During the month of June 2026 the roofs on both the church and rectory are being replaced following a storm in October 2025.
We ask for your patience as the site, and therefore our community, is impacted by the works.

Hosea prophesied during the final years of the northern kingdom of Israel, amid political crisis and Assyrian threat. The people, especially their leaders, had failed in faithfulness, justice, and the knowledge of God. It reminds us that when we worship gods other than our own, then justice begins to be distorted as our we turn away from proper knowledge of God.

Hosea’s words today help us to understand a couple of things that are backed up in Jesus’ actions in the gospel we read today.

Thirst is both a physical and spiritual need. Our physical needs, those indicated by the base level on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, are spiritual.

We see this all through Exodus:

• The people are oppressed in their slavery… they need their God.

• The people are hungry… they need their God.

• The people are thirsty… they need their God.

There are two themes in our readings for Ash Wednesday:

1. return to God (i.e. repentance), and

2. intent.

In Joel, God says, “rend your hearts, not your clothing.”

King David sings to God, “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

In Matthew, Jesus warns his listeners against religiosity – the practise of religious practices for the sake of being seen to be doing them, rather than for the ways in which they bring us closer to God. To be seen by our friends and our frenemies, rather than to return to God.