Catch up with some of our previous online services
DECEMBER 2022
Sunday 25th December
Christmas is here - ready or not! We’ve had a very festive week with all the carol services and the waiting is almost over… Saturday will be full of family oriented mayhem, and we are looking forward to welcoming Mary, Joseph and the donkey to Bethlehem at our crib service.
We have our Celebration Service at 10.00am Sunday. If you are joining us on Christmas morning we invite you to bring a costume or a prop to dress up as one of the characters from the Nativity story! We will be telling the story together during the service and want everyone to get involved.
Bible Readings (Click to Read)
Sunday 18th December
Our final week of Advent, as we draw close to the promised coming of Christ, is traditionally spent thinking about the experience of Mary as she prepares to give birth to the baby Jesus. In our final week of reflections looking at the climate crisis and considering what kind of spirituality we need to cultivate in order to respond to it, we ask the question “What can we do?”. As Mary played a crucial and unique role in the salvation of the whole of creation, we each have our part to play to see the fulness of the life of Christ work out healing and redemption for the world around us.
Bible Readings (Click to Read)
Sunday 11th December
In our third week of Advent we traditionally reflect on John the Baptist and his role in heralding the coming of Christ, of pointing people to repentance in preparation for this. A crucial part of repentance is recognising our need for it in the first place - facing up to our failings - because if we cannot do that, why would we understand the coming of Jesus to be good news at all? As we consider what it means to develop an Advent spirituality shaped by the climate crisis, this week we look at what it means to be human, and what role humanity has in addressing the challenges that face the world today.
Bible Readings ( Click to Read)
Sunday 4th December
We continue our Advent journey with the Archbishop of York’s Advent book - “Sleepers Wake - Getting Serious About Climate Change”. Having looked at the urgency of the crisis last week through the theme “The Writing’s On The Wall”, this week we are drawn into reflections on where our place (and responsibility) is in the wider situation. “Finding Home” reminds us that the world we live in is a shared home, but we have uniquely been given the task of stewardship and care not just for us but on behalf of the whole of God’s beloved creation. As last week, Susie will shape the sermon around the key themes placed out in the book, but we are all encouraged to get a copy and follow along using the day by day readings.
Unfortunately due to technical issues, we did not manage to record the service this week. Please find a copy of the sermon available below.
Bible Readings (Click to Read)
NOVEMBER 2022
Sunday 27th November
This year we are following the Archbishop of York’s Advent book, which is called “Sleepers Wake - Getting serious about the Climate Crisis”. It is written by Nicholas Holtam, the recently retired Bishop of Salisbury, and provides weekly themes and daily readings to reflect as we move through Advent, a season of preparation and waiting. Each Sunday I will give a summary of the week’s theme, but if you are still looking for an Advent devotional, why don't you get hold of a copy and follow along with the daily readings? There are also questions for reflection at the end of every week.
Bible Readings ( Click to Read)
Sunday 20th November
This Sunday (the final one before Advent) we celebrate Christ the King as we reach the last Sunday of the Church liturgical year and look forward to Advent and the hope of the promised Messiah. We also welcome back Rev Vincent Perricone who will preach at our service.
Unfortunately due to technical issues, we did not manage to record the service this week. Please find a copy of the sermon available below.
Bible Readings (Click to Read)
Sunday 13th November
On Sunday we will gather to remember, and give thanks for, the sacrifice made by so many who lost their lives in both World Wars and other conflicts since.
Christ came as the Prince of Peace and in our lives as Christians we can continue to pray and work for peace in a world which is still being torn apart by war and violence in so many places. Even in small situations we can become peacemakers and reflect God’s love and peace to all that we meet each day.
Bible Reading(Click to Read)
Sunday 6th November
Our service this Sunday is led by Rev Richard Christopher who will preach on our gospel reading from Luke. The themes of hope and faith are central to our lives as Christians and as such we can embrace the promise of eternal life and our belief in the future that awaits us as children of God.
Bible Readings (Click to Read)
OCTOBER 2022
Sunday 30th October
This Sunday we welcome Rev Vincent Perricone to lead our service. Vincent is currently the Spiritual Care Co-ordinator and Chaplain at Sue Ryder Care, Duchess of Kent Hospice in Reading. As we approach All Saints Day we shall be remembering the saints and the example they have set for us. Vincent will be preaching on our gospel reading from Luke which reminds us that we are called to keep the two great Commandments: to love God wholeheartedly and to love our neighbours as ourselves.
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 23rd October
This Sunday is Bible Sunday and our service will be led by Rev Richard Christopher. It is a day when we think and reflect on the importance of the Bible, to develop good habits in reading it - appreciating its message and teaching and how we can use it to direct, support, comfort and cheer us as we live our daily lives.
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 9th October
This week Rev Richard Christopher is leading our service and will preach on our gospel reading from Luke about the Thankful Samaritan. This is a reminder that God blesses us far more than we often realize or deserve and how sometimes we can be blind to the many blessings we receive. May we all recognise the power of his great love and care at work in every aspect of our lives and come before Him with praise and thankful hearts.
Bible Reading:( Click to Read)
Sunday 2nd October
Jesus often gave his teaching based on the world around him. He used almost everything that came his way to teach people about God’s love, care and concern. He teaches us to see ordinary things extraordinarily because almost everything around us has some spiritual lesson to teach us. In our gospel reading for this morning Jesus used the birds of the air and the flowers of the field to teach us about God’s care for his children, you and I, and about life. If we learn the lessons that the birds and the flowers can teach us. It will help to keep us from unnecessary worry and anxiety. For Jesus told us not to worry because worry is the enemy of faith.
Bible Reading:( Click to Read)
SEPTEMBER 2022
Sunday 25th September
Today is Harvest Sunday. Harvest is one of the happiest and joyful and most celebrated occasions of the year. When as families we come together to worship and to give thanks to God, for all his good gifts to us.
God blesses the earth with rain and sunshine and he blesses the work of human hands and gives us a good harvest for us to enjoy. Harvest Festival stands in a long tradition for God’s people. It goes back a good 4,000 years. In the Old Testament, the people of God had three major festivals.
Bible Reading:( Click to Read)
Sunday 18th September
The Late Queen was born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary on the twenty-first of April 1926, first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George the sixth and Queen Elizabeth. She was baptised on the twenty-ninth of May 1926. As a young woman, she married Phillip Mountbatten, born a Prince of Greece and Denmark, on the twentieth of November 1947 in Westminster Abbey. Together, the Queen and Her
Husband enjoyed 73 years of marriage and family life. Her Majesty died at Balmoral Castle on the eighth of September after reigning for 70 years and 214 days.
Bible Readings (Click to Read)
Sunday 11th September
It has been announced by Buckingham Palace that Her Majesty the Queen has died. The Bishop of Oxford has issued the following statement:
Her Majesty the Queen has been a cherished presence in all of our lives and for the whole of our lives. She has been our example and a rock for the nation and commonwealth. Her devoted service has given stability to the nation throughout this Elizabethan age. Her deep, personal Christian faith has been an inspiration to many, including me. The whole nation will be united in mourning for our beloved Queen in the coming days. We will need time to grieve and to share our grief with others. We pray at this time for the Queen’s family and especially for Charles as he prepares to become King. This will be a season for deep reflection in the life of our nation as we look back in thanksgiving and forward in hope. This United Kingdom has deep foundations in Christian faith. A key part of our faith is the distinctive hope of resurrection from the dead: that our life in Christ endures beyond death and for eternity. As we grieve and pray, we also look forward together in hope to that new and eternal life with God. We have prayed through all of our lives: God save the Queen. We now entrust Her Majesty to her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and commit ourselves afresh to his service and to God’s eternal kingdom.
During the official mourning period we will pause our celebration of Creationtide and offer a reflective communion service following liturgy provided by the Church of England.
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 4th September
Unfortunately Susie has come down with Covid and so we are having to do something slightly different this Sunday morning! We have re-jigged the service into a Service of the Word but there will be no eucharist on offer.
Dawn takes the lead with help from a couple of others, and we are moving into Creationtide again, where we spend a few weeks thinking about the wider world and our relationship to it, in the context of God’s redeeming work through Christ. Creationtide is a liturgical season observed internationally and ecumenically, as a worshipful response to this historical era of environmental crisis. This year’s theme is “Listening to the Voice of Creation” and the symbol for this is the Burning Bush, representing one of the many times God speaks to us through His presence in the natural world. As part of the service on Sunday, we will have a time of reflective prayer, creating between us a burning bush as a symbol in the church for this season.
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
AUGUST 2022
Sunday 28th August
Susie is enjoying the bank holiday at Greenbelt, and then a few days off to see family for her birthday, so Rev’d Richard is kindly stepping in again this week to look after Sunday mornings. He is preaching from Hebrews 13 on the theme Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever - what an amazing promise about the faithfulness of God!
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 21st August
This week we are joined by the Rev’d Liz Jackson, the Associate Archdeacon of Berkshire, who will be preaching for us on Psalm 71 - “the Psalm of the ageing saint”. As we look back on 150 years of ministry in Woodley, what wisdom can we glean from this very human response to the process of ageing? What encouragement is there here for sustaining a faith across a whole lifetime - and beyond? Liz brings a thoughtful reflection on what all this might mean for us as individuals and as congregations.
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 14th August
Over the next couple of weeks we will be looking at the Psalms in a bit more depth during our sermons. We recently introduced saying a Psalm together to the Sunday morning liturgy to allow us the space to sit with these powerful works of scripture. They are in some ways the most human bit of the Bible, but through the rawness of human experience we are connected to our loving God in deep and mysterious ways. As the liturgy of ancient Israel, it is no bad thing to be shaped and formed by these holy words. This week we look at Psalm 80, a corporate prayer appealing to God to resume the favour bestowed on Israel in the past and calling on him to restore all that has been lost because of His anger. It raises questions for us such as “does God get angry with us and what does that mean?” and “does God then need to repent?”
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 7th August
Susie is off on her holidays for the next two weeks, so Richard Christopher is kindly covering our Sunday morning services. This week he is preaching on our gospel reading Luke 12: 32-40, Jesus’ words of encouragement and preparation for his disciples.
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
JULY 2022
Sunday 31st July
Susie is off on her holidays for the next two weeks, so Richard Christopher is kindly covering our Sunday morning services. This week he is preaching on our gospel reading Luke 12:13-21, the story of the rich fool.
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 24th July
This week we finish our meditation on the return from exile by looking at the work of Nehemiah and his vision to restore the walls of the city of Jerusalem. In the last few weeks we’ve seen how getting the foundations right through worship is essential; and restoring right relationships with each other and with God through confession, repentance and forgiveness is the next crucial step. Now finally we are looking to the future - building the walls of the city - for protection, but also for identity, for resilience and for hope of better things to come! What lessons can we learn from Nehemiah as we come to the last phase of this story, as we look towards the future of our parish, and what we need to build around us to point towards resilience and hope for the next 150 years?
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 17th July
This week we continue to meditate on the idea of building and restoration with the story of the Return from Exile, and see Ezra’s return to the ruins of the city. The first phase with Zerubbabel and Jeshua re-started worship in the temple, as the people began to seek restoration to their relationship with God. The right worship was the best foundation for the rest of the building project! The next phase with Ezra sees the recommitment of the people to each other and to God - the restoration and purification of the community of faith. What can we learn from this story about the process of rebuilding, and the importance of right relationships as we do that?
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 10th July
In our season of grappling with change, this Sunday we switch from thinking about journey as a metaphor to thinking about building, or rebuilding. In many ways, we can understand our current situation as being a time of rebuilding - after the impact of Covid lockdowns, but also on the back of a longer time of congregational decline over the last few decades. We are gearing up to celebrate our 150th anniversary of the consecration of the church next March and so 150 years ago our church was being built. I wonder where the work would be this week? It’s a great opportunity to think more deeply about what building for the future looks like and, turning to scripture for wisdom and guidance about how we navigate such a time as this, we are looking at the story of Ezra-Nehemiah and the return from exile.
Last week we shared a story sermon, looking at this narrative of exile to Babylon and return to rebuild Jerusalem, both the temple and the city walls. The narrative of Ezra-Nehemiah can be split into three phases of return and restoration, rather than the simplified two that we covered in the story last week. This Sunday we look at the first return, under the governor Zerubbabel and priest Jeshua, to rebuild the temple as the site of worship.
At the end of last week’s story we asked some questions, like “I wonder which part of the story you liked best (or least)?” and “I wonder where you see yourself in this story?”. It’s worth holding onto these questions as we dive a bit deeper into the rebuilding of Jerusalem over the next couple of weeks. What things resonate with us today in Woodley, and what things challenge us? Where can we see ourselves in this story, and what can we learn from it?
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 3rd July
On Sunday morning, we are continuing to think about “journey” as a metaphor for these unsettled times, but pivoting from the Exodus story to the Exile in Babylon. Jumping forward several generations, after Israel is invaded by the Babylonian empire and most of the ruling class are taken away into exile, King Cyrus has a change of heart and allows those who wish to return and rebuild the temple to do so. We enter the story of Ezra and Nehemiah, which contains a journey back home and moves us into our next metaphor of building in time for next week! This Sunday we will have another story sermon, with space to reflect and wonder about what God is saying to us through this ancient story from scripture.
We don’t have a visual recording of the sermon, so here is a link to another person telling the story on video, in case that is helpful!
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
JUNE 2022
Sunday 26th June
This week has been Refugee Week and it has been poignant to reflect on the many ways in which we receive refugees into our communities. The day I (Susie) drove to the airport last week to collect Vlada was also the day that the first plane to Rwanda was due to take off, and the tension between these two extreme positions has been an uncomfortable challenge when held up against the many exhortations in Biblical tradition to welcome the stranger with compassion and make space for the foreigner to live amongst us.
We continue to reflect on journeys as a metaphor for these challenging times. Last week we looked at the Exodus story, specifically the flight from Egypt, as a Biblical example of a journey emerging out of crisis. We noted that there was an urgency and a risk to the Israelites situation that resonates with the challenges facing us as a congregation today, and for different reasons with any refugee fleeing conflict or persecution. We also remembered that it took a real step of faith to start that journey away from familiarity and into the wilderness, and those first steps happened before any of the amazing and miraculous signs of God’s presence reassured the people of Israel further into the journey. This week we will consider what it is like to be in the middle of a difficult journey, how to sustain hope when the end feels too far away and what other lessons we can learn not just from the Israelites but from refugees in our community today.
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 19th June
As we shift gears liturgically into our “growing season” we will be looking at a couple of images or metaphors for where we are as a church right now. Over the next 6 weeks we will be thinking about journeying and re-building, and looking for inspiration and encouragement to the stories of Moses and the Exodus out of Egypt, and then Ezra-Nehemiah and the return from exile. We are also going to be introducing some Psalms to our weekly worship as a great spiritual resource for unsettled times. This week we kick off by thinking about the idea of going on a journey, and what we must do to prepare ourselves to leave. Whether you are someone who is excited about travelling to somewhere new, or someone who would really rather not have to go anywhere, there are valuable reflections to share that will help us listen well to each other’s hopes and fears.
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 12th June
Today we are celebrating Trinity Sunday, which is a special Sunday every year when we think about what it means to say we believe in God as the Holy Trinity. Trinity means three in one - but how can one thing be three things? And how can three things be one thing? It’s a strange confusing idea - a bit of a mystery. And the thing about mysteries is - it’s ok not to have all the answers! The Bible has lots of stories in it about humanity’s encounter with God. Different ways in which people have experienced God’s presence. To help us think about the mystery of the Trinity, we are going to look at three of these stories. They might be stories that you know really well, or they might be stories that you’ve not heard for a long time…
We had a few gremlins in the AV system this morning, but we got there eventually - our apologies if the recording reflects this. As it was a mainly visual sermon, we have included the video for just the sermon as well.
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 5th June
Alleluia, Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Not to be overshadowed by all the tea parties, Sunday is also the day we celebrate Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit to the world and the “birthday” of the church. We will be re-telling the amazing story of that first Pentecost, and thinking about what it all means for us today. What might God be promising us if we wait patiently for him and seek his presence?
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
MAY 2022
Sunday 29th May
Thursday saw us celebrate Ascension Day and, with the instructions of Christ to the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the promise from the Father arrives, we find ourselves in a time of transition between one thing and the next. Ascension is a significant moment in the story of our faith, but often overlooked - where at Christmas we celebrate the incarnation, Jesus bringing heaven down to earth as he becomes part of human history, his ascension completes that as he takes human experience back up to heaven and places it right at the heart of the Godhead. Liturgically, Ascension is the one time of the year when God is seemingly absent from the earth, an in between time of waiting and reflection in the space of change and transition, before the rush of the Spirit arriving at Pentecost.
Sunday 22nd May
Alleluia, Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
This week we explore the story about the healing of a man waiting by a pool, and how the new life that Jesus invites us into means we don’t need to fall back into old patterns. We are also welcoming Catherine into our family as she comes to be baptised!
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 15th May
Alleluia, Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Thank you for your patience this week! Unfortunately due to a technical issue, the Sunday morning service was not recorded this week. Susie has recorded an audio of the sermon only, which we have uploaded instead.
This week we hear a story from the early church about God's expansive love, and a critical moment when the Jewish believers realised that the message of new life was not just for them. If Jesus calls us to be a community based on love and to be open to growth, what does this all mean for us?
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 8th May
Alleluia, Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Susie is away this week for a bit of annual leave, so very kindly Rev’d Richard is stepping in to cover our 10.00am service. He will be looking at the story of Dorcas in Joppa, a woman of deep compassion and grace, who made a huge impact on her community by looking after the most vulnerable. As cost of living challenges continue to impact already precarious families in our own community, what can we learn from this holy woman for our own context today?
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 1st May
Alleluia, Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
The Easter season brings us story after story or Jesus’ resurrection appearances and this week’s gospel is no different. We hear about Jesus cooking his disciples breakfast on the beach, and consider a series of flashbacks to crucial points from earlier in the story as the gospel of John concludes. How does this incredible story continue off the page, and what does it mean for our lives today?
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
APRIL 2022
Sunday 24th April
Alleluia, Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
In the church we celebrate Easter for another 7 weeks, and as we move forward into this “resurrection” time we hear stories from the early church and the first appearances of Jesus in his risen form. This week we have a guest preacher, Jeremy Thake, who is a Licensed Local Minister (Reader) from St John and St Steven’s Newtown. Jeremy reflects on some of these appearances, one what Jesus said to his disciples at the time, and what these events speak to us two thousand years later.
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 17th April
For many Christians, Holy Week is the most significant observance of our faith - walking through the final days of Jesus’ Passion, it emcompasses the full breadth of human emotion from the despair and darkness of Good Friday to the unbelievable joy of Easter Sunday. In times such as these, the chance to allow the truth of our lived experiences to breathe in the hope of resurrection life is a powerful gift. There is something extra sweet about the sunshine when you have wrestled in the shadows. Allow yourself the space this week, whatever you might be holding in your daily life, to walk through the heartache of Gethsemane and Calvary in preparation for the healing of all creation on Easter morning - and know that even in the darkest of nights, our loving Father is walking right next to you.
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 10th April
This week we enter Passiontide with Palm Sunday, leading us into Holy Week. The liturgy for Palm Sunday has a different feel to it, with a commemoration of the Lord’s arrival into Jerusalem at the start of the service. This involves the reading of the Palm Gospel, followed by a procession which our children are going to lead us in. This joyful celebration is held in tension with the later reading of the Passion Gospel, which traditionally takes the place of the sermon. We very rarely hear the whole story in one go, and it’s a profound way to enter into Holy Week - knowing that we will be going back to visit events in more detail over the coming days.
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 3rd April
This week we are in Lent 5, and our gospel reading is the story of Mary anointing Jesus’ feet with perfume. Instead of a traditional sermon, we will be doing a lectio divina (divine reading) together, as a way to explore and reflect on the text together.
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
MARCH 2022
Sunday 27th March
As our Lenten journey continues, this week we reach the midway point and come to celebrate Mothering Sunday. For many of us this is a day of joy, a day to remember well the love of our own mothers and also give thanks for the mother church - traditionally Christians would return to the church where they were baptised to mark this occasion. Of course, it can be a poignant and difficult day for some of us - those who had difficult experiences with their mothers, or who are grieving their loss; or who were unable to become mothers or have suffered the loss of children. Let’s keep those who might struggle with this day in our thoughts and prayers as we celebrate on Sunday.
We welcome a new guest preacher this week, Richard Croft is a Licensed Lay Minister from St John and St Stephen’s in Newtown, who is very kindly coming to visit and share with us this week. He will be reflecting on Mary the Mother of Jesus and what it means to embody Christ.
Sunday 20th March
This Sunday is the third week of Lent, and Susie is having the weekend off so the wonderful Richard Christopher is stepping in to lead our service this morning. We are very grateful for his ministry with us. Rev’d Richard is preaching on “The Invitation of God”, from Isaiah 55, and together we think about who is being invited, and to what, and how this shapes our worship, our devotion and our prayer.
We are now in an interim period where we re-evaluate how we want to invest in our online worship. For the next few weeks, we will be recording an audio file of the Sunday morning worship which will be available on the website by Sunday evening. If you would like to worship online in the morning, then we will send links to the national CofE service that is produced every week. During this time, it would be great to have any feedback, particularly from those who worship online regularly - about what would serve you best in the coming months
Bible Readings:
Isaiah 55:1-9
Luke 13:1-9
Sunday 13th March
You may have noticed that we had a bit of a false start with our new online worship provision! Please accept our apologies - unfortunately despite a test run a couple of weeks ago, there was a technical problem with recording the service on Sunday morning. We are learning all the time and are grateful for your patience and understanding.
Thankfully this week it worked perfectly! So do enjoy listening to our Sunday 10.00am service for Lent 2 (the service starts after about 30 seconds). Some difficult readings this week, but we can find a reminder of God’s deep faithfulness and encouragement to keep holding on through the dark times as we continue our journey through Lent towards Holy Week.
We are now in an interim period where we re-evaluate how we want to invest in our online worship. For the next few weeks, we will be recording an audio file of the Sunday morning worship which will be available on the website by Sunday evening. If you would like to worship online in the morning, then we will send links to the national CofE service that is produced every week. During this time, it would be great to have any feedback, particularly from those who worship online regularly - about what would serve you best in the coming months.
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
FEBRUARY 2022
Sunday 27th February
This week in scripture we revisit the Transfiguration, and a bit later we’ll be thinking about how this story helps us prepare to move into the season of Lent on Wednesday… What does the Transfiguration tell us about who Jesus is, and how can a focus on God’s glory galvanize us as we look towards the self sacrifice of the journey towards the cross.
This will be our last video service available in this way for the time being - we are going into an interim period where we re-evaluate how we want to invest in our online worship. So for the next few weeks, we will be recording an audio file of the Sunday morning worship which will be available on the website by Sunday evening. If you would like to worship online in the morning, then we will send links to the national CofE service that is produced every week. During this time, it would be great to have any feedback, particularly from those who worship online regularly - about what would serve you best in the coming months.
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 20th February
This Sunday we hear the story of Jesus calming the storm, and the timing couldn't be more appropriate! I hope that everybody is safe from Storm Eunice, but what can we learn from the scriptures this week? How does Jesus' response to the storm on the sea of Galilee teach us more about who God is, and how we can trust him in our lives? Whatever storms we might encounter, what does the gift of the presence of God bring?
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 13th February
We are delighted to welcome back Rev'd Richard Bainbridge to preach this week, reflecting on our gospel reading of the beatitudes - a challenging passage if ever there was one! Jesus' teaching is well known for the "blessings" but these are paired with "woes"... what are we to make of this? How do we sit with scripture that is uncomfortable, and authentically engage with these words of Jesus, these four blessings and four woes; the wisdom, the challenge and the guidance they can offer us?
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 6th February
In this Sunday's service in the building, we welcome baby Isla to her baptism, along with her parents, family and friends. Baptism is a grace and a work of the Holy Spirit, and we respond to Christ's calling on our hearts. We are looking at the story of Jesus calling the first disciples, with the miraculous catch of fish in the Sea of Galilee. How are we responding to Jesus' call on our life? Do we trust him, that there is more to life than working all night and not catching any fish?
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
JANUARY 2022
Sunday 30th January
As we celebrate Candlemass this Sunday, the Christmas season draws to a close. This week we hear again the story of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, and the fulfilment of a nation's hopes and dreams, wrapped up in a tiny baby. We are shown that Jesus becomes the place of encounter, and reconciliation, with God - and that the cost this brings is not something to be underestimated. What are we doing with our longing and dreaming? Where do we encounter God, and what does that mean for us - what do we find in Him?
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 23rd January
This week Susie has been busy moving house, and so we are delighted to welcome a guest preacher, the Rev’d Richard Bainbridge who usually worships at St John and St Stephens, Newtown. Richard is reflecting with us on the gospel passage - a powerful moment at the start of Jesus’ public ministry where he sets out his priorities, like a manifesto. What does this mean for us today, coming out of a pandemic? At the start of a new year, what can we learn from the way Jesus started his life’s work?
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 16th January - Wedding at Cana
This week we are still in Epiphany, as we round out the Christmas season until the end of the month. In our gospel reading we consider the third manifestation, or revelation, of Christ held together by church tradition - the Wedding at Cana, and ask - what does this show us about Christ Jesus and his work here on earth? What are the gospel promises contained within this text? How can we find hope and encouragement from Jesus's life on earth?
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)
Sunday 9th January - Baptism of Jesus
This Sunday we continue through Epiphany season celebrating the baptism of Christ, and are thinking about what this reveals to us about who Jesus was. Why did he need to get baptised? What can we learn from it? How might this help us embrace the opportunities that the New Year presents us?
Bible Readings: (Click to Read)