News and Comments for Week beginning February 14th

Happy Transfiguration Sunday!

Every year on the last Sunday before Lent we hear the story of Jesus taking Peter, James, and John up the mountain, where they see Moses and Elijah, and where Jesus’ appearance changes and his clothes become dazzling white. In some ways this is the conclusion of the first part of the church year.

Our church year begins in Advent, waiting for Jesus to come and take on our human flesh, and the Christmas season we celebrate the incarnation, the divine becoming human, and now in the Transfiguration Jesus for a short time again shares the glory of the divine. The Incarnation, divine becoming human, and the Transfiguration, the human sharing in the divine, bookend the beginning of our church year.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell their own Transfiguration stories. All three are quite similar. What is interesting to me is that the mountaintop Transfiguration story is always followed by Jesus, Peter, James, and John, coming down the mountain and being faced with a father and his epileptic son. The second part of our Gospel story explains what the mountaintop experience meant.

Our mountaintop experiences, whether they be flashes of glory, glimpses of God, or just the knowledge of what we have doing is good, they are all for the sake of the other. They are never given for our own sakes, but so that as we are equipped by God by them and God can use us within his world. The amazing thing is that even below the mountain, the crowds were astonished and saw the greatness of God through the works of Jesus.

Will you join us for our “live streamed” Parish Mass at 9:30AM on Facebook and later on YouTube.

We have Zoom Coffee Morning each Sunday at 11:00AM. The sign in code will be sent out by email to all who wish to participate.

We will be offering a “live streamed” Ash Wednesday Mass on Facebook at 6:00PM for the two parishes which will also be available later on YouTube.

The Imposition of Ashes will take place at the Church door of Holy Trinity from 10:45AM until 11:15AM for outdoor Ashing. Fr Paul will then travel to Deal to be at the door of St Andrew’s from 1:00PM – 1:30PM. The priest will sprinkle ashes on the top of people’s heads, rather than marking foreheads with ashes.

We are offering a Zoom Lent course on Wednesday evenings at 7:00pm open to all and based on a Lent Course entitled “By His Wounds”. This year via Zoom we are being joined by folk from St Andrew’s in Deal and St Peter’s in Folkestone.

You can order course booklet in advance, but it would not be required as I would publish questions etc. The course will run for 5 weeks.

By His Wounds: Lenten Study Guide. Lenten Study Guide by Tony Castle available on Amazon and Eden. ISBN 1-84003-267-7