21 September 2025
10:30 | 
Posted by
Dr Platts |
A beautiful sunny day greeted us for Matins in church and Crafty Communion in the parish hall.
Fr Roger preached today about Matthew, apostle and evangelist. He also explined that Matthew the tax collector turned disciple would not be the same as the writer of the gospel according to Matthew. He also explained many similarities in the gospel between Moses and Jesus, but with the emphasis on Jesus being just a little bit better.
There is no said Eucharist on Thursday as Fr Chris is on holiday until 1st October. Mary's Place will go ahead as normal. All welcome for tea, coffee, cake and most of all, a jolly good chat!
The first weekend of October is our Harvest celebration with things happening over the weekend.
A reading from the book of Proverbs.
Happy are those who find wisdom
and those who get understanding,
for her income is better than silver
and her revenue better than gold.
She is more precious than jewels,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.
Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honour.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;
those who hold her fast are called happy.
2 Corinthians 4:1-6
A reading from the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians.
Since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry,
we do not lose heart.
We have renounced the shameful things that one hides,
we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word,
but by the open statement of the truth
we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.
And even if our gospel is veiled,
it is veiled to those who are perishing.
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers,
to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,
who is the image of God.
For we do not proclaim ourselves;
we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord
and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’s sake.
For it is the God who said,
“Light will shine out of darkness,”
who has shone in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 9:9-13
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mathhew.
As Jesus was walking along,
he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth,
and he said to him, “Follow me.”
And he got up and followed him.
And as he sat at dinner in the house,
many tax collectors and sinners came
and were sitting with Jesus and his disciples.
When the Pharisees saw this,
they said to his disciples,
“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
But when he heard this, he said,
“Those who are well have no need of a physician,
but those who are sick.
Go and learn what this means,
‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’
For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
14 September 2025
A grey day outside but not inside as we celebrated our Patronal Festival. The children stayed with us rather than go to do their stuff in the Parish rooms so the homily was a question and answer affair aimed at the children first then the adults. We learnt about the meaning of a Patronal Festival, Pilgrimage and Shrine, all about a journey to bring us closer to God.
Father Chris told us about the modern 'Pilgrims' who visited our church on their way to the recently resurrected 'Pilgrim's Trail' , between the site of the original Cathedral and Abbey at Selsey and the current Chichester Cathedral. The trail has been created by the Cathedral as it celebrates its 950th anniversary, and is in partnership with the British Pilgrimage Trust. It’s approximately 14.5 km long and is known as the Chichester 950 Way.
Join us at 5.30pm for a Festal Evensong with nibbles and drinks afterwards.
A reading from the book of the prophet Micah.
Now you are walled around with a wall;
siege is laid against us;
with a rod they strike the ruler of Israel
upon the cheek.
But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.
Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in labor has brought forth;
then the rest of his kindred shall return
to the people of Israel.
And he shall stand and feed his flock
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure,
for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.
Galatians 4:4-7
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Galatians.
When the fullness of time had come,
God sent his Son, born of a woman,
born under the law,
in order to redeem those who were under the law,
so that we might receive adoption as children.
And because you are children,
God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying,
“Abba! Father!”
So you are no longer a slave but a child,
and if a child then also an heir through God.
Luke 1:26-38
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God
to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph,
of the house of David.
The virgin’s name was Mary.
And he came to her and said,
“Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.”
But she was much perplexed by his words
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
The angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favour with God.
And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you will name him Jesus.
He will be great
and will be called the Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.
He will reign over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Mary said to the angel,
“How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
The angel said to her,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
therefore the child to be born will be holy;
he will be called Son of God.
And now,
your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son,
and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren.
For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Then Mary said,
“Here am I, the servant of the Lord;
let it be with me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.
07 September 2025
Unfortunately, Fr Chris was not present due to Covid infection, so we had Fr Roger instead. We hope he gets better soon. The choir was back from their August break and sang Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus as the anthem.
A reading from the book of Deuteronomy.
“See, I have set before you today
life and prosperity, death and adversity.
If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God
that I am commanding you today,
by loving the Lord your God,
walking in his ways, and observing his commandments,
decrees, and ordinances,
then you shall live and become numerous,
and the Lord your God will bless you
in the land that you are entering to possess.
But if your heart turns away and you do not hear
but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them,
I declare to you today that you shall certainly perish;
you shall not live long in the land
that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today
that I have set before you life and death,
blessings and curses.
Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,
loving the Lord your God,
obeying him, and holding fast to him,
for that means life to you and length of days,
so that you may live in the land
that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors,
to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
Philemon 1-21
A reading from the letter of Paul to Philemon.
Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus,
and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon, our dear friend and coworker
to Apphia our sister,
to Archippus our fellow soldier,
and to the church in your house:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
When I mention you in my prayers,
I always thank my God
because I hear of your love for all the saints
and your faith toward the Lord Jesus.
I pray that the partnership of your faith
may become effective when you perceive all the good
that we share in Christ.
I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love,
because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.
For this reason,
though I am more than bold enough in Christ to command you to do the right thing,
yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—
and I, Paul, do this as an old man
and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus.
I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus,
whose father I have become during my imprisonment.
Formerly he was useless to you,
but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.
I am sending him,
that is, my own heart,
back to you.
I wanted to keep him with me
so that he might minister to me in your place
during my imprisonment for the gospel,
but I preferred to do nothing without your consent
in order that your good deed might be voluntary
and not something forced.
Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while,
so that you might have him back for the long term,
no longer as a slave but more than a slave,
a beloved brother—
especially to me but how much more to you,
both in the flesh and in the Lord.
So if you consider me your partner,
welcome him as you would welcome me.
If he has wronged you in any way
or owes you anything, charge that to me.
I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand:
I will repay it.
I say nothing about your owing me even your own self.
Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord!
Refresh my heart in Christ.
Confident of your obedience,
I am writing to you,
knowing that you will do even more than I ask.
Luke 14:25-33
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
Large crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and said to them,
“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
yes, and even life itself,
cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me
cannot be my disciple.
For which of you,
intending to build a tower,
does not first sit down and estimate the cost,
to see whether he has enough to complete it?
Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish,
all who see it will begin to ridicule him,
saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’
Or what king,
going out to wage war against another king,
will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand
to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?
If he cannot, then while the other is still far away,
he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace.
So therefore, none of you can become my disciple
if you do not give up all your possessions.
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