This Sunday

This Sunday will be celebrated as the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and prayers will especially be offered for peace in our parish and in the wider community.

Prayer for peace

We pray for all those whose lives are being affected by the violence in our town and across London.

Prayers will be offered at mass this evening, 7.30pm in the Lady Chapel.

The Church of England has published a prayer for peace here

Summer at St Laurence's

At last some warm weather, as school holidays begin and people go off on holiday. Our choir is also taking a well-earned rest and will be back in September.

For the next few weeks we will be on a 'summer schedule' of weekday masses: Tuesdays at 7.30pm and Wednesdays at 10.30am (followed by coffee).

Sundays continue as normal with Said Mass at 8am and Sung Mass at 10am. Evening prayer is also taking a break, and will resume on 4th September.

St Laurence Centre remains open for bookings over the summer, so please continue to email us or come to the office on Thursday evenings between 6.30 and 7.30pm if you would like to hire the hall or one of the smaller rooms. We have a new brochure for the hall, and also a dedicated website here

Lunchtime concert, Monday 27 June

This week at St Laurence's

Just a brief word about services this week.

Tomorrow (Thursday) there is no mass at 9.30am, as we will be celebrating the feast of Corpus Christi with a Sung Mass at 8pm, followed by drinks. It is also - allegedly - just after mid summer!

Said mass as usual at 6.30pm on Friday, and then this Sunday is the Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, with Said Mass at 8am and Sung Mass at 10am, and Evening Prayer at 6pm.

Eastertide

We’re in the fifth week of Easter already! Time has really flown so far this year. Something I am always grateful for is that we are able to celebrate and enter fully into the seasons in a way that has largely been forgotten in the world outside church. The richness and diversity of our worship, engaging all the senses, invites us richly to experience communion with the Risen Lord in our midst.

This coming Sunday will be the Sixth Sunday of Eastertide, and on Thursday 2 June The Ascension of The Lord will be celebrated in a mass with hymns at 8pm in the Lady Chapel.

The next family mass will be at 10am on 12 June when we will be celebrating the feast of Pentecost, when we remember the day that the Holy Spirit came down from heaven and encouraged the disciples to spread the good news about Jesus. This year at church we are inviting children to make a special Pentecost hat to wear in the service. The church will be decorated in lots of red, and we are encouraging everyone to wear something red as we remember this special day! Children can read more about Pentecost here

Palm Sunday and Holy Week

This Sunday is Palm Sunday. Mass at 10am starts in the church hall, where palm crosses are distributed and blessed and we hear the Gospel before processing into church. Special service booklets have been printed, and you are welcome to take yours away with you afterwards.

Details of all the services this Holy Week as we prepare to travel with Jesus and celebrate Easter on Sunday are listed here (click on the image to enlarge). Do try and come along to take part in the full story, so together we can truly celebrate the Resurrection!

Where have all the flowers gone?

A timely question as we continue through Lent, without the regular flower arrangements that usually grace the church with their colour, shape and fragrance. Well, we need wait no longer! This Sunday is the Fourth Sunday of Lent and is known as Laetare Sunday or Refreshment Sunday, perhaps better known as Mothering Sunday. Olive and her team have been painstakingly compiling posies of daffodils and foliage to be presented during the 10am Mass. In the church calendar Lenten rules are relaxed and priests have the option to wear rose coloured vestments in place of Lenten violet. The more sombre tone of the season is relaxed and the Latin word laetare, deriving from laetari, invites us to rejoice. This year a visiting drama group brings energy and movement to the day.

Thinking ahead to Easter, why not consider making a donation towards the flowers for the most important part of the year for Christians, (perhaps in memory of a loved one), and help make the church look really beautiful and vibrant during the Easter season?

Oh, and don't forget to buy some flowers or otherwise show appreciation to the important women in your life this Sunday!

Holocaust Memorial Day

Photos of this year's event are now online here (scroll through to pages 3 and 4).