Category Archives: St Mark’s Church

Advent, Christingle, Christmas, St Mark's Church

Join the Christingle

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Join us this Sunday (December 6), in church or online, for a Christingle service.

Christingles are a tradition where the story of God’s love for the world, shown in Jesus Christ, is told using an orange, a candle, a red ribbon and dried fruits and/or sweets. The word comes from the German word ‘Christkindl’, meaning ‘Little Christ Child’. You can find out more here.

The Christingle service in church will be at St Mark’s, Alma Lane, at 11am.

If you can’t come to the service, you can join in our online Christingle service which will be here at 10.30am, and if you want to make a Christingle, you will need an orange, red tape or ribbon, four cocktail sticks, some dried fruit or sweets, a piece of silver foil and a candle. You might also find a knife and a wooden spoon useful.

Advent, Children and Youth, Christmas, music, News Releases, Services, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

An Advent full of Joy

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Advent is going to be a bit different this year. Normally the four services leading up to Christmas are a little bit solemn; the church is not decorated, no baptisms happen, the hymns are in a minor key. It is all about watching and waiting and hoping.

However, not this year! Let’s be honest, ever since March we have been watching and waiting and hoping – it has been the longest Advent ever. A number of people have said they have had enough of being miserable and they would like some joy in December instead. Also, as we are not having crib services or carol services in church this year, we want to invite everyone in throughout December to hear the story of Christmas.

Consequently, all the churches will have a series of family-friendly services including drama and opportunities for craft throughout December and we will be looking at characters in the Nativity:

  • 6th December – Mary and the Archangel Gabriel
  • 13th December – Shepherds and Angels
  • 20th December – Mary and Joseph
  • 25th December – birth of Jesus
  • (no service on 27th December)
  • 4th January – Magi (or Kings)

Please let Lesley know if you are willing to take part by email revd.lesley@badshotleaandhale.org or phone 01252 820537. At each of the above services there are lots of roles for adults and children and young people to get stuck into:

  • Welcoming
  • Singing
  • Reading a prayer
  • Drama
  • Reading a poem
  • Preparing crafts

It will be lovely to see you there.

Every blessing

Lesley

Christmas, Events, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

Light, rain and beacons of hope across town

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Eight beacons shone out through the rainy skies across Farnham tonight.

The beacons, provided by Farnham Town Council, shone from Badshot Lea, Rowledge, Wrecclesham, The Bourne, Farnham Castle, Central Farnham and Lower and Upper Hale where they were placed in the grounds of St John’s and St Mark’s.

Their lighting marked the beginning of the Christmas season in Farnham and the switching on of the Christmas lights across the town.

The beacons were warmly received across town with typical comments on social media being ‘heart-warming’, ‘beautiful’, ‘fabulous’, ‘amazing’. One man who turned up at St Mark’s took a selfie with the light and explained that he was doing so at all eight.

Towards the end the skies cleared and stars appeared and the evening felt just a little hopeful in this difficult year.

The beacon at St John’s. Top: At St Mark’s

Christmas, Churchyard, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

Beacons of Light and Hope

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The night sky will be lit up across Farnham this Saturday by beacons which will shine out from 5-8.30pm from eight places across the town, including St John’s and St Mark’s Churches.

The lights will sweep across the sky from Badshot Lea, Weybourne, Upper Hale, Rowledge, Wrecclesham, The Bourne, Farnham Castle and Central Farnham and will mark the beginning of the Christmas season in Farnham.

During the shining of the beacons, the switching on of the Christmas lights in the town centre and surrounding neighbourhoods, will also take place.  

The beacons are being staged by Farnham Town Council to represent the coming together of the Farnham community during 2020 and hopes for a brighter 2021. 

Councillor Alan Earwaker, the council’s lead member for tourism and events, said: “COVID may stop us inviting residents to the town centre to see an official Christmas lights switch-on this year but let us bring the lights to you. Wherever you live in Farnham or nearby villages, we hope you will be able to see at least one of our searchlights in the sky. Come out to your doorsteps to see them – and give your neighbours a wave too if you can.”

Picture by Casey Horner on Unsplash

  

All Souls' Day, Prayer, Services, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

Light a candle for a loved one

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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.

Harvest, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

Celebrating harvest

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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.

Environment, Harvest, News Releases, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

Politics and Faith meet in Season of Creation

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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.

Children and Youth, Coronavirus, Services, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

Children welcome in church

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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

Services, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

The Irrepressible spirit alive in Church

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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.