After overnight rain we were greeted with a sunny but windy September morning as we met for out Parish Eucharist at 10 am. The Bible readings this morning were both about the dangers of being rich! The Epistle, from St Paul's letter to Timothy recounted the risks of riches as a distraction from the Christian Life, and the Gospel from St Luke, told the story of The rich man and Lazarus, who though poor and abused in life was gathered into Abraham's care in the afterlife, and could not help the Rich Man who had ignored his plight in life. Father Stephen developed this story in his sermon, we perhaps no longer think of heaven as above the clouds and hell below our feet, but those separate places are still very real. Will those who are not admitted to the presence of God on heir death be later able to repent and be gathered up? we do not know, but we are encouraged by the knowledge that God is  merciful and forgiving, and we have the Gospels to guide us into the way of caring and generosity in this life.

The Choir sang the Ave Verum Corpus in the setting by Sir Edward Elgar as the Anthem. There was coffee after the service.

Next Saturday morning the Choir are singing in the Cathedral for the annual Prayer Book Society service , do go along and support them, the Service is at 10:30

Next Sunday there will be a Celebration of the Eucharist to give thanks for the Harvest at 10 am, and at 6pm there will be an evening service of thanksgiving, we look forward to seeing everyone at these services.

There are still a few tickets left for the Harvest Supper on Saturday evening, contact the Church Wardens if you would like to come!

Another lovely Sunny Autumn day for our 10 am Mattins this week .  The service was taken by Father Stephen. The Psalm for this Sunday was psalm 113. The Benedictus was sung by the Choir in the setting in C major by C V Stanford. The Gospel this week, continuing our readings from Luke, was the parables of the dishonest manager, which has a surprising ending, with apparent reward for dishonesty!  Father Stephen explained that Biblical scholars interpret the apparent discounting of the debts by the manager as a reduction of his own commission to help the debtors, not an attempt to swindle his master! The message remains you cannot serve God and wealth.
The Choir sang 'Teach me Oh Lord the way of thy Statutes'  setting by Thomas Attwood as the Anthem.

There was coffee after the service.

Dont forget to buy your Harvest Supper tickets fromt he church wardens.

Do come to the Cathedral ot 10:30 am on the 1st of October to support the Choir as they sing the
Prayer Book Society Service.

This Sunday our 10 am service was a Eucharist, celebrated by Father Stephen who is back from his short break. We continue our Gospel readings from St Luke, and this week we heard the 'lost Parables' In his Sermon father Stephen pointed out that the third of these lost parables, the story of the Prodigal Son follows on from this passage, but is not used on this occasion. The message of God's love even for the repentant sinner as told in the story of the Prodigal Son follows the logical build up from the other stories of the lost sheep and the lost coin to show us the true message of Our \Lord's words.
The Choir is back in session and sang, as the anthem the Ave Verum in the setting by Gounod. There was coffee after the service.
Tickets for the Harvest Supper are available from the Church Wardens now. Also please not the Harvest weekend, the 1st and 2nd of October will include;
The Choir will sing in Chichester Cathedral on Saturday 1st of October for the Prayer Book Society Service
The Harvest Supper is in the Church Hall on the Evening of the 1st of October

On Sunday the 2nd there are Harvest Thanksgiving Services in both the morning and the evening.

Late Summer Sunshine

The first Sunday in September, we celebrate as out Patronal Festival. There are a number of Festivals in the Church Year relating to St Mary our Lady, but we have chosen to celebrate the Nativity of Our Lady as our Patronal Festival.The date of the Nativity is September the 8th but we took the opportunity of our Family Service to honour St Mary, the Mother of Jesus.
The Service  was a Family Eucharist, celebrated by Father Roger, who kindly stood in for Father Stephen. In his sermon, Father Roger told us many interesting facts about Our Lady Mary, the Church itself, and had us imagine the consecration of our church in the 12 century, and the amazing history of the church in this place. Of course the church is the people not the walls, and we were happy to see with us this morning people of all ages from the very youngest to the octogenarians and nonagenarians!
The Choir sang 'Ave Maria' in the setting by Edward Elgar as the Anthem and we sang familiar and much loved hymns about Mary.
There was coffee after the service.