You can see all our live streamed services here
Service sheets are here Latest Cross and Crown is here September Parish Magazine is here Music for the month is here Your daily bible quotation
Upcoming Events
17th September - Papagena - 7.30pm 24th September - Jumble Sale - 2.00 pm 29th October - Polymnia Concert - 7.30 pm 12th November - Autumn Fair - 11.00 - 3.00 pm 26th November - Grand Union Community Choir concert - 7.30 pm 2-4th December - Christmas Tree Festival - 17th December - Musica Charity Concert - 7.30 pm |
Dear All,
I'm writing (and sending) this a bit early this week, for numerous reasons! For one thing, by the time you read this, I will be heading off for Walsingham for our annual pilgrimage, with a group drawn from our parish, and several others. Richard, who posts this message on facebook every week for me, is among our number (indeed, helps organise the pilgrimage, with Judith) - that is another reason why it's good to send this promptly. But also, I want to remind everyone about the Jumble Sale on Saturday 24th. We need your jumble, of course, but we also need lots of help setting the Jumble sale up on Saturday morning from 9 am; manning stalls in the afternoon when the Jumble sale opens; and then tidying it all away again afterwards, from 4 pm. Please do come along and help if you can, and remember: some of us are away! Then, on Sunday the 25th, there will be NO 8 am Eucharist. The only services on Sunday will be our Parish Eucharist at 10 am, and Evensong at 6 pm. Mother Cate Irvine, the Team Rector and Vicar of All Saints, will be celebrating and preaching at 10 am. Please welcome her warmly - it is lovely to have her come to worship with us. Next week, most of our services are as normal. However, there won't be a Eucharist on Tuesday or Wednesday morning next week, and on Wednesday the 28th, there will be our usual Julian Meeting at 4 pm in the Lady Chapel. Also, Saturday of next week is the 1st of October, so there will be services up at St Mary's at 9 and 9:30 am, and the usual working party afterwards. Help is always gratefully received to help us care for the Churchyard. Also on Saturday 1st, there will be a concert in St Barnabas at 7 pm by Coro Fortuna, when they will be singing 'Songs for Autumn'. You may remember that a few weeks ago, I wrote in an email that the new Parish heating bill could be as much as £30,000 more this year! Well, the good news is that the new contract has now been negotiated with our suppliers, and it won't be anything as big as that. However, it is still going to be a very significant increase on last year: something like a £12,000 increase, depending a bit, of course, on how much gas we use. In one sense, we can be very thankful that the increase is lower than it might have been. But it is still a lot extra we need to find. Like everyone else, we must hope that this increase is only a temporary jump. If it isn't then the Church, like many households, of course, is going to be in a very tight spot. At least we have some savings: we must remember those who are not as fortunate as we are - those households who are facing serious debt. The heating crisis being faced by so many is only one of many challenges in the news at present. There is war in Ukraine, with the threat of nuclear weapons being used; and there is War still continuing in many other places; there are typhoons and flooding; and the nights are beginning to draw in. In all of this, I am reminded of the poem by Cardinal Newman that is often sung as a hymn: Lead, kindly light. It's not my favourite hymn, but it does seem quite appropriate at the moment: "Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom. Lead thou me on. The night is dark, and I am far from home. Lead thou me on. Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see the distant scene: one step enough for me." The poem ends, as you may know, with the hope that morning will come, "and with the morn those angel faces smile which I have loved long since and lost a while." There is a reason why the first Christians called themselves 'Followers of the Way' ('Christians' is what other people called them). The first Christians knew better than most that 'The Way' of God is 'the Way of the Cross': it is often difficult and challenging, and it takes us through the 'valley of the shadow death' repeatedly. But even there, we should 'fear no evil'. Nothing can separate us from the love of God: not Vladimir Putin, not climate change, not hurricanes or recession, not even death itself. And it will not be long before we are once again singing what definitely IS one of my favourite hymns: "Wake, O wake, with tidings thrilling. The watchmen all the air are filling: ... the Bridegroom comes in sight. Raise high your torches bright. ... Earth cannot give below the bliss Thou dost bestow. Alleluia!" Even so, Maranatha: Come, Lord Jesus! God bless, and see you next week Fr Bernard The Rev'd Dr B Minton Team Vicar of Linslade Ouzel Valley Team |
Quick Links Newsletter for this week Parish Magazine