Parish Magazine ~ July 2020 Due to the Coronavirus ‘Lockdown’ of March 2020 onwards, the Parish magazine is published mainly online and only a few copies printed for archival purposes. Our clergy have been writing by email to members of the congregation, and the content appears here. Trinity Sunday Dear friends, Time rolls onward as an inevitable stream, and even … Read More
Parish Magazine ~ June 2020 Due to the Coronavirus ‘Lockdown’ of March 2020 onwards, th Parish magazine is published mainly online and only a few copies printed for archival purposes. The Vicar has been writing by email to members of the congregation, and the content appears here. Easter 4 – May 3rd 2020 Dear Friends, Perhaps this saying is familiar … Read More
Pentecost 2020 What is the Holy Spirit doing today? I mean, today, now? If we take the doctrine of the Holy Trinity seriously, and the story of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit cannot simply be treated as some kind of icing on the Easter Cake, a sweet purveyor of eternal hope, goodness and truth. Over the years, some traditions in the … Read More
Domenico Morelli Noah’s Dankgebet (Thanksgiving) The Rainbow Genesis 8.20-9.17 Have you joined the new religion? I don’t mean the online worship, streaming services, virtual choirs and orchestras and WhatsApp contact groups. I expect many of you have done that and a good thing too. This is the old religion, done anew. It’s all very creative and exciting (to some), and … Read More
Vicar’s Blog ~ May 2020 Easter 5 Dear Friends, I hope and pray the bank holiday is treating you well and you are getting some sunshine! This has become a weekly weekend missive, and now we have passed forty days and nights of lockdown, we are becoming used to being a parish church connected more virtually than physically. The fact … Read More
Vicar’s Blog ~ May 2020ASK Easter 4 Dear Friends, Perhaps this saying is familiar to you: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. The prayer this is based on was composed by American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr sometime around 1932. It has been … Read More
Noahs Ark on Mount Ararat by Simon de Myle Easter 4 2020 ~ Noah in Lockdown There could not be a better text for today, the fortieth day of our lock down, than the story of Noah’s Ark. It resonates deeply with our current predicament. Despite the suffering we hear about constantly, the dying and grieving, the predictions and prognostications, … Read More
Vicar’s Blog ~ April 2020ASK – Easter 3 Dear friends, I don’t often quote a bank, but the phrase used by Barclays this week, ‘we may be further apart but we have never been closer’ has special resonance, not only at this time, but for us the community of Christ. We have always felt close to others from whom we … Read More
Vicar’s Blog ~ April 2020 ASK: Maundy Thursday – Easter As we enter the great three days (Triddum) of Easter it is going to be one the like of which we have never seen or experienced. Hard as it is, we must embrace this, embrace it with fortitude, conviction, determination, humility and a sense of purpose that this is necessary. … Read More
Vicar’s Blog ~ March 29th 2020 ASK – Passiontide Dear friends, This weekend it is Passion Sunday – the Fifth Sunday of Lent, which falls between the respite of Mothering Sunday and the beginning of the agonies and ecstasies of Holy Week. There is little respite for us, hunkered in our bunkers. I do hope and pray that everyone is … Read More
Vicar’s Blog ~ 18 March 2020 ‘Distance yourselves and stay close to God…’ Dear friends, Distance yourselves and stay close to God… It was not my plan to write daily, but then plans are not quite where we are at at the moment! I’ve been writing this on and off all day, and things change from one hour to the … Read More
Vicar’s Blog ~ Coronavirus Special 16 March 2020 Dear beloved friends, This is a time of anxiety and uncertainty, we all know. I am writing, firstly to assure you of support and prayer and love. Some people are self-isolating, or are simply a bit worried, or indeed are not worried! In any event and wherever you stand in the field … Read More
Angels at Mamre, Trinity by Rublev Lent 2 2020 ~ The God of Abraham Praise Genesis 12.1–4a; Romans 4.1–5,13–17; John 3.1–17 On the wall behind me, in the inset by the window are two figures, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. We often forget that they are there, because we think of our artworks as portraying the angels on one side … Read More
Vicar’s Blog ~ March 2020 Dear friends, By now you will probably have heard our news, announced on 23rd February, that after 17 years as Vicar of St Mary Magdalene’s, I have accepted the invitation from the Crown to take up the post of Canon Chancellor of Rochester Cathedral. Such a decision and all it entails yields a mixture of … Read More
Parish Magazine ~ February 2020 Lent 2020 How do we belong to God and with Jesus? This year’s Lent Book is by David Walker, Bishop of Manchester, who writes: ‘Again and again, as I have sought to look into both the scriptures and my own life, I have heard in the silence the one who assures me, ever more strongly, … Read More
Vicar’s Blog ~ February 2020 Dear Friends, Perhaps you saw the harrowing and shaming couple of programmes about Bishop Peter Ball and his high crimes and misdemeanours on television recently. They were not happy watching by any means, and it may only be small comfort to know that nowadays any appointment of any clergyman or woman is also accompanied by … Read More
Epiphany 3 2020 – The Character, Chemistry and Competence of Calling Matthew 4:12-23 I wonder what the job description of a disciple would have been? Nowadays, if you want to appoint someone, whether they be a teacher, receptionist or vicar, there are job descriptions, person descriptions, contracts, terms and conditions, statements of particulars and all that kind of paraphernalia. You’ll … Read More
Piero Della Francesca – Baptism of Christ The Baptism of Christ Matthew 3.13-17 Happy Christmas! You think it’s all over?! The Pantomime season may be over – oh no it’s not – oh yes it is… But Christmas is not. The eastern Churches have only just celebrated Christmas this week – on January 6th – and we still have four … Read More
Parish Magazine ~ January 2020 Dear Friends, I hope you had a good Christmas and a happy new year. Thank you for all the cards we received. It was a good Christmas in Church too, attendances at the Christmas services were up, as was the generosity from congregations, and indeed so too was the amount of money we raised for … Read More
Christmas Eve 2019: The Father is Born Somewhere at home you have probably got your Birth Certificate. It might be buried in a drawer, kept safe, or it might be lost in the mists of time! Someone else might even have it. In any event, everyone has a birth certificate issued when their birth is registered with the state in … Read More
