HOLMBURY
ST MARY
WHAT'S ON AT ST MARY'S CHURCH
Sunday 31 October
3.30 pm Time for Remembering
St Mary's Church is open to visitors every day
A message from Revd David Grundy,
Associate Minister
Dear Friends,
A very warm welcome to this website, and we hope you will not only find out what we’re aiming to be as a church community, but also that you’ll find something that inspires or helps you on your own journey of faith.
We are delighted to be allowed to sing again as part of our worship, but we also want to retain something of the much-appreciated online services: so, each week, the gospel and sermon at least will be recorded and added to the website.
We’re also restarting young people’s activities, both in terms of Funday (first Sundays) and the All-Age services (third Sundays). We plan to build this up, so if you’d like to be part of that building process, you are welcome!
Our aim is to be a church for the village in practical ways, through the recycling facilities in the church and through friendship and support wherever it is needed. But above all, we’re a community of faith, wanting to explore and deepen our own faith, both through Sunday worship and also through midweek groups.
If you would value prayer for anything or anyone, do drop me a line or ring (contact details below), and in a confidential way, I would be really pleased to pray for any concerns you have at this moment.
In the meantime, enjoy the website, God bless, and I hope you’ll visit us again,
With very best wishes,
David
tel. 01306 731142 davidgrundy19@gmail.com
BENEFICE SERVICE
SUNDAY 31 OCTOBER 10.30am
ST JOHN'S, WOTTON
Please contact Liz Cave if you'd like a lift* from Holmbury
*By car, not helicopter!
REFLECTION
by David
I thank my God every time I remember you. Philippians 1 verse 3
I am sitting drinking a cup of coffee as I write this. I wonder how many people I am dependent on for this simple cup of coffee. Certainly, there are the coffee farmers themselves. Then there are those who transport the coffee (maybe from Brazil, Vietnam or other major coffee producing countries). After this, there are those who process it, those who package and sell it. Not to mention the people who make the kettle, the person who delivers milk and, in this case, my wife for kindly making it and handing it to me. As I taste the coffee, I am grateful to all of them, though I don’t normally consciously list them in my mind.
Similarly, at this time in the church’s year when we think of All Saints, I am grateful to many people. To the person who first got me interested in Christian faith; to Christian writers who have shared incredible insights via books I have read; to a man who inspired me in my faith when I was a young man; to those who built some of our wonderful parish churches, those who have led worship in them over centuries; to people who have prayed for me at any time. Even to that very imperfect, tiresome and wonderful group of Christians in the Leith Hill Benefice that I am privileged to continue this part of my journey with. That is All Saints.
Paul writes to this group of Christians, and he opens his letter with an expression of simple gratitude for these fellow travellers. Let’s take a moment to do just that.
A prayer for All Saints:
Almighty God, we praise and bless your holy name for your saints of every time and place who have served you in their generation and have enriched the world by their lives, their witness and their example. Help us by your grace to follow your saints past and present, as we journey together with you. Amen.
“God is light; In him there is no darkness...”
[1 John 1:5]
St Mary's, the parish church of Holmbury St Mary, is a beautiful place to seek & know God.
Holmbury church is not, though, just a building; it is a community of worshippers who are here to serve each other, the Holmbury parish and the world beyond in witness to the Christian faith.
St Mary's offers friendship, fellowship and support throughout the village and further afield, not just for those who come to services but for everyone, regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation and belief.
If you would like to find out more or speak to someone in confidence, please contact
Revd. David Grundy on 01306 731142 or at davidgrundy19@gmail.com
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“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you.”
[Matthew 7:7]
