As part of a whole weekend of music making on 5th and 6th July we enjoyed a festival service centred around how music has been enjoyed in churches for centuries to mark births, deaths and marriages. After gathering for breakfast in the Bill Hemsley Community centre (the nave of St Bartholomew's) we had a big sing in the chancel, with 9 hymns and even more musical items spanning centuries from plain chant to Sing Hosanna and John Rutter's "The Lord Bless you and keep you". Lots of favourites that have stood the test of time and been chosen time and time again when marking life events in church.Thank you to Will at Meatsmiths for supplying the breakfast items, and Lindsey of the Haybarn for cooking and serving, making it a real community event.
September saw the annual Harvest Festival at St Bartholomews. A vicar wasn’t available, but that didn’t stop us now that we have a church warden. Ben led a cheerful celebration, and talked about the Kneesall of a couple of decades ago when the whole village was more closely connected to food production. It reminded us to be ever mindful of where our food comes from, and the importance of farming, in a time when we’re becoming more and more removed from it. The Kneesall Knightingales were in good voice, leading hymns, singing an anthem and teaching the congregation a new song. This was the closing prayer, which many agreed was particularly beautiful… May the road rise to meet us, may the wind be always at our backs, may the sunshine be warm upon our faces, may the rains fall softly on our fields, and until we meet again, may God hold us in the palm of his hand. That same afternoon the church filled up again when around 100 people gathered for the Baptism of Rufus Ernie Chapman. Another joyous occasion. Please join us in December for Christingle at 10.30am on the 10th, and Carols by Candlelight at 6pm on the 22nd.
Our village church has had a busy month, with a wide variety of events. The Parish Council and the WI had their regular meetings, and the hall was brought alive with several birthday parties. The school had their annual leavers’ assembly and the church provided both solace for a particularly moving funeral, and a place of celebration for a wedding (the first here in a few years). We are particularly fortunate to still have a thriving village church, and its dual purpose as village hall and place of worship is quite unique. Thanks go to the growing number of people who are getting involved with running it and keeping it “ship shape”. The church looked particularly lovely on 29th July thanks to the efforts of the bride and groom with the help of Lisa from Forgetmenotts.
The church was full on June 11th for the summer communion service. We were joined by Kneesall School choir as well as the Knightingales, and the topic of the talk was Love.The church was looking lovely (sun streaming through the windows makes all the difference) and a visitor commented that the place has “a lovely vibe”. The next service will be Harvest festival at 10.30am on Sunday 24th September. St Barts’ is a festival church, having just 6 services a year. If you have any ideas for how you’d like those services to be celebrated, or any special dates you think we should observe please get in touch.Chris, Kathy, Lindsey, Sue, Trevor
