ST VALENTINE’S DAY 14 FEB. 6pm- 7pm

What’s Not To Love?

This year St Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday.

A special service is being created here.

It has never been held before.

A service with a difference!

It is for everyone.

Older and younger.

It will be your thank you to someone special. It could be a good friend, neighbour, spouse, parent, boyfriend, girlfriend, schoolfriend, teacher or mate!

That person may or may not be at the service, it does nor matter.

Come on your own or with a crowd.

Drinks will be served during the service.

Plus other surprises.

At the Blessing we will release a number of large Thank You Chinese Lanterns from the car park!

Don’t miss it-

It will be one heaven of a service.

What’s not to love?

Harvest and Chapel developments

Well, do you want the good news or the bad news?

The good news is that Harvest was marvellous. The baptistry looks beautiful, autumn in all its mellow fruitfulness (Keats? I think I did it for GCSE English, though I could be wrong), and loads of people joined us to celebrate God's creation on Sunday.

For the fifth time this year, there were over 200 people at our main Sunday eucharist, which is a record for us in our new church.

Also, Jack and Max were 'admitted to communion'. This is when, though not confirmed, they come forward to become part of receiving the body and blood of Christ in the sacrament.

In the afternoon, little Ted was baptised and won everyone over with his perky looks.

Confirmation classes are going strong.

So far, so good.

The bad news?

Well, as we seek to open the Chapel, we've discovered a blunder by the original developers who hammered nails for the flooring through the underfloor heating. (These original developers have since gone bust, so can't be held to account for this major error.) Anyway, we're looking into how to repair the damage they've made, but this is another hold up for the opening of the Chapel, just when we were nearly there.

The Churchwardens, Martin and Ian, have been doing heroic work attempting to work things through, along with Robin, our immensely generous - how shall I describe him - community engineer.

Of course, this is just a teething problem, but it's a frustrating one.

This coming Saturday, meanwhile, we have two weddings coming, one in the afternoon and one in the morning, and then in two weeks time the Youth Weekend.

I'll try to get a photo of the baptistry up soon, but in the meantime, above is a scene from last year's Youth Weekend. I'll be sending out the final forms later this week.

Father Robert

The last of the summer sun

As I write, it's a beautiful autumn day, the tomatoes are ripening in the garden ready to be plucked.
It's also a packed day: we've had visits from Kilmorie school twice already this week, which are great fun, and we are preparing for several autumn weddings.
Come this Sunday at 10am for our main eucharist and then at 3.30pm, we've a special service commemorating Ottis' retirement as a SPA. Do join us for the service and for refreshments afterwards.
The Chapel is moving forwards and we're getting ready to launch soon.
Meanwhile, Father John and Father Robert will be away from Monday (28th) to Thursday (1st) at the Southwark Clergy conference in Derbyshire.
I'm not sure if it'll be wild but there are some excellent speakers, so it should be interesting.

Father Robert

Top Drumming, Chapel Coming

The A-men Club had a special Friday night meeting. Our men's group had a session with a top samba drumming teacher to bring out that Brazilian funkadelic percussive soul within each of us. And we let rip.
I'm not quite sure you can tell this from the pictorial record (see Graham, Patrick and Simon on the right).

But after a few beers, a great time was had by all twenty-five of us.

Look out in the coming week for the Confirmation classes starting.

Also a marriage preparation course on Wednesday and Saturday.

Meanwhile, just seventeen days till the Chapel opens!

Also, just to note: Father John is on annual leave for the next 12 days, so any questions, bring them to me.

Father Robert

Sunday spectacular

The first All-age service in September feels like a new start: all that starting of terms, setting of aims etc.
And it's always pretty full, especially as we welcome a very new member, young William to the congregation at 10am: then there's Robert at 2pm too.
Come promptly to make sure you get a decent seat.

Then, it's now just 25 days to go to the Chapel opens. We're refixing the door, we've ordered the chairs (in Royal Blue!), sorting out the insurance etc.etc.

Then there's a Marriage Preparation Course starting on Wednesday evening (16th)

Plus there's a pre-baptism class for the first time, this coming Saturday (12th) at 2pm.

So there's plenty going on.

That said, I don't know about you, but I was lucky enough to have been away on holiday and I'm feeling pretty refreshed: it's funny but even my prayer life's reinvigorated. It's definitely a modern privilege to have sunny holidays abroad, but boy, it makes a difference! Energy levels are that bit higher.

We look forward to seeing you at any of the services: remember our main Sunday eucharist is at 10am. If you've got a question about baptism or weddings, then come to the parish office on Saturday at 9.30am.

Cheers,
Father Robert

Chapel on the Hill, how it looked once!

Sometimes, it's good to think about the past even as you think about the future.
To the right, there is a photograph taken of Christ Church, Forest Hill in 1906. See the sunbeams coming in from the right hand side. Tony, our graphics guy, discovered it from Norah, an old member, and touched it up a bit to recapture the original.
Anyway, in the far side of the Church, what's called "the Chancel" is the space that has been reserved for our new Chapel on the Hill.
Except it now has two floors, and on the ground floor there are office rooms, kitchens and toilets.
But it still carries some of the feel of sacred space to it.
That's why it's so exciting that it's opening in just over a month now.
It needs lots of fine tuning. doors, carpets, chairs, post boxes...
But it's coming together. look out for things happening there soon.
I wonder what happened to those pews!
Hope you enjoy the rest of the summer August break.
See you in September.
Father Robert

Glorious weather, funeral on Wednesday

We've had such lovely weather lately that it's good to get a bit of a holiday feel to life. Certainly, quite a few of our congregation are away at the moment and as I write certain members are on a coach on their way to a "Mystery Trip"! I hope they have a good time.
At the same time, tragedy is always possible. At 12.30pm on Wednesday, we host the funeral of Joseph Bynoe, whose death has been untimely.
It will be a sad occasion but one to give tribute to him and to send him to God. Next week, we also host the funeral of Lascelle Moore.

Father Robert