Church Blog
News, Updates, Thoughts

Dear friends,

This week I was fortunate enough to go to Winchester Cathedral with the Year 6 children from Charles Kingsley School for their leavers service.

While we were there, we all had the opportunity to do some calligraphy. Two amazing people showed us what to do. One was a lady who managed to captivate and inspire a whole group of 11-year-olds as she described how to use the pens and form the strokes which made the letters. The other was a man who is so skilled that he has was worked on the restoration of the ancient Winchester Bible. It made me think of the craftsmen who God chose to work on the King Soloman’s temple in the Bible. For those ancient workers, and for the calligraphers we met, their skill and craftmanship are part of their worship to God. Often, we think of worship as something that happens in church on a Sunday morning, but the pattern in the Bible is that our whole life should express our worship and praise for God.

It seems quite relevant to reflect on those ancient skills as we hold our annual Steam and Vintage festival at St Marys. Please come along, it is a brilliant day with steam engines, old vehicles, model trainsets, a ride on railway, cakes, BBQ’s, ice creams, all in the beautiful churchyard at St Marys.
           

Then on Sunday in church we will be starting our new monthly series called “Ancient Truths, Modern Life” and looking at the question ‘Technology and Faith - Friend or Foe?’

After the service there will be an opportunity to talk about the subject in more depth (or just to enjoy the sunshine) over a barbeque.

Faith

Dear friends,

This weekend is Father's Day. 

My Dad died in 2012 and I still miss him. I am sure over the next few days I will be remembering the times when I was growing up and also as an adult, when my Dad cared for me. He was a great role model and always gave  good advice. I will also be thinking of others in my life who have been and continue to be like a father to me.

Like Mothering Sunday, Father's Day can bring a mix of emotions. For some it will bring back the pain of strained family relationships. For others it brings a sense of loss of not becoming a father and for others, perhaps a sense of guilt for what they would have done differently as a father themselves. So it is quite apt that this year, the church marks Trinity Sunday on Father's Day. The day when we celebrate that God is revealed as the Son, as the Holy Spirit and also as our heavenly Father. And we can be confident that whatever our experience is of earthly fathers, we are all unconditionally loved by our heavenly Father.  As the words of the worship song written by Chris Tomlin puts it:

You’re a good, good Father.

It's who You are, it's who You are

And I’m loved by You

It's who I am, it's who I am.

My prayer for this weekend is that we all are reminded and experience afresh the love that God has for us all.

Stuart

 
Dear friends

There is a song we sometimes sing at St Barnabas, and it contains the lines:

‘God, we believe
Because yes, we can see it,
That wonders are still what you do’

I have a spiritual director, she is amazing, I visit her about once every two months and she asks me questions like, how are your churches? (usual answer: brilliant) and how is your prayer life? (Usual answer: could be better). She is good at listening – but this time she started off by saying ‘I’ve got something to say that you will really like’ and proceeded to tell me about how she had recently injured her knee,  after struggling with the pain for several days somebody prayed for her  knee and it was miraculously healed. Immediately she was able to walk and move her knee with out pain.
It seemed very appropriate in the week we are celebrating Pentecost Sunday, that just as the Holy Spirit bought signs and wonders at the first day of Pentecost, we can still testify that wonders are still what God does.

Faith

As part of St Mary's Church Steam & Vintage Festival, there's a children's colouring competition. 

To enter all you need to do is:

• choose the Colouring Sheet appropriate for the age of your child. Age categories are:
  • 5 years and under
  • 6-9 years
  • 10-12 years
• print it out A4 size and ask your child to get colouring
• alternatively collect a sheet from St. Mary’s Church, Eversley
• please ensure your name and email address and your child’s name and age are detailed on the reverse of the entry
• entries must be received at St. Mary’s Church, Eversley by 12 noon on Sunday 15th June, 2025
• entry is FREE

All entries will be displayed at the Steam & Vintage Festival and judging will take place during the event. 

Dear friends

The time between Ascension and Pentecost has been dedicated to prayer using the guide provided by Thy Kingdom Come.

Thy Kingdom Come is a global ecumenical prayer movement that invites Christians around the world to pray from Ascension to Pentecost for more people to come to know Jesus. As a churchwarden much of my time is spent on looking after the fabric of St. Mary’s which has invoked many prayerful moments. 

The role of the churchwarden is extremely varied but as defined by Winchester diocese the role generally involves management, maintenance and mission. They are the foremost in representing the laity and in co-operating with the incumbent, and they have a duty to maintain order and decency in the church and churchyard, particularly during the times of divine service. The role with the incumbent means that churchwardens are generally responsible for the day-to-day functioning of the parish

That sounds very intimidating, in practice it is not, and is a good way of learning more about the church building, working with Faith, Rachel, the PCC and members of the congregation, to look after and improve the church, and to get to know various members of the diocesan team.

Some of the activities I have been involved with are:

Moving the a monument, a fun time involving cranes and diggers,
Helping to recruit our last two new Vicars,
Raising Faculties which is the process to follow when work on the church building requires permission from the diocese.    

I find being churchwarden very fulfilling and would encourage anyone who has an interest in the future of the church, our buildings and supporting our clergy to consider becoming a churchwarden.

Back to my opening comments, prayer is a way of connecting with God, expressing gratitude and asking for help, all of which are especially relevant at this time, I continue to pray for the whole life of our church, and especially for the church fabric!

Tim

Dear friends

I wonder when you last held a door or a gate open for someone?

Many of us will be familiar with the image of Jesus as the gate for the sheep (John 10:7-9). Belief in Jesus is the gateway to life in abundance, to a freedom to be spiritually nourished by something far more healthy than the 'thieves and robbers' of worldly priorities. It's the same passage in which Jesus also describes himself as the good shepherd, the one who sacrifices himself for his sheep (John 10:11-18).

Ephesians 5:1 invites us to follow God's example and walk in the way of love, and of course we see God's example in the life and teaching of Jesus. We are called to hold gates and doors open for others so they can experience something of the spiritual nourishment that we know, so that others can meet with the Good Shepherd and know what it is to be found when lost, held and healed when hurting or scared, and know spiritually what it is to be protected and at peace, even when life seems to be at its toughest.

Part of Christian life is therefore to 'hold a space' for people in their times of need, space for them to know God's presence, overtly or otherwise. For me it's part of what I do in funeral and bereavement ministry, when taking home communions or praying with someone, when leading worship or preaching...  and when I'm caring for a loved one so that they have time to heal. That's something I'm doing rather a lot at present whilst my Dad goes through a series of skin surgeries to his head. 

Holding a space for others, walking this way of love, often means we're not doing other things that we might feel are equally important, but if God's put us in a relationship or place where there's such a need, then that has to be our greatest priority. So as you go through the coming week, do you need to hold the gate open for someone, or is someone holding the gate open for you?

Go well and God Bless

Rachel

Dear friends,

I do hope that you are enjoying our preaching series  where we are looking at various characters in the book of Acts, how their newfound faith changed them and how the Holy Spirit guided them.

Last Sunday at St Mary’s I had the unusual opportunity to sit in church and listen to somebody else preaching, which was a real treat. Roo did a brilliant job and spoke about Dorcas, a lady who looked after widows and orphans by providing them with food and clothing. When she died the people she helped loved her so much that they persuaded Paul to pray for her and God raised her from the dead. Roo noted that this miracle would have had so much more effect if it had happened to somebody rich, powerful or well known, but God chose to do the miracle for Dorcas. He heard the pleas of those who had nothing.

It is always worth remembering that God doesn’t see us through the world’s eyes, it is never about how clever we are, the size of our house or the importance of our job. What he measures us on is our character, how we reflect his love and his grace as we serve those around us.

God Bless,

Faith

Dear friends

I know I’m always talking about my LLM course, but it’s so great and I just want to share it with you! Our current module is about interpreting the Bible. One of the things I thought I would get out of doing this course is that I would start to know the answers to the difficult questions. In fact, I’m finding I’m just asking more and more questions, and apparently that’s ok! That may be a relief to you if you also have a lot of questions. God can handle it!

I’ve discovered that there are a whole range of experiences and influences that change how we view and respond to the Bible, such as our gender, sexuality, job, ethnicity, nationality, political views etc. A theologist called Justo González points out that what we find in the Bible depends to a large degree on the perspective from which we read it. He also says that those on the margins of society can often see things in the biblical text that those in power, or at the centre of a society, cannot. Basically, an important part of interpreting God’s Word well, is being aware of the impact of own perspective, and also listening to the perspective of others.

One way to try to do this is to make our church leadership representative of the congregation and the community. Do you feel represented at church? Do you have any good ideas for how we can be more representative?

Love Roo

Dear friends,

Over the next couple of months we have a number of baptisms at St Marys and at St Barnabas. This week we are especially excited that Ed and Heidi are bringing Arlo and Jack to be baptised. It is great to be able to welcome them into the family of the church and for us to make promises to pray for both boys as they grow up.

Over the next few weeks, in the lead up to Pentecost we are looking at characters and events in the life of the early church. As you read them you realise that there is a whole lot of baptising going on as people turned from their old way of life and are transformed as they follow Christ. This week we reflecting on one of the most dramatic transformations in Scripture—Saul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. His life was completely turned around, from being a persecutor of Christians to becoming one of its biggest advocates. Saul’s story reminds us that no one is beyond the reach of God’s grace. His life was radically changed not by guilt or fear, but by an encounter with Jesus.

Most of us don’t meet Jesus in such a dramatic way, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t have our lives transformed by him. There is a modern worship song which has the lyrics ‘God, we believe it, yes, we can see that Wonders are still what You do’

Transformation is not just a story from the past—it  still happens today.

Faith

Dear friends

I’d like to start by saying a huge thank you to everyone who helped to make Easter so special this year, both churches looked beautiful the flowers were wonderful and the services really helped us to remember the journey Jesus took to the cross and His resurrection.

I ‘d also like to thank Roo for our very own prayer app which she made for us to use leading up to Easter day.  I loved hearing everybody’s voices and part of the enjoyment was guessing who I was listening to each day.

This week, on Sunday, we are looking at the story of Thomas, who refused to believe in the resurrection of Jesus until he could see and touch his wounds. We might think that what Thomas wanted was truly audacious, but Jesus turned up and showed him his scars and invited him to place his hand in His side. True to his word, Thomas believed.

Years ago, a school visited the church I attended to hear about Easter. The children walked around the church, and the Open the Book team acted out scenes from the story.   Before leaving, the children wrote prayers and put them on a tree.  As I read through them, I saw that one child had written ‘Dear God, let me know if you are real’. It was such a poignant thing to read that I kept it and I came across it again as I was tidying the books in my study this week.

I have often prayed for the writer of that prayer, that God will have shown them how real He is.  I wonder what their response was, to shrug off the revelation as coincidence or if, like Thomas, they decided to believe?  I also wonder how many of us have prayed that prayer ourselves, and what our response was when God showed us that he was real?

Faith