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This year you are invited to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year. It is a Spring festival which starts on Monday 20th March and lasts for 13 days.
We began our celebration of Nowruz by creating a Haft-seen in church. A Haft-seen is an arrangement of seven or more symbolic items whose names start with the letter "س" (pronounced as "S"). Above is a photo of our beautiful Haft-seen. Thank you to every who helped create it!
Please click the blue buttons below to find out more about Nowruz and Haft-sin.
The word Nowruz means New Day. It is a festival of hope. In the Bible, we read, "Let’s hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, because the one who made the promises is reliable" (Hebrews 10:23). St Paul prays, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in faith so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13.
God is our hope, the one who calls us into new life and leads us to fresh possibilities. As we journey towards Easter, we're reminded that 'Resurrection is the power of God to overcome evil, to bring hope to otherwise hopeless situations, to make creative transformation possible no matter what' (Marjorie Suchocki). We all need hope; we all need God.
Prayer Activity for the whole of Nowruz: on our Haft-sin table there will be slips of paper and a small dish. You are invited to take a piece of paper and write a prayer of hope. You may like to write a few sentences or a word or two or draw a picture. Please leave your prayers in the dish on our Haft-seen table.
On the thirteenth day of Nowruz, people leave their houses to enjoy nature and picnic outdoors. This day is called Sizdah Bedar or Nature's Day.
Church Picnic: we are going to celebrate Nature's Day (on Sunday 2nd April) by holding a church picnic at 1:30pm on the recreation ground on Downs Road (LU5 4DD). There will be Persian soup and kebabs but please feel free to bring your own food too if you would like to. No need to sign up - just come along! All are welcome.
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