Newsletter - Passion Sunday (Lent 5)
- Benwell and Scotswood Team
- Apr 5
- 8 min read
6/4/25
Your weekly update from the Benwell & Scotswood Team.
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Dates for your diaries
Sunday 20 April (Easter Day)
11am Parish Eucharist moves to St James for the summer
Wed 21 May
7pm, PCC at St Margaret's
Sunday 25 May
11am, Team service followed by APCM at St James
Fr Chris will be away 2-16 May
Services this week
Sunday
9.30am - St John's Holy Communion
9.45am - St Margaret's Holy Communion
11am - Hub service (Parish Eucharist) at Ven Bede
Tuesday
4.30pm - Farsi Bible Study at St James
Thursday
10.30 am - Holy Communion at Ven Bede
Next Sunday
11am - Palm Sunday Team service with procession at Ven Bede
News
Holy Week 2025
You are invited to journey with us through Holy Week, when we recall the story of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection. The greatest story of hope in the face of suffering.
Palm Sunday
13th April, 11am
At Venerable Bede
We remember Christ’s triumphant arrival into Jerusalem with a procession outside the church bearing palm crosses and branches and singing. There is then a dramatic reading of the passion story and Holy Communion.
Maundy Thursday
17th April, 7.30pm
At St John's Benwell Village
We recall how Jesus shared his last meal with friends before he was betrayed with washing of feet and the stripping of decoration from the church. After the service the church remains open for the ‘watch’ until midnight for silent prayer.
Good Friday
18th April, 2pm
at St Margaret's Scotswood
We gather at the foot of the cross to remember that Jesus suffered and died for us and meditate on Christ's sacrifice. With veneration of the cross.
The Easter Vigil
Saturday 30th March, 8.30pm
at St James Benwell
The climax of Holy Week and the most important celebration of the Christian calendar. A service full of symbolism with light, music, and water, we rejoice in Christ’s bursting from the tomb, bringing us all hope of new life.
Easter Morning
Sun 20th April
9.30am at St John's
9.45 at St Margaret's Scotswood
11am at St James
We gather for Holy Communion on Easter morning.
Exploring Faith - last session this Sunday
A group to explore, ask questions, and learn about the Christian faith.
1pm, Every Sunday throughout Lent
This week at St John's NE15 6RS
Lunch included (free: donations welcome)
Who is it for?
Exploring faith is a non-pressurised group for anyone who is simply curious, anyone who wants to refresh their faith, and anyone who might want to take the next step of baptism or confirmation (and those who are just unsure!).
All ages, abilities, and backgrounds are welcome.
What will happen?
Depending on who would like to come, we may split into smaller groups for young people and speakers of other languages.
Our clergy and other lay leaders will guide us through different resources and bible passages, and discuss together what they might mean.
Contact & RSVP
You’re welcome to just turn up on the day. But to help us prepare, let us know if you want to come and any dietary requirements or if we can make any adaptations to help you join in the discussion.
If you have any other questions feel free to get in contact:
Cleaning party at St James
On Wednesday 16th April, we will be giving St James a good clean and settinng up the church to prepare for Easter day.
If you can come give us a hand then join us from 1-3pm.
Parish Eucharist moves to St James from Easter
The 11am Parish Eucharist 'hub service' will move to St James from Easter day and will remain there every Sunday during the warmer months.
Palm Sunday Gospel rehearsal - Sunday 6th April
There will be a rehearsal for those involved in the Palm Sunday gospel reading on Sunday 6th after the service at Ven Bede.
Lent Bible study
Kathy, our reader, is hosting a bible study at 7.30pm on Wednesday evenings during Lent.
You are very welcome to join the group.
For details please contact Kathy on 07946285529
Embrace - Gaza appeal
Conflict across the Middle East is unfolding with relentless intensity, devastating the lives of millions. Even as they live through these dark times, Embrace’s partners in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon are working tirelessly to bring the light of Christ amidst the suffering.
You can click below to donate online. If you would rather donate by phone, please call 01494 897950.
Sunday Worship
Purple or Lent array
Intercessions
Prayers for others:
Sonja and Stan
John Nicholson
Malcolm Smith
John Peterson
Maria Hawthorn
Herbert Agbeko
Pauline Nelson
Michelle & Peter Wilson
Alan & Maureen Taylor
Irene Foskett
Pat Law
Moe and Mary
Christina Wilson
Diane Humphrey
Nellie Galbraith
Isla
Other:
The victims of the Myanmar earthquake
The families of Archie York and Jay Laws
If you would like to add someone to the prayer list please email church@benwellscotswood.com
The name will stay on the list for 1 month unless requested to be long-term.
Philippians 3.4b–14
4If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
John 12.1–8
12Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ 6(He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’
Sermon
The Revd James McGowan, Vicar of St James and St Basil's Fenham and Area Dean
It is good to be here with you on the week before your final countdown to Easter begins. Although I’m mostly in Fenham not far away, I’m grateful for your invitation and welcome – I’ve read about the parish, and I spoken with Chris a little about life here, but it is always better to be able to go and see and discover something about the real people of a place as we share a moment in prayer and worship together. And we do so at a turning point – we still await a new Parish Priest to join the team, and in our own Faith Story we’re about to retell that great event of salvation and hope of new beginnings.
As we meet this morning, we hear a story about the power of not holding on to what we have but instead being prepared to make extraordinary sacrifices in the hope of finding something new in our human relationships and friendships.
In John’s Gospel this morning, it is Mary of Bethany who is prepared to pay the cost and make the sacrifice as she anoints Jesus with perfumed oil.
Presumably she had bought the oil to anoint the body of her brother Lazarus, but now that Lazarus has been raised from the dead, instead of reselling it, she finds another purpose for it.
Judas is shocked by her passionate display, and asks angrily whether the perfume should have been sold and the money given to the poor.
Whatever we think of Judas, it is a fair question.
Many of our churches are full of ornate statues and paintings that glorify God, but have we enhanced our worship at the expense of those in need?
Our devotion to God needs to be held alongside our calling to serve those around us.
Mary’s action is prophetic in two ways.
First, as Jesus says, it is a sign of his own coming death and burial.
Like the women who follow Jesus to the cross and the tomb, Mary does not look away as Jesus’ suffering and death draw near.
Second, I wonder if this may well have been the act that inspired Jesus to wash his disciples’ feet in the following chapter.
Acts of love and kindness often cause those who receive them to show the same love and kindness to others – and this infectious principle underlies the new commandment that Jesus then gives his disciples: ‘Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another’ (John 13.34).
This week’s Gospel might seem to be about spending everything on what seems to be a futile gesture, and about giving away everything you have for another person.
The woman risks shame but sees something that she must do for Jesus.
It is irrelevant to her that she could have spent the money on a more worthwhile cause; it is simply enough that she obeyed the inner calling of her heart and offered her all in response to Jesus.
There is no way that this kind of love can be measured or calculated.
I wonder… What have we discussed in our church councils that represents this kind of dangerously generous love?
We live in a world that is becoming more mean and less generous; sometimes feeling like it is more suspicious of difference and less tolerant; more divided and less able to take the bold steps that are necessary to make peace.
There is such a contrast between the wild extravagance of the woman pouring out the expensive perfume and the mean-spirited Judas counting up the cost and taking even what does not rightfully belong to him.
In the end of course, it does not matter what you have; what really matters is what you chose to do with what you do have – be that money, influence or power – as you seek to create lasting relationships that are filled with friendship, passion, trust and hope…
The Parish Profile of Benwell and Scotswood tells the story of such a place. A community giving from what they have without counting the cost too much, in the hope of a community filled with passion, trust and hope – these are great things of the Resurrection that we all wait to see and new life, new chapters begin around us.