Abbey Lane URC

25/05/2026

Our next Craft Morning is tomorrow morning. The organisers have come up with some new.activities to try and of course some firm favourites. 10am - 12noon at Abbey Lane Church in Abbey lane, Saffron Walden. All welcome.

06/05/2026

The URC offers this prayer as we remember all the students who will be sitting exams over the coming weeks.

O God, source of all wisdom,
give strength, peace, and resolve
to all who are now studying for their exams.
Help them balance rest and work,
refreshment and study,
play and sleep,
that they may find their ultimate worth in You.
Calm nerves,
concentrate minds,
and increase understanding,
but, above all, remind us that our value
is not measured in academic performance,
but in Your great love for us.
Amen.

05/04/2026

Easter greetings and blessings to you all.

A prayer for Easter Day
by the Revd Neil Thorogood

Jesus, we come like the women
who made their way in the dawn to mourn you;
we gather in worship and still we are fragile,
worried about the world and weary of weakness and wrongdoing,
and we discover that death could not stop you,
the tomb could not contain you, despair could not undo you.
Easter dawns for the women and the world with rejoicing beyond words!
Jesus, we come with the company of heaven
and the family of the Church to rejoice;
we gather in worship and still we are amazed,
renewed in faith and hope and love,
blessed in ways that give freedom to our souls,
named as the cherished children of God,
invited into creation made new and life made more beautiful.

Whatever we carry as we come to worship,
however our journey and history bring us
to this time upon this Easter day,
let us dwell deeply upon your story.
We remember that Easter’s joy grows from the sadness of the Cross.
You have taken upon yourself the burdens of our sin;
the failures of our living, the foolishness and the selfishness,
the spoken and the unspoken, the done and the undone,
the public and the secret evils that drag at us with so much power.
You have lifted these burdens from us,
and welcomed us once more into the heart of the God
whose longing is that all be saved.
Hear us, as in silence together,
we offer our own Easter ‘thank you’ and ‘sorry…’

Image: JESUS MAFA. Easter - Christ appears to Mary | Art in the Christian Tradition, Vanderbilt Divinity Library

04/04/2026

In between the sorrow of Good Friday and the joy of Easter Sunday, there is today, a time of uncertainty and waiting.

A prayer for Holy Saturday by the Revd Andy Braunston

And so we wait.
The cross stands empty.
Ex*****on completed.
Disciples despondent and despairing.
The status quo restored.
The dangerous preacher silenced;
in a year or two they believe he’ll just be another memory - a historical curiosity.
Job done. Unpleasant, I’ll grant you, but necessary.
It’s better that one man dies for the sake of the people after all.
Give it a day or so and things will settle back down.

And so we cry.
We mourn dreams stolen by violence.
We grieve lives marred by torture and terror,
We ache for lives limited by oppression and brutality,
for mothers left without children; for what could have been.
We’re angered by injustice – then and now –
trumped up charges, hurried trials, lying witnesses;
the powers that be ensuring they remain safe.
Our tears run dry and our emptiness seems overwhelming,
but we know this isn’t the end of the story.

And so we hope.
We hope for better days,
for justice, for renewal, for victims to be believed,
for torturers and terrorists to face a reckoning,
for mothers’ tears to be dried,
and for children to run free.
We hope for things to change,
for the poor to find their voice, the hungry to be fed,
and for the new, extraordinary, life of resurrection,
to change the world.

Image: by Landsmann | Unsplash

01/04/2026

Good Friday Walk of Witness

Our Churches Together Walk of Witness follows the same pattern as recent years. We will gather outside Abbey Lane URC for 10.30am (with tea and coffee available from 10am in the URC hall). Our short open-air liturgy is followed by a quiet procession along Park Lane, and through the centre of Town via King Street, turning up Market Hill to finish at St Mary's. A simple short service follows inside St Mary's, and after we have finished there will be opportunity to meet together for coffee and hot cross buns at St Mary's.

28/03/2026

Just a reminder

Don't be late for church tomorrow! Remember to put your clocks forward one hour tonight.

18/03/2026

Come and join us at SW Baptist Church, weaving hearts, decorating cookies and dropping eggs as we think about how our actions matter.

09/03/2026

Hi here are two events happening on Sunday 15th March. Please come along and join us.
The Iona Community is an ecumenical group working for peace and justice, which is reflected in their worship resources.