Dear friend,

Welcome to the March newsletter from St Peter's Church. In this newsletter you'll see the dates and times of our services in March and beyond, and details about what else we're up to as a church family.

Hi Everyone,

It’s almost Easter! I don’t know how you feel about it all, but I think that Easter can sometimes feel like a bit of a damp squib in comparison to the huge celebrations of Christmas and yet for us as Christians it is even more important. Without Easter our faith means nothing. If Jesus didn’t die and rise again then all hope is lost.

Jesus death and resurrection means that we can know God now, that we can have a fresh start, that we can have eternal life and that there is hope for our world. With God, life isn’t always easy, but it is good.

The psalmist summed it up perfectly when he said:

“Better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere.”
Psalm 84:10

So, as we celebrate this Easter let’s really celebrate. Crack open the prosecco, get dressed up, get out the party poppers and turn the music up loud. Dance like you’ve never danced before because Jesus is alive and that’s good news for all of us!

With love

Jess

Holy Week and Easter

Easter Reflections – 7pm – Monday 11th, Tuesday 12th and Wednesday 13th. Join us for a 30 minutes each evening as we spend time thinking together about the events leading up to the first Easter and what that might mean for us.

Maundy Thursday Supper – 6.30pm – Thursday 14th. A light meal where we share the story of last supper and have some quiet moments of reflection as we strip the alter at the end of the evening. If you are coming along, please let Jess know in advance (07949226508 or vicar@stpetersbirstall.co.uk)

Good Friday Churches Together Walk of Witness – 11am – Friday 15th – Birstall Market Place. Join us to share Bible Readings and much loved Good Friday hymns.

Good Friday Prayer Stations – 1pm – 3pm – Friday 15th – drop into church anytime between 1 and 3pm to have some time of quiet reflection based on the people of Good Friday.

Easter Vigil – 7:30pm – Saturday 16th – gather around the fire to share the stories of our faith and share in night prayer.

Easter Sunday – 10am – Sunday 17th – come and celebrate the risen Lord with our traditional Easter service.

Worship Review

Back in November we began a trial period of an alternating our Sunday services between a contemporary service and a more traditional service. We’re now at the point where we need to review this. This month questionnaires will be being sent out by email (with paper copies available to those who are not on email). We’ll have a couple of weeks collect your answers and a couple of weeks to analyse the results with the plan that a decision on the way forward will be announced at the end of May.

Social and Fundraising Events

We’ve got a number of social events coming up this year. Come along, have some fun and raise some funds for church.

Brass Band Concert – 30th April (tickets now available from Church, see Denise for more details)
Big Band Swing Concert – 18th June
Summer Fete – 25th June
Murder Mystery Night – October (date TBC)

For your diary

We hope that you can join us each Sunday in church for our 10AM service, with the Revd Jess.

Some of our less mobile members find it difficult to get to church on their own. If anyone can help with offers of lifts, or if you would like a lift, please let Leif or Wendy know and they will do their best to coordinate.

Details for all of these events and services are available on our website.

Monday 11th April – 7pm – Holy Week Reflections
Tuesday 12th April – 7pm – Holy Week Reflections
Wednesday 13th April – 10am – Midweek Communion
Wednesday 13th April – 7pm – Holy Week Reflections
Thursday 14th April – 6:30pm - Maundy Thursday Meal
Friday 15th April – 11am – Churches Together in Birstall Walk of Witness at Birstall Marketplace
Friday 16th April – 1pm – 3pm – Good Friday Prayer Stations (Drop in)
Saturday 16th April – 7:30pm – Easter Vigil
Sunday 17th April – 10am - Easter Celebration (Traditional)
Sunday 24th April – 10am - Contemporary Worship (no communion this week)
Wednesday 27th April – 10am – Midweek Communion
Saturday 30th April – 7pm – Brass Band Concert

Prayer Ministry Team members will be available every Sunday to pray with anyone should the need arise. If you aren't in church for the Sunday service but would like prayer, please contact us - the Holy Spirit can cope with a telephone call. Please don't worry or suffer alone.

Prayer for Easter

Lord God,

You loved this world so much,
That you gave your one and only Son,
That we might be called your children too.
Lord, help us to live in the gladness and grace
Of Easter Sunday, everyday.
Let us have hearts of thankfulness
For your sacrifice.

Let us have eyes that look upon
Your grace and rejoice in our salvation.
Help us to walk in that mighty grace
And tell your good news to the world.
All for your glory do we pray, Lord,

Amen.

Prayer by Rachel Marie Stone

And finally

If you need support in any way - prayer, or practical help - please contact us on our special email address: support@stpetersbirstall.co.uk.

We hope you enjoyed this newsletter. If you have suggestions for things we can put in it please do get in touch.

Thanks for reading. God bless you all.

St Peter's Church, Birstall

Why are you getting this? You have been added to this newsletter with the email address '' as you're a member of church, or we've contacted you about church events before, and we're going to use this newsletter to tell you about things happening in church. If you'd like to stop getting these emails you can unsubscribe using this link:

Unsubscribe | Manage your subscription

St Peter's Church
Kirkgate, Birstall,
West Yorkshire
WF17 9PB