Carols and Christmas Services edition. Dear friends, Have you noticed how Advent always speeds up? The third candle is to be lit. Churches are being decorated, and carol services approach. Musicians and singers rehearse, sermons are crafted. The church heating is fixed and the fire extinguishers receive their annual service, happily unused since the engineer’s last visit. I look forward to seeing…
Made for sharing Bring a friend to the coffee and mince pie morning on Saturday 9th Dec from 10.30am in Checkendon Village Hall. It is a great chance to catch up with your neighbours and enjoy a chat before the holiday season gets under way. There’s a book exchange, a model railway and a craft table for children too. This event for…
The Pike A younger version of myself grins out of a photo on a screensaver. I’m leaning in an attempt at nonchalance against a cairn of stones. Behind me in the near distance shattered rocks and scarcity of vegetation reveal that we are at some altitude. In the far distance, down below, a lake and a habitation, and further mountains and hills.…
We will remember them Dear friends, In a time when conflict appears daily in our news media, one can be forgiven for wondering why we remember earlier wars, when present day suffering elsewhere seems to demand all our attention, and pushes former horrors into the past. We do so, among other reasons, to remind ourselves that such failures of politics – whether…
Delete as Appropriate Dear friends Sometimes its hard when going through the affairs and effects of a loved one. Not just for the poignancy and emotion, but for simple practical reasons. What is to be remembered, and what forgotten, or laid aside? Old photographs tell a story, but they speak someone else’s language, and you only know a proportion of the words.…
God’s brown bin. Dear friends, Autumn is usually a very busy time. Everything is in full swing in the working world, in the voluntary sector and with social events. There are meetings, projects, appraisals, reviews, articles, parties – and the DIY that you started in May is nowhere near finished. Teachers and parents start to look weary and mentally tick off the…
Harvest Joy Dear friends, Many thanks to all of you who supported our Harvest services last Sunday. At Checkendon, Steve and Frances Woolaway from Manor Farm, Peppard, returned with their produce stall supporting the Ways and Means Trust, and Robin Hart from the Woodhouse Farm Partnership, which farms at both Checkendon and Ipsden, shared some of the story of the farm over…
Harvest Hope Dear friends, Planting a seed is an act of faith. The miracle of soil, water, air, and light works a mystery, and as we tend the plant we share in the wonderful work of creation. And, in the same way that our horticultural skills are honed by repetition, and experience, so too our faith grows as we tend to it,…
Lent Courses Dear friends As February draws to a close and the season of Lent gets under way, may I draw your attention to the Lent study groups that are on offer this year? Both are open to anyone from across the Team. On Tuesday afternoons at 1.30pm you have a chance to meet God “In the Wilderness” with Revd Romey Poston.…
Mercy, mercy Dear friends, Once again the creation reminds us that we are not above it, but that we belong to it. At high enough pressure, rock becomes fluid, and behaves in a way similar to the ocean – it ripples and waves. The forces involved are unthinkably large, but perhaps can be imagined by asking what would happen on the motorway…