Dear friends,

Our harvest festival was wonderful! The Withywood foodbank and its clients are so grateful for the many extra donations that came in and I thought it was special, as always, to see the display they made at the nave altar. We talked about how the altar table should be a welcoming table for everyone, regardless of where they are on their journey of faith and belief. Sometimes we can guard things too closely and accidently create a setting in which things can’t easily be used for the purpose they were created for. As such an altar table can become divisive and exclusive rather than a symbol of unity around remembrance. If you would like to know more about how to join in during communion, or in any part of our services but feel unsure, do send me a message or catch me after a service and we can have a chat.

In my sermon this Sunday just gone I shared about how Christ came to be a servant to all and how he calls those who follow him to serve those around them. As such, St Martins should be a place that seeks to serve our community in all sorts of ways. During this time without a vicar we have the space to reimagine what serving our community might look like, asking ourselves how we could do it better and more creatively. We will get together from 2-4pm on Saturday 9th November to dream together, a conversation that will form part of our profile for a new vicar. This is a chance for you to have your say and share your hopes for the future of our church and the more voices that are there, the be er and more creative our picture can be!

In other news we are already approaching the interesting mix of services that we have planned for November, including the Commemoration Of The Faithful Departed, Remembrance Sunday, St Martin’s Day with lunch together and, a special All Together service with our previous curate Rev’d Laura Verrell-Kelly in which the children will be helping her lead and pray! I expect it will be a vibrant and joyful service and a wonderful opportunity for us to learn from the younger ones in our community.

This week we will hear from Steve Purnell who is, no doubt, currently writing a poetic and meaningful sermon as I write this in the middle of the week. We will have our reflective, candle-lit 8:30 communion as well as an All Together, more interactive service at 10:30. All are welcome, you are invited!

Blessings,

Phil