St Mary’s Attenborough Church

Easter Sunday (Luke 24:1-12)

Our Vicar, Toby Artis, talks us through the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday.

Palm Sunday - Humility and Trust

Liam O'boyle looks at the well known passage of Jesus' entering Jerusalem for the passover celebrations marking the beginning of Holy Week. In this talk Liam sets out the spiritual and emotional journey that Holy week will take us on, and the opportunity to refresh our faith and trust in Jesus. Liam encourages us to give ourselves afresh to Jesus even in our disappointments and brokenness, as He too will enter into that in his own abandonment on Good Friday, and yet with the promise of His triumph of Resurrection on Easter Sunday. 

Beautiful and Costly Worship: John 12:1-8

In this talk Jo looks at how the various characters in the passage serve Jesus through their relationship with him. A focal point is Mary's outlandish generous offering in the presence of Jesus, foreshadowing His death and responding to His love and generosity which has been poured out for us. 

Known, Forgiven, Loved: Luke 15:11-32

In this talk Liam speaks on one of the most famous parables, the prodigal son. We read about  the utter humiliation that the Father faces through the son's rejection and the humiliation the son faces when he's left isolated and with nothing left. But out of that comes the most amazing act of love and compassion. When the son finally decides to repent and beg forgiveness from His father, the Father sprints out, heart pounding to embrace His son, welcome Him home and put on a huge party. This is what God longs to do in our lives too. 

Repentance and Responding to Mistreatment ( Luke 13:1-9)

Oliver Towlson shares with us how we are called as Christians to respond to others who hurt us, or with whom we hold grudges. He shares how through Jesus' death on the cross he entered into the folly and mess of fighting fire with fire, and broke through death rising to a new transformed life. For us this means being united with Jesus's heart, breaking free and having our hearts changed to love and pray for those we struggle with.

Jesus' Rescue Mission (Luke 13:22-35)

Ian Paul continues our lent series looking at the invitation Jesus offers and longs for us to accept - to find true life and freedom in Him. The challenge of turning to Jesus is to follow through the narrow door, but in so doing we are rescued from the spiritual darkness around us. We can find refuge in Jesus as a hen longs to protect and care for her chicks.

Tempting Times (Luke 4:1-13)

Toby Artis kicks us off with our Lent series looking at Jesus' temptations in the wilderness. We see how Jesus both full of the Spirit and in the vulnerability of His humanity has to deal with testing voices luring Him away from God's love. This gives hope that Jesus connects with our own humanity struggles and, as Jesus uses scripture to combat temptation so we can be immersed in God's word to form us more into His likeness.

Better Together - Part 2 (Philemon 8-25)

Jo Stephens concludes the book of Philemon looking at the Gospel imperative of forgiveness and reconciliation. As Jesus has poured out everything to forgive us and reconcile a loving relationship with Him, so our vocation is to share in that with one another - even when it's hard! This cultivates a healthy, loving and growing community.

Better Together - Part 1 ( Philemon 1-7)

Liam O'Boyle starts off our two part mini series on the Book of Philemon. He unpacks themes of partnering together in faith for the good news of Jesus, and the power of living our Christ's self giving love which 'refreshes the hearts of God's people'. 

God's Big Picture: Hope and Home

Our Vicar, Toby, concludes our Bible series in the last book of the Bible, revelation. Here we unpack how the new heavens and the new earth give us a beautiful hopeful horizon. A horizon which gives us courage to keep going, and which shines on our present day to day lives.