Team Works Dear friends Our team ministry helps our churches in a number of ways: – we share resources, and staff. For example we all benefit from the support provided by the Team office, whether that be in church requisites, printing facilities, or administrative help for the clergy. But we don’t bear the cost alone. Similarly when clergy are on leave, or…
Sleeping garden Dear friends, Sleep is good and necessary for us, and cycles of rest are also essential in the garden. Although, just as our bodies use the oppportunity of sleep to “service” various organs and systems, the same is true outdoors. Winter is important. The garden may look quiet, and almost dead, but there is a lot going on under the…
The lost son Dear friends Jesus famously told a tale of two sons (Luke 15:11-31) which is as much about their eventual reconciliation as it is about the compassion and forgiveness of their father. The younger son decides he has had enough of life on the family farm, and demands his share of it, so that he may do as he chooses.…
Better Times Dear friends, A very happy New Year to you all. I hope your Christmas was blessed, and joyful. Thank you very much indeed for your support for your churches across the festive season in so many ways. It was wonderful to be be able to be together, and celebrate without the restraints of the last few years. A particular thank…
Dear friends, Advent rushes by. The third candle is lit. Churches are being decorated, and carol services approach. Musicians and singers rehearse, sermons are sharpened. This will be my last note to you of 2022, so I list below all the Christmas and New Year services, for a ready reference. I look forward to seeing many of you at our worship in…
Wooden figures and eagle eyes. Dear friends In her first service at Checkendon, curate in training the Revd Romey Poston reminded us about the challenge of Advent in the midst of the world’s pressures. Her words prompted me to belatedly recover our own Advent calendar from the loft. It is a wooden, brightly painted Columbian affair, bought many years ago from Traidcraft.…
In Christ Alone Dear friends, It has been a year when we have seen the government implode, not once but twice. We are faced with the bill, a figure beyond most of us, and to meet it we will likely as not have to sell our children. Please, don’t think I am being partisan. I am not. I am old enough to…
A strange beauty Dear friends Numbers can do wonderful things, seemingly all by themselves. With attention, however, our minds are able to discern patterns. Order pops out now and then in fields of apparent chaos. Today, for example is 22.11.22. Just an ordinary Tuesday – bright, sunny skies and perhaps showers later. But our labelling pattern, where date numbers are constrained to…
The last jar of marmalade Dear friends It is the time of the year (in our household at least) when the marmalade runs out. By which I mean that the vast stocks created in the jam pan in January have all been consumed. The cupboards have been scoured for the final jars, but now it is all gone. We have to wait…
We will remember them Dear friends, This year has seen the 40th anniversary of the Falklands conflict. The issue at stake back in 1982 was akin to the situation that Ukraine finds itself in today; the right of a people to not be invaded. The Falkland islanders were British, and wished to remain so. Memories of that short and violent conflict include…