Listen now

Here’s a link to our November 2020 church magazine:

Our main feature this month is an article by Craig and Elaine Watson, who will be moving to Nepal as missionaries for the Church Mission Society. Craig is the former Head Teacher of Bury Church High School and Elaine was Director of Maths there. Please hold them in your prayers as they start this exciting new chapter.

There are also reflections and reports, a piece on Mission Communities, plus news of upcoming events. And our November 2020 church magazine also has this letter from Reader Emeritus, Pam Cowie…

Remembering

Dear Friends – By now, wild fruit foragers and gardeners have prepared and stashed away nature’s bounty; closed freezer doors on damson, plum, blackberries, raspberries, apples and perhaps a little rhubarb on the side. A time to remember sunny days between showers and downpours before winter sets in.

In a way it’s a sombre time in Church life as everything we have worked through as a pilgrim people is coming to its conclusion. The month of November signals the end of the long Trinity season. On All Saints’ Day we celebrate the Christian saints – known and unknown – followed by All Souls on 2 November, where names of loved ones are often read aloud in church, brought to mind but not forgotten.

On 11 November – the anniversary of the armistice that ended hostilities in the war of 1914 to 18 – is a day of Remembrance for the nation, where we pay our respects to the fallen of all wars since. The events at the Cenotaph in London and in countless towns and villages across the country mark this event.

There is hope

Some of you may have had a recent experience of losing a family member or friend in the uniformed services, but for most of us it will be an inherited memory on a plaque passed on from one generation to the next.

And yet there is hope in this Kingdom Season, four weeks before Advent, when we celebrate the risen life of Christ the King on 22 November.

Think again, if you will, of the famous picture painted by the pre-Raphaelite painter William Holman Hunt, based on Revelation 3:20 – “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock”.

Jesus is represented as Christ the King. The Light of the World. He is dressed in a long royal robe and crowned with a crown of gold, woven through with sharp thorns. This is a reminder of our Saviour’s sacrifice on the cross of Calvary for the love of all people. He stands before a closed door, overgrown with weeds. Christ knocks on the door of the soul. His invitation is simple – take me seriously and include me in your life. The handle of the door is on our side.

The Lantern that Jesus carries will enlighten our hearts and minds. He will show us the way – all we need to do is ask Christ the King to enter in. If we do this, in the words of Julian of Norwich: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well”. Even in these difficult times.

Yours, Pam Cowie

Thank you

Many thanks to Diana Parkhouse for the photo on Unsplash. Diana has some great work on display there. Please check it out.

For our October 2020 church magazine, please follow this link.