Articles from the local churches

With so much to get into the April print magazine there wasn't enough space for everything so here are the articles from the local churches

Shrove Tuesday Pancake supper at St Cecilia’s on the evening of 21^st February was not as well attended as in previous years but we had a good time, delicious pancakes and the money made from the raffle was added to the Turkey/Syria earthquake appeal. 

Thanks go to all who helped and those who made the delicious pancakes. On Wednesday 1^st March we had a small celebration after Mass at St Cecilia’s for Fr Michael, who was celebrating his 59-year anniversary of ordination to the priesthood.

Our Easter services are as follows: - Palm Sunday Masses are the usual Sunday Mass times of 9am at Dersingham and 11am at Hunstanton, Maundy Thursday Mass is at 7pm at Hunstanton. Good Friday Masses are at 2pm at Dersingham and 4pm at Hunstanton. The Easter vigil on Saturday is at Hunstanton at 7pm, Easter Sunday Masses are the usual Sunday Mass times of 9am at Dersingham and 11am at Hunstanton,

If you would like to be on the distribution list for the weekly bulletins straight to your inbox, please send your email address to hunstantonparish@rcdea.org.uk. Also, if you are a new parishioner, there is a form in both church porches to fill in your details to welcome you to the parish. Feel free to ask if you can’t see them.

We have regular Rosary prayer meetings at St Cecilia’s every Monday from 2pm. and

there is also a Mothers Prayers group which meet at 2.30pm Monday fortnightly at OLSE.

The Pope’s prayer intention for April; For a culture of peace and non-violence: we pray for the spread of peace and non-violence, by decreasing the use of weapons by States and citizens.

The setting up of an SVP {St Vincent de Paul Society} Group in our parish is well under way and will be named ‘The Wash Conference’. If you would like to join or get more information, go to www.svp.org.uk. The dates of the meetings are published on the website and in the weekly church bulletins and anyone interested in contributing in any way is more than welcome to attend or speak to someone and pass on ideas.

Sr Danuta is guiding a regular parish study/discussion group at the Convent every Tuesday, 4.00-5.00pm, looking in more depth at the readings for the following Sundays. Anyone who is interested is welcome to come along to any of the meetings and take part.

Please contact the Convent direct about daily Mases there on tel. 01485 532837.

For Parish news including Mass times and prayer requests, please see the Parish News page on our website. For information about live streamed Masses in the Diocese and related matters, including Coronavirus updates see the Links page of our website at, www.hunstantoncatholicparish.org

The Sunday Masses are at 9am at Mountbatten Road, Dersingham, and 11am at OLSE Sandringham Road, Hunstanton.

Daily Masses are at 10am at Hunstanton on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Fridays and 10.15am at Dersingham on Wednesdays. Website: www.hunstantoncatholicparish.org Email: hunstantonparish@rcdea.org.uk The Parish telephone number is 01485 534675.

If you require a Priest urgently, please telephone V. Rev Canon Peter Rollings on 01553 772220.or email; parishpriest763@gmail.com

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The Way Christian Fellowship

Who Do You Say He Is?

By Gill Tanner a member of The Way C F Leadership team

Jesus said to his disciples “ Who do men say I am?”. Some said “John the Baptist”, others said “Elijah” and some said “One of the prophets “. Then He asked them “Who do you say I am?” Peter said “You are the Christ (the anointed one) the son of the living God.”

The Bible clearly reveals Jesus as the creator of the world. John, His disciple writes at the start of his gospel that He was with God in the beginning. “Through Him all things were made: without Him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1.3

Who we believe Jesus was and is, shapes our whole world view. If He created everything including human life, then his mission to to save us from the consequences of sin ie death, by dying in our place, tanking the punishment for all sin in his own body makes sense. For we are told it was because he so loved us that he made a way out of the mess that our rebellion had made of the world. His purpose was to make a way to know God as our Father. The great exchange is so simple but was very costly. We give Him our sin, our failure to love God and our fellow human beings, our selfishness and our pride; He gives us his right-standing with God the Father and we receive love and are welcomed into the family as His sons and daughters. That is the hope for all people everywhere – eternal love and life now and the other side of the grave.

With Him every life has the value of what He paid to redeem it. All have purpose – He still says “Come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest.

Who do you say that He is? If you want to know more we would love to helpyou ex[plore. Come to The Way Christian Fellowship on a Tuesday afternoon (2-4pm) for a chat, and coffee or tea, or try a Sunday service at 11.00am.

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Christian Science Society, Hunstanton

The second weekend of April is Easter, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, is celebrated by Christians throughout the world with Easter Sunday being the highest point as the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead, a glorious victory over death.

“Resurrection. Spiritualization of thought;” This part of the definition of Resurrection given in her book Science & Health with key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy shows that each of us can have the spiritualization of thought and be lifted above earth’s problems and difficulties. What appeared to be a sad time turned out to be a joyous renewal showing God’s love for His son and for each of us.

Our Sunday services are suspended for April but will resume in May at our church building, 10 Queen’s Drive, Hunstanton. We also hold a service on the first Wednesday of each month at 12 noon and our next meeting will be on the first Wednesday in May. Follow us on Facebook to see up to date information about our church and its activities and services. Information on Christian Science and our worldwide church can be fund at www.christianscience.com. Services are also available online, please go to www.spirituality$.me to find live-streamed services around the UK, along with other online events, talks etc. as well as our online shop for books, including the Bible, the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, and other inspirational resources. Daily inspiration can be found at https://www.chrsitianscience.com/christian-healing-today/daily -lift.

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St. Mary’s Church, Titchwell

My strangest memory of an Easter Sunday is from my time in Somerset, that of a dawn service on the summit of Glastonbury Tor. It was enlivened by a group of people, colourful in both dress and language, whose minds appeared fortified by several sort of illicit substances, continually proclaiming that we were standing on holy ground because Jesus had once stood where we were now standing, and that we should immediately remove our shoes.

The Glastonbury legend telling of Jesus’ visit to the Isle of Avalon and its Tor as a young man in the company of Joseph of Arimathea is almost certainly a medieval concoction designed by the local Abbey for the lucrative pilgrimage market. However, my Glastonbury experience did set me thinking that there might be an indirect sliver of truth in what was said that dawn. Looking around what the Bible says about the person of Jesus we find this. The beginning of the Gospel of John describes Jesus Christ as the Word of God, active far back at the initiation of creation. The Epistle to the Hebrews states that he sustains all things by his word of power. And St. Paul, referring to Jesus after his resurrection from the dead, wrote, “The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit”.

This Easter, let us think of Jesus as the risen and now Universal Christ who does make all ground, and indeed all creation, including ourselves, holy, and as new in every sense of the word.

Services for April at St. Mary’s, Titchwell

Sunday 2nd 10.30am Holy Communion CW

Thursday 6th 4pm Contemplative Communion for Maundy Thursday

Friday 7th 3pm Words from the Cross for Good Friday

Easter Sunday 9th 8.30am Holy Communion BCP & 10.30 Holy Communion CW

Sunday 16th 10.30am Holy Communion CW

Sunday 23rd 8.30am Holy Communion BCP & 10.30am Holy Communion CW

Sunday 30th No Service but 10am Benefice Holy Communion at Burnham Deepdale

Stillness on the Saxon Shore at St. Mary’s

We continue to meet on Fridays at 4pm for times of quiet contemplation and meditation.

However, please note that we will gather at 3pm on Good Friday.

With my prayers and best wishes for you all this Easter tide, James Monro

(Assistant Priest, Hunstanton and Saxon Shore Benefice).

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Rector of Hunstanton & the Saxon Shore

Dear Friends,

It is with great sadness that by the time you read this article I will have taken my final service in the Hunstanton and Saxon Shore Benefice. I will be moving to join the Dereham Team Ministry and be based in Swanton Morley. My actual final service will be a funeral service in St Mary’s church Old Hunstanton and that seems rather appropriate given the time of Lent that we are currently experiencing. There is always though, for the Christian, no real finality about death because very soon we will be celebrating Easter Day. With Easter comes the hope of New Life and resurrection because of the death on the cross of Jesus for our wrongdoing. Jesus death and resurrection gives us hope for the future on earth as well as in our heavenly home.

We can experience hope in many different ways in life. We see hope when a new life enters the world full of possibilities. Parents, grandparents, friends and relatives all want the best for a new baby. We imagine them growing up, making friends, being happy and making a difference in the world for good. We are hopeful when we plan and plant a garden, tending new seedlings and nurturing plants until the frosts have gone. We may have an allotment and aim to feed the family with good nourishing food. When we make the effort and join a new club or attend a group we’ve never been to before, we are hoping that we will make new friends and find common interests.

There are many ways in which we can have hope in our lives. As Christians when we celebrate Easter we are still very aware of the pain and sadness of Good Friday but the light of Easter reduces the hold that events of three days earlier have. We are living a new life of hope and joy for the future, often with the scars of the past still visible. That combination is a powerful one to contemplate but it is also very real. In the middle of great joy there are also echoes of past scars or pain. However, we always have hope for the future with Jesus.

For me leaving this benefice, much sooner that I expected, has caused me an amount of sadness and pain. There has also been so much to celebrate and I am determined to look to at what has been beautiful and lovely during my time here. There will be people and events that will live long in my heart and memory and for all of those I am so thankful to God for my time here.

The final thing that I would like to say is that whatever your experiences in life have been there is one who loves you beyond measure. God wants everyone to experience His love and acceptance. ALL are invited to come to God, the invitation to His house is offered in the person of Jesus. Whatever you do in life, whatever others think of you of what you think of yourself you are precious and valuable to God and your invitation to meet with him will never be cancelled and you will never be rejected. This is a hope and a certainty that we have because of the events of Good Friday and the resurrection of Jesus that we celebrate on Easter Day.

May you have a new hope in your hearts this Easter and do come to one of our services, you will be warmly welcomed.

With my prayers for a Happy Easter,

Rev Rachael Dines

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Union Church

Dead or Alive?

…..“Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead!” Luke 24:5-6

Today’s images of Easter are full of fluffy chicks, cute bunnies and chocolate eggs - a long weekend filled with family, fun and DIY projects! Easter really does feel like Winter is over and the warmer days of Summer are just around the corner. The dawn chorus, daffodils and bare branches beginning to bud are all promising new life.

All this is a far cry from that first Good Friday when an innocent man was put to death in the cruellest way imaginable. So why do we call it ‘Good’? The answer lies in what followed Jesus’ crucifixion: His resurrection!

At the cross, Jesus took the blame for all our sins and, with His resurrection on Easter Sunday, overcame Death so that we are no longer under condemnation. His outstretched arms are ready to embrace each one of us in love and mercy. The choice is ours: do we accept or reject God’s gift of eternal life?

Could Easter this year mark the start of a new life for you? Want to know more? Union Church, Hunstanton would love to meet you - come and join us at our Sunday services at 10.30 am.