{"id":471,"date":"2025-03-09T11:53:26","date_gmt":"2025-03-09T11:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/?p=471"},"modified":"2025-04-12T12:11:33","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T11:11:33","slug":"sunday-9th-march-2025-lent-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/2025\/03\/09\/sunday-9th-march-2025-lent-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday 9th March 2025 \u2013 Lent 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I remember learning about the heart for \u2018O\u2019 Level biology. I spent hours reproducing the drawing from the text book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Its four chambers, the valves stopping a backflow of blood, the aorta carrying oxygenated blood from the heart, the whichever artery carrying de-oxygenated blood to the heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The heart is a physical organ getting on with its job. But the heart has become something more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is the symbol of love; I Y you. It\u2019s the centre of discussion; \u2018right at the heart of the matter\u2019. It\u2019s where our beliefs lie; \u2018if you believe with all your heart\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-db74add8439bfcfc0601a6567e972c1d\" style=\"color:#4c5256;font-style:italic;font-weight:400\">Paul says: <em>\u2018\u2026 it is with your heart that you believe\u2026<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is beyond simply knowing the facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It even goes beyond just believing. I believe that there was a person named Julius Caesar. That fact doesn\u2019t really make any difference to the way in which I live my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-fa5b2f4e4ed30e38abf4d2a27f6ad906\" style=\"color:#4c5256;font-style:italic;font-weight:400\">James wrote, \u2018<em>You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that\u2014and shudder\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is believing <strong><em>in. In <\/em><\/strong>my heart, with all my heart. That small word \u2018<strong><em>in\u2019 <\/em><\/strong>conveys words like trust, hope, refuge, strength. I believe <strong><em>in <\/em><\/strong>God the Father. He is my hope, my strength, my refuge, the One in whom I trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I believe <strong><em>in <\/em><\/strong>Jesus Christ. He is my hope, my strength, my refuge, the One in whom I trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I believe <strong><em>in <\/em><\/strong>the Holy Spirit. He is my hope, my strength, my refuge, the One in whom I trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What is in our heart, what is at the very core of our being, is shown in how we speak to one another, how we relate to one another, within the church family and with our neighbours in Bromyard and Stoke Lacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During this time of Lent, let us ask for forgiveness for just believing, and take up the joy, the challenge, of believing <strong><em>in <\/em><\/strong>God, who is our hope, our strength, our refuge, the One in whom we trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>You ask me how I know He lives; He lives within my heart!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-96fe234ea5fc27cb9783a46faf156739\" style=\"color:#151873;font-size:20px;font-style:italic;font-weight:500\">Rev Phil<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I remember learning about the heart for \u2018O\u2019 Level biology. I spent hours reproducing the drawing from the text book. Its four chambers, the valves stopping a backflow of blood, the aorta carrying oxygenated blood from the heart, the whichever artery carrying de-oxygenated blood to the heart. The heart is a physical organ getting on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":496,"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471\/revisions\/496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}