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8th March 2021 – Revd Paul Bettison ‘Speech is silver, silence is golden’. So runs the ancient proverb. The sentiment is echoed in the bible ‘When there is too much talk, offence is never far away; the prudent hold their tongues’. (Proverbs 10 verse 19) I can, without too much difficulty, call to mind meetings … Continued
22nd February 2021 – Revd Paul Bettison Well, Perseverance has paid off! The spacecraft has completed its 470-million-kilometre journey and its ‘Rover’ will, for the next two years, drill into the rocks of the crater Jezero, looking for evidence of past life. Maybe there will emerge an answer to the question posed by David … Continued
8th February 2021 – Rev Paul Bettison St Francis of Assisi, it is said, loved birds. So much so that he used to talk to them. In the year 1220, as the story goes, he even preached them a sermon. So, maybe he didn’t love them that much! Yet, in that sermon he encouraged his … Continued
Wednesday 27th January 2021 – Rev Philip Bee Travelling Light I once lived in a house not far from the local secondary school. At the start of every school year, I used to smile at the new students lumbering to school. They were smaller than the older children, but also weighed down with luggage that … Continued
Dear Friends Because we are restricted in how we are able to meet together for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity this year, CTBI have produced resources for download only. They are accessed at: https://ctbi.org.uk/resources-for-week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity-2021/. For those of you who cannot access online resources, the readings and prayers below are an abbreviated version of … Continued
11th January 2021 – Revd Paul Bettison I write this as we enter the third lockdown and I sense that there is a feeling around that we can’t take much more of this. I won’t rehearse the trials and tribulations that we experience because of the pandemic. We don’t need reminding, for we know them … Continued
4th January 2021 – Revd Paul Bettison We’ll gently remove the Christmas lights and baubles from the tree and carefully pack them away for next year. Likewise, the decorations will be taken down and, together with the Christmas crockery, stored in the loft. Memories of the ‘Christmas like none other’ will be squirrelled away, only … Continued
14th December 2020 – Rev Paul Bettison They’re only small but, they can cause havoc. Barnacles attach themselves to the hulls of boats and ships and can, over time, almost completely cover the surface, resulting in significantly impeded performance. Hence the need for their regular removal. Richard Holloway, in his book, Doubts and Loves, writes; … Continued
30th November 2020 – Rev Paul Bettison Apparently Golden Oldies are seen by Elmbridge Borough Council as being a threat to the prosperity of their town centre. Its members consider that a proposed development comprising flats for the over 65s would ‘..undermine the vitality and viability of the town centre’ and have therefore rejected the … Continued
Paul Bettison 16th Nov The Bay tree is snugly wrapped in sheets of insulating fleece. We know from bitter experience that it doesn’t react well to arctic winds or biting frost. Now I can sleep soundly, content to know that it is well protected and safe from harm. For some folk, faith is thought to … Continued
2nd November – Rev Paul Bettison Turn the key in the ignition, the engine roars into life and we’re off. I rarely give it a second thought. Just imagine my horror when, instead of being greeted by the purr of the engine, my ears were attacked by what sounded like the screeching of a cat … Continued
19th October – Rev Paul Bettison It’s that time of year again – and what a bumper crop of conkers there is. I remember, as a child, collecting conkers and recall one year in particular. There was a bumper crop and I arrived home with a carrier bag full to the brim with fine … Continued
5th October 2020 – Revd Paul Bettison You may have heard the story of the letter, signed by Desert Pete, found in a baking powder tin tied to the handle of an old rusty water pump on a little used desert trail; This pump is all right as of June 1932. I put a new … Continued
28th September 2020 – Revd Paul Bettison It’s been a strange morning. In the words of my mother, when talking about the weather, “It doesn’t know what it wants to do!” One minute the sky is dark and overcast, clouds scud over the waving branches of the trees. Then, the sun breaks through, blue skies … Continued
14th September – Revd Paul Bettison September arrived and what would it be – “It’s one of the dark days before Christmas” or “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”? Day in day out the boss, when he arrived at the office, would greet us with one or the other. It all depended on the weather, … Continued
2nd September 2020 – Revd Paul Bettison Mixed Colours the label said. Packs of a dozen bedding geraniums, but no indication as to what colour they would turn out to be, or indeed whether they would flourish. I needn’t have worried. With careful nurturing, and a few weeks to settle in and become established, they … Continued
17th August 2020 – Revd Philip Bee Bigger than you READ In the middle of the woods close to my home, a beech tree stretches out a huge canopy above the forest floor. It casts such a shadow that nothing else grows. The place is often still and the dome of branches and leaves above … Continued
3rd August 2020 – Revd Paul Bettison We’ve been reminded more times than we’ve sung ‘And can it be’ that the New Normal for Churches will be quite different from the Old Normal. How true. We will learn how to let go of some things that over the years have become, as it were, part … Continued
27th July 2020 – Revd Philip Bee Jesus and Social Isolation We think of social isolation as a contemporary thing. Much of Jesus’s ministry, however, involves the rehabilitation of those who have become socially isolated – from family, friends and neighbours. Lepers, for instance, were kept in separate colonies outside villages to avoid spreading … Continued
20th July 2020 – Paul Bridges 19th July Do you have a sanctuary? A place or a way of getting away from it all, having some “me time”. Does a favourite walk or place come to mind or is it a particular activity. Perhaps it is your garden or even your shed! – I once … Continued
13th July 2020 – Ian Morris One bright aspect of the lockdown was people going out to clap their hands in appreciation of the NHS. One of the Bible readings for this Sunday has a phrase, “The trees of the fields shall clap their hands,” made well known by its inclusion in a popular modern … Continued
6th July 2020 Stuart Merry Luke 12:22-34 Isolation apart, It’s been a useful time to get on top of sorting the clutter of a lifetime; the multiple sets of old (but oh so comfy) work clothes and shoes; the old radio, the rusty tools, and the debris and decay of a long-neglected garden. Sat in … Continued
29th June 2020 Rev Paul Bettison Kingdom There are, in the world, many countries, nations, and states, but very few kingdoms. That is if the dictionary entry – a community or territory over which a single sovereign rules – is used to define what constitutes an kingdom. It appears that kingdoms are relegated to the … Continued
22nd June 2020 – Revd Paul Bettison It’s understandable if we are totally pre-occupied with the impact upon us of the pandemic. Yet, life restricting, life threatening, and life changing though it may be, Covid 19 is not like the Hokey Cokey – ‘what it’s all about’. There’s much more to life than the virus … Continued
Revd Philip Bee 15th June 2020 I was in Handsworth during the 1991 riots that occurred when an electricity substation broke down, plunging the area into darkness. This sparked looting reminiscent of the more serious riots of 1985. It was over quickly, but not before the Churches in the area had jettisoned ministers out onto … Continued
8th June 2020 Revd Paul Bettison The Open Book Light appears to shine from the book laying open before the High Priest. Jesus stands impassive as the priest, using the book of scripture as his authority, accuses him of blasphemy. In his painting, Gerrit van Honthorst illustrates the danger of being too ready to … Continued
1st June 2020 Revd Paul Bettison The Divine Heart of Darkness I’ve been reading Catherine Bird’s book ‘The Divine Heart of Darkness’ and to be honest, I found it a bit hard going. But there were some real gems between its covers. Catherine challenges the assumption that associates darkness with fear and evil and points … Continued
25th May 2020 Revd Paul Bettison ‘This is the Day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.’ So exhorts the psalmist. All well and good, but what day is it? Pre-pandemic, I knew that if it was choir practice, then the day was Monday; if collecting grandchildren from school … Continued
Revd Philip Bee – 18th May 2020 SSU 20 – Secrets and Spirituality READ It’s been said that every single person has a secret that would break your heart! I suspect that is true. Sometimes we do things wrong that make us feel guilty. On other occasions something happens to us which makes us feel … Continued
Sue Ellis 11th May Thought for theday 4- Hope and despair llustration by Isabelle Arsenault from Mr. Gauguin’s Heart by Marie-Danielle Croteau, the story of how Paul Gauguin used the grief of his childhood as a catalyst for a lifetime of art I came upon a thoughtful article about writing that weighs the complexities of sustaining hope … Continued
5th May Paul Bettison When listening to the daily Covid 19 Press Conferences, ears prick up at the sound of two little words – ‘Green Shoots’ – they herald signs of recovery. In gardens everywhere the sight of green shoots warms the heart and lifts the spirit. In his Easter hymn, John Macleod Campbell Crum … Continued
Irene Richardson April 27th Previously, I’ve not stayed inside the house for so long. Perhaps you’re finding this, too. There’s only so much sorting, tidying and cleaning that can be done. A good chance to re-evaluate who and what are important to us. Family and friends are to many of us. What about our relationship … Continued
Irene Richardson 20th April 2020 It’s so reassuring to see such lovely spring flowers blossoming and trees budding. Butterflies, bees and ladybirds are out and the birds are very active. All this in spite of our present situation. How reliable is the natural world, the changing of the seasons, longer days. We can praise our … Continued
Monday 13th April Most weeks, Miss McLellan brought flowers to grace the table. She knew us all by name; Sunday by Sunday she told us Bible stories and invited us, each in turn, to take the collection box round the class as we sang ‘Hear the pennies dropping; listen as they fall”. It must have … Continued
The Word Online: read John 20: 19-31. Pentecost is still more than a month away. Notice that in John’s gospel, however, the Holy Spirit is given to the disciples in one of the Easter resurrection stories (verse 22). Sermon 19th April 2020
your time as you read and reflect after the final reading: Nicodemus reappears right at the end of our reading. It is Nicodemus who meets with Jesus in chapter 3 of John’s gospel. He arrives then in the very middle of the night, when the darkness is at its most complete. He steps into the … Continued
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Sunny Side Up – Believe in … READ Contemporary spiritualities encourage us to believe in yourself as though there is no-one beyond you to believe in. True spirituality, however, encourages you to believe in God to discover the strength to do far more than you are able on your own. The Bible is littered with … Continued