Lambeth Lectures: Archbishop Justin on evangelism - video

Lambeth Lectures: Archbishop Justin on evangelism - video

Raising Awareness at the Fayre

 

Lots of people from St James' church were involved in the fantastic Milton Abbas Street Fayre - it was a wonderful day - thank you!
The tea tent was busy all day outside the church. The South Aisle provided a thought provoking display about the charity WaterAid and a place for people to rest in a quiet area. People drifted in and out, tried lifting the water can, studied the pictures and were able to help themselves to FREE water.


the Rector doing some thinking!

and sometimes it is hard to be encouraged!

 

A Christian Thought for Today - Nathan Haddock

Well Lord, I give up
I'm throwing in the towel
I can't do this any more
Not this week, not any longer
I'm empty, fed up, exhausted...
I'm deflated, hurting, heartbroken
I have nothing left to give
I can't love my neighbour
I can hardly love myself
I can't hurt with the hurting
Or give compassion to the broken
Not now, not any more
I can't be the friend I want to be
I cause more pain than comfort
I can't hope to help
I can't help anyone, no more
It's over to you
I throw my hands up in surrender
I'm beaten, good for nothing
No use to anyone
It's all up to you now
Leave me out of it
Relieve me of my duties
Take full charge
I am an empty vessel
Finished, worthless, useless
But I am your empty vessel
And into your hands I place my being
Your humble servant awaits your call
Not me but you Lord
Not my will but yours
Not in my strength but yours
For my will is weak
And my strength has left me
Bypass me Lord
Through me, but all of you
In your strength Lord
And yours alone
Let me simply be a channel
Take nothing from me
Give everything through me
Nothing of me Lord
Simply you

We should be encouraged!

Sarah H from Turnworth showed me a very encouraging comment that had been added to the vistors' book in St Mary's church Turnworth. It reads:-

13/5/15
"my mum's family did indeed recall hearing Thomas Hardy reading the lesson in this church.
Full of admiration for the way your Benefice works together - just like your mission statement says."

All Churchwardens present and correct!

 Congratulations and thank you to all our churchwardens who have all been licensed for this year. We really do appreciate all the work that you do!
Thank you John, Jennifer, Sue, Paula, Michael, Piers, Martin and Bill.

The Valley walk / Pilgrimage 2015 - The Emmaus Road

What a joyful weekend this has been - as Alan, our Rector, said: - you would be a very rich person if you could bottle and sell the spirit that was in the valley as we walked from church to church and then met again for 'a pilgrims' mass' (or morning service) on Sunday.

We walked with 36 people from the church of St Mary with St Alban which is in Teddington. The youngest was 5 and the oldest was 85 years and they completed the 11 mile walk between our valley churches.



Our two vicars getting to know each other.

We walked and chatted, exchanging stories with each other and our visitors, and got to know each other. We stopped at each church and listened to bible readings (Luke 24:13-34) that told of the events on the road to Emmaus. There was a coffee stop at Winterborne Stickland, a lunch stop at Winterborne Whitechurch, where sandwiches had been prepared for our visitors and a wonderful tea waiting for us at Milton Abbas. A huge thank you to all of you who helped to prepare these - we couldn't have done it without you.

The bells rang out for VE day as we arrived at Winterborne Stickland and again at Whitechurch - adding to the atmosphere of the day.
  Walking this walk with visitors, certainly helped us to see the beautiful valleys with fresh  eyes and  to appreciate what a very special place we live in.



Emily D'Silva planted the idea many months ago. Teddington usually had an annual pilgrimage - and there has been a valley walk for twelve years. For the thirteenth year, it was a great idea to bring a spiritual dimension to our walk by joining with Teddington on their Pilgrimage and also raise money for two charities that are supported by people in our benefice - Trust and Doublejoy.


Some of our visitors stayed with members of our churches and new friends were made.
We joined together on Sunday morning for morning worship and the singing was tremendous!
Already talk of a return visit was being heard in the aisles!

It was a great weekend, sharing fellowship, food and worship together whilst exploring our beautiful countryside and churches.

Many thanks to the D'Silva family, Father Joe and Alan for all their organising and making this weekend happen!

“And as ridiculous as it may sound, sometimes all any of us needs in life is for someone to hold our hand and walk next to us.”
― James Frey, The Final Testament of the Holy Bible    

The Valley Walk