Hazelwell Weekly Contact March 19th 2023 (Mothering Sunday)

16 Mar 2023 • Weekly Notices

Hazelwell Weekly Contact

March 19^th 2023 (Mothering Sunday)

Hazelwell Communionat 10.00am

Led by Revd. Barbara Calvert

Please pray for

Those injured or bereaved as a result of the explosion in Swansea

Those whose medical appointments or surgery have been delayed as a result of industrial action within the health service.

Odie and his parents Amey and Lee.

Odie is to be baptised next Sunday in our 10,o’clock service to be led by Revd. Jodie Brown

Parish Update

There will be NO ZOOM transmission of the service this week

ØPlease remember to add the following dates to your diary

Thursday 6^th April 7.00pm : Maundy Thursday service – (foot-washing)

Easter Sunday 9^th April. : Hazelwell Easter Communion(led by

Eliakim Ikechukwu

Sunday 14^th May : APCM (following the service)

Sunday 21^st May : Christian Aid Lunch

Saturday 24^th June : Summer Fair. (set up Friday 23^rd )

Friday 29^th September : Macmillan Coffee Morning

Saturday 18^th November : Christmas Fair (set Up Friday 17^th)

Food Bank

Many people continue to struggle financially. Please consider donating to a local foodbank – either in the course of your weekly shop via local supermarket collection or via our collection in church which will be given to the Spearhead trust-

Reflection on Ephesians 5:8-14

What is so fascinating in this passage of scripture is what Paul is saying in verse 8:

Jump back to verse 7:

“Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.”

Paul is not saying you were “in darkness” but that you were “darkness.”

Likewise; he does not say you are “in light”, but that you are “light.”

This may sound a little confusing.

Listen to how Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse explains it:

When Christ was in the world, he was like the shining sun. When the sun sets, the moon comes up. The moon is a picture of believers, the Church. The Church shines, but not with its own light. It shines with reflected light. At times the Church has been a full moon dazzling the world with an almost daytime light. Those were times of great enlightenment — for example, in the days of Paul and Luther and Wesley. At other times the Church has been only a thumbnail moon, and in those days very little light shone on the earth. But whether the Church is a full or thumbnail moon, whether waxing or waning, it reflects the light of Christ. Our light does not originate with us.

R. Kent Hughes, Ephesians: The Mystery of the Body of Christ, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1990), 164.

When Christ saved us, and we became “light” we were given a responsibility in our world.

In our passage today there are two thoughts for us to consider:

A POSITIVE SIDE OF LIGHT (vv. 8b-10)

“Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true) and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.”

By walking as children of light, our lives will produce:

Goodness, Righteousness, Truth

Our lives will demonstrate our character!

Goodness is one of the fruits of the Spirit: (Galatians 5:22 ESV)

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Goodness is love in action.

Righteousness means having a right character or integrity before God and right actions before men.

Goodness and righteousness are based on truth. Which is the absence of falsehood and deception and it comes from the Word of God and the will of God.

In , Jesus calls us “… the light of the world.”

The more time we spend in the Word of God—the more luminous we will be.