Activities | History | Nurture

November 2025 magazine

stjohnstmarkchurchburySaturday, October 25, 2025

Here’s a link to our November 2025 magazine. You can find paper copies in our church from this weekend.

This Remembrance edition includes reflections for Armistice Day, a study on Psalm 24, poems and prayers, as well as updates from most of our groups and organisations.

The November 2025 magazine also includes this letter from David Robinson…

A time to remember

Dear Friends, welcome to this November issue of our magazine. It is now something of a tradition that the theme for this month is Remembrance, and that will form many a different manner here in Church. Whether it be the ancient or modern Saints’ we do not know, but who have played such a vital part in the history of our Church, or those close to us on All Souls’ Day. Of course, the act of remembering our war dead continues to be a prominent part of our national commemoration. So many opportunities to remember this month.

At the end of July this year, I was out walking down a country path in Merseyside when I was stopped by the sight of a few poppies in the lush grassland. They were very still in the calm day I was enjoying and I took a few moments to look at these real, live flowers and took a photograph. Although this bold red flower with black centre is something we would normally associate with a November day, here it was on a lovely sunny day in late July. It got me thinking briefly that these signs of remembering are here for us all year round and not just when we do it out of tradition with others.

So, what are these signs? Well, everyone of us will have encountered loss at some point in our lives and we are constantly reminded of that loss throughout the year with anniversaries, birthdays or items around the house. However, with that loss comes a sense of sharing. A time to share with others who have experienced the same loss or can empathise. Many of us rely on our faith at these moments and the Bible can provide a huge source of comfort for some. One of the most notable Bible verses for times such as these is from the Beatitudes, ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted’ (Matthew 5.4).

Alongside us

The Church and its mission can provide that comfort for those who need it and I have seen, and will continue to see, many examples of that here in our two Churches. People are reminded of our loved ones in various ways. That may be a regular gathering with a key person missing, a phone call which no longer happens, or a life event without someone at the dinner table. For many people, they will find a way to adapt, but still knowing that things will not be the same again. However, God is with us through every step of our journey of grief and mourns alongside us, as well as sharing in our many joys and memories.

Later this month, we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. A day when we mark the completion of Jesus’ time on Earth before we begin another cycle again the following week on Advent Sunday. More about that at the time, however we could also use this day as an opportunity to remember and look back on the year just gone in the work of our own Churches. The things we have achieved, the decisions we have made and of course the people in our congregations and communities we have lost. All these people are now resting alongside Jesus but never forgotten. As for the things we have achieved, well perhaps we should reflect on those and see where that leads us.

Finally, once you have finished reading this letter, perhaps you could spend a short moment in quiet prayer remembering someone close to you and thank God for all they did for you. However way you choose to mark this month, may God be with you.

Yours in Christ, David Robinson

[Thanks to Klemen Vrankar for the cover photo on Unsplash]