Church Blog
News, Updates, Thoughts

Dear friends,

Recently I’ve spent a week at a Christian festival called New Wine, camping with a small group but also being part of a gathering of over 12,000 Christians. Each day there was great worship, good Bible teaching and a chance to get to know people better – all between boiling copious kettles for hot water and cooking meals in a field. I must admit, it’s boiling the kettle and the cooking in a field which is still uppermost in my mind, but that will change as my thoughts settle, and I reflect on what I heard.

I always look on New Wine as a spiritual retreat, some people like silence, some read a book, and I wonder, if with those things as well, the benefit is afterwards rather than during the event?

The Bible teaching during the week was from the book of Ruth, and it was good to be reminded of God’s plan of redemption and salvation. The preacher was skilful and spoke with passion, but what I remember most is the actor who recited the text of the book, using his skills to give it meaning and clarity. 

Often, or probably usually, we take a small portion of scripture and focus on a few tiny verses, but an overview really helps to put things into perspective. We are focusing on the prophet Jonah during August, which is only four chapters long which means we could all read it at one sitting.

If that whets your appetite, the preachers have been using a book called ‘The Prodigal Prophet’ by Timothy Keller which is well worth reading and gives some real insights into what the message of the book is.

Maybe that is a spiritual retreat we can all manage.

God bless,

Faith

Dear friends

On Tuesday morning, Amanda and I were thinking about how, if drains are blocked, water “runs” down slopes and across parking areas when it’s wet, meaning that people need wellies to get to work or go to school. Obviously there wasn’t any water doing that just now! However the dry weather does give us a chance to encourage those with the appropriate authority to arrange for drainage ditches to be cleared for the benefit of local residents, businesses and the community… on this occasion near the school in Eversley. We hope these conversations produce some action.

Trains and other modes of transport “run” to timetables, from and to different destinations. As you can see from the photo, Graham and I had great fun exploring the Bluebell Line on holiday recently where the steam trains definitely “ran” to schedule. It got us wondering at what times in our lives we’ve “run” towards, or away from, God. Can you think of times when you’ve tried to avoid God, or actively “run away” what he is wanting us to do? If so, you’re not alone, and we aren’t the first to do so!

This week we start our summer preaching series on the book of Jonah, an Old Testament prophet who tried to run away from what God wanted him to do. The thing is, it didn’t really work, because he encountered God’s grace, which is this week’s specific theme. I’ll leave there story there, otherwise I’ll be “running away” with the plot.
           

Details of this weeks services are in this newsletter. Graham and I will also be leading Friday online prayers on Facebook at 10am in August, whilst Derek takes a well-earned break. 

God bless

Rachel

Dear friends,

There are some things that stick in your memory and make you happy every time you think of them. For instance, a friend who died over ten years ago used to have this thing about ice cream. As soon as it was served at a meal, he would be stressing about getting it back to the freezer, apparently thawed and refrozen ice cream is a major source of food poisoning. Now, every time I eat ice cream with a meal, I remember him and smile.

I wonder if you saw BBC South today on Sunday evening. There was a report of over 90 people getting baptised in the sea on Bournemouth beach. The BBC reported it as if it was one of the most natural things in the world to happen. You can see by clicking on the link below and you can watch the TV coverage by clicking on the separate link (3 minutes 20 seconds into the clip).

It was a bit of a wake-up call. The sheer happiness of the people on the beach reminded me of the joy and excitement of being a Christian. I’m hoping that video clip sticks in my memory so that every time I see a beach I will be reminded of the joyful faith of those people being baptised and take time to recapture it for myself.

Faith

https://winchester.anglican.org/hundreds-of-people-join.../

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUXstbTOH4U&feature=youtu.be

Dear friends

Holidays are upon us!

For many of us this will include taking a journey somewhere, with all the preparations that entails.

I’m writing this sat watching butterflies sparkle amongst the plants in Rachel’s dad’s garden, having just finished the paperwork for my school’s Biology Field Course in September. There is something about studying organisms in their natural habitat that brings alive the theory which has been so painstakingly taught.

In preparation for my preaching course starting September, I have undertaken a short course on theology. During this course we have been given much to think about. For example: “If you are a theologian then you truly pray; if you truly pray you are a theologian”. Perhaps surprisingly this was written 1600 years ago by a monk in Egypt, Evagrius of Ponticus.

Such ancient words should challenge us to think: how does what we pray reflect what we know of God. Going further there is a motto “lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi”, in other words: “the way we worship determines what we believe which determines how we live.”

This Summer, perhaps we need to reflect on how we live, and whether that matches up with what we believe, which will of course feed into how we worship Jesus, our Lord and Saviour.

Graham

Dear friends,

My Bible readings this week have been full of people I probably wouldn’t want to be associated with. Weak Abraham, Malicious Sarah, Invader Naaman, Tax collector Matthew, Doubting Tomas. I’m not the only one who judges them harshly, people in Jesus time couldn’t believe that he ate with ‘tax collectors and sinners.’ But he did – and the point of all those stories is that the people in them met God and God was kind to them. We call this undeserved kindness of God ‘grace’. Stormzy the rapper sang at Glastonbury a few years ago ‘I’m blinded by your grace’ and the hymn, ‘Amazing Grace’ is perhaps one of the best-known hymns we have.

The man who wrote it was also one of those people we wouldn’t want to be associated with – he could best be called Slave Trader John. But like the people in the Bible, God met him and transformed his life.

One of the questions that my notes asked was ‘How would you describe yourself’ and then ‘How would God describe you?’ Perhaps this week we can take the opportunity to ask God how he sees us, and as we listen to what He says, maybe we too will be blinded by God’s undeserved kindness, his grace towards us and transformed by it.

God Bless

Faith

Dear friends

In case you haven't noticed June means only one thing to the young people of our  community -exams. And exams mean questions.

Jesus himself was very good at asking questions but not in order to give a grade to your answer thank goodness.

The question above is one I've been pondering whilst reading around the set readings for this Sunday and I'm sure it's familiar to most of you. I expect we all have answers as to who we say Jesus is eg the Messiah. But interestingly the answer that kept coming to me this week was - who do you say I am to the community ?

So my challenge from God and maybe it will be yours too is to share the good news of Jesus more widely. In the meantime enjoy reflecting on Jesus question. " Who do you say I am?" 

(Luke  9:20)

Blessings

Jane Hughes LLM

Dear friends,

This week I was fortunate enough to go to Winchester Cathedral with the Year 6 children from Charles Kingsley School for their leavers service.

While we were there, we all had the opportunity to do some calligraphy. Two amazing people showed us what to do. One was a lady who managed to captivate and inspire a whole group of 11-year-olds as she described how to use the pens and form the strokes which made the letters. The other was a man who is so skilled that he has was worked on the restoration of the ancient Winchester Bible. It made me think of the craftsmen who God chose to work on the King Soloman’s temple in the Bible. For those ancient workers, and for the calligraphers we met, their skill and craftmanship are part of their worship to God. Often, we think of worship as something that happens in church on a Sunday morning, but the pattern in the Bible is that our whole life should express our worship and praise for God.

It seems quite relevant to reflect on those ancient skills as we hold our annual Steam and Vintage festival at St Marys. Please come along, it is a brilliant day with steam engines, old vehicles, model trainsets, a ride on railway, cakes, BBQ’s, ice creams, all in the beautiful churchyard at St Marys.
           

Then on Sunday in church we will be starting our new monthly series called “Ancient Truths, Modern Life” and looking at the question ‘Technology and Faith - Friend or Foe?’

After the service there will be an opportunity to talk about the subject in more depth (or just to enjoy the sunshine) over a barbeque.

Faith

Dear friends,

This weekend is Father's Day. 

My Dad died in 2012 and I still miss him. I am sure over the next few days I will be remembering the times when I was growing up and also as an adult, when my Dad cared for me. He was a great role model and always gave  good advice. I will also be thinking of others in my life who have been and continue to be like a father to me.

Like Mothering Sunday, Father's Day can bring a mix of emotions. For some it will bring back the pain of strained family relationships. For others it brings a sense of loss of not becoming a father and for others, perhaps a sense of guilt for what they would have done differently as a father themselves. So it is quite apt that this year, the church marks Trinity Sunday on Father's Day. The day when we celebrate that God is revealed as the Son, as the Holy Spirit and also as our heavenly Father. And we can be confident that whatever our experience is of earthly fathers, we are all unconditionally loved by our heavenly Father.  As the words of the worship song written by Chris Tomlin puts it:

You’re a good, good Father.

It's who You are, it's who You are

And I’m loved by You

It's who I am, it's who I am.

My prayer for this weekend is that we all are reminded and experience afresh the love that God has for us all.

Stuart

 
Dear friends

There is a song we sometimes sing at St Barnabas, and it contains the lines:

‘God, we believe
Because yes, we can see it,
That wonders are still what you do’

I have a spiritual director, she is amazing, I visit her about once every two months and she asks me questions like, how are your churches? (usual answer: brilliant) and how is your prayer life? (Usual answer: could be better). She is good at listening – but this time she started off by saying ‘I’ve got something to say that you will really like’ and proceeded to tell me about how she had recently injured her knee,  after struggling with the pain for several days somebody prayed for her  knee and it was miraculously healed. Immediately she was able to walk and move her knee with out pain.
It seemed very appropriate in the week we are celebrating Pentecost Sunday, that just as the Holy Spirit bought signs and wonders at the first day of Pentecost, we can still testify that wonders are still what God does.

Faith

Dear friends

The time between Ascension and Pentecost has been dedicated to prayer using the guide provided by Thy Kingdom Come.

Thy Kingdom Come is a global ecumenical prayer movement that invites Christians around the world to pray from Ascension to Pentecost for more people to come to know Jesus. As a churchwarden much of my time is spent on looking after the fabric of St. Mary’s which has invoked many prayerful moments. 

The role of the churchwarden is extremely varied but as defined by Winchester diocese the role generally involves management, maintenance and mission. They are the foremost in representing the laity and in co-operating with the incumbent, and they have a duty to maintain order and decency in the church and churchyard, particularly during the times of divine service. The role with the incumbent means that churchwardens are generally responsible for the day-to-day functioning of the parish

That sounds very intimidating, in practice it is not, and is a good way of learning more about the church building, working with Faith, Rachel, the PCC and members of the congregation, to look after and improve the church, and to get to know various members of the diocesan team.

Some of the activities I have been involved with are:

Moving the a monument, a fun time involving cranes and diggers,
Helping to recruit our last two new Vicars,
Raising Faculties which is the process to follow when work on the church building requires permission from the diocese.    

I find being churchwarden very fulfilling and would encourage anyone who has an interest in the future of the church, our buildings and supporting our clergy to consider becoming a churchwarden.

Back to my opening comments, prayer is a way of connecting with God, expressing gratitude and asking for help, all of which are especially relevant at this time, I continue to pray for the whole life of our church, and especially for the church fabric!

Tim