Saint Paul's Church, Landkey
In Brief
Next Service:
Morning Prayer
(Palm Sunday)
The next village event will be Palm Sunday Service on 2nd April 2023 at 10:30 AM in St Paul's Church
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More ImagesService Times and Themes
Services are usually held in St Paul's Church at 10:30am on Sundays. Variations to this routine occur occasionally so we publish our services diary here to give more precise information. The services shown are those that we expect to take place during the next month.
Whenever a fifth Sunday falls within the month, our congregation joins with those of the other churches in our Mission Community for a service of united worship. The church in which this service is held is selected on a rotational basis.
Service Times
Click or tap on any of the services to reveal fuller details:
Service Themes
Our services, like those organised in other churches, usually have a theme associated with them and the chosen theme is inspired often by the current date in the Christian calendar. Easter and Christmas are the two most notable dates in the Christian calendar but there are many more which we celebrate at the appropriate time. In the article below, we explain briefly the main theme that is featured in our listed services in order to help worshippers unfamiliar with Anglican services to better understand the meaning behind each one.
Service Themes
Lent
Lent is the period of forty weekdays which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday at Easter. The name "Lent" comes from the Old English word "lengten" which refers to the lengthening of the hours of daylight as spring approaches.
Lent is preceded by Shrove Tuesday (known as Mardi gras especially in the southern US) which marks the end of Shrovetide, a short period when Christians were traditionally expected to confess their sins in preparation for Lent. The custom of eating pancakes on this day has its origins in Christians' desire to indulge in "fatty" foods for the last time before Lent during which fasting or the giving up of indulgent foods is called for.
Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent and is so called because of the tradition of marking the foreheads of Christians with ashes derived from the burning of the palm crosses from the previous year's Palm Sunday as a sign of repentance.
The biblical basis for Lent derives from the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness (desert) prior to embarking on his missionary life. Matthew (ch 4) tells us that, after Jesus was baptised (by John the Baptist), he "was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights and afterwards he was famished". The "tempter" approached Jesus and challenged him to turn stones into bread in order to show that he was the Son of God. He then tried to lead Jesus away from his calling twice more but Jesus refused each time. Jesus finally said, "Away with you Satan!" For it is written, "Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him."
The message of Lent to us in this day and age is one of encouragement to commit ourselves to God and the purpose that He has for us. Anything that might hinder this purpose being achieved should be removed from our lives. A period of self-denial can help us to hear more clearly the message that God is telling us while confession of sins can help to remove obstacles in our path.