Dear friends, This morning was a beautiful one in church as it was filled with community, conversation and of course coffee. We began with a simple service, seated in a circle, in which we discussed the readings for today and prayed with one another, passing the candle of God’s love around from person to person. We then ate together, chatting more about all the things going on in our lives. These conversations continued with our wider parish community as we hosted the first pop-up of our new initiative: Café Reconnect. This pay as you can café is a wonderful opportunity for everyone to get together and share a cup of tea, a bite to eat and enjoy the special space that is St Martin’s in a different way. We always have a laugh when we get together but there is also something about having a café in a church which can draw out some deeper conversations from time to time. Whether you want to find space to ask questions about faith, life and God or share a difficult situation you are dealing with, our gatherings, both for prayer and for coffee can be great spaces to have those conversations. Equally, if you work from home and want some company whilst you work, or have space for a short break, why not come along and setup at Café Reconnect one week? This Sunday, whilst Becky enjoys some much-deserved time off, we are fortunate to be joined by not one but two guest priests to celebrate the eucharist with us and share from the readings for this week. Many of you will know Rev’d’s Tim Godden and Simon Taylor as we are so often blessed by hearing what they have to say and the conversations it leads us to. So come, join us for a coffee, a service or a chat. We will gather on Sunday at 8:30 and 10:30 as well as Friday at 9:30. All our services are open to everyone and Sunday Spirit will be on at 10:30 for our children and young people. Hope to see you soon, Blessings, Rev’d Phil
Dear friendsI hope this week has found you well, and that you have felt a sense of God's presence with you whatever you have done.Our theme of story telling, which has featured heavily over recent weeks, felt particularly appropriate this week with the commemoration of the D Day landings. I watched the tribute of the lone piper on a navy vessel coming into Normandy, and felt strongly moved, as when I saw the gradual illumination of the candles on the war memorials. It was beautiful, and sombre. One individual interviewed said they would love their children's class to go to the memorial, to all find one of the names on the memorial, and to research the story behind the name. Wouldn't that be a remarkable thing to do! The story of all those who gave their lives in war is remembered on a national scale, but of course there is a further story behind each of their names: stories of loved ones who grieved them, of colleagues who missed them, and a nation who thanks them.How we continue to connect our stories with a story of love is part of our gathering as a church community, and as ever I commend to you the opportunity to gather for worship.This weekend we have our traditional Holy Communion service at 8.30am where Steve will be preaching, and then Cafe Church at 10.30am where we will be thinking about the stories of our faith: when it may have been hard, how we speak of what we believe, and how we might share our hopes for our stories going forward.You're invited to be part of these gatherings.We also gather on Sunday afternoon at 4.30pm to witness Martin Turnbull's street evangelism performance - he is bringing "Street Surprise" into church, again you're invited to come along.With all good wishes as everBecky
Dearest friendsWe are now in the season of the year called "Ordinary Time" ... the festival seasons have finished, the linen in the church turn to green, the servers white surplices no longer have frills, the liturgy remains constant ... we are in a long season of continuity until All Saints Day, when we then look forward to Advent.It's remarkable that we might call this "ordinary". For me, the green of the linen reminds me of creation and connection to the earth; the simplicity of the liturgy, repeated week after week, enables me to go deeper into a familiar rhythm; and a sense of continuity can reinforce belonging and relationship.Even more, as we have heard over recent weeks with the arrival of the Holy Spirit, and the reminder of the relationship of all three persons of God, a relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit is anything but ordinary!!And so as we come to the end of Half term for many, and the next break in routine coming with summer holidays, and the next Bank Holiday 3 months away, it's time to find our rhythm and routing. I hope you will find this by coming along to church each week: whether you prefer to come to the same service at 8.30am each week, or whether you come to the variety of services across 10.30, why not begin this weekend by coming along? With information to collect this week about all that's happening in June in our worship, and across the Summer with various events to join in with, as well as being part of a community of the Lord's people gathered around the Lord's table, it's a great Sunday to be at St Martins, and it's anything but ordinary!We look forward to seeing you - you're invited!God blessBecky
Dear friends, As we approach Trinity Sunday we are reminded that God is, and always has been, three in one. It is a strange idea to try and comprehend and, despite many hours in lectures and reading theology books, I never really feel I can wrap my head around it fully. However, setting aside the nitty gritty complexities (and many accusations of heresy over the years) I think there is something very instinctive about it, if we take it at face value. It means that God is in a loving and sharing community even aside from the relationships we might have with God and one another. In means that the root of all things is in community and also that the source of all life is not in conflict but in unity. I think we have so much to learn from this belief that God is three and yet one. We all long for community, for people to support us, to celebrate with us, for people who will look out for us. Many of us find this in family and friends and sometimes in work or school settings however, our hope at St Martin’s is that we could also find these things at church. Over the winter we began to form a new community on Thursday lunch times as our café became a place for people to share their lives. Feeling inspired by this and by Café Connect that our volunteers ran pre-COVID, a small group of us have been meeting to plan a new iteration of this valuable space. Café Reconnect will be a place for people of all ages, and all stages of life, to come together from across our community to find new friendships, meet one another and find community in our often lonely world. It will be a café for everyone whether you want a quick bite and a chat or a long cup of tea with an old friend. We hope that through our pop-up café spaces over the summer and our ongoing lunchtime cafés beyond that, Café Reconnect could become a special place in our community. The way that we understand God being in agreement and in unity should challenge us in all sorts of ways, calling us to be people who disagree well, seek to serve one another and always being open and curious about the beliefs of others. Church is a great place to think about all these things (and hopefully to begin to practice them in all our lives) so whether you come every week or haven’t been for a while you are invited to come and explore faith together. Let’s be people that ask questions, wonder aloud and try to find better ways for us to be in this world, in community, in love and kindness and in unity. Our Sunday services this week will centre around this theme of Trinity as we gather at 8:30 for our spoken Holy Communion and at 10:30 for our All Together service for all ages. You are welcome! Grace & peace, Rev. Phil
