Churches open for private prayer
Monday: Tarleton, 10am-2pm
Tuesday: Rufford, 10am-2pm
Wednesday: Tarleton, 10am-2pm
Thursday: Rufford, 10am-2pm
Friday: Tarleton, 10am-2pm
Saturday: Rufford, 10am-2pm
Sunday 7th March – Third Sunday of Lent
✝️ Virtual worship only from 10.30am
We are not people of fear, but people of courage. We are not people who protect our own safety: we are people who protect our neighbours’ safety. We are not people of greed, we are people of generosity. We are your people God, giving and loving, wherever we are, whatever it costs, for as long as it takes, wherever you call us. Amen.
The Collects.
Almighty God, by the prayer and discipline of Lent may we enter into the mystery of Christ’s sufferings, and by following in his Way come to share in his glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ.
Old Testament – Exodus 20.1-17
20 1 Then God spoke all these words:
2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods before me.
4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. 8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 For six days you shall labour and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
12 Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
13 You shall not murder.
14 You shall not commit adultery.
15 You shall not steal.
16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
17 You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.
Psalm 19: 1-14: You, Lord, have the words of eternal life.
New Testament – 1 Corinthians 1.18-25
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’[a]
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
Gospel – John 2.13-22
2 13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. 15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’ 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’
18 The Jews then said to him, ‘What sign can you show us for doing this?’
19 Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’
20 The Jews then said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’
21 But he was speaking of the temple of his body.
22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
pray for parish clergy and office holders, especially Fr Mark and our wardens, and PCC officers; for those living in Church Road;
Prayer intentions
🙏🏼We pray for parish clergy & office holders; especially Fr Mark & our wardens, and PCC officers.
🙏🏼 For the sick and those in need: Zena Ashcroft, Margaret Baxter, Colin Brown, Bill Duggan, Wayne Jackett, Jimmy Johnstone, Elsie Latham, Paddy MacDonagh, Tony Morgan, Ruth Middlesborough, Roland Orr, Donald Sephton, Mary Sefton & Amanda Soady.
🙏🏼 Rest In Peace Beryl Bradshaw & Sheila Gillibrande.
🙏🏼 Year’s mind: William Allen, John Aughton, Joseph Beresford, James Helm Buck, Kathleen Cropper, Elizabeth Dandy, Keith Eccleston, Alexander John Fairbrother, Richard McLeod, Renee Elizabeth Mathews, Nellie Pickavance, William Rigby, Margaret Sutton, Frank Vickers & Mary Ellen Whittle.
🙏🏼 in our cycle of prayer, we pray for those living in Church Road.
Monday 8th March – Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, Priest, Poet, 1929
Today’s readings – 2 Kings 5.1-15, Ps. 42.1-2; 43.1-4 & Luke 4.24-30.
🙏🏼 We give thanks for Christian poets, armed forces chaplains and pray for schools across the diocese.
Tuesday 9th March
Today’s readings – Daniel 2.20-23, Ps. 25.3-10 & Mathew 18.21-end.
🙏🏼 We pray for relatives and friends of those sick.
Wednesday 10th March
Today’s readings – Deuteronomy 4.1, 5-9, Ps. 147.13-end & Matthew 5.17-19.
🙏🏼 We pray for those grieving the death of a loved one.
Thursday 11th March
Today’s readings – Jeremiah 7.23-28, Ps. 95.1-2, 6-end & Luke 11.14-23.
🙏🏼 We pray for local councils and councillors.
Friday 12th March
Today’s readings – Hosea 14, Ps. 81.6-10,13,16 & Mark 12.28-34.
🙏🏼 We pray for national government, the cabinet and civil service.
Saturday 13th March
Today’s readings – Hosea 5.6.6, Ps. 51.1-2,17-end & Luke 18.9-14.
🙏🏼 We pray for those who work in food production, food processing and distribution.
Next Sunday – Lent 4, Mothering Sunday:
Today’s readings – Numbers 21.4-9, Psalm 107.1-3, 17-22, Ephesians 2.1-10 & John 3.14-21.
🙏🏼 We pray for the cathedral as Mother Church of the Diocese, for those working in the crypt vaccinating people against the virus; that they become aware of being surrounded by prayer, for those whose memories make this a difficult day.
🙏🏼 In our cycle of prayer, we pray for those living in Church View and Church Walk.
