Category Archives: St Mark’s Church

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.

Church Buildings, Coronavirus, Inclusion, News Releases, Services, St George's Church, St John's Church, St Mark's Church

Churches reopen for services

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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.

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

Churches prepare to reopen

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As you probably know, the government has announced that church services may resume from this weekend and we have been looking carefully at how this will be possible from the beginning of August which will give us enough time to prepare.

It is not, unfortunately, simply a case of throwing open the doors and welcoming everyone in, much as we would like to. There are all sorts of issues to deal with to ensure that we keep everyone safe.

This week further information has been released by the government, the national Church of England and the Diocese of Guildford to help us plan to reopen the churches for services. 

Our plan – subject to PCC approval – is to have a service in each of the three churches on a Sunday and a mid-week service at St Mark’s from the beginning of August.

Because of the dangers of Covid-19 infection, the services will follow a simple format with no singing but with musicians playing instruments. We will not be able to share the Peace but we will be able to take Communion, though in one kind only. The Bread may be distributed in wafer form by the priest (who will have taken all the necessary hygiene precautions) but we cannot share the Wine. Everyone coming forward to receive Communion or a blessing will be guided on where to walk and stand in order to minimise the danger of passing anything on.

Everyone will have to observe strict social distancing measures – though you can sit in your household groups of course – and hygiene regulations, but we have installed hand sanitisers already and have been working hard to ensure that it will all be as safe as possible.

We are also going to continue worship online so anyone who can’t come to church on Sundays or feels unsafe doing so can still join in the worship.

We’ll keep you updated.


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

Sunday Worship – 28th June

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Below are the services, and three sermons.  I have updated the Children’s page with Michelle’s talk and activity. First here are the notices:

Notices

Private Prayer

Our churches are open for private prayer – to see times click here, to help supervise the churches email Lesley.

Giving

Please Give to our Ministry

This church relies on donations to provide care and support to everyone in this community. Now more than ever, please consider giving generously to support our mission and ministry by clicking the button above. Thank you for your support.

Flower Festival

Here it is in case you missed it!

Services

All-Age:

Click the top one if you can view it:

Otherwise use this one but it doesn’t have Stormzy’s video:

More Traditional:

Sermons

Lesley’s Sermon:

John Innes’s Friday Service Sermon

Bishop Jo’s Sermon