Church Blog
News, Updates, Thoughts

I’ve led a couple of funerals this week. One thing I’ve noticed is that when I meet with families to discuss the service and they speak about their loved one, I always find myself wishing I had known that person—or known them better. That’s the nature of love: it has a way of making the one who is loved shine brightly.

As I prepared for the second funeral, in my daily Bible reading that day, these words of Jesus stood out:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

One of the funerals was for a lady from St Barnabas, and I particularly wanted to give a good address. It struck me, those words of Jesus are what truly matter. At a funeral, and in any moment of struggle, they say all that needs to be said: “Come to Jesus… He is gentle… in Him you will find rest for your souls.”

For those of us carrying loss, sadness, or uncertainty about the future, Jesus speaks the same invitation and promise to us all:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens… I am gentle… you will find rest for your souls.”

Faith

Quite unusually, I’m not preaching this weekend—which feels a bit of a shame, as the Bible reading is one of my favourites. It’s that powerful moment where Jesus meets Peter and restores their relationship after Peter has denied him three times. Three times Jesus gently asks, “Do you love me?” and three times, instead of renewed failure, Peter is met with a renewed calling: “Feed my sheep.”

There’s something really important here about forgiveness. Receiving forgiveness shouldn’t leave us unchanged. Jesus doesn’t simply forgive Peter—he entrusts him with something new. His failure doesn’t lead to him being excluded, or spending a period on the sidelines until he can prove himself again. God’s grace is always bigger than we can possibly imagine.

That leaves us with three simple questions to sit with: where do we need Jesus’ forgiveness? Are we ready to receive it? And where might we be being called to “feed his sheep”?

And that call isn’t limited to a place or a role. It may be in our homes, in our workplaces, among friends, or even in church. We often draw a line between “church” and “everything else,” as if God is more present or more interested in one than the other.

But the Bible reminds us that the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. Every part of life belongs to him. Nothing is second-class, and no part of our lives is less important or more spiritual than another. All of it belongs to God.

Faith

We are really looking forward to welcoming the local Causeway group to lead our worship at St Mary’s this Sunday. The group is made up of people from a number of local churches who are brought together with the objective to make worship more accessible for those with disabilities.

After the morning service this Sunday we have the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) at St Barnabas and the following Sunday we have the APCM at St Mary’s.

It’s tempting to think of these meetings as just the time when we do the necessary business involved in running a church. There will be key decisions that will be made, we will elect people to various roles in the church, review and sign off the accounts and provide an opportunity for questions to be asked. But the meetings can be much more than just a business meeting, it is also a time when we thank God for all that he has done in both parishes over the last year. We have so much to thank God for!

It’s also an opportunity to look forward, what could God have in store for us during the rest of this year and beyond?

The meetings are open to everyone so please do join us if you can as we collectively thank God for His faithfulness and look forward with faith and expectation.

God Bless

Stuart

Dear friends,

I hope you had a wonderful Easter. Were you able to celebrate Jesus' resurrection with us or another Christian community, or did you have to be somewhere else? How real does Easter feel for you this year? 

This week we remember the story of Thomas, the disciple who couldn't be with his friends the first time the risen Jesus' visited them behind the locked doors of their safe-house. When they told him what had happened, he couldn't quite believe that their friend and teacher had really risen from the dead. The poor chap has been saddled with the honourific 'doubting' Thomas ever since. 

Of course Jesus returned to the group on a second occasion, when Thomas was there. Jesus' knew of, and respected Thomas's doubts, but also encouraged all the disciples to respect those to come, like you and I, who would come to place their faith in his resurrection, even without seeing him in human form. If you're struggling with doubts about anything related to the Christian faith, or perhaps with what you are called to do because of it, don't feel you have to hide those doubts, from Jesus or from anyone else.

Faith is arranging a short course on “Exploring the Christian Faith” starting on 23rd April. If you have questions, exploring baptism or want to renew your baptismal promises for yourself, please do chat with her.

You may find that reaching out in this way, or just chatting with someone you know and see regularly at church, could help you to overcome your doubts, and know a little more of what it means to follow Jesus. For as Jesus said to the disciples: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." (John 20:29)

Go well and God bless,

Rachel

“What begins with ‘p’ and rhymes with ‘carrot’?”

The answer, of course, is “Easter.”

Well… sorry—it isn’t, it’s actually “parrot”! But at this time of year, it’s hard not to have Easter on the brain.

It’s a daft little joke, but it does point to something real. Easter can feel very familiar to us. Like Christmas, we’ve heard the story so often that it becomes gentle, predictable—something we can hold quite comfortably. But if you read the account of Jesus’ death and resurrection in the Gospel of Matthew, it’s anything but tame.

Matthew tells the story with energy and drama. He wants us to see that something extraordinary is happening. The ground shakes. An angel appears, blazing with light.

The guards are terrified. And even before that, at Jesus’ death, darkness falls in the middle of the day, the earth quakes, and the dead are raised.

It’s not quiet or understated—it’s overwhelming.

Matthew doesn’t let us shrink the story down. This is heaven breaking into earth, turning everything upside down.

And yet, it’s so easy for us to smooth it all out. We know what’s coming, we’ve heard it before, and without realising it we can tame it. But the first Easter wasn’t calm or comfortable—it was shocking, confusing, and full of awe.
So this Easter, perhaps we can hear the story again with fresh ears—rediscovering the wonder, the surprise, and the hope of the risen Christ, who is still alive and at work among us today.

Happy Easter.

Faith

It’s made the headline news this week, the New Archbishop has travelled from London to Canterbury in an act of pilgrimage. It was a journey loaded with symbolism – about the kind of Archbishop she wants to be, as she walked a path that thousands of others have trodden throughout the centuries.

Yesterday, I watched the service from Canterbury Cathedral. I would recommend Archbishop Sarah’s sermon to you – I thought it was brilliant. It gave some clues to who she was and the depth of her trust in God, it was wide ranging but highly personal.

The theme she kept coming back to was what the angel said to Mary when she was told that she would give birth to Jesus - “with God nothing is impossible!” She reminded us that God is at work in the hearts and lives of ordinary people who, like Mary, have the audacity to believe that with God we can do extraordinary things. Sarah Mullally said she saw that happening:

“in the ordinary lives of God’s people doing extraordinary acts of love. God’s people, offering a listening ear, a word of encouragement or a prayer of healing, offering food, shelter, sanctuary and welcome in a world that so often seeks to divide us, tables to sit at, conversations to be shared, and being a simple loving presence, like the salt of the earth, a light on the hill.”

Let’s have the audacity to live like that, because with God, nothing is impossible.
 
As the Archbishop prayed:

Loving God

Strengthen us in faith,

Grant us a heart like Christ’s,

gentle, humble, and devoted to the truth,

So that we may share the Gospel with joy.

Not a bad start Archbishop!

Faith

As part of my journey towards ordination, I have recently completed a module on Pastoral Care. This entails walking alongside others and sharing in the joys of life as well as journeys of grief. We walk in the warmth of friendship and community yet there are times you and I will travel the shadowed path of sorrow, saying goodbye to those we love. These moments linger with a tender ache, for love, by its very nature, resists closure- it is always hoping, always longing, always waiting. 

In these times, we can turn to the Bible for comfort. It says,

‘…now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.’

These words remind us that love is more than a feeling; it is the very heartbeat of God. Faith sustains us in uncertainty, hope draws us towards God’s promised future, but love carries us through both joy and sorrow. It is love that listens, stays, weeps, and rejoices alongside others. One day, faith will become sight and hope will be fulfilled, but love will remain. And so, in every goodbye and every new beginning, it is love that endures- the greatest gift we are given and the greatest gift we can offer.

Rebecca Ware

Dear friends,

This Sunday is Mothering Sunday, when as churches we remember not only those who may have mothered us but also our 'Mother Church': not just the church in the place where we grew up or the cathedral church of the area we lived in (which are the traditional meanings of the phrase), but perhaps the place where our faith was first nurtured and enabled to grow.

Last week my father and I visited All Saints Minstead and, among the wild and cultivated daffodils in the churchyard, remembered again my mother, who died 30 years ago. With Dad, and among many in that little village, my Christian faith was nurtured, sometimes challenged, and given opportunities to flourish. There, I learnt a whole host of skills from reading, praying and speaking in public, through bellringing, to the ability to sing iconic soul anthems*, all of which have had later uses. Even after I'd flown the nest, Mum campaigned across this Diocese for the ordination of women, a carefully thought-through decision which God made sure had an impact on my life long after she'd died.

For many of us, through bereavement or estrangement, Mothering Sunday can be bitter-sweet, whether as a child or parent. It is important we allow ourselves to acknowledge any associated emotions honestly, to ourselves or if appropriate, to others. 
 
However, whatever way we choose to mark the occasion this weekend, hopefully we can very intentionally give God thanks for those who have mothered us and nurtured our Christian faith, those people and churches who continue to do so, and pray for those whose mothers, children, or lives are being placed at risk even as we mark the occasion.

Go well and God bless,

Rachel
 
 
 
 
*PS: In case you're intrigued, the song was "War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing" by Edwin Starr - as important a message then, as it is today.

I’ve just come back from a brilliant holiday, and it’s given me the chance to step back from the busyness of life—the kind of busyness where urgent things get done, but the important things get left behind. With a bit of space, it’s easier to see the bigger picture instead of getting lost in the day-to-day details.

It feels a bit like my mind has had a spring clean—everything feels fresher and clearer. And I think that’s what Lent can do for us too. It’s a time to consciously set aside some of the things that fill our days, giving God room to work in the space that’s freed up.
 
If you’ve got this far into Lent and feel like you’ve “missed the boat”, it’s not too late. Take a moment to ask God where, over the next few weeks, you can create space in your life to do a bit of divine spring cleaning.

God bless,

Faith