During this second lockdown the churches are closed for services, though you will find our services online here. However two of our churches are open for private prayer:
St George’s, Badshot Lea, is open on a Tuesday and a Saturday, and St John’s is open on a Thursday and a Sunday. Both will be open 9am-4pm.
Details of where the churches are can be found here.
Every year at this time we hold services at which we remember those who have died. These are often known as All Souls services as they take place on, or around, November 2 when the church marks All Souls Day, a time of prayer and remembrance for the dead.
We call the services ‘Light a Candle for a Loved One’ as we encourage people to light candles in memory of those they have loved and lost.
This year’s services will take place at St John’s on Saturday, 31st October at 3pm; at St Mark’s on Sunday, 1st November at 11am as part of the usual service; and at St George’s on Sunday, 1st November at 3pm. Everyone is welcome.
If you wish to, please bring a piece of paper to the service with the name(s) of anyone you wish to remember. There will be an opportunity to offer this to God and to light a candle in memory of your loved one.
The Farnham Festival of Remembrance returns this year but will be online, here on the website, on Saturday, November 7, from 6pm.
Covid restrictions mean that it has been impossible to hold the festival in its home in St John’s, but, nothing daunted, we’ve gone online, with participants recording themselves separately and the whole being put together to create a moving event which pays tribute to all those who have served in times of conflict and peace. This year the festival also commemorates the 75th anniversary of both VE and VJ Day which marked the end of World War Two.
Jeremy Hunt, MP, will open the festival and he will be followed by an assortment of readings, reflections, prayers, poems, songs and hymns and the National Anthem played by Farnham Brass Band.
Simon Alexander has been working seemingly non-stop to organise the event and says: “Each November as a community and a nation we take a moment to pay tribute to the service men and women of our Armed Forces in an act of Remembrance.
“Living in Farnham, the presence of military service is all around us: Farnham, the home of the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment; neighbouring Aldershot, the home of the British Army; nearby Odiham, one of the bases of our Royal Air Force; and Sandhurst, the home of our world-renowned Military Officers Academy to name just a few.
“Remembrance is a time for us to pay tribute to these brave men and women who serve so selflessly to protect and defend our nation and our freedom.
“War comes in many forms and, as such, the public service of our Armed Forces comes in many forms too. This year we have leant on the help of our military again in our time of need here at home to help us deliver essential services during the pandemic. Dedicated, agile and responsive as ever, the men and women of our Armed Forces have responded to our nation’s call.
“As we embark on our annual national commemorations of remembrance please join us online along with the Royal British Legion; Princess of Wales Royal Regiment; Sea, Army and Air Cadets; Jeremy Hunt MP; the Mayor of Farnham; Farnham Brass Band; local schools and a range of readers, soloists and performers for the Farnham Festival of Remembrance 2020, whom we thank for their time and skill in contributing, and let us together not forget our service men and women, past, present and future.”
Join us online for this year’s Farnham Festival of Remembrance.
Pictured: The Combined Forces at last year’s Farnham Festival of Remembrance in St John’s Church.
The grass near St John’s Church and the layby where we park for church is going to be a joy to see next spring, thanks to the efforts of Farnham in Bloom.
John Ely and friends were out planting bulbs this morning, ready for spring blooms. Autumn may be here and a difficult winter is looming, but new life will be forming in the cold earth.
For more on Farnham in Bloom, click here.
Everyone is welcome to celebrate Harvest with us this Sunday (October 4) – online and/or in church.
Our Harvest Festival services go online from 9am on Sunday; both a formal and an informal one, with the Mayor of Farnham taking part.
There will also be services in church at 9.30am in St John’s, Lower Hale; 10am in St George’s, Badshot Lea; and 11am in St Mark’s, Upper Hale. The churches will be decorated for the festival and there will be a collection of donated food in each. This will be given to Farnham Foodbank.
The Foodbank welcomes all donations but at the moment has a large stock of tea, breakfast cereal, baked beans, long-life milk and long-life juice so would prefer other items such as tinned vegetables, tinned fish and meat, rice, pasta, puddings and the like.
Come and join us in this celebration.
Pictured top is St George’s ready for Harvest.
Politics and faith meet in the parish this month as we celebrate the Season of Creation, with contributions from local MP Jeremy Hunt; Cllr Penny Marriott, Mayor of Waverley; Rt Rev’d Andrew Watson, Bishop of Guildford; and, for Harvest Festival on October 4, the Mayor of Farnham, Cllr Pat Evans.
The Season of Creation is an international, ecumenical season which runs from September 1-October 4 each year. During this time people are encouraged to focus on prayer and action to protect the planet, and we are joining in with services in the churches and here online each Sunday. The online services will feature guest contributors including the Bishop of Guildford who will preach this Sunday, September 6, on what is known as Climate Sunday, when the focus will be on the challenge of climate change. He will be joined by Cllr Penny Marriott, who will give a Bible reading and Jeremy Hunt, MP, who will read a prayer known as the Collect.
Other guests over the next few weeks include Ruth Valerio, environmentalist, theologian, social activist and author, who launched the Eco Church scheme; Ben Niblett, campaigner on poverty, injustice, climate change and fair trade who works for the Christian charity Tearfund; and the Mayor of Farnham, Cllr Pat Evans, who is passionate about local community issues.
The Season of Creation will challenge everyone to do something to help tackle the environmental crisis that is threatening the Earth. Lesley Crawley comments: “The Season of Creation helps us focus on the world we live in and our duty to care for the environment. The way we are living is causing damage to the planet and all that lives on it – humans, other animals, plants, all living things – and we are calling on everyone to take action in whatever way we all can to stop the damage and begin restoration of our world. We would like everyone to make a pledge, however small, to do something positive, whether it is walking rather than driving where possible, cutting down on the amount of meat we are eating, looking at how our clothes are manufactured and how many we buy and then throw out.
“Please join us in person at our churches or online where we will be thinking about what we can do in the Season of Creation and long term. We are delighted that the Bishop of Guildford, the Mayor of Waverley Penny Marriott, Farnham’s mayor Pat Evans, and our local MP Jeremy Hunt are among those contributing to our online services and we continue to call for action from all areas of society.”
Everyone is welcome in the churches which have had Covid-19 precautions put in place.
Families are returning to church for baptisms in the parish after months of delay thanks to Covid-19. The first baptism in the parish took place on Sunday, August 23, when little Archie Higginson (pictured with his parents above) was baptized at St John’s, and this is being followed this month by the baptism of two sisters, one of whom was born in lockdown, and a further one booked for October.
The baptisms all take place in the main Sunday services and there are strict rules on hygiene, social distancing and wearing masks but this didn’t detract from one-year-old Archie’s baptism. “It all went well,” said Archie’s mother Nola. “It was a bit strange wearing face masks but it felt like a proper baptism and we felt welcomed into the church.” She also sought to allay other families’ fears about not being able to invite family and friends to the service. “We were able to invite everyone we wanted to and Archie enjoyed it too. I thought he’d wriggle more as he doesn’t like being still but he was fine.”
On September 27 we will welcome little Isabella and Eden Argenti. Two-year-old Isabella was to have been baptized in May but now her baby sister Eden, who was born in June, will be baptized at the same time. Isabella and Eden’s mother Rose, who is one of the regular readers in our online all-age service, said: “We were so happy to hear when the churches were able to reopen, and after welcoming our second daughter during lockdown, we are very much looking forward to having both our girls now baptized together at St John’s this month and welcoming them into the church.”
Lesley Crawley baptized Archie and will baptize the sisters. She said: “We are so pleased to be able to hold baptisms in the services again. Obviously, there are differences because of Covid restrictions but these don’t detract from what is a very special and joyous occasion of welcoming someone into the church and beginning their new life as part of the Christian community.”
Adults as well as children can be baptized and baptisms take place in the main service as baptism symbolises the entry of a person into the life and family of the church. The services all have anti-Covid measures put in place.
To enquire about baptisms, please contact Stella Wiseman on 07842761919.
Pictured top are Nola and Matthew Higginson with Archie.
We would love to welcome children back to church now that we have started services in the buildings again.
There is plenty of space in the churches and there are places for families to sit in their ‘bubbles’. Please, though, bring your own toys, books, colouring books, colours, snacks and drinks etc, and we ask that you don’t share between families.
There is a relatively formal service at St John’s at 9.30am, an informal service at St George’s at 10am and a very informal service at St Mark’s at 11am.
Please join us.
Picture by Dawn Hudson
This is you, Jesus. This is us. This is you and us together, the Body of Christ. You Jesus, here with us and in us, your church.
That is the sense I had today (Sunday, 2nd) back in the building for a service which was both different and yet irrepressibly the same, filled with the spirit of a group of people together turning to God, opening themselves up to God, and so letting God’s Holy Spirit in.
Jesus was recognised by his followers as the Christ, which means the anointed one, anointed with God’s Spirit. It flowed through him in his time on earth, spilling out of him and into others. That same Spirit meant that his death was not the end and it filled the early Christians; that same Holy Spirit hasn’t gone away. It/she/he, however you like to define the indefinable, means that we are not alone, that anything is possible.
We don’t understand everything, or even very much; we are in the dark a lot of the time; we grasp at and express our faith in different ways; we fall out; we are all shapes, sizes, personalities, backgrounds, traits, nationalities, skin shades, loves. We have strong feelings and opinions and aren’t always careful of each other. We don’t know what the future brings. But today, back in church I knew that we are the Body of Christ here on earth now, filled with that Spirit.
Jesus Christ, this is you, this is us. This is you and us together, the Body of Christ. You Jesus here with us and in us, your church.
Stella Wiseman
Pictured: Christ the Redeemer, picture by Mourad Saadi on Unsplash.
Come on in! We are excited to announce that our churches will be open again for services this Sunday, after more than four months of being closed thanks to Covid-19.
There will be simple Communion services at each of the three churches from this Sunday: St John’s at 9.30am, St George’s at 10am and St Mark’s at 11am. We will also hold a service at noon on Wednesday at St Mark’s, replacing the old Friday service.
We are also going to continue to offer online services as we know that not everyone will feel able to come to the church buildings themselves. You can find our online services here.
If you are familiar with the services you will notice some differences, as Lesley Crawley explains: “We are absolutely delighted that we can return to the church buildings to worship together in person. However there will be changes to the services designed to reduce the risk of Covid-19. For instance we cannot have any singing, we cannot sit close to each other and we cannot share the Communion cup of wine. We will, however, be able to receive the Communion bread. Please come along and be a part of our services if you are able to, everyone is welcome.”
We have installed hand sanitizers and put up notices to remind everyone about social distancing and where it is safe to sit. Everyone attending will be asked for contact details so that if someone tests positive for Covid-19 it will be possible to get in touch with others who attended church at the same time. Those coming to church are strongly advised to wear masks but this is not compulsory.
There will be services available online from 9am on Sunday. “Holding services online means that more people can access them,” says Lesley. “Some people may feel particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 and therefore not want to come to church, and there are also others who cannot come to church perhaps because of mobility issues or illness, or because of work or family commitments. We should have thought about online services long ago but Covid concentrated our minds rather and has enabled us to be creative and reach more people.”
We are also very aware that the Covid pandemic has accentuated the divide between those who have access to modern technology and those who do not. Many of those who are not online are also older and have been increasingly isolated during lockdown. The parish, along with other groups in Farnham, has been supporting those who are isolated and is looking at how to increase this support in the future.
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 