30 November 2025
10:30 | 
Posted by
Dr Platts |
A beautiful sunny day welcomed two new members into our church as Ruby and Milo were baptised. Fr Chris had a shy helper, an owl who was a reminder of the three requirement of baptism, oil, water and light. He also recommended a short prayer for us to say during Advent, I may not have it word perfect, but I think I have the jist of it:
Lord, let your light guide our steps today.
Isaiah 2:1-5
A reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
Many peoples shall come and say,
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.’
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
O house of Jacob, come,
let us walk in the light of the Lord!
Romans 13:11-14
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans.
Brothers and sisters,
you know what time it is,
how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep.
For salvation is nearer to us now
than when we became believers;
the night is far gone, the day is near.
Let us then lay aside the works of darkness
and put on the armour of light;
let us live honourably as in the day,
not in revelling and drunkenness,
not in debauchery and licentiousness,
not in quarrelling and jealousy.
Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Matthew 24:36-44
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ accroding to Matthew.
Jeus spoke to his disciples:
"About that day and hour no one knows,
neither the angels of heaven,
nor the Son, but only the Father.
For as the days of Noah were,
so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
For as in those days before the flood
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage,
until the day Noah entered the ark,
and they knew nothing
until the flood came and swept them all away,
so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Then two will be in the field;
one will be taken and one will be left.
Two women will be grinding meal together;
one will be taken and one will be left.
Keep awake therefore,
for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
But understand this:
if the owner of the house had known
in what part of the night the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and would not have let his house be broken into.
Therefore you also must be ready,
for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
23 November 2025
Fr Chris spoke to us about Christ The King and the children made beautiful crowns to signify Christ as King. Fr Chris was a little put out that no one made him a crown. They said they had thought about it!
Don't forget that Friday evening is the fun night for year 6 and above. Fr Chris says he has something new and hopefully exciting.
Also, Saturday 29th is our Christmas Fair. Your chance to support St Mary's and maybe pick up a few stocking fillers, gifts and treat yourself to a bowl of hot soup for lunch! Don't forget Santa's grotto for the kiddies.
A reading from the book of the prophet Jeremiah.
Woe to the shepherds
who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!
says the Lord.
Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel,
concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people:
It is you who have scattered my flock
and have driven them away,
and you have not attended to them.
So I will attend to you for your evil doings,
says the Lord.
Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock
out of all the lands where I have driven them,
and I will bring them back to their fold,
and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them,
and they shall no longer fear or be dismayed,
nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.
The days are surely coming, says the Lord,
when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
and he shall reign as king and deal wisely
and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety.
And this is the name by which he will be called:
“The Lord is our righteousness.”
Colossians 1:11-20
A reading from the letter of Paul tot he Colossians.
Brothers and sisters:
May you be made strong
with all the strength that comes from his glorious power,
and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience,
while joyfully giving thanks to the Father,
who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
He has rescued us from the power of darkness
and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation;
for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created,
things visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—
all things have been created through him and for him.
He himself is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
so that he might come to have first place in everything.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things,
whether on earth or in heaven,
by making peace through the blood of his cross.
Luke 23:33-43
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
When they came to the place that is called The Skull,
they crucified Jesus there with the criminals,
one on his right and one on his left.
Then Jesus said,
‘Father, forgive them;
for they do not know what they are doing.’
And they cast lots to divide his clothing.
And the people stood by, watching;
but the leaders scoffed at him, saying,
‘He saved others;
let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’
The soldiers also mocked him,
coming up and offering him sour wine,
and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’
There was also an inscription over him,
‘This is the King of the Jews.’
One of the criminals who were hanged there
kept deriding him and saying,
‘Are you not the Messiah?
Save yourself and us!’
But the other rebuked him, saying,
‘Do you not fear God,
since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
And we indeed have been condemned justly,
for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds,
but this man has done nothing wrong.’
Then he said,
‘Jesus, remember me when you come into[g] your kingdom.’
Jeus replied,
‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’
16 November 2025
Fr Chris was busy in the church hall with Crafty Communion and Matins was taking place in church. The choir sang Stanford's Benedictus in C and the anthem was Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.
Don't forget our Christmas Market held in church. The poster says it all.
A reading from the book of the prophet Malachi.
See, the day is coming, burning like an oven,
when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble;
the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts,
so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise,
with healing in its wings.
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
A reading from the second letter of St Paul to the Thessalonians,
We command you, beloved,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to keep away from believers who are living in idleness
and not according to the tradition that they received from us.
For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us;
we were not irresponsible when we were with you,
and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it,
but with toil and labor we worked night and day
so that we might not burden any of you.
This was not because we do not have that right
but in order to give you an example to imitate.
For even when we were with you,
we gave you this command:
anyone unwilling to work should not eat.
For we hear that some of you are living in idleness,
mere busybodies, not doing any work.
Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ
to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.
Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.
Luke 21:5-19
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
When some were speaking about the temple,
how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God,
Jesus said,
“As for these things that you see,
the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another;
all will be thrown down.”
They asked him,
“Teacher, when will this be,
and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?”
And hJesus said,
“Beware that you are not led astray,
for many will come in my name and say,
‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’
Do not go after them.
When you hear of wars and insurrections,
do not be terrified,
for these things must take place first,
but the end will not follow immediately.”
Then he said to them,
“Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom;
there will be great earthquakes
and in various places famines and plagues,
and there will be dreadful portents
and great signs from heaven.
But before all this occurs,
they will arrest you and persecute you;
they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons,
and you will be brought before kings and governors
because of my name.
This will give you an opportunity to testify.
So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance,
for I will give you words and a wisdom
that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.
You will be betrayed even by parents and siblings,
by relatives and friends,
and they will put some of you to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name.
But not a hair of your head will perish.
By your endurance you will gain your souls."
09 November 2025
Job 19:23-27a
A reading from the book of Job.
Job said to his companionsL
"O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!
O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock forever!
For I know that my vindicator[a] lives
and that in the end he will stand upon the earth;
and after my skin has been destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see on my side,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another."
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
A reading from the second letter of Paul to the Thessalonians.
As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
and our being gathered together to him,
we beg you, brothers and sisters,
not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed,
either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us,
to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here.
Let no one deceive you in any way,
for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first
and the lawless one is revealed,
the one destined for destruction.
He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god
or object of worship,
so that he takes his seat in the temple of God,
declaring himself to be God.
Do you not remember that I told you these things
when I was still with you?
But we must always give thanks to God for you,
brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord,
because God chose you as the first fruits
for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit
and through belief in the truth.
For this purpose he called you
through the proclamation of the good news,
so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So then, brothers and sisters,
stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us,
either by word of mouth or by our letter.
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God our Father, who loved us
and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope,
comfort your hearts
and strengthen them in every good work and word.
Luke 20:27-38
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection,
came to Jesus and asked him a question:
“Teacher,
Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies
leaving a wife but no children,
the man shall marry the widow
and raise up children for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers;
the first married a woman and died childless;
then the second
and the third married her,
and so in the same way all seven died childless.
Finally the woman also died.
In the resurrection, therefore,
whose wife will the woman be?
For the seven had married her.”
Jesus said to them,
“Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage,
but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age
and in the resurrection from the dead
neither marry nor are given in marriage.
Indeed, they cannot die anymore,
because they are like angels and are children of God,
being children of the resurrection.
And the fact that the dead are raised
Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush,
where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
Now he is God not of the dead but of the living,
for to him all of them are alive.”
02 November 2025
As we have done for many years, there was a service for the dead. The names of friends and relations who have passed as well as the many people whose names are know only to God. The choir, swollen by many friends sang the Requiem by Gabriel Faure, as an integral part of the communion service.
Requiem Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Gabriel Fauré, born in 1845, was appointed titular organist a La Madeleine, Paris, in 1896 and director of the Paris Conservatoire in 1905.
Fauré started to think about the composition of a requiem in 1885 after the death of his father. Unlike Berlioz and Verdi he removed the Dies Irae sequence, which he considered over theatrical. Hence the Offertorium comes up much sooner than is usual in a requiem mass setting. He permits himself only a brief reference to the “day of wrath” in the Libera me baritone solo.
Gabriel Fauré
Fauré’s Requiem happily lends itself to a liturgical performance by amateur choirs, being particularly popular with English choirs, with the organ taking the place of the orchestra. This seems to have been recognised early on its life, coinciding as it did with liturgical experimentation in the Church of England in the late 19th and early 20th centuries – experiments now adopted and sanctioned for universal use with the introduction in 1980 of the Alternative Service Book and more recently the Common Worship services. These owe their formation to the proposed 1928 Prayer Book and the English Missal (1933) and their structure, including additions to the Book of Common Prayer, fit best with Fauré’s arrangement of sections. The 1928 Prayer Book and English Missal largely formalised a variety of liturgical practices which had been used in sung Communion services previously.
The service is an act of worship, to include remembrance of the departed, and may sound something like a similar service in an English church at about the time of Faurés death in November 1924, when sections of his requiem were sung at his funeral at La Madeleine.
 |
| Faure in 1907 from Wikipedia |
After torrential rain overnight, we went to church is beautiful autumnal sunshine.
Today we celebrated All Saints Day. The children had coloured in shoelds with the symbols of the various apostles and we had to name all twelve.
Join us for Evensong this afternoon at 3.30pm, the winter timing as the clocks went back last week. It also means we have tea and cake after the service.
A reading from the book of Daniel.
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon
Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed:
then he wrote the dream, .
I, Daniel saw in my vision by night,
the four winds of the heaven stirring up the great sea.
And four great beasts came up out the sea, different one from another.
As for me, Daniel my spirit was troubled within me,
and the visions of my head troubled me.
I approached one of the attendants,
to ask him the truth concerning this.
So he said that he would disclose to me the interpretation of the matter:
as for these four great beasts,
four kings shall arise out of the earth.
But the holy ones of the most High shall receive the kingdom,
and possess the kingdom for ever - for ever and ever.
Ephesians 1:11-23
A reading from the letterof Paul to the Ephesians.
In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance,
having been destined according to the purpose of him
who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,
so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ,
might live for the praise of his glory.
In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him,
were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;
this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people,
to the praise of his glory.
I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus
and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason
I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers,
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation
as you come to know him,
so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened,
you may perceive what is the hope to which he has called you,
what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints,
and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power
for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.
God put this power to work in Christ
when he raised him from the dead
and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all rule and authority and power and dominion
and above every name that is named,
not only in this age but also in the age to come.
And he has put all things under his feet
and has made him the head over all things for the church,
which is his body,
the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Luke 6:20-31
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
Jesus looked up at his disciples and said:
Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you
and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you
on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice on that day and leap for joy,
for surely your reward is great in heaven,
for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you,
for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
But I say to you that listen,
Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you;
bless those who curse you;
pray for those who mistreat you.
If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also,
and from anyone who takes away your coat
do not withhold even your shirt.
Give to everyone who begs from you,
and if anyone takes away yur goods,
do not ask for it back again.
Do to others as you would have them do to you."
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