Following the Servant King …
Dear Friends,
As I write this in February, I know that many are praying regularly for the King. Following the announcement that King Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer and has stepped back from public-facing duties while he undergoes treatment, many have appreciated the fact that the King shared news of his condition publicly. There has also been praise for the way in which King Charles continues to work on essential royal duties, albeit ‘behind the scenes’ for the time being.
Like his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles has shown that serving the nation and the commonwealth is a vocation, a calling to serve people even when facing personal difficulties. And, like his mother, he believes that he serves under God. The Bishop of Durham, the Rt Revd Paul Butler, has recalled a moment before the King’s coronation when he told church leaders: “I don't think I'm really King until I've made my vows before God and before the nation, and that I've been anointed because I can't do this task without God's help.”
Christians are all called to serve God and our community as best we can. After receiving Holy Communion, we are sent out to ‘love and serve the Lord’. We do this in the name of Christ, our Servant King, who made the ultimate act of loving service by accepting the Cross. We’re invited to reflect on that this month, as we journey through Lent to Good Friday and Easter. Details of special services are to be found on our website, in yellow pages, and you should also receive this information in an Easter card whose cover has been designed by children from Scalford School.
This year, Easter falls on Sunday 31st March. Some of us will be up early at 6.30 am - even earlier than usual, as the clocks will just have changed to British Summer Time! We shall do so to greet the dawning of Easter Day in Eastwell Churchyard. Together with Christians across the world, we shall gather to celebrate the dawning of the hope God has given us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Having remembered the events of Holy Week leading up to the suffering and death of Jesus hanging on a cross, we rejoice in the triumph of God’s love over the power of evil, and of God’s life over the power of death.
The message at the heart of Easter offers hope for all. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God “has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (1 Peter 1. 3, 4). And it is Christ the Servant King who calls you and me to follow Him in our lives, and to love and serve as He loves and serves us.
Wishing you the light, and hope, and joy of Easter,
John Barr, Rector
Dear Friends,
As I write this in February, I know that many are praying regularly for the King. Following the announcement that King Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer and has stepped back from public-facing duties while he undergoes treatment, many have appreciated the fact that the King shared news of his condition publicly. There has also been praise for the way in which King Charles continues to work on essential royal duties, albeit ‘behind the scenes’ for the time being.
Like his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles has shown that serving the nation and the commonwealth is a vocation, a calling to serve people even when facing personal difficulties. And, like his mother, he believes that he serves under God. The Bishop of Durham, the Rt Revd Paul Butler, has recalled a moment before the King’s coronation when he told church leaders: “I don't think I'm really King until I've made my vows before God and before the nation, and that I've been anointed because I can't do this task without God's help.”
Christians are all called to serve God and our community as best we can. After receiving Holy Communion, we are sent out to ‘love and serve the Lord’. We do this in the name of Christ, our Servant King, who made the ultimate act of loving service by accepting the Cross. We’re invited to reflect on that this month, as we journey through Lent to Good Friday and Easter. Details of special services are to be found on our website, in yellow pages, and you should also receive this information in an Easter card whose cover has been designed by children from Scalford School.
This year, Easter falls on Sunday 31st March. Some of us will be up early at 6.30 am - even earlier than usual, as the clocks will just have changed to British Summer Time! We shall do so to greet the dawning of Easter Day in Eastwell Churchyard. Together with Christians across the world, we shall gather to celebrate the dawning of the hope God has given us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Having remembered the events of Holy Week leading up to the suffering and death of Jesus hanging on a cross, we rejoice in the triumph of God’s love over the power of evil, and of God’s life over the power of death.
The message at the heart of Easter offers hope for all. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God “has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (1 Peter 1. 3, 4). And it is Christ the Servant King who calls you and me to follow Him in our lives, and to love and serve as He loves and serves us.
Wishing you the light, and hope, and joy of Easter,
John Barr, Rector