The April 2026 issue of the Parish Magazine for Rougham, Beyton, Hessett and Rushbrooke should be delivered shortly. But if you can’t wait for your copy, here’s where you can find the magazine online… and in colour. http://online.anyflip.com/xfgtl/zsqj/
Easter Church Services
Reflection on the events in the Middle East over the weekend
Revd. Julia Lall – 1st March 2026
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.’ Matthew 5.9
Today we are faced with a defining moment in world history.
A war has erupted, and people are struggling to find their moral footing.
There is fear, anger and confusion
In the last 48 hours we’ve been bombarded with the words of war :
– epic fury, revenge, evil, oppression, force, death, violence, crushing, destroying………
But Jesus said: Blessed are the peacemakers.
- Not the peacekeepers.
- Not the warmakers.
- Not the people who stay quiet to keep the powerful comfortable.
Peacemaking is active, courageous, and brings about justice.
The American historian and WW2 veteran, Howard Zinn wrote this:
“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people. You cannot justify the mass killing of people by simply calling them the enemy. They are human beings… When governments wage war, they turn living, breathing human beings into abstractions on a map. And once they are abstractions, it becomes easier to destroy them.”
We might find his words powerful or controversial, but perhaps they help us to re-centre ourselves on our basic humanity, made in the image of God, and our basic human rights of dignity, safety, protection and shelter.
Perhaps they helps us to reframe the narrative of war and to think about the impact on ordinary, peaceful, righteous /right-living people:
- Families in Iran waking to explosions.
- Soldiers being sent into danger without a clear justification.
- Children whose futures will be impacted by decisions beyond their control.
- Ordinary people like us, going about their everyday lives.
Warmaking uses fear to justify violence.
Fear is a tool of warmakers.
Fear escalates, and threatens to overwhelm.
But Jesus calls us to choose peace. He calls us to be peacemakers.
Peacemaking means telling the truth and protecting the vulnerable.
The tool of peacemakers is love, and we know that love overcomes.
We may feel utterly overwhelmed and helpless this morning,
so together we turn to Jesus the Prince of Peace.
We fix our eyes on him,
We bring this situation to him,
And we lay our fears, our doubts and our uncertainty at the foot of the cross.
Today let us reclaim our core Christian values of compassion, justice and care for our neighbour;
Let us refuse to use or accept dehumanizing language.
Let us advocate for diplomacy, for peace talks, for integrity of leadership, and for deep listening.
We reject the idea that violence is the only way and we commit to speaking the truth of the gospel even when it feels risky.
Peacemaking begins with us.
It begins in our own communities, homes and workplaces.
How we care for each other is how we resist the narrative of violence.
Let us not be the ones who stay quiet or who choose violence.
Let us be the ones who choose compassion, justice, and courage in a world that is bruised and broken.
Jesus said: Blessed are the peacemakers.
Today, let it begin with us. Amen
A Prayer for Peace (Mothers Union)
Almighty God,
we pray for Your mercy in the midst of strife and war.
Where nations face violence and retaliation, grant wisdom to leaders,
comfort to the fearful, relief to the suffering, and protection to the innocent.
Strengthen and uphold families living in fear and uncertainty.
Turn the hearts of all peoples from violence to reconciliation,
that Your peace may prevail in the Middle East and throughout the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
A Lent sermon from Revd Julia Lall
Sermon Lent 2 YA
Readings: Genesis 12:1-4; Romans 4.1–5, 13–17; John 3.1–17
1st March 2026
Lent is a season in which we think about the wilderness in which our faith is tried, and in which we take up our own crosses and follow Jesus to Good Friday.
It is so tempting to gloss over the sombre bits and get straight to the good news of the resurrection, a bit like skipping to the last pages of a book to read the ending, before you read the whole story.
Perhaps we want to avoid the discomfort of grappling with our own sin and temptation, but last week we read that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. In Lent we must allow the spirit to lead us into the wilderness, too, to test our faith and discipleship.
I don’t think we can fully embrace the joy of Jesus’s resurrection until we first take up our cross and follow him into the wilderness of doubt, temptation and self-examination.
Our readings today invite us to explore a God who calls us by name, calls us into a close and personal relationship; calls us to be counted as righteous. When God says to Abram “Go,” he obeys – No map. No destination. Only a promise.
God’s mission for the world begins with one man stepping into the unknown, trusting the voice of God.
Abram’s obedient and trusting response is echoed in Pauls letter to the Romans. He holds Abraham up as a model of faith and righteousness. Paul reminds us that Abraham wasn’t made righteous because he was perfect or because he kept the religious laws.
It was because “Abraham believed and trusted God.
And then we come to that night-time conversation in John’s gospel, between Jesus and Nicodemus.
Nicodemus is remembered in the Gospels for seeking answers, and for assisting with Jesus’ burial.
He is a respected and devout man. and if you have watched The Chosen, it unpacks beautifully his struggle of wanting to leave behind everything that is familiar to him and follow Jesus, but not wanting to let go of his status and identity.
Like Abram he wants to believe and trust in God, but can’t bring himself to take those first faltering steps of response.
Perhaps this resonates with us and our struggles with our faith journey.
Nicodemus probably had a solid Jewish upbringing and education, and is confident in his spiritual status. He knows God, and is confident that he will be saved. No doubt he was proud of his accomplishments.
But his pride might have hindered his ability to see the need for reconciliation with God, to turn back to him over and over again, and to be repentant.
In his worship Nicodemus is respectful and observes the rituals.
But, has this become for him a familiar act of reciting it off by heart rather than true prayer and worship to God?
Nicodemus was self-centred, proud, and confident in his leadership.
But God humbled him, and Jesus was patient with his questions.
As his story unfolds, Nicodemus remains sceptical and unsure, but recognises that maybe he has deviated from God’s plan.
As he witnesses the people around him being transformed the questions start to form in his mind.
Will he become a disciple?
Can he relinquish the safety of his worldly status to follow the uncertain path to heaven?
Nicodemus kept his thoughts and doubts secret, -perhaps he was uncertain or just curious, so he comes under cover of darkness in case someone sees him.
And Jesus says to him something utterly confusing: “No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”
You must be born again. Born from above. Born of water and Spirit.
Jesus’ answers to Nicodemus take us right back to the wilderness.
- In the OT, the people of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, making their way under the leadership of Moses to the land that God promised them.
They moaned; they rejected the God-given, life-giving manna; they forgot that here in the wilderness they are a free people, no longer living as slaves under an oppressive and cruel regime.
In Numbers 21 verses 4-9 we read that the serpents come, bringing fear and panic, illness and death. The people think they’re being punished because they have dared to complain to God.
Moses “prays earnestly for the people and God tells him to make a bronze replica of the snakes, set it on a pole and hold it up high, so that if anyone is bitten by a snake they may look at the bronze replica and live.
So God provided a way for his people to get through this crisis in the wilderness.
- At the start of Lent we are in the wilderness again, this time with John the Baptist on the banks of the river Jordan. But we’re not just geographically in the wilderness, we’re also in another sort of wilderness: the wilderness of sin from which John calls us back – calls us to repent, to be baptised and to live in the new promised land of God’s salvation.
We’re not so very different from the people of Israel who flock out to the riverbank seeking an answer to the problems of the world and longing for something better.
We may no longer be slaves in Egypt, but we are slaves to sin:
Sin snakes itself around us, crushing within us the knowledge that we’re made in God’s image, and leaving us with feelings of guilt and separation.
- And now Nicodemus finds himself in a wilderness of his own making, trapped between a life that no longer fulfils him and the promise of what it might become with Jesus.
He asked his questions, but the answers didn’t result in him following Jesus, or having the faith to let Jesus carry him.
But Jesus tells us that it doesn’t have to be like that!
He is Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man.
“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3.14-15)
God does not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world (including you and me) might be saved through him.”
In the OT God gave his people a sign of salvation in the shape of a bronze serpent held up for everyone to look at and live;
now he gives his people the sign of his Son, lifted up on a cross for all to see, so that whoever looks at the cross and believes will live, too.
Through the death of Jesus on the cross, we can be born again into a new way life of forgiveness, love and faithfulness.
We are freed from the fear of judgment, condemnation and punishment because that’s not what God is about, that’s not why he sends his Son into the world.
This is the joy of salvation which lies at the very heart of our faith, so let us share it in a wilderness world that longs for light, truth and love.
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Amen
Would it Help? Learning to lay down the weight of worry.
There’s a small moment in the film Bridge of Spies that has stayed with me far longer than any of the dramatic scenes.
A captured spy sits in prison, waiting for trial. The outcome could mean prison — even death. His lawyer keeps asking him, “Are you worried?”
Each time he simply replies:
“Would it help?”
No speeches. No bravado. Just calm.
And he’s right. Worry wouldn’t change the verdict. It wouldn’t shorten the wait. It wouldn’t fix tomorrow.
The weight we carry
Most of us walk around carrying invisible loads:
- bills and budgets
- deadlines and emails
- family concerns
- health worries
- church responsibilities
- the quiet “what ifs” at 3am
We treat worry as if it’s productive — as if anxiety equals responsibility.
But most of the time it just exhausts us.
Jesus says something surprising
In Matthew 6, Jesus says:
“Do not worry about your life…”
Not because life is easy.
Not because we stop planning.
But because worry itself doesn’t help.
It can’t add an hour to our lives. It can’t secure tomorrow. It can’t control what we can’t control.
It simply makes us tired.
Trust isn’t carelessness
This doesn’t mean irresponsibility.
Faith isn’t foolishness.
We still insure the car. We still save money. We still plan wisely. We still love our neighbour.
We act where we can.
But we stop panicking about what we can’t.
The Serenity Prayer puts it beautifully:
accept what you cannot change,
change what you can,
and have the wisdom to know the difference.
Notice — not “worry harder.”
Accept. Act. Trust.
A different way to live
Jesus reminds us that we have a Father who already knows what we need.
Before we ask.
Before we strive.
Before we panic.
We are seen.
So discipleship isn’t careless living — it’s steadier living.
We do what we can.
We entrust what we can’t.
And we leave the weight of the world with God.
A gentle question for this week
Are you worried?
Would it help?
If the answer is no, place it back in God’s hands.
Then breathe.
Maybe even sleep.
Based on a Sermon at Beyton Church 8th February 2026 using the bible passage Matthew Chapter 6 verse 25-