Patronal Festival
Join us to celebrate our Patronal Festival, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the 7th September. Said Mass at 8 am, Sung Mass with Incense and Guest Preacher Fr John Burniston at 9:30...
St Bartholomew
Who? They say you should never preach about something of which you know little or nothing. Rarely stops anyone in the pulpit, but the manual insists that you always choose to speak from your knowledge...
St Peter and St Paul
What have you got to lose? It is the experience no parent would ever want to face. The time when the nightmare that only happens to the careless, the thoughtless, the neglectful- in short, to...
Corpus Christi
Heavenly heartbeat Day after day, week by week, year after year, life is largely the same. Monday, wash day; Tuesday, ironing day; Wednesday, half day; Thursday, slow day; Friday, fish day; Saturday, wedding day; Sunday,...
Easter Vigil
The very first time Do you remember the first time? Whatever it is that is important to you, whatever it was that changed your life, even if you didn’t realise it at the time. The...
Good Friday
Response and responsibility We don’t even know we’re doing it. No we really don’t know we’re doing it. We are blithely unaware, wholly insensible, utterly oblivious. Because that’s the way we see the world, it’s...
Palm Sunday
Speaking truth to power Just keep looking straight ahead. Try to blend in. Keep quiet. Fit in. They’ll always smell fear, they’ll always jump on weakness, always punish deviance. Don’t make any demands. Don’t dream...
2 before Lent
What are you saying? Being a school governor is a common occupational hazard for the clergy- it’s always in the risk assessment for any particular parish- but that is one peril of a post that...
3 Before Lent
It ends with love Saint Paul, second only to Jesus himself, is without doubt the person who most moulded and shaped the Christian faith to be what it is today. Paul’s are the earliest of...
4 before Lent
The real you Contrary to what all the stereotypes might lead you to believe, I am not a fan of musical theatre.I know I’m letting the side down but there is something that just fails...
Epiphany 3
Prepare for the best No matter how well you plan, no matter how much you’ve prepared, no matter how carefully you’ve read the runes, consulted the cards, tested the tea leaves and studied the entrails;...
Safeguarding
The parish of St Mary Beddington takes the safeguarding and care of children and vulnerable adults very seriously. Further information about this can be found at Safeguarding.
Epiphany 2
Running in parallel Quantum physics is, well, bonkers. I know people say that about religion as well, but us fakirs of faith have nothing on quantum physicists. That stuff is really, seriously, away with the...
Baptism of Christ
Trying to remember… So… what have you forgotten? I’m not trying to make you anxious- it’s guilt that churches do not anxiety- but I know it might, so apologies in advance. The sermon needs me...
Watch Night
Working it all out What if? What if eh? Just imagine it? Get your head round that? What if! We love to speculate, to consider what might have been, what might be waiting round the...
Christmas 1
A holy family? Although I sat down to write this sermon more than a week before Christmas, at the time I felt confident enough of my powers of empirical observation through fi(cough)eight odd years of...
Midnight Mass
Unicorns at Christmas Each December, millions upon millions of our kith and kin decorate a christmas tree, open each day of an Advent calendar, send everyone they can think of a christmas card, scratch their...