Author: stjohnstmarkchurchbury

Lent is one of the most important periods in the Christian calendar. So, it would be really good to see you at one or more of the following events…

Here’s our March 2020 church magazine. There are thoughts about Lent and Mothering Sunday plus more on the upcoming 250th celebrations for St John’s. Also lots of news and views from our various groups as well as this letter from our Reader Emeritus Margery Spencer…

He walked down one of the narrow streets then hesitated a moment before entering the potter’s shed. First, he was hit by the smell of wet clay. Then the sound of the wheel turning. He saw the bowl of water, the liquid clay on the hands…

Here are the March 2020 Bible readings which we’ll be using in church during the season of Lent. This month includes eating the wrong food, getting away from it all, being asked to ‘go’ but no destination given, spit (!), skeletons and someone special in tears.

Here are the opening verses of Genesis… ‘First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss. God spoke: “Light!” And light appeared’.

This Saturday, February 15th, we’ll be having another of our very popular Coffee Mornings with lots of pre-loved books. This will be in the church hall from 10am – 12pm. Our postcode is BL9 6NY. There will be plenty of home-made cakes, bacon butties and thousands of books.

The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. The Lord will guide… but often he’ll do that through you and me. We’re the ones who act as signposts for others.

Our next Sunday@Seven service will be on Sunday 23rd February 2020 in the Barritt Room at St John with St Mark, Bury. The theme this time is ‘Be transformed’ which is taken from Romans chapter 12.

We are the inheritors of the salvation Simeon proclaimed. We are carrying hopes and dreams of a time when God’s kingdom will fully come and God’s will be fully done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Here’s our February 2020 magazine. There’s news and views plus articles on Lent. There are also pieces on the Lite lunch and the Pantomime. Plus this letter from our Authorised Lay Minister Nigel Silvester…

Here are the February 2020 Bible readings which we’ll be using in church as the season of Epiphany moves into Lent. This month we leap from the Presentation in the Temple to the Transfiguration, encountering soap, salt and bushels along the way… all in a few weeks.

This is challenging stuff. It is clear that ticking-over is not an option. To achieve the Vision we do need to change gear from just maintaining what we have and to move into mission mode. That means we need to do more than turn up for worship on a Sunday…

Moses was 80 years old. He’d been tending someone else’s flock for 40 years. One day, he was out with the sheep, probably thinking about his pension plan, when he took a different path – and from there he saw a bush that was burning. His life completely changed direction…

Old Trafford has a number of places of worship. Our banns were heard at St Hilda’s, Old Trafford. But far and away the largest place of worship has thousands of adherents. Every Saturday, or thereabouts, they gather to chant devotion to their god. At times they will invite the leader of the worship, dressed in black, to improve his eyesight. They cheer whenever the team in red puts the ball into the net…

It’s often said that history is written by the victors. But what must it feel like to be defeated in war? Ashamed, frightened, disorientated, demoralized, physically hurt, mentally traumatized, angry at those who promised that you would be victorious, relieved the fighting is over, struggling to survive, cold, hungry…??