
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Annual General Meeting.
I am pleased to report that at our Annual General Meeting held on Sunday 27th May we elected two wardens, Ann Hackett and Michael Waldron; and also two PCC Members, Andrew Whittaker and Chris Harper. There remains one PCC Vacancy.
If anyone is thinking about exploring becoming a warden in the future please speak to Michael and Ann.
Saints Alive.
After a very successful trial run, the Saints Alive Course will be starting again on Monday 2nd June at 3.,30pm in Church. If you are interested or want to know more, please speak to Tim. Next year the course will be held at St Mark’s and will be on a week-day evening.
St Mary's Church, Priory Road, Ecclesfield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S35 9XZ, United Kingdom
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