Dear all,

Today is a bumper newsletter with lots of info – so no long ramble from me. Instead, I share with you the opening prayer from Morning Prayer in the season of Lent as something to pray for yourself, to dwell on, to ponder and to be blessed by.

*Blessed are you, God of compassion and mercy,*

*to you be praise and glory for ever.*

*In the darkness of our sin,*

*your light breaks forth like the dawn*

*and your healing springs up for deliverance.*

*As we rejoice in the gift of your saving help,*

*sustain us with your bountiful Spirit*

*and open our lips to sing your praise.*

*Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.*

*Blessed be God for ever.*

*News and Upcoming Events*

*Lent Lunches – please do continue to join us to eat together after church each Sunday of Lent. *Feel free to bring something to share with others but as I said before, you really don’t need to worry if you can’t or you forget to bring something on the day – it is your company we would really love!

*Lent Book Club will continue this week – 7pm at church*

*Filming vox pops contributions to the Ely website supporting conversations with people exploring faith *Mark Rodel from the Diocese is building a video bank of lots of Christians from local churches answering some frequently asked questions from those exploring faith. He would like to film at St Philip’s one Sunday afternoon and is looking for a few people willing to answer one or two of the following questions (in a max 3 min segment so no sermons!) The questions are: How is there suffering when God is supposed to be loving? Why does God let so many bad things happen to me? Why is the Church not completely inclusive? Church is boring, just for old people, isn’t it? Do you actually believe the Bible is true? How can a loving God judge us? How can we know if God really exists? How can you believe the world was made in seven days? Who was Jesus really? Is there really a Heaven? Why are Christians such hypocrites? Aren’t all religions the same?

If you would be up for being filmed answering one of these questions with your own beliefs let me know!

*Electoral Roll* At this time of year, there is an opportunity to join the church’s Electoral Roll. This is a sort of register of church members for governance purposes: for example, being on the Electoral Roll means you could nominate someone to join the PCC. You are more than welcome in St Philip’s Church, whether or not you are on the Electoral Roll. But if you would like to join it, please collect an application form from Lucy and return it by April 11th. You need to have been baptised, be at least 16 years of age, and be a resident of Romsey Town or a regular worshipper at St P’s for at least 6 months.

*Friday 15th March – Bible Society Spring Supper *The evening includes a meal of delicious home-made soup and a dessert, this time we will welcome Dr Alison Gary, Director of Studies; Tutor in Old Testament Language, Literature and Theology, Westminster College, Cambridge. Please email penny.f.flynn@gmail.com if you hope to attend in person or online - payment of £7 on the door for supper, in cash please. Further donations welcome.

*Friday 22nd March – 7.30pm - Beer & Hymns* Our occasional Men’s Group is gathering at Eric’s house for a Beer and Hymns evening. A great format to have fun singing loud hymns and having a beer (or other drink). See Eric, David or Martin for more details.

*Thursday 21st March – 1pm – Romsey Rabbits Display *You may have seen the posters around Romsey for the Romsey Rabbits Trail organised by the St Philip’s School PTA – we are hosting a bevy of bunnies in our St Philip’s windows for this trail and if anyone is free and could come help display them please do let me know or just turn up.

*Saturday 23rd March – 10am- 12noon – Friends International Commissioning Service @ St Matthew’s Church *Friends International in Cambridge will be introducing and praying for Harriet, the new team leader, as well as praying for Max, one of our staff workers who is moving back to the USA.

*Easter @ St Philip’s*

*Thursday 28th March - Maundy Thursday – 7pm – Reflective Service (with optional foot washing)*

*Friday 29th March - Good Friday – 3pm – An hour at the cross*

*Sunday 31st March - Easter Sunday – 8am – Sunrise-ish Service (don’t forget the clocks go forward this day) *

*10.30am – Holy Communion Celebration*

*Cambridge Month of Accompanied Prayer *Organised by the Diocese of Ely Spirituality Group, a team of prayer guides are offering a Month of Accompanied Prayer in April/May 2024. This is an opportunity for a weekly meeting with a trained guide, either face to face or via zoom or phone from 15th April-10th May all for free! If you are interested, please email Judy Bennett-Prowse at cambsprayer@gmail.com for more details and an application form. Or you can contact Kay Dodsworth: 01223 234493 or Romie Ridley: 01223 842922 for more info.

A previous participant wrote afterwards: *We all felt like we met God in some way. In our homes, gardens and through our imaginations. It helped us to revisit scripture afresh and talk to Him freely.*

*Cambridge Torch Fellowship Group* for people who are visually impaired (blind or partially sighted) to meet, socialise and participate in an informal time of Christian worship – they meet on the second Saturday of the month, starting at 3pm in St Thomas’s Hall, afternoon tea with sandwiches and sweet treats. If you’d like to join them of want more info get in touch with Keren Mallinson: kerenmallinson@gmail.com 07957633867

*Sunday 31st March – Sonrise Service 7am @ the Grafton* organised by the Grafton Centre Chaplaincy, this service on Easter Sunday is a wonderful opportunity to come together with Christians from across the city in faith and joy. (You might even manage this and our own 8am Sunrise-ish Service! See above)

*Friday 5th April – 2pm @ St Mary’s Comberton - Funeral for Clare Bigg *Mike tells me here will be a “do” at The Cabin @ St Mary’s Hardwick afterwards. If any of you are wanting to go please let me know – there is not much parking at either church it would therefore be good to share lifts.

*Saturday 13th April Ben & Dom Spring Tour* – Ben & Dom are a singing duo from south London. Both experienced choir leaders and community musicians they love group singing and encouraging others to join their voices together in harmony. This is a Singing Workshop followed by a performance both taking place at St Philip’s Church. You can find out more and but tickets for the event at benanddom.com

*Saturday 27th April 10am-4pm Listening for Life Course @All Saints Church Hall Cottenham *A course to learn how to listen well to others, to yourself and to God with effective, reflective listening skills. It will be led by trained tutors – Revd Lynda Davies and Revd Natalie Andrews. For more info or to book on the course: Ely events booking https://elydatabase.org/events/view?course=3794

*Vacancies *

*Teachers of English as a Foreign Language – *Central Language School Cambridge are seeking full time teachers for permanent and temporary posts. For further information or questions: info@centrallanguageschool.com Tel: 01223 502004 www.centrallanguageschool.com Facebook/Instagram: centrallanguageschool

*Eco-Bite – our new green “nugget” each week: *

Controversial maybe but before you buy all those Easter Eggs with all that packaging to give away this year – consider an alternative – maybe investigating the ones with zero plastic, making your own chocolate eggs or painting hens eggs instead.

*Last Week’s sermon*

Last week’s sermon: sermon 10.3.24.mp3 http://sermons.stphilipschurch.org.uk/2024-03-10%20-%20Ruth%20-%20c.mp3

If you want to catch up on any sermons: sermons.stphilipschurch.org.uk

*This Sunday 17th March – Lent 5*

*8.30am – Reflective Holy Communion* – our readings this week are Jeremiah 31:31-34 and John 12:20-33

*10.30am – All Age Worship *– Mike will be leading us in a deeper exploration of our Jeremiah reading and Cambridge Street Pastors will be coming to tell us more about their work and how we can support them.

If you can't attend church in person you can always use this Zoom link:

meeting ID: 976 3739 9129 and Passcode: 330714

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/97637399129?pwd=TGhKWWxOcWF1S242aVhrWDlJdUkxZz09

*Prayers *

If any of you have specific prayers you would like us to include in this newsletter do please get in touch.

*Clare Bigg’s family – *some of you will remember Clare, Howard and the family, Clare sadly died last Sunday. Her funeral will be on Friday 5th April at 2pm in Comberton (see above). Please pray for God’s peace to surround and hold them all in this sudden grief.

*St Philip’s School – *please continue to pray for our local primary school. Interviews for the new Head Teacher are on Monday. Pray God will give all those involved wise discernment to appoint the right person to lead our school community at this time.

*Tracee Giddens* – has a chest infection please pray for her healing and *Lee* is struggling with the death of their neighbour Simon – please pray for God’s peace to rest on them both and on Simon’s friends and family

*Please also pray for our Mission Partner this month:*

*Cambridge Street Pastors* – “Street Pastors is about Christians rolling up their sleeves and getting involved in practically responding to the problems of crime and safety. They are like beacons on our streets.” David Burrowes, Patron of Ascension Trust

It says it all really! Laura Leeke and Jane Mann will be coming to St Philip’s this Sunday to tell us all about it.

*Regular Weekly events to join:*

*Friday 12noon Lunchtime Bible Club *A relaxed look at the bible passage/s for the upcoming Sunday. Bring along a packed lunch and explore scripture whilst eating lunch together.

*Wednesday 12noon Reflective Holy Communion* A quiet time to help find space and peace in the middle of the week.

*Monday & Friday 8.30pm – Compline on zoom *

Meeting ID: 836 5965 9953 Passcode: 749968 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83659659953?pwd=btP5AjGMu1s-dE_2W9T0MMFqnnPKSS.1

*Wednesday 10.30-12noon & Friday 1.30-3.00 –* Wednesday & Friday Friends

*Both are “Warm Spaces” with Tea/coffee, cake/biscuits and chat * Just turn up if you’d like to join us for a cuppa/read the paper/do some of the jigsaw/knit/colour/sit quietly watching the world go by.

*Wednesdays 7.00-7.30pm - Weekly Prayers on zoom*: -

Meeting ID: 852 1105 2733 Password: 397987

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85211052733?pwd=OE52bm9NS1RtQVQ0ZytTc0xBZnVsUT09

*Saturdays 8.15am - Morning Bible Discussion and Prayer on zoom*:

Meeting ID: 143 338 655 Password: 824271

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/143338655?pwd=L1JJTFZJNU9EaFZjaUFjQzVlalpMZz09

With love and prayers

Ruth

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Blessings Ruth

*Revd Ruth Barry* *Vicar, St Philip's Church, Cambridge*

185 Mill Road, Cambridge, CB1 3AN 01223 318315 vicar@stphilipschurch.org.uk *My day off is Tuesday*