Easter 2
TODAY
8.00am HOLY COMMUNION in Church
10.00am HOLY COMMUNION in Church and on YouTube
6.00pm EVENSONG in Church
NEXT WEEK
Monday 8th April 7.30pm Buildings Committee Meeting
Tuesday 9th April 9.00am Morning Prayer – Church
Thursday 11th April 9.00am Morning Prayer – Church
SUNDAY 14th April 2024
Easter 3
8.00am HOLY COMMUNION in Church
Preacher: Revd Barbara Abrey
Reading: Acts 3. 12-29
Sidespersons: Alan & Christine Wrixon
10.00am MORNING WORSHIP in Church and on YouTube
Led by: Revd Phill Harrison
Sidespersons: Sally Parker and June Bradley
Live streaming the 10am service
The 10am service will be live streamed on You Tube. Please visit our YouTube Channel on https://www.youtube.com/@WroughtonWichelstoweParChurch (or search for Wroughton and Wichelstowe Parish church) and press the ‘subscribe’ button.
‘Sunday Club’ dates
Our Sunday morning group for primary school aged children takes place in the Vicarage during the 10am service, usually on the 1st and 3rd Sundays. Future dates are:
| Date | Adults- lead/support |
| 21/4 | Karen H/ Lyn |
| 5/5 | Tracy/Beth |
| 19/5 | Barbara/Carolyn |
| 2/6 | Sally/Miriam |
| 16/6 | Phill/Karen F |
| 7/7 | Hannah/Holly |
| 21/7 | Joan/Helena T |
Small Groups
If you would like to join a small group, please contact the leaders of the groups below and find out where there is space. We would love to have everyone involved in a small group.
| 22 Kellsborough Avenue | Mondays 10am-11.30 | Lillian Wicks & Louise Bessent |
| 12 Artis Avenue | Tuesdays at 7.30pm | Carolyn Kirk |
| Church Hall | Alternate Tuesday evenings | Nick Orman |
| The Vicarage | Wednesday evenings during term time. | Karen & Phill Harrison |
| Church Hall | Saturday men’s breakfast | Mike Mason |
The following announcement was shared in church on Easter Sunday
The Bishop of Ramsbury is pleased to announce that he has appointed the Revd Chris Hunter to be Rector of Canalside Benefice. This is subject to successful completion of his curacy. Please pray for Chris and his family as they prepare to move into the benefice. The details about Chris’ licensing will be confirmed in due course.
From Chris:
I am really pleased to have been appointed as Rector of Canalside Benefice in the Diocese of Salisbury. I will be taking up the post in the summer, following the end of my curacy. While I am really excited about this new role, it is also hugely bittersweet as it means leaving Wroughton after an incredibly happy three years. As a family, we will be looking to make the most of our final months here before we say goodbye.
Please pray for us as we prepare for a big change but also as we prepare for the end of a wonderful chapter in our lives.
Electoral Roll Revision 2024
Our annual church Electoral Roll revision runs from 4th March to 17th April 2024. The roll is open to anyone over 16 years old, who is baptised and is either resident in the parish or who regularly attends our services. Being on the roll allows you to attend and vote at the Annual Meeting on Sunday 12th May 2024, and if you are not resident in the parish it gives you certain rights otherwise only given to residents. If you regularly attend our services and are not already on the roll, we would like to encourage you to join the electoral roll. Application forms are available in church or from the Parish Office – tel 01793 812050 or email: office@wroughton.com. Completed forms should be returned to the Parish Office by Wednesday 17th April at the latest.
Edie Martin
Some of you will remember Edie Martin who was a stalwart member of Wroughton Methodist Church. We have heard that she died at 106 years of age on 11th March. Her funeral was on 3rd April at North Wiltshire Crematorium.
Thank you
Thank you to everyone who helped with the Easter Extravaganza on Tuesday. The food was much enjoyed, and the extra help with activities was a great help. There are pictures of what was made on our Facebook page.
Book & Jigsaw Swap
We’re again encouraging ‘Recycle & Re-Use’ with a book and jigsaw swap. Please bring any unwanted books or jigsaws and place them in the plastic containers in the Baptistry. There will be a table set up in the north aisle from Sunday 7th April to browse the donations. Please take any that appeal. If you have donations but are not able to bring them to church, contact the Parish Office and we will arrange to collect them. All leftover books and jigsaws will be donated to a local charity or sent to the ‘Books for Africa’ charity. Thank you and happy browsing! Eco-Church Group
Litter Pick
On Monday 29th April there will be a litter pick in the village centre meeting at the church hall at 2pm.
Eco Top Tips – practical ways to take better care of God’s creation
April – Money Magic
- Spend less money! Just about every pound we spend has environmental costs (except investing in environmental projects). So with wealth comes more responsibility.
- Donate to charities that alleviate the effects of climate change, as well as being compassionate to our local, global and generational neighbours it can save you 500kg CO2e a year.
Funerals
We commend to God’s care and keeping those who have, died Margaret Brown and Matthew Brown. We pray for all those who mourn the loss of a loved one.
| The Parish Office, Priors Hill, Wroughton, SN4 0RT Open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 9am to 1.30pm
01793 812050 office@wroughton.com Revd Phill Harrison – Vicar 01793 812301 vicar@wroughton.com Revd Chris Hunter – Curate 01793 814987 curate@wroughton.com Church Twitter Account – @WroughtonWichel Find us on Facebook – Wroughton and Wichelstowe Parish Church Please follow us for all the latest updates from Wroughton & Wichelstowe Parish Church.
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The centrality of the cross
The cross is central to the message of the New Testament. For the early Christians it was their belief in the importance of Jesus’ crucifixion clearly set them apart from their Jewish and Greek neighbours (see 1 Cor 1:23). The bible uses a series of metaphors to help us to understand the significance of the crucifixion:
The market place: Jesus said to his disciples: “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mk 10:43-45) (see also Rom 3:24 and John 8:36).
The picture here is that of a slave market. If you wanted to set a slave free then you would first have to pay the price, or ransom. Slaves in the market were bound by iron chains and set free using money. Whereas we are bound by our sin, the habits and patterns of thought and behaviour that separate us from God, and we have been set free by Jesus paying the price by dying on the cross.
Temple sacrifices: Another image is of the sacrifices that were regularly offered during ancient Jewish temple worship. The Jews routinely offered animal sacrifices as a way of being cleansed from their sins. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews says: “Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest (Jesus) had offered for all time (his) one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God… For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Heb 10:11-14)
In this metaphor Jesus’ death is seen as the only perfect and effective sacrifice. Unlike the daily temple sacrifices, Jesus’ sacrifice is the only one capable of permanently removing the pollution of sin.
The law court: St Paul sometimes used legal language to talk about the cross: “All those who expect the Law to save them from the punishment of sin will be punished. Because it is written, “Everyone who does not keep on doing all the things written in the Book of the Law will be punished.” The Law does not use faith. It says, “You must obey all the Law or you will die.” Christ bought us with His blood and made us free from the Law. In that way, the Law could not punish us. Christ did this by carrying the load and by being punished instead of us.” (Gal 3:10, 12-13 NLT) (see also Rom 3:26).
In this law-court image the faithful have avoided the guilty verdict they deserve and been judged righteous (i.e. justified) because of their faith in Jesus, who paid the penalty for their sin.
The cosmic victory: In the book of Revelation we are given yet another way of thinking about Jesus’ death and resurrection. There are a succession of images that illustrate the splendour and majesty of the ascended Jesus, and his sure and certain victory over sin and death. He has already broken their power by dying and then bursting free from the grave and now we see Jesus as a great captain, leading his army out to achieve a great cosmic victory and enabling the creation of a new heavens and a new earth.
The writers of the bible don’t appear to have a problem with the use of overlapping metaphors to explain what happened when Jesus died and rose again (see Ephesians 1:5-7 and Romans 3:21-26). Neither do they feel the need to provide us with a worked-out theory of atonement. The bible is less interested in helping us to understand exactly how the cross gave us new life than in communicating the reality of it.
