Today we had a splendid sunny day after the gloom and greyness of the last week. The church was resplendent as usual with lovely flower arrangements in the church.




Father Roger gave us the sermon his week and rushed off immediately afterwards as his ministry was needed elsewhere.

Fr Roger told us that his 55 years of meetings with church hierarchy usually do not go well. This was also the theme of the Gospel reading of the Pharisee and tax collector. The Pharisee is a man at the top of his game, he is well respected in his religion.  The Tax collector is almost a betrayer of his people, a Jew who works for the Roman conquerors, collecting money from his neighbours. The Pharisee goes above and beyond what his religion requires.  He fasts more than he needs, he gives away more alms than is required and sticks absolutely to all the rites of his religion.  The tax collector is nowhere near as devout. At the start of the parable, people would think that the Pharisee is  the "good guy" of the tale, but he is boastful when he prays to God in the temple. He glorifies his wonderful behaviour.  He focuses on himself and how he looks. He is not leading his people. His attitude is incorrect. The Tax collector on the other hand, knows he is falling short of what God wants from him and humbly appeals to God. His attitude is correct.

St Paul says we should be justified by faith and not by works.


Next week as well as our Family Communion at 10am we also have a special service for All Souls at 6pm.  There is a Requiem for All Souls' with Fauré's Requiem setting. There is a list of names in church.  Please add the names of those you wish to be remembered during the service.  The list will be placed on the High Altar during the service.  Also after receiving communion, you will have the opportunity to light a candle of remembrance adjacent to the sanctuary.

This Morning our 10:00 am service was Mattins. Father Stephen took the service, and preached the sermon. The lesson from the Old Testament concerned the story of Jacob wrestling with the Angel of the Lord, and having his hip dislocated, and the New Testament reading was about the dishonest Judge who gave a Judgement to the lady who pestered him. In the sermon Father Stephen spoke about the lesson from St Luke that God would always listen to our prayers and that we should bring things to him, because if the corrupt judge listened eventually, how much more would our Loving Father listen to us.

The Choir sang The Te Deum in the setting by C V Stanford in B flat. and the anthem 'O Lord increase our Faith' by Henry Loosemore.

There was coffee after the service.

In the Afternoon at 3:00pm we were treated to a fantastic concert of piano music by Tom Cooper. Tom played works by Bach, Clementi and Beethoven, but the main focus of the afternoon was the work of Chopin. Tom's virtuoso performance of some extremely complex works was a delight to all who heard him. We were give a real treat. This was followed by a traditional Sidlesham Tea, also a treat of a different type. We were very grateful to Tom for coming to play and were able to dedicate this concert to the memory of Guy Borer, a choir member who recently died.

We met for our 10 am Eucharist on a very wet and windy day, one of a very wet and windy week! Today we have many Saints to remember, St Edward the Confessor, St Wilfrid, and today a new British Saint St John Henry Newman.

Our readings this morning were from St Paul's letter to Timothy and the Gospel told the story of Jesus curing the 10 lepers, of which only one came back to say thank you. In his Sermon, Father Stephen told us of the significance of this story. Jesus and his disciples were travelling in the border country between Israel and Samaria. The Jewish people were enemies of the Samaritans, whom they considered to be  blasphemous pagans. The group of people with leprosy were both Jewish and Samaritan and Jesus cured them all, but the man who came back to say thank you was a Samaritan. We all need to be aware of the great gifts we have received and be thankful.

The anthem was 'Let thy merciful ears O Lord' by Thomas Mudd. there was coffee after the service.

Do come and join us for the piano recital by Tom Cooper next Sunday at 3:00pm. This concert is dedicated to the memory of Guy Borer, a long standing member of our Choir who died last week. There will be tea after the concert so do come along, retiring collection for the Church to improve the path from the car park to the church, which is much needed

More wonderful autumnal flowers

This morning we came together at 10 am for a Parish Eucharist, as we had held our family service last week for harvest. After some very wet weather we had a beautiful autumn morning with a clear blue sky.

We received the sad news that our friend and stalwart of the bass section of the choir, Guy had died on Friday Morning after a short illness. We prayed for the repose of his soul and for his Mother and Brothers and Sisters in their loss.

The readings today, from Paul's letter to Timothy and St Luke's Gospel focused on the ways to increase our faith, and in his sermon Father Stephen spoke about this, and the importance for those who have been bought up in the church to constantly refresh our joy and enthusiasm for our beliefs and the inspiration they bring.

The Choir sang the Ave Verum in the setting by W A Mozart as the anthem.

We were very happy to be able to celebrate with Chris Field, who yesterday received the St Richard's medal at a service in the Cathedral, as a mark of the many years of unflagging service to St Mary's . This was the first time the medal has been awarded, and the 40 or so people who were honoured, were given an individual lapel badge to mark their achievement.

After the service we had coffee in the new rooms.

The Concert on the 20th of October by Tom Cooper, will be dedicated to Guy, and a retiring collection will go towards improving the path from the car park to the rooms, which is rather rough under foot. Do come along, the concert will be followed by tea in the rooms.

The Sunday School have been looking at sheep for harvest