We are a group of 8 rural parishes in the beautiful Norfolk countryside, who enjoy living, working and worshiping together.
The Group was founded in 1964. This was a pioneering and visionary step taken by Bishop Launcelot Fleming to revitalise and enrich the church in an area of thinly populated villages.
This has been our experience. Since then, the parishes have grown together and continue to share resources and benefit from opportunities for collaboration in numerous ways. We have discovered that can do more together than we can alone.
This is abundantly evident in these difficult times, where a network of practical support and help has emerged in our villages. Thank you to those who have a share in this. We all have different needs and there are those who can assist. Let’s continue to cope with this crisis with a spirit of kindness and loving service to those around us. Please don’t hesitate to contact someone to help or just for a chat.
If I can be of help, I am only a phone
call away 01508 482366.
The Reverend Liz Billett
Team Vicar
May your unfailing love be with us, LORD,
even as we put our hope in you.
Psalm 33:22
To contact us please call The Hempnall Group office, 9am-1pm Mon-Thurs 01508 498157
To receive Weekly Thoughts and Prayers please email: hempnallgroup.office@btinternet.com
To receive monthly Village News please email: hempnallgroup.office@btinternet.com
During this current national lockdown it has been decided in our Group of Parishes not to hold services in our churches on Sundays.
Every Sunday there is a Zoom Service at 10.00am. Why not join us we would love to see you.
Meeting ID: 816 7984 1809 Password: 959003
ALSO This Sunday at 4.00pm Family Praise (an informal service for all the family)
Meeting ID: 424 564 8959 Password: Hempnall
Evening Service in Lent - Sunday at 6.00pm
Meeting ID: 880 2460 2821 Password: 569454
World Day of Prayer - Friday 5th March, 2.00pm
Meeting ID: 838 0029 1581 Password: 521107
Thoughts and Prayers for the Week
Sunday 28th February 2021
Second Sunday of Lent
Prayer for the Week
Almighty God,
by the prayer and discipline of Lent
may we enter into the mystery of
Christ’s sufferings,
and by following in his Way
come to share in his glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Thought for the Week
What comes to mind when you think of the word “fast”? It could be: he was “moving fast”, or something is “held fast”, or someone is “fast asleep”, or a time piece is “fifteen minutes fast”, or the “dye was set fast” all of which may come to mind sooner than “to fast from something”.
Fasting means to abstain. In other words we let go of something which allows space for something else.
In Lent we are invited to think differently and experience a deeper awareness of God’s love for us revealed in Jesus and the lengths to which he will go to bring us back to himself. One way of discovering this is through our God-given senses, in whose image we are made.
Taste is one of our senses. How wonderful to savour the flavour of food. Think of those people who have lost their sense of taste and smell as a result of contracting Covid 19. For some it takes a very, very long while to return.
If we fast from just one meal we let go of tasting that food, which can lead us to savour other things. Take a can of baked beans, something we all probably have in our 
cupboards.
Do literally take a can of beans and look at the label, think about how it came to be. Who was involved in growing the beans and harvesting them; what country did they come from; who was involved in the transportation; who worked out the balance of flavours; who actually put the ingredients together; where did the tin come from; who manufactured it; who was involved in transporting it from factory to supermarket; who stacked it on the shelf for you to take.
See how one can of beans, can lead us to be deeply grateful. And that’s only one sense.
Have you listened to the growing birdsong in the mornings?
Have you seen the violets popping up their heads to the sun?
Have you smelt the aroma of your cooking?
Have you felt the softness of a towel?
We receive so much information from the world around us which God created for us. Let’s really use our senses this week and see what we discover.
Why not forgo one meal, in other words “fast”, and see how we may come to think differently and be led into a Lenten awareness of God’s love for us.
Let us continue to support and strengthen each other
* Daily by saying the Lord's Prayer together, morning and evening
* Lighting a candle at home 10.00am on Sunday
Readings for the week: Genesis 17:1-7, 25-16, Psalm 22:23-end, Romans 4:13-end, Mark 8:31-end
