Harvest Festival 4th October.
As we celebrate our plenty and give thanks for our food, Father we praise you for all you have done and for all you have given.
For shelves that are laden and cupboards that are full. For food available, varied, and affordable for taste and for flavour, for a healthy appetite and the means to satisfy it.
For all that is symbolised in this Harvest Service,
Creator and Sustainer of all,
We thank and praise you.
From our service on 20th September
The attitude of gratitude we find in Psalm 145, the Psalm set for today is a call to humility, which C.S. Lewis described as: ‘not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.’ The outpouring of praise and gratitude of the psalmist, places God, in God’s rightful place, in the centre of his universe. To live a Christian life is to live our lives fully in the knowledge that God is the centre of all, and all that is, flows from God – a God who enters into relationship with us, who knows us, and who desires to be known by us.
From the service on the 13th September
Some years back the great preacher Donald Soper wrote, “there will be three great surprises in heaven. The first is to see those who you didn’t think would be there, the second is not see those who you thought would be there. And the best surprise of all, will be to find yourself there. And for that you need to let Jesus surprise you”
from the homily in our service on 26th July
Four little words that we find in our reading. ‘God is
for us’. Putting that more personally, God is for
you
.
These are not just words. After all, I could say that.
I am for you. I’ll back you. I’ll take care of you. But
what if you let me down, or circumstances change,
might I change my mind? Or what if I want to help but
I lack the power to affect how things turn out for you?
Think how different it is when God says he is for
you. He has the goodness and the commitment and
the power to put that promise into action. How
different it is when Almighty God, the creator and
sustainer of the universe, says he is for you.
28 June - Patronal Festival
Paul: Description The New Testament offers little if any information about the physical appearance of Paul, but several descriptions can be found in apocryphal texts. "A man of small stature, with a bald head and crooked legs, in a good state of body, with eyebrows meeting and nose somewhat hooked …” Peter: Symbols Pair of Overlapping Keys represent Peter’s authority as the leader of the early Church. Shepherd’s Staff represents Peter’s role as chief shepherd of Jesus’ flock. Jesus commissioned Peter in this ministry: “Feed my lambs, tend my sheep”. Upside-Down Cross upon which Peter was martyred. Cock Crowing Peter’s threefold denial of Jesus. Other Symbols. Peter is also represented by a rock, the rock upon which the church is built; a fishing net, because Jesus called Peter to be a fisher of people; a boat, a symbol for the Church and Peter at the helm.
Based on Matthew 10 (our reading for today) 21st June
Watching every sparrow. Counts every hair on every head. Names every refugee in every camp.
We gather knowing you are watching us, counting us, naming us. With that care, aware of your attention,we bring you our thanks.
Prayer
God of sparrows and budgerigars, of tiny babies and tall adults, please help us to trust your total love for each one of us. Nothing ever escapes your notice, nothing happens outside of your care. If we trust you, we become beautiful people, and you turn our sins and sorrows into wiser lives. You know we trust you a little, please help us to trust you a lot more.
In the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen
14th June
Call to Repentance and Reconciliation
What God has prepared for those who love him,
he has revealed to us through the Spirit;
for the Spirit searches everything.
Therefore, let us in penitence
open our hearts to the Lord, who has prepared good
things for those who love him.
7th June
Trinity Sunday is the only Sunday named after a doctrine, a belief. May we be transformed, find new creativity and connectedness as we gather to worship the God who is revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We will light three lights for the trinity of love: God above us, God beside us, God beneath us; The beginning, The end and the Everlasting one.
31 May
Today is Pentecost. A highlight in the church’s year. In some senses today is the church’s birthday. The earliest believers first came together on that day and from then on the Christian church grew rapidly throughout the Middle East before taking route in Europe, Africa and Asia. Today Christians from all across the world share together in worship and fellowship. The Christian faith can seem quite marginal in our society, however, in other areas of the world the church is growing, often in the most challenging circumstances. All of this started from 12 disciples, uneducated and unsure of themselves, and the rest of the 120 believers gathered together on the day of Pentecost. Probably not the human resource we have brought together to launch a major new religion! But Christianity focuses on people made in God’s image rather than on resources, and God’s wisdom rather than human reasoning. God’s power transformed a group of ordinary people. From then on, even after many attempts to shut it down, the church was unstoppable. Ever since that first Pentecost, Christians have experienced the transforming power of the risen Jesus in their lives through the Holy Spirit … and have gone on to live it and share it, in many wonderful ways. So … it is the birthday of the church we celebrate today but more than that it is the reality of the Holy Spirit in the lives of all Christians ever since.
During these ten days from the Ascension (40 days from Easter), as we await the coming of the Spirit on Pentecost and the beginning of the church’s ministry, know that we have also not been left empty-handed. We have received the precious gift of time … this inbetween time to contemplate our Lord’s feet—where they stood, with whom they walked, and what they suffered, for the sake of this broken world. Let us take full advantage of this gift, committing ourselves to prayer, to singing, to worship, and to joy, as the first disciples did. From our service on 24th May
Print out Doves and Flames to cut out or colour.
Call us to live as you lived, to lay down our lives for one another, to seek forgiveness from one another and to reach out to one another in mutual love and concern. From our service on 11th May.
Follow this link HERE to view a clip on being a good shepherd
Risen Christ, faithful shepherd of your father’s sheep: teach us to hear your voice and to follow your command, that all your people may be gathered
into one flock, to the glory of God the Father.
from our service on 3rd May, Good Shepherd / Vocations Sunday
From our service 26th April 'Road to Emmaus'
So here we are later on Easter Day with two disciples - one of whom may well have been a woman, as it would have been odd not to have named the second, if it had been a man - it could be Mrs Cleopas. Anyway, two disciples walking away from Jerusalem in bitter disappointment, sadness and confusion. ‘We had hoped he was the one….’, they say to the stranger walking beside them. There have been angels and promises but Jesus was nowhere to be seen.
A selection of art depicting this event......