Our sympathy goes to all their relatives and friends. May they rest in peace.

The children attend a course lasting ten sessions and the course follows the book ‘God’s Greatest Gift’.

It encourages the children to explore some of the many ‘ gifts ‘ God has given them, for example peace, forgiveness, friendship, creation and so forth. They are asked to think about what Jesus (through scripture) is teaching us about each gift, and what they can do in their own lives to share and use each gift well. The course culminates in reflecting on God’s greatest gift – that of Jesus. The children are encouraged to think about what receiving Jesus in Holy Communion means for them and what changes it should make in their own lives. The book contains lots of fun activities, scripture readings, time for reflection and opportunities for prayer and we ask parents to look at the relevant section of the book each week as a follow up to the Sunday session.

Teaching the course is great fun and provides an opportunity to get to know many of our young people and their families. We ask for your prayers for these children and their families as they prepare together.

With Bishop Keiran focussing on liturgy this year, it has been a busy time. The Advent "Gathering Together" process invited everyone to reflect more deeply on what it means to gather together each week to celebrate the Eucharist. The Bishop has just completed four sessions around the diocese, also titled "Gathering Together", in which he shared his thoughts and invited us to consider the connection between liturgy and life.

Here at All Saints’ we have had some liturgical developments. Everyone will have noticed, hopefully, that all ministers participating in a Mass now congregate around the altar a few minutes before Mass begins to reflect and pray as a preparation to fulfil each of their ministries.

During Lent we have our Friday Stations of the Cross followed by a simple lunch in the Parish room. This is an opportunity for us all to make more of our Lenten preparation and ready to really celebrate the wonder of Easter.

The main area for concern is our music. Katrina Wittey is committed to providing us with this very important part of our worship. We have also had the good fortune of Joseph Smith, who has played the organ for us each week, but Joe will be heading off to university in September and we will be desperately seeking someone to take his place.

There was a good response to the meeting to discuss music on Sunday 14^th March. There were lots of suggestions, which will be considered at the next Liturgy meeting. If you have any thoughts and are able to contribute to the music in any way please let us know. Proficiency is not a requirement but enthusiasm and participation is essential.

Whilst it sounds drastic, it is nonetheless true, unless we have someone to play the organ and more people coming forward to join the choir, and offer other musical gifts, we will lose not only our regular weekly music at Mass, but also at the wonderful celebrations of Easter and Christmas.

Jo Philpotts