This service is led by Wendy Edwards, Licensed Lay Minister, the gathering includes a Gospel reading by Lance Corporal Bibbings of The Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment, Farnham; music and a reading by members of TS Swiftsure, Badshot Lea; and a thought-provoking World War II evacuation memory from Hazel Edwards, Wendy’s mother-in-law. Wendy makes comparisons between World War II and the coronavirus emergency. She draws hope, comfort and and wisdom from both these times of enormous personal and national challenge and ends the short service with prayers for peace.
Category Archives: St John’s Church
Sunday Worship – 10th May
Below are the services for this week at St George’s and St Mark’s. At St John’s there is a special VE Day Service and that can be seen here. Also, a number of sermons are below including one from Bishop Jo.
It is Christian Aid Week this week, see all the material and the Christian Aid Service here.
I have updated the Children’s Page with a lovely video of school children singing about the lockdown and a video of This Little Light of Mine that I promise will make you smile. 🙂
Wendy’s VE Day sermon
Lesley’s Sermon
John Evan’s Sermon:
Bishop Jo’s Sermon:
Christian Aid Week
As it is Christian Aid week 10-16th May. The Franham Clergy have joined together to create an online Christian Aid Week Service:
We cannot collect door to door for Christian Aid so here are ways of Paying in donations to CA during CAW2020:
- BACS payment: by using the following details, Once you have made the payment please follow it up with an email to ipunit@christian-aid.org including the amount/ organisation name/ which appeal etc. so that we can allocate the funds accordingly.
Christian Aid Main Income Account
Barclays Bank
Sort Code: 20-00-00
Account No: 23179621
- By phone: by calling any of the numbers below:
0207 523 2269
0207 523 2492
08080 004 004 (freephone number)
08080 006 006 (freephone number)
- Barclays Bank: by using a paying in slip which you can get from Christian Aid. However as the offices are closed you can use the following account details and complete a Barclays Bank paying in slip. Once you have made the payment please follow it up with an email to ipunit@christian-aid.org including the amount/ organisation name/ which appeal etc. so that we can allocate the funds accordingly.
Barclays Bank
Sort Code: 20-00-00
Account No: 23179621
- Cheques: by posting them to Christian Aid, 35 Lower Marsh, London SE1 7RL (Please note, there will be a delay in processing at this current time)
- Online: Via our website here
- Gift Aid: Sign up for Gift Aid here – you can also find further details on Gift Aid on this site too.
Dr Rowan Williams’ Christian Aid Week 2020 sermon –
This video shows the work Christian Aid is doing in Nigeria in the face of the pandemic:
Details of the work Christian Aid is doing in Bangladesh, Nigeria and Myanmar with respect to Covid-19 can be found here.
Here is a link to Christian Aid Week resources for Christian Aid Week this year.
Sunday Worship – 3rd May
Below are the services for this week. In addition there are two sermons at the bottom – one from Craig and one from the bishop.
We are learning all the time – one of the challenges has been technology – we have needed to buy software licenses to create the videos, an upgrade to our copyright license to enable us to play hymns and an upgrade to our website to allow us to put videos on it. At the same time we have lost all the income from our hall hire and the plate giving. If you find you are better off due to the lockdown (perhaps less expenditure on going out) then please can you help? The details for the Treasurer are on the Who’s Who page. We are looking at how to get online giving working.
We have also been learning about copyright – we wanted to re-start our Open the Book ministry. However, both the Bible that we use and the prayers would breach copyright if we streamed them on video. Fortunately, the Open the Book team are streaming them and so I have added that to the children’s page, along with the largest school assembly including a message from Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
If you missed any of the plethora of sermons last week you can find them on this page. Next week Wendy Edwards is creating a special service for us – one for the VE Day celebrations, including music from the Sea Cadets and a reading from the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment. This will replace the St John’s service, but there will be regular St Mark’s and St George’s Services.
Services
St Marks:
St George’s:
St John’s:
Sermons
A sermon from Craig
A sermon from the Bishop for Vocations Sunday
Taizé tonight
On the first and third Sundays of the month there is usually a Taizé service at St John’s at 6pm. As this cannot take place at the moment Alan has prepared and posted a Taizé service online. You can find it by clicking here.
Invitation to hear about plans for St John’s – postponed.
Please note, this has been postponed. Look out for a new date later in the year.
Come and hear about the ambitious plans to create a community hub and café in St John’s Church, at an exhibition on Saturday, March 28, at 3pm and 7pm.
The church is going to be developed so that it is not just a place of worship but a centre designed to meet some of the needs of groups in the community, including people with learning difficulties, those with dementia, young people wanting a place to go outside school hours, and those with issues affecting their mental health. There will also be a soft play area, office space and flexible areas for groups to use.
The church has carried out extensive research into what is needed and is working with groups and individuals, including the county, borough and town councils; the local clinical commissioning group; and charities, particularly Post19 which supports young adults with learning difficulties. Plans will be announced formally at a launch at the church on Saturday, March 28.
Lesley Crawley is leading the development of the new hub and café. She said: “We know that there is a real need for a place where people can meet both formally and informally, in groups and organised sessions, or simply by dropping in at the café. We are holding a public launch for the plans for the new hub on March 28 so that everyone can see what will be happening. Please do come and join us.”
Please note, plans for the launch are going ahead at the moment but obviously we will follow any advice from the Government and Church of England about gatherings during the coronavirus outbreak.
Drop us an email or leave a comment to let us know if you are coming and which session – 3pm or 7pm.
Prayer… but not what you might expect
Join us this weekend as we focus on prayer in many, varied and perhaps unexpected ways.
On Saturday, February 29th and Sunday, March 1st, the three churches in the parish of Badshot Lea and Hale will be offering opportunities to join in different sorts of prayer, ranging from eating pastries to going for a walk, from Welsh prayer, music and cakes to creativity in God’s presence.
The focus is on simply being with God and listening to God, trying to discern what God wants for our churches and community and what our part is in this.
There will be a labyrinth at St Mark’s, Alma Lane, GU9 0LT, and prayer stations in all three churches (St Mark’s; St George’s in Badshot Lea, GU9 9LD; and St John’s, Hale Road, GU9 9RP) and you are invited to call in and pray during the weekend*.
Then join in any or all of the following:
Saturday
9.30am: Pastries and Prayer – Join us for a prayer breakfast at St Mark’s and walk the labyrinth.
10.30am: Guided Mindfulness at St Mark’s.
3-5pm: Welsh prayer, Welsh harp music and Welsh cakes and tea at St John’s.
7pm: Candlelit service of prayer and a vigil at St John’s. Stay for as long as you want.
Sunday
2pm: Prayer walk, starting at St George’s. Walk between all three churches or join in at St John’s from around 2.30pm and St Mark’s from about 3pm.
3-4pm: Prayer and Art and Craft at St Mark’s. Create in the presence of God. Art and craft materials will be available but you are welcome to bring your own – eg knitting, crochet, clay etc
4.30pm: Come to St George’s and join a Benedictine Office of Readings with psalms, prayers, readings and meditation.
6pm: The weekend will finish with Taizé at St John’s.
*St John’s will be open from 9am on Saturday until the end of the Vigil and from 9.15am until after Taizé on Sunday. St George’s will be open on Saturday 9am-4pm and until after the Office of Readings on Sunday. St Mark’s will be open on Saturday 9.15am until noon and Sunday afternoon until 4pm.
Walk a labyrinth at St Mark’s.
Top picture by Chirag k, Unsplash
Special atmosphere and Santa at SHIP party
Families from Sandy Hill met Santa Claus and showed off their dance moves at a party at St Mark’s on the Monday before Christmas (December 23).
The families, from the Sandy Hill Inclusive Partnership (SHIP), enjoyed a party which included table tennis, pool, art and craft, music and dance provided by the performing arts school Boogie Pumps, and, of course, a visit from Santa Claus who brought gifts for all the children and their parents too.
“It was a really special atmosphere,” said Francis from Boogie Pumps, who led the children in a dance session involving hoops, pom poms, baby sharks and a lot of energy and enthusiasm, while the general consensus among the families was that it was “awesome” and “we’ve been spoiled!”.
More than 100 presents were provided for the children following the annual Farnborough Business Park Christmas Gift Drive, collecting brand new toys, clothes, vouchers, make-up and jewellery for some young people. Members of St Mark’s, St John’s and St George’s churches had also donated enough presents for the SHIP adults to take home a bag of gifts each too.
A big thank-you to everyone who gave so generously, and to everyone who helped put on the party, including Waitrose who provided some of the food. It was great fun and a lovely start to Christmas. We are looking forward to other events with SHIP in the new year.
Celebrating on the way to Bethlehem
The villages of Badshot Lea, Hale and Weybourne were visited last Friday evening (December 20) by a host of angels, as well as a crowd of shepherds, sheep, kings, musicians, donkeys and a young couple in search of a place to rest and give birth to a baby.
They were all taking part in A Journey to Bethlehem, a re-enactment of the Christmas story in which two groups walked from St George’s and St Mark’s to St John’s, playing music and singing carols on the way. Along the two routes they met angels, shepherds, inn keepers and kings and followed a star – and two donkeys, kindly lent for the occasion by Folly Oak Donkeys – until they reached a stable constructed outside St John’s where baby Jesus was lying in a manger.
This was followed by a celebration in the church in which children recounted what they had seen on the journey and Cllr Alan Earwaker, Farnham’s Deputy Mayor, joined everyone in singing carols and playing the kazoo, before the evening ended with prayers, hot chocolate, mulled wine and mince pies.
“This was the first time we had tried A Journey to Bethlehem and what a wonderful celebration it was!” said Lesley Crawley. “It was lovely to see children and adults alike dressed up as some of the characters we read about in the Bible at Christmas, and to see everyone having such a joyful time. We are living in an age of division and anxiety and the story of God coming to earth in the form of a child, born into poverty in an occupied country, is one that can bring us hope and light. We wish everyone that hope and light this Christmas.”
When Christmas hurts
Christmas is not always a time of joy and peace. There are years when you cannot celebrate, when grief, exhaustion, depression, anxiety, illness, or other life events mean that the season seems dark or empty. Sometimes it may simply be that the commercialism and busyness of Christmas is too much.
Join us then for The Longest Night – a service for when Christmas hurts, at St John’s Church, Hale Road, GU9 9AB, on Wednesday, December 18, at 7.30pm.
This simple service gives time for peace and reflection and offers words of comfort and support for those dealing with grief and hardship.
Everyone is welcome, whatever their beliefs.
Picture by Anne Nygard on Unsplash
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 