Welcome to James, Debbie and Bex

Dear friends,

It is wonderful to be able to welcome Rev James and Mrs Debbie Leach, together with their daughter Bex to the Langtree Team Ministry…..today !

James is being licensed at 7.30pm this evening by Bishop Colin in a short zoom service. The numbers are 838 9467 5412 and 770221 . Please do join us to welcome James to his new ministry at Whitchurch and Whitchurch Hill and to pray for God’s blessing upon James, his family, and our churches.

Worship for Sunday 27th September

Live Sunday services continue at St Leonard’s Woodcote with Holy Communion at 8.30am, and St Peter and St Paul, Checkendon with Morning Prayer at 9am. Live midweek worship is offered at St Mary North Stoke on Wednesday at 10.30am, and St Mary Ipsden on Thursday at 10.30am with a service of Holy Communion. Should the Government or National Church make any pronouncements that affect us – check the Team website first of all: https://www.langtreechurches.org/coronavirus

Our main worship options on a Sunday continue to be via Zoom. This Sunday’s online worship options are hosted by Revds John,  Linda and Kevin. You will need the zoom app installed on your device (laptop, tablet, phone or PC) – download from https://www.zoom.us.  Just before the appointed time, run the app, click on “join meeting” and enter the meeting number and passcode below for the service you wish to attend.

A Service of the Word with Revd John  10am        188 513 761 and 019797         Readings and prayers to start the day with God.

Harvest Festival with Revd Linda 10am     817 2844 4531 and 665630    Celebrate God’s good gifts in Creation together.

Holy Communion with Revd Kevin  11am       636 645 195  and 000162.     A eucharist recorded at St John’s Stoke Row, with hymns and a short talk.

Family and friends are welcome to join us. It is a great way to stay in touch.  There are also midweek online service options available on Wednesdays and Fridays in the evening. Do check out the worship pages on the Team Ministry website for full details.

To help keep your church’s bills paid, please support Woodcote or Checkendon or Ipsden  or North Stoke churches via their dedicated and secure card donation pages. Just click on the church you wish to help. Please also Gift Aid your donation if you pay any income tax. Thank you !

Harvest Thanksgivings

Despite everything, life goes on. Baby Rosa was baptised last Sunday at Checkendon’s 9am service; couples are beginning to ask about booking weddings for next year; bonfire smoke wafts through the villages as people get ahead with the garden while the weather lasts; apples demand to be picked by throwing themselves on the grass at your feet. All around, God’s goodness peeps out through the gloom of men.

We make our Harvest Thanksgivings in gratitude for the way God’s Creation has sustained us, not just with bread to eat, but also in our spirits in this most distressing of years. We learn that the simple things are enough, and that there is always more to uncover. The journey into winter may look grim from a human point of view, but let us recall how “Spring” amazed us and how “Summer” held us.

In that confidence, of God’s faithfulness reflected in the changing seasons, we can go into the Autumn as a journey together with the Creation, perhaps in a humbled, gentler way than last year, the time when we foolishly believed that we ruled the world.

Your Rector                          Canon Kevin