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05/11/2026

Remembrance Sunday, 8th November and Armistice Day, 11th November

29/10/2026

Join us if you can. It should be fun. Prayers for dry weather.

29/10/2026

Sunday 1st November, 2026
Patronal Festival and Commemoration of All Souls.
10.00 am Festal Eucharist.

For all the saints; for all of us.

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of fun at Halloween. It is a pity that the ‘trick-or-treat ’ fest has got separated from the traditions behind this season of the Christian ( or even the Pagan) Year.

There is still much of the Christian religious calendar that is deeply intertwined with pre-Christian, and this is reflected worldwide, reflecting the genius of the Gospel and the way it enculturates itself.

There are many types of saints. Some are given that title by the Church, usually because of miracles associated with them. The Church of England has not added any since the Reformation, other than King Charles I.

How to be one? We have a very concise manual in the form of today’s Gospel reading, the Beatitudes from St Matthew’s Gospel, from the Sermon on the Mount. You may recall from previous sermons of mine that the Greek word we hear and read as ’blessed’ also means ’happy’.

We are all saints, aspiring to grow into the likeness of God in Whose image we are made. We are precious, so we need to look after one another. Matthew 5.1-12 is a great start.
Fr A.

24/10/2026

Sunday 25th October 2026, Bible Sunday (BCP and AV)
9.00 am Holy Communion (said)
10.00 am Holy Communion (sung)

This is the Word of the Lord.

The word Bible comes from the Greek word biblios (βίβλίος), meaning ‘book,’ but for most of its life the ‘Bible’ we know today was a collection of scrolls which would be selected and unrolled as required. Scripture is still read from scrolls in synagogues. Scripture was written to be read out loud to others, rather than to be read in one’s head. Is what we see what we hear?
Many Bibles in homes just gather dust on the bookshelves rather than being a volume drawn down daily like we might a dictionary or recipe book (for some help or inspiration). Many are a bit timid about Bible home-use. Understandably so perhaps, as how these texts relate to today’s world is not always apparent immediately. Sometimes what we read is just plain odd!
The Bible reflects the experiences of our ancestors, and we should read it in parallel with ours and of the communities in which we live. Sometimes we need some help, a bit like visiting an archaeological dig, which to the untrained eye is just layer after layer of different strata of mud and the odd bit of broken pottery or tarnished metal. However, unlike these digs, the Bible always brings up gold.
Fr A

17/10/2026

Sunday 18th October 2026, St Luke, Apostle and Evangelist
10.00 am Sung Eucharist.

As it was in the beginning, is now and shall be forever.

Luke, traditionally believed to be the author of the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts and a beloved companion of St Paul, is remembered and celebrated as an evangelist, one who shares the Good News. The sending out of the seventy reminds us to work collaboratively to share the good news that the kingdom has come near.
We share peace with our communities, we receive hospitality, and we pray for healing and wholeness.
We share the love of God with anyone willing to receive it. This is the good news of Jesus Christ for everyone.
This good news always was, but as we know, for us it had to come in time, so that we could begin to understand it. Our understanding is not just in our hearts and minds: it is also in our deeds. There is an urgency in today’s gospel reading, perhaps reflecting a shorter time-frame for the coming of the Kingdom in its fullness on earth. However, two thousand years later, we have no time to waste either, so let’s crack on with it.
Fr A

06/10/2026

Sunday 11th October, The Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity (Proper 23)
https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/15869/page/76853/view/

Manners
Today, the theme for the gospel parable moves indoors, to the Wedding Banquet. In scripture, more often than not, ‘bridegroom’ is code for ‘the messiah’. Thus the eschatological imagery continues in Matthew. Remember, if you can't remember what eschatology is, it’s not the end of the world as we know it, but actually it is.
If we’re invited to a posh meal, it can be a bit intimidating. How do we respond to the invitation? What do we wear? What cutlery do we use? Who might be the C1 Palestinian equivalent of our social media sensation and social etiquette guide, William Hanson?
Of course, that’s the wrong question, as this parable is not about good manners in high society; it’s about the salvation of souls.
Today we welcome back The Reverend Canon Andrea Jones, as celebrant and preacher.

03/10/2026

Sunday 4th October, The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity (Proper 22)
Sung Eucharist.

https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/15869/page/76853/view/

Mine eyes have seen the glory
Jesus is bold in today’s Gospel reading. Lots of noses will be put out of joint at his unsubtle criticism of the religious leaders and authorities entrusted with the vineyard, also known as Israel. Lots of umbrage will be taken. More and more Jesus will be seen as an irritant which needs to be scratched out.
When the vineyard owner comes back, how is he going to regain possession and stay alive? Even then, the maxim ‘possession is 9/10ths of the law’ applied. Would the tenants do away with him as they did the ‘slaves’ and the ‘son’?
It doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to realise that the vineyard owner is God the Father—no mere mortal landowner—and the Son is Jesus. St Matthew plays on words here. In Hebrew ben means ‘son’ and sounds a bit like the Hebrew word eben which means ‘stone’.
Thus salvation comes in the form of the son (ben) who is killed who is also the stone (eben) who is rejected.
One of the many paradoxes of Christian doctrine is that Jesus’ death was necessary, but those who were responsible for this are not due thanks and exoneration, but are seen as the ‘baddies.’ Rather like the sin of Adam (the ‘happy fault’ referred to at the Easter Vigil) we regard this evil as necessary because it allows the goodness and redemption to ensue.
We are the tenants of ‘God’s vineyard’ today and must work in tandem with the agents sent (although we may not realise who or what they are) to ensure the harvest is plentiful, just and joyful.
Fr A

26/09/2026

The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity (BCP Sunday

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Holy Communion (BCP) 9.00 am (said) 10.00 am (sung)

Yes sir. No sir.

The vineyard is a very powerful metaphor in the Jewish and Christian religions. Pause for a moment and think about examples of vineyards in readings you may have heard and know.

Think about what vineyards produce, and why you are here today, whether or not you take communion in both kinds.

You might have visited a vineyard. I’ve been to many, and am due to visit some in a couple of weeks on the Niagara Peninsula, Ontario. With climate change, it may be possible to visit some within a short drive of here in a few years. Who knows.

Which of the two brothers in today’s gospel reading are you? The one who says no, and then clearly repents and changes their mind? Or the one who says yes, thinking that this is the answer his father wants to hear- the father who trusts that they will act on their word? What might his reaction be after that son fails to follow through and deliver on an undertaking? It is so easy, especially these days, with so many distractions and quicker dopamine hits, to miss the better path.

Lots to think about. There is more to come.

Fr A

19/09/2026

Harvest Thanksgiving
10.00 am Sunday 20th September 2026

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Thank the Lord for all His love

I hope the romance and the warm, autumnal glow of the Harvest Festivals of yore are not lost. A bit of sentimentality is no bad thing.

The seed scattered on the land is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand, as well as pesticides (some better than others) and nutrients. We celebrate the science and technology which helps our food production become more efficient, thanks to God-given brilliant human minds, but sometimes at the cost of human labour. Yet again, we still have produce rotting in the fields because of problems with the supply of labour frustrated by our immigration laws.

Psalm 8 reminds us of humankind’s privileged position in the ‘created order’ yet elsewhere reminds us that when we muck up we are no more than the beasts that perish (eg Ps 139).

The Gospel reading selected for Harvest might seem a bit left field, with no obvious connection. However, and typical of Luke, it is the foreigner—the person who is not ‘established’ in that society—who shows the right way. Perhaps it’s those today whom ‘science and technology’ have bypassed from whom we have to re-learn to enable us to develop and adapt what we have for the best stewardship of the planet.
Fr A

12/09/2026

Sunday 13th September 2026, The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity (Proper 19)
10.00 am Sung Eucharist.

A Maths of Mercy? A Calculus of Kindness? A balance sheet of blunders? A spreadsheet of sins?

Do we keep a tally of those who’ve wronged us and those we’ve wronged? Do we net it out? Yet two wrongs don’t make right, even when in maths two negatives make a ‘positive’?
Try to imagine how Joseph’s brothers were feeling, approaching him in fear and trembling after all the wrongs they had inflicted on him, safe as long as their father, Jacob, was alive.
Joseph does more than make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. He placed it all in the hands of God, Who is judge over all. Then we have Jesus’s very tall order to Peter, who questions as a C1 Jew, as only he could.
Let’s not panic about that. Instead, let us consider some poetry of John Donne.

Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
And do run still, though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won
Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun
A year or two, but wallow'd in, a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.

I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
And, having done that, thou hast done;
I fear no more.

When we consider the mystery of the Holy Trinity, it’s not about making the maths work. It’s about love. Likewise with the challenge of forgiveness: it’s about love. It is about what Jesus would do.
Fr A

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Manchester
M401LR

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https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/15869/

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