The Unseen Way

Dear friends

Warm greetings to you all for this new year. I do hope 2024 treated you kindly, and that you found faith, hope and charity among the many gifts of God through the days now past. As the world appears to be able to offer very little besides gloom and woe, it seems right to remind you all that yesterday (6th Jan) is the feast of the Epiphany, when, in the West, we celebrate the revealing of the Saviour to the world, as evidenced by the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus. For those of you with any “orthodox” leanings, it is a second helping of the joy of the Nativity, for 6th January is Christmas Day for the churches of the East.

Among those celebrating Christmas yesterday will have been the yellow-robed monks of the 11th century Coptic monastery of Asheton Maryam, at an altitude of 3000m, perched in the mountains above Lalibela, in Ethiopia. The two hour walk up from the town below is winding and scenic, through fields and a small village. Towards the summit the path narrows as you reach an escarpment, and the ground drops away on your right, and rises to a cliff face on your left. It narrows further, and you wonder where it is going, as it appears to be leading to a dead end, and a sheer cliff. But the path turns upwards, and becomes stairs, into the cliff itself. You enter a dark tunnel, climbing all the while, and after a short time you emerge, firstly into a shadowy defile, and then, at last, blinking into the sunlight, onto the plateau above, where the monolithic monastery  church is carved right out of the mountain. The view from this altitude is such that you see the atmosphere itself, and the very curve of the earth. The darkness of the tunnel and the gradient of the path before are in those moments forgotten.

In the words of the old children’s hymn: “when the road is rough and steep, fix your eyes upon Jesus. He alone has power to keep, fix your eyes upon him.”

Worship Services for Sunday 12th January: the baptism of Christ

9.30am Morning Prayer at St John’s Stoke Row with Canon Kevin Davies

11am Holy Communion at St Peter and Paul, Checkendon with Revd Romey Poston

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

Thank you

It was wonderful to see so many of you at the services over Christmas; thank you for your support and faith, and for joining in. Special thanks are due to the many people involved in making Christmas special for everyone; those who decorated the church, and the tree; those who provided mulled wine and mince pies, who made Christingles; those who arranged music; those who sang, and those who played instruments; those who read and took part in any way; those who donated time, talents, or purchased resources; those who clean the church and make sure everything works as it should. “Church as we know it” doesn’t just happen, but involves a wonderful team. Thank you, all, very much indeed.

Checkendon and Stoke Row are part of the wider Langtree Team Ministry, which is how we work with our  neigbouring parishes (Ipsden, North Stoke, Woodcote, and Whitchurch) to support, resource, and inform one another. Your ministry team meet every Friday morning, and we pray together, and then plan, and sometimes troubleshoot too. Your PCC elects one or two representatives to the “Team Council”, which is the body responsible for the resourcing, and recruiting, of the staff team. The Team Council sets an annual budget, which pays for the staff expenses of ministry, the office and administrator, and all the church requisites, (such as candles) which are bought in bulk.  We try to keep things simple, which is one reason the Team budget has stayed the same for over a decade. May the Lord bless us, and watch over us.

Your Rector, Canon Kevin