Join us in the car park at St George’s Church, Badshot Lea, tonight at 6pm for a socially distanced carol service by torch and candlelight.
Wrap up warm and sing some old favourites. Badshot Lea Village Infant School will join us to sing Away in a Manger and there will be prayers and Bible readings too, including one by Farnham and Waverley councillor Mark Merryweather.
Yessss! We are allowed to sing carols – Outdoors! Please come along for some Christmas joy:
St George’s – 20th December 6pm
We’ve had no time to advertise so please tell all your friends!
Are you here? Please let me know if you can help in the services
I recently saw this article in The Guardian. It highlighted for me one of the good, and at the same time bad, things about the Church of England.
The CofE is what is described as a broad church. Many Churches have a Statement of Belief, and if you want to belong to their Church you have to sign to say that you agree with everything in it. The Church of England does not. Instead if you can say the liturgy with integrity you are in. Queen Elizabeth I arranged this on purpose at a time when Christians were killing each other over differences of interpretation. She said:
I would not open windows into men’s souls.
This leaves the Church of England with a wide spread of beliefs/interpretations which are legitimately held by members. I like this, it means that we know that we are not expected to know the mind of God – that as Oliver Cromwell said:
I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be mistaken.
However, some strands of the Church of England are more comfortable with this than others. It is in some ways as though the Church is a collection of several different churches.
This is a long-winded way of saying that within the Church of England you will be able to find churches as described in the article, and at the same time you will be able to find those, like ours, which are members of Inclusive Church, and which try to welcome everybody.
There are of course other churches which welcome LGBTQI+ people more than the CofE is able to do while we struggle to work out how to do this in a way that satisfies everybody within the church.
The linked article by a vicar gives a flavour of the difficulties faced finding one which welcomes everyone.
Don’t give up on God yet!
Image by Belinda Fewings, Unsplash
Join us in the car park at St Mark’s tonight for a socially distanced carol service by torch and candle-light. Wrap up warm, bring a mask and sing some old favourites. There will be prayers and Bible readings too, including one by Cllr Penny Marriott, Mayor of Waverley.
If you would like to download and print this card, you can find it here:
A wonderful evening of carols, readings and prayers in the churchyard at St John’s yesterday. Huge thanks to all who took part, including the Mayor of Farnham, Cllr Pat Evans; Farnham Heath End School; Waverley Singers; Farnham Brass Band; the St John’s Choir; and the Cogger family who provided the PA system.
Come along to St Mark’s, Alma Lane, Hale, tomorrow (Friday) and St George’s, Badshot Lea, on Sunday, both at 6pm, for more of the same.
Welcome to our first online gallery as Art at St Mark’s, Unlimited. Our theme this time was Christmas Carols and artists chose which carol to depict. Some artists have given an insight into their choices. If you come into St Mark’s, you will be able to see some of the original works.
Our group is open to all and we welcome all forms of art –
art unlimited!
We hope you will enjoy our art.
Thank you to all our artists. We will have a new theme in the new year – watch this space!
This evening’s BCP Evening Prayer
Yessss! We are allowed to sing carols – Outdoors! Please come along for some Christmas joy:
St John’s – 16th December 6pm St Mark’s – 18th December 6pm St George’s – 20th December 6pm
We’ve had no time to advertise so please tell all your friends!
Let all your friends and neighbours know that we are back in church and they are really welcome to come! We need more children to help us with all aspects of the services so if they are willing please tell Lesley.
Join us for some outdoor carol services in the grounds of all three of our churches:
Wednesday, December 16, 6pm: St John’s, Hale.
Friday, December 18, 6pm: St Mark’s, Upper Hale.
Sunday, December 20, 6pm: St George’s, Badshot Lea.
Wrap up warm and join us for socially distanced carol singing and readings for Christmas. There will be favourite carols – Once in Royal David’s City, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Away in a Manger, Silent Night and others – and at St John’s we will be joined by members of Farnham Brass Band, Waverley Singers, and a choir from St John’s.
There will also prayers and Bible readings, and we are delighted to welcome some of our local representatives to help with the readings.
Cllr Pat Evans, Mayor of Farnham, will read at St John’s; Cllr Penny Marriot, Mayor of Waverley, will read at St Mark’s; and Cllr Mark Merryweather of both Farnham Town Council and Waverley Borough Council will read at St George’s.
Bring a mask and a torch as well as warm clothes and join us for some Christmas joy!
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 