Minister’s Message – October 12, 2025

Bible ready: 2 Timothy 2:8-14.

Message.

I wonder if you know what the institutions I’m about to name all have in common, apart from being ancient and situated in the southern half of England: Wimborne Minster in Dorset, St Wulfram’s church in Grantham, Merton College in Oxford and Wells Cathedral? It’s this: they all have chained libraries – that is, medieval libraries where some, at least, of the books are attached to their shelves by a ringlet and a chain. This is done is a way which allows the books to be consulted but not to be taken away. I deliberately didn’t mention the largest and most famous chained library as that would have given the game away – it’s the one at Hereford Cathedral. This apparently contains about 1,500 books, dating from around 800AD to the early nineteenth century, including 227 medieval manuscripts. They are still read by scholars who come from all over the world to study them.

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Harvest Service – Minister’s Message

Bible readings: 1 Corinthians 3:5-9. (Paul is writing about his work to the fractious church at Corinth.)

John 4:34-37.(Jesus is speaking to his disciples.)

Message.

I wonder if anyone else here listen to “Farming Today” on the radio? I don’t blame you if you don’t, as it’s on very early – presumably so that busy farmers can tune in before they begin their morning tasks.The programme is only about 15 minutes long, but it covers a lot of different subjects and I’ve learned a lot from it. Just last week there was a piece about the exceptional damson harvest they’ve had up in the Lake District – I don’t think that’s been reported anywhere else. Anyway, here’s a few of the topics that have been covered recently: the shortage of rural housing, dealing with droughts and downpours, the price that dairy farmers are paid for their milk, the constant battle against TB in cattle, the expansion of school meal provision and the opportunities this may give for British growers, concern about a shortage of fodder after our dry summer, the need for foreign sheep shearers to be given visas, the danger of bluetongue disease, the changes to subsidies for sustainable agriculture, the impact of border checks … and much, much more.

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Minister’s Message – September 28, 2025

Bible reading: 1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19.

Message.

William Thomas Berger was a Victorian businessman whose father had established a rice starch factory in east London. The factory was doing well and, when Berger senior died in around 1855, William inherited it and became a wealthy man. As a Christian, he decided that he didn’t want to hold on to his fortune. I don’t know Berger came to hear about an obscure missionary from Barnsley running a hospital in China; but he did, and decided to send him a gift of £50, worth about £8000 in today’s money. Obviously the money took time to reach its destination, but it finally arrived at a critical time, when the hospital was down to its last sack of rice and facing closure. Hudson Taylor, for that was the missionary’s name, had been praying for supplies and saw Berger’s gift as one that had been sent from God.

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Minister’s Message – September 21, 2025

Bible reading: 1 Timothy 2:1-7.

Message.

The deacon came storming up to me as soon as the service ended. To say she was apoplectic with rage is an exaggeration – but she certainly wasn’t a happy bunny. “I object very strongly to being preached at in the prayers”, she said, “And I object even more at being told which political party I should vote for!”.

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Minister’s Message – September 14, 2025

Bible reading: 1 Timothy 1:12-17.

Message.

If I mention the year 1666 you’ll probably think of the Great Fire of London which started in a bakehouse in Pudding Lane and destroyed three-quarters of the ancient city, including St Paul’s Cathedral. But the fire wasn’t the only thing to happen in that year: the British Navy engaged in three battles with the Dutch (they lost one, won two so went to the top of Group C – not really!); and the first experimental blood transfusion was carried out (it was gruesome, between two dogs, and the doctors involved knew nothing about blood groups).

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Minister’s Message – September 7, 2025

Bible reading: Philemon 1-21.

Message.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, and that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. I wonder if you recognise that sentence? It is part of the American Declaration of Independence, agreed in Philadelphia in July 1776. And it includes some stirring words: that God created all men (today we’d say all people) equal, that everyone has the right to liberty and happiness, and that these are “self-evident” truths – no-one could possibly argue against them. It’s therefore no surprise that the United States calls itself “the land of the free” – yet its first President, the revered George Washington, was a slave-owner. That fact seems to fly in the face of these wonderful words.

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Toddler Group

Our Toddler Group will be back this week, on Wednesday September 10^th, and they have space to welcome new families – no need to pre-book just go along and join them. Held on Wednesdays 1.45-3.30pm during term time. £1.50 per family.

Minister’s Message – August 10, 2025

Bible reading: Colossians 2:9-15.

Philosophy is a subject that I’ve never really studied. I know that the actual word “philosophy” comes from two Greek words and means “a love of wisdom”; I know too that it can be considered the study of knowledge, existence, and reality: who are we, why are we here, how does our world work – the deepest questions about human existence.

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Minister’s Message – August 3, 2025

Bible reading: Colossians 1:15-23.

Message.

There are times in life when we face difficult choices, both of which have consequences. For instance, one of my best friends has invited me to go to a football match, while another good friend wants me to accompany him to a party on the same day. How can I avoid offending at least one of them? Or, if I’m in a restaurant, do I choose food which I enjoy, but which I know will give me indigestion; or do I choose a bland dish which won’t give me either the same pain – or pleasure?

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Minister’s Message – July 27, 2025

Bible reading: Colossians 1:3-14.

Message.

In about 1895, a teacher at Munich’s Luitpold Gymnasium or High School allegedly wrote this comment in a teenager’s report: “This boy will never amount to anything”. Whether this is true I don’t know, as the boy was already a proficient pianist and violinist and an outstanding mathematician, the master of differential calculus. Perhaps he wasn’t so able in other subjects; or perhaps the teacher couldn’t understand a lad who didn’t easily fit into the rigid German education system.

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