Our summer fades

Dear friends,

The record breaking blast of heat, which turned the outdoor chillies red, and kept the blackberries, courgettes and tomatoes in full production, is, to some relief, draining away. Harvest celebrations are on the horizon, and the change of season is properly here. Autumn will not be resisted. The fierce heat has shocked some trees into shedding their leaves a few weeks early, and sleep patterns are thoroughly disturbed. Change is also afoot in spheres other than the natural world; a recent feature in the Church Times set the AI system ChatGTP the task of writing the commentary on the three biblical texts for the coming Sunday. This was printed side by side with the commentary penned by a leading (human) scholar  and preacher, who also gave a critique of his digital counterpart. Now, there’s a thought. How do you know that I haven’t asked the algorithm to script this missive?

(Answer: hopefully you will know a little about how I write, not just in content, but also in style. You know I like to refer to the natural world, and can also refer to wider global or national issues, other than ecclesiastical affairs. What you have above is probably a little too specific and personal – “outdoor chillies”, and “sleep patterns”, for example – to have been created by ChatGTP, which works by statistics and generality, rather than local colour and detail.  I’ll be exploring this subject a little further at Checkendon on 24th September.)

Worship Services for Sunday 17th September

9.30am Informal Worship at St John’s Stoke Row with Mr Brian Turner

11am Family Service at St Peter and Paul, Checkendon with Canon Kevin Davies. An informal service, with the music group, and coffee.

Midweek zoom service: Wednesday Evensong at 5.00pm  410 935 129

Prayer, and hope

It does not seem a moment ago when southern Turkey was in the news after the devastating earthquake there killed tens of thousands of people in February. Now our prayers and support are requested for the people of southeastern Morocco in their crisis as rescue and humanitarian aid are all sought. To make a donation to support the Moroccan relief effort you can do so via the British Red Cross, or the Charity Action Aid. You can also continue to support relief work in southern Turkey via the DEC website, where the needs are ongoing. We’ll be remembering all vicitms of recent natural disasters in our prayers on Sunday.

Lastly, thank you for taking the time to read this note. (Every word my own work…) I hope you find them worthwhile, but if for any reason you’d like to stop receiving them, please just drop me an email. I won’t be offended.

May the Lord bless you and keep you, day and night.

Your Rector  – Canon Kevin