News

Dear friends,

By the time you sit and read this reflection, Easter Sunday and the school holidays will probably feel like a distant memory and hopefully the weather will be blessing us with some warmer sunshine as we head on into the summer months.

In the church calendar following Easter Day we begin to look towards the Ascension, where the Gospels report Jesus as having ascended bodily into heaven with his disciples left behind in praise and worship.  Ascension Day this year falls on Friday 26^th May, however we will celebrate this significant event on the Sunday following in church.

Jesus’ ascension into heaven falls 40 days following Easter Day.

Numbers in the Bible always hold great significance, with the Israelites having been in exile for 40 years following Moses to the promised land.  Moses himself went up the mountain for 40 days and nights before receiving from God the 10 Commandments.

Jesus, following his baptism went into the wilderness for 40 days before beginning his earthly ministry, and today the number 40 in the church calendar is significant in that we begin Lent on Ash Wednesday and 40 days later celebrate Easter Day.

The number 40 in biblical times actually meant ‘a really long time’ and for those of us when we reach our 40^th birthdays, if you are like me, can feel we have been around for a rather long time….!

The Ascension itself on my trip to the Holy Land a couple of years ago was said to have taken place in the same landscape where Jesus had given his disciples instruction in prayer, with the words of the Lord’s Prayer.  A rather wonderful connection here with prayers rising up towards heaven, as our Lord had once arisen bodily into heaven itself.

The great significance too of this season is that in the 40 days prior to this event, the post – resurrected Jesus had been seen by a significant number of people in different situations, where we hear in the gospels of Thomas doubting until he physically saw the risen Christ, to the event on the road to Emmaus when the people only recognized Jesus when he broke bread and shared this with them.

This season is a truly remarkable time, as we look back at events long ago, but holds great significance with us today in that it is a period of watching and waiting. Watching for the signs that God is among us, and preparing ourselves for the major event of Pentecost (Whitsun), when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples with what was described as tongues of fire – how amazing these things must have been, and how amazing they are to us in this day and age, because all of these events give us hope, in what can seem a really challenging time in our world, especially when we hear of events like that of the Westminster bridge tragedy and the way that humanity can be so cruel to one another.

But the Christian faith in all its seasons gives us hope, that our Saviour Jesus Christ is right there with us in the midst of it all in the gift of grace in our prayers.

With love and blessings, your parish priest, Zoe

Revd. Zoe Ferguson (Priest in Charge Mundford Group Benefice & Assistant Priest to Hilborough & Oxborough groups) Day off Monday.

(For Wedding, Baptism & Church enquires 01842 879375 or email)

Dear friends,

As I sit here and write to you we are well and truly in the season of Lent – a season of Holiness and masses of administration!

I chuckle to myself as I emerge from a mountain of paperwork to sit and write this article…..hahaha!!!!

At this time of year there is a lot to prepare for with Annual meetings soon to take place where we elect our churchwardens and church parochial members, along with the many people who I have the privilege of sharing ministry across the parishes.  However, it is also with deep joy that we prepare too to host a Deanery Easter Vigil Service at St Leonards church here in Mundford on 15^th April (Holy Saturday night) at 8pm, where 10 people from across the deanery are currently being prepared for their next step on their journey of faith, to be confirmed by the Bishop of Lynn in preparation for receiving communion, and to continue in their baptismal calling of going out and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.

This time of year too is also a deep blessing, where we spend a lot of time together, eating together and sharing in a time of study and prayer, and has been a wonderful opportunity to share with members of our communities and wider afield in the Saturday Soup Kitchens where we have shared many conversations, friendship and fun – a special thank you to our St Leonards Fundraising team who have provided us with wonderful food and hospitality which provides a sense of the church being where it should be, at the heart of the community in which it is called to serve.

But our focus in the midst of all the busyness and extra commitments that this season provides is always to look towards Jesus. 

As we approach the Holiness of Holy Week and Easter, we look to the one who wept in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he uttered the words “Father, if this cup could be taken from me, but not my will but yours be done”, the one who suffered so much for our sake, the one who was prepared to die for the sin of the whole world, the one who gives us hope in the resurrection and the hope of life everlasting.

As we approach this Easter season, may we let go of some of the busyness that the world provides and may our hearts and minds be focused upon Him, the one who came so that the world may be saved through Him.

Every blessing to you and yours this Easter.

Christ is Risen, He is Risen indeed. Alleluia!  

Your parish priest, Zoe

Revd. Zoe Ferguson (Priest in Charge Mundford Group Benefice & Assistant Priest to Hilborough & Oxborough groups) Day off Monday.

(For Wedding, Baptism & Church enquires 01842 879375 or email)

Dear friends,

By the time you read this we will have already begun the season of Lent.  With the fun and joy of Shrove Tuesday where we will fill ourselves with yummy pancakes, and where we will enter into the season of Lent with a said communion in Mundford at 10am the following day on what is known as Ash Wednesday, with ashes placed in the sign of the cross on our foreheads, reminding us to ‘remember that we are but dust, and to dust we shall return, turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ’.  These words, a powerful reminder not only of our own mortality, but that as we enter into the 6 week season of Lent, we remember all that Jesus did for us as he prepared for and died on the cross to bring us into a right and close relationship with God, where His resurrection takes us into a new way of living, with hope in faith, that we too will receive eternal life, where there is no more death or pain, but only peace and eternal love.

A couple of years ago I had the privilege of visiting the Holy Land where we walked the Dela Rosa through Jerusalem, the Way of the Cross.  The streets were crowded, long and narrow, it was hot and all up hill.  It was a powerful experience as we placed ourselves into Christ’ shoes, as we were led to the place where he was crucified.  How painful it must have been for him, and a contrast from Palm Sunday, where the people had rejoiced at the coming of their King – for this was a very different journey, one of sadness, pain and rejection, and then there ahead was the site of the cross, so powerful as we placed our hands into the place where he was said to be crucified.  The smell of the anointing stone will remain with me for- ever, where they lay his body after death, to anoint him and wrap him in cloths, and then the visit to the empty tomb – how great and awesome the feeling of emptiness, for he had Risen – Alleluia!

For us, life can sometimes feel a journey of up-hill struggle, one of pain, rejection and sadness, but as we journey through the season of Lent into Holy Week and the rejoicing of Easter, we are reminded that Jesus walks with us all the way, and eventually will lead us into a deep place of hope, and joy and rejoicing….it is not the end, but only the beginning….!

Every blessing Zoe

Revd. Zoe Ferguson (Priest in Charge Mundford Group Benefice & Assistant Priest to Hilborough & Oxborough groups) Day off Monday.

(For Wedding, Baptism & Church enquires 01842 879375 or email)