Information

Morning service at 10.15am - Creche available every Sunday.

There is tea and fellowship in the Church Hall after Sunday service and a soup lunch once a month except during the summer months.

Next soup lunch is Sunday 14th of March. (Mothering Sunday)

Sunday Club for school age children each Sunday during term time.
This week our club leaders Anne, Elsbeth and John will be looking at the story of the prodigal son and how God's abundent love is for everyone, no matter what we do.

Check out the Events page for dates and times of forthcoming attractions.

 This weeks lectionary readings are featured below from the 'Message' Bible.
Please take some time to read them through, specially if you are not attending
this weeks service. This Bible translation is very contemporary but it can offer a
different perspective to verses that we know well from the NIV.

This weeks reader is Ian Cameron

Through the family story of the prodigal son we discover the generosity of God's love, a love which is so abundant that it never ends, no matter what we do.


Joshua 5.9-12; Psalm 32; 2 Corinthians 5.16-21; Luke 15.1-3, 11b-32



Joshua 5.9-12

 9 God said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt." That's why the place is called The Gilgal. It's still called that.

10 The People of Israel continued to camp at The Gilgal. They celebrated the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the plains of Jericho.

 11-12 Right away, the day after the Passover, they started eating the produce of that country, unraised bread and roasted grain. And then no more manna; the manna stopped. As soon as they started eating food grown in the land, there was no more manna for the People of Israel. That year they ate from the crops of Canaan.

Psalm 32

1 Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be— you get a fresh start,
      your slate's wiped clean.

 2 Count yourself lucky—
      God holds nothing against you
      and you're holding nothing back from him.

 3 When I kept it all inside,
      my bones turned to powder,
      my words became daylong groans.

 4 The pressure never let up;
      all the juices of my life dried up.

 5 Then I let it all out;
      I said, "I'll make a clean breast of my failures to God."

   Suddenly the pressure was gone—
      my guilt dissolved,
      my sin disappeared.

 6 These things add up. Every one of us needs to pray;
      when all hell breaks loose and the dam bursts
      we'll be on high ground, untouched.

 7 God's my island hideaway,
      keeps danger far from the shore,
      throws garlands of hosannas around my neck.

 8 Let me give you some good advice;
      I'm looking you in the eye
      and giving it to you straight:

 9 "Don't be ornery like a horse or mule
      that needs bit and bridle
      to stay on track."

 10 God-defiers are always in trouble;
      God-affirmers find themselves loved
      every time they turn around.

 11 Celebrate God.
      Sing together—everyone!
      All you honest hearts, raise the roof!

2 Corinthians 5.16-21

16-20Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.

 21How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

Luke 15.1-3, 11b-32



1-3By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, "He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends." Their grumbling triggered this story.
11-12Then he said, "There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, 'Father, I want right now what's coming to me.'

 12-16"So the father divided the property between them. It wasn't long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.

 17-20"That brought him to his senses. He said, 'All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him, Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.' He got right up and went home to his father.

 20-21"When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.'

 22-24"But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!' And they began to have a wonderful time.

 25-27"All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day's work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, 'Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.'

 28-30"The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen. The son said, 'Look how many years I've stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!'

 31-32"His father said, 'Son, you don't understand. You're with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he's alive! He was lost, and he's found!'"

You can check out these readings and other translations at http://www.biblegateway.com/

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