Author: Sam Toogood

Polymath bluffer, lover of cricket, Wodehouse, music and F.L.O.S.S, and home-dad to Hope and Robin.

Week beginning Sunday 1st February 2026

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info
Photo by Roman Suslov on Unsplash

There is something about how rituals originate and begin that I find really interesting. This week the Feast of Candlemas (or the Feast of the Presentation) is celebrated by the Church. Various rituals and ways of marking this feast have been given to us as a church over the years, mainly to do with blessing and light. St Marys will have Choral Evensong connecting us to some of the traditional canticles and music that has been formed over centuries. All Saints has developed its own tradition of encouraging people to bring a candle to our Holy Communion at 10.30, which is then blessed and lit and taken back to our homes and communities as a symbol of God’s light in the world. It is a feast that is warmly welcomed particularly at this time of year when many of us are longing for longer daylight hours and warmth.

Rituals often come from a human need, a need to mark an occasion, a moment, a season. They say something, about stopping and noticing. They are often simultaneously solemn, creative and celebratory – things that we all need in balance to continue the creator’s formation of us in our daily lives. May we all know the blessing of this feast as we begin February and mark this pivot moment between Christmas and Easter.

Services this weekend – 1st February

10am – St Marys – Creative Church 

10:30am – All Saints – Candlemas Holy Communion with Hymns and Junior Church

6:30pm – St Marys – Choral Evensong for Candlemas

The Week Ahead

Mon 2nd Feb

10:30am – Tiny Tots, All Saints

Tue 3rd Feb

10:30am – M4T, St Mary’s Parish Rooms

Wed 4th Feb

9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer, All Saints

Thu 5th Feb

10:00am – Holy Communion, St Mary’s

Fri 6th Feb

11:00am – Living After Loss, St Mary’s

Sat 7th Feb

10:00am – Coffee Morning & Book Sale with Bristol Repair Café, All Saints

12:00pm-1:30pm – Saturday Lunches, St Mary’s

Sun 8th Feb

8:00am – Holy Communion, All Saints

10:00am – Holy Communion, St Mary’s

10:30am – Messy Muddy Church-St. Valentine, All Saints

7:15pm – Generations, All Saints

Blessings

Revd Lizzie

Week beginning Sunday 25th January 2026

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

This Sunday’s readings remind us that God’s call often comes in unexpected ways and invites us to step out of what is familiar. 

We hear Jesus calling ordinary fishermen—Peter, Andrew, James, and John—to leave their nets and follow Him. They didn’t have a map, and they didn’t yet know where the journey would lead, but they trusted God and stepped out in faith. 

The Church also remembers the Conversion of Paul, whose encounter with Christ completely transformed his life. 

Both stories encourage us to notice that God meets each of us in unexpected ways, inviting us to take steps of faith even when the path ahead is unclear. Inviting us to pause, listen, and be aware of the moments—ordinary or surprising—when God may be calling. Even the smallest steps of faith matter. God is present, guiding us, strengthening us, and opening up new possibilities along the way. 

Services this Sunday

8:00 am Holy Communion, All Saints 

10:00 am Holy Communion, St Mary’s 

10:30 am Cafe Church, All Saints 

The week ahead 

Mon 26th Jan

10:30 am – Tiny Tots, All Saints 

Tue 27th Jan

10:30am – M4T, St Mary’s Parish Rooms 

Wed 28th Jan

9:00 am – Celtic Morning Prayer, All Saints 

Thu 29th Jan

10:00 am – Holy Communion, St Mary’s 

Sat 31st Jan

12:00 pm-1:30 pm – Saturday Lunches, St Mary’s 

Sun 1st Feb

10:00 am – Creative Church, St Mary’s 

10:30 am – Holy Communion and Junior Church, All Saints 

6:30 pm – Choral Evensong, St Mary’s 

A prayer for the week ahead 

Almighty God, 
Shine Your light on our paths and fill our hearts with hope. Help us trust in Your presence, step forward with courage, and know that even in uncertainty, Your love leads and strengthens us. 

Amen. 

Blessings, 

Charlie 

Ordinand- All Saints and St Mary’s – Bristol Diocese 

Week beginning Sunday 18th January 2026

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info
Photo by Lee Young on Unsplash

The Church’s winter season is now over, although the weather outside may still be very wintry. The season begins with Advent, is centred on Christmas and concludes with Epiphany. Yes, some say that it should be thought to extend to Candlemas (February 2nd), but with Easter eggs already on sale in the supermarkets, I think Epiphany provides an appropriate seasonal ‘full stop’. But which of these three days is most significant? Of course, each one is important.

Advent Sunday kicks it all off and is best symbolized by a candle in the darkness. I always listen to Handel’s Messiah on this and the following days. This famously begins with the aria: “Comfort my people”, the opening words from Isaiah 40. We need comfort, and we are also called to offer comfort. Christmas day is the centre, around which so much happens: from Carol services, to mince pies and presents, to visits with family and neighbours. Just as a wide variety of people were drawn to Bethlehem at the birth of Jesus, so we also recognize the need to be with others, “bearing one another’s burdens, sharing one another’s joys”.

Yet, I could not do without Epiphany. There is so much in that story: the Magi have to travel far, and arrive late (just like many of us, I imagine, who only become aware of some deeper truths in our later years). The birth of Jesus is not merely a personal family affair – the Epiphany sets this birth in the context of world affairs, untrustworthy rulers and horrific killings (the massacre of the innocents, Matthew 2.16 – 18). The Epiphany reminds us that, though Jesus was born a Jew, he is given to all humankind – our faith can never be solely a matter of personal preferences, it requires us to look beyond.

But the saying I love most occurs in the second half of Matthew 2.12: “having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road”. The Magi had to go back home – but they were different and their route had to be different. Faith takes us onwards, even when our surroundings may be familiar. 2026 cannot merely be a replay of 2025. I may already have failed with my New Year Resolutions – but this verse encourages me to try afresh, to experiment, to seek out new paths and companions. All the Gospel readings for the Sundays of the Epiphany season (from now until the start of Lent) nudge us to look at what is familiar in fresh ways: how may God be revealing something now that we have not seen and tried before.

Revd Bob Cotton

This Sunday 18th January Services are

10am – Sung Holy Communion – St Mary’s

10:30am – Holy Communion with Hymns – All Saints

6:30pm – Epiphany Carols – St Mary’s

The Week Ahead

Mon 19th Jan

10:30am – Tiny Tots, All Saints

Tue 20th Jan

10:30am – M4T, St Mary’s Parish Rooms

Wed 21st Jan

9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer, All Saints

2:00pm – Bible Book Club, St Mary’s

Thu 22nd Jan

10:00am – Holy Communion, St Mary’s

Sat 24th Jan

12:00pm-1:30pm – Saturday Lunches, St Mary’s

Sun 25th Jan

8:00am – Holy Communion, All Saints

10:00am – Holy Communion, St Mary’s

10:30am – Café Church, All Saints

Week beginning Sunday 11th January 2026

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

“I shall sustain you in courage and confidence”

Issiah 42:4
Photo by Oliver Cole on Unsplash

After the New Year has been celebrated, and we start to see the Christmas Trees being put out for collection January can feel like one of the longest months of the year and so I reach eagerly, like a hungry child, for these words at the start of 2026. And what a promise it is – The promise of God to sustain us in courage and confidence. 

The Church looks in different ways at “Who Jesus is” in the month of January, and this week it sees us dwell on the Baptism of Jesus. At the very start of his adult ministry Jesus is baptised in the river Jordan and he hears the voice of God from heaven. There are words of affirmation, ones which like Isaiah give him courage and confidence for his ministry. We all need times of feeling sustained, of being given courage and confidence in life’s journey and so I hope and pray that at this time, in this moment, we all are able to quieten the noise that so often surrounds us and hear God’s promise to us all.

Services for this Sunday – 11th January

8am – Holy Communion  – All Saints

10am – Sung Holy Communion – St Marys*

10:30am – Muddy Messy Church – St Mungo – All Saints

7:15pm – Generations

Coming up this week, we have:

Mon 12th Jan

10:30am – Tiny Tots, All Saints
Tue 13th Jan

10:30am – M4T, St Mary’s Parish Rooms
Wed 14th Jan

9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer, All Saints
Thu 15th Jan

10:00am – Holy Communion, St Mary’s
Fri 16th Jan

11:00am – Living After Loss, St Mary’s
Sat 17th Jan

12:00pm-1:30pm – Saturday Lunches, St Mary’s
Sun 18th Jan

10:00am – Holy Communion, St Mary’s
10:30am – Holy Communion, All Saints
6:30pm – Epiphany Carols, St Mary’s

*Please be aware that the heating is not working in St Marys Church currently, so do wrap up warm, bring a hot water bottle/blanket/cushion and we will do all that we can to provide warmth and welcome*

Muddy Messy Church start a year of looking at SAINTS – and begin with St Mungo – What do we know about this person? What can we learn about their lives – for a engaging way of looking at faith creatively then why not come and along and see what we can discover as a church.

In courage and confidence

Revd Lizzie​​

Week beginning Sunday 4th January 2026

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

This Sunday we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany, or as the 1662 Prayer Book puts it, the Manifestation of Jesus to the Gentiles. This name is used to emphasise that, right from the start, the the gospel tells us that Jesus is for all people. Many artists took up  this theme by depicting Jesus’ visitors coming from the three extremes of the known world. One was from Europe, one from Asia or Arabia and one was from Sub-Saharan Africa. Although this is a contradiction to the actual Biblical text, which says that they came from “the east”, it reminded people that Jesus came for everyone, including those that did not look like them, think like them or behave like them.

Historically, the Church of England in Bristol does not have a good record, when it comes to welcoming people who are different. Today, we need to make sure that we extend the love of God to all, whatever their circumstances or background. Differences of race, social class, disability and sexuality should not come between us. As Paul put it in his letter to the church in Galatia, “There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28 NRSVue).

This Sunday we will have an opportunity to think a little more about Epiphany and its meaning at the 10:30 am Holy Communion at All Saints and the 6:30 pm Evensong at St Mary’s. In the morning at St Mary’s, there is creative church. This gives the following services for this Sunday, 4th January:

10:00 amSt Mary’sCreative Church
10:30 amAll SaintsHoly Communion
  6:30 pmSt Mary’sEvensong for Epiphany

This week we have our normal pattern of services with Celtic Morning Prayer on Wednesday at All Saints and Holy Communion at St Mary’s on Thursday. Next Sunday has our normal services for the second Sunday of the month with Messy/Muddy church at All Saints and Holy Communion at St Mary’s.

Wednesday 7th9.00 am All SaintsCeltic Morning Prayer
Thursday 8th10:00 am St Mary’sHoly Communion
Sunday 11th8:00 am All SaintsHolly Communion (said)

 		10:00 am St Mary’sHoly Communion

 		10:30 am All SaintsMessy/Muddy Church


Wishing you a happy New Year. May God bless you and all you do in 2026.

Yours in Christ

Mark

Week beginning Sunday 21st December 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

A Very Nearly Happy Christmas

As Christmas draws closer, this weekend marks the turning point from Advent to Christmas. The weekend sees Carols around the Yew Tree (All Saints) and Carols by Candlelight (St Mary’s) start to move us from Advent to Christmas. Schools have broken up for the holiday and many people are now travelling like the magi did across field and mountain to be with family and friends. If you have people visiting then do extend our warmest invitation to our worship at Christmas to them as well as yourselves.

As we get ready for those final preparations that then I wanted to share with you a poem I am fond of at this time of year from Malcolm Guite – O Emmanuel –  I have always found it helpfully reflective on why we celebrate with Joy, Love and Hope this Christmas

O come, O come, and be our God-with-us
O long-sought With-ness for a world without,
O secret seed, O hidden spring of light.
Come to us Wisdom, come unspoken Name
Come Root, and Key, and King, and holy Flame,
O quickened little wick so tightly curled,
Be folded with us into time and place,
Unfold for us the mystery of grace
And make a womb of all this wounded world.
O heart of heaven beating in the earth,
O tiny hope within our hopelessness
Come to be born, to bear us to our birth,
To touch a dying world with new-made hands
And make these rags of time our swaddling bands

​​Services this Christmas are as below. Look forward to seeing you at both All Saints and St Mary’s.

Sunday 21st December

10am – St Mary’s – Sung Holy Communion

10.30am – All Saints – Holy Communion with Carols

6.30pm – St Mary’s – Carols by Candlelight

Wednesday 24th December – Christmas Eve

4pm – Family Carols with Christingle -St Mary’s

7.30pm – Carols by Candlelight – All Saints

11.30pm – Midnight Mass – St Mary’s

Thursday 25th December – Christmas Day

10am – Family Communion with Carols – St Mary’s

10.30am – All Age Communion with Carols – All Saints

Sunday 28th December

8am – Holy Communion  – All Saints

10am – Holy Communion with Carols – St Mary’s

10.30am  – Cafe Church – All Saints

Blessings

Lizzie

Week beginning Sunday 14th December 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

In Advent we remember and reflect on the people who point towards Christ from the Old and New Testament. John the Baptist becomes the focus of our thoughts and attention this week. His ministry was a courageous one of pointing towards a new way. He is perhaps one of the most challenging people we encounter in the Bible. He is often resolute and uncompromising in his actions and words. Yet this week in the gospel we hear an unusual element of doubt as he sits in prison, constrained in his advocacy and dependent on Jesus now fulfilling all that he has championed. Was Jesus “The One”? he asks? Is this really it? How do we know?  I welcome John the Baptists laser sharp focus on the person of Jesus and who he is. I also welcome his doubt and vulnerability.

As we move closer to Christmas, that question of  – What is this really all about? 

Jesus’s response is to say – Look at what you see and hear? What do we see and hear? Where are the outsiders welcomed? Where are the broken invited? Where are the lowly empowered? Where do we see that happening in our lives, churches and communities? And where I see that, I see Christ. And there I see Christmas.

Services this Sunday 14th December

8:00am – Holy Communion – All Saints

10:00am – Sung Holy Communion – St Mary’s

4:30pm – Nativity Service – All Saints

6:30pm – Generations – 10 Pin Bowling

Join us for our worship this Sunday, everyone is welcome to all and any of our services. Our young people, tiny tots and junior church have been preparing hard and practising for the Nativity Play, so come and support and sing with them to welcome Christmas in.

The Week Ahead

Mon 15th Dec

10:30am – Tiny Tots – All Saints

Tues 16th Dec

7:30pm – Advent Group – Vicarage

Wed 17th Dec

9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

2:00pm – Advent Group, St. Mary’s

6:00pm – Fishponds Primary Carol Service – St Mary’s

Thu 18th Dec

10:00am – Holy Communion – St. Mary’s

Fri 19th Dec

11:00am – Living after Loss – St Mary’s

6:30pm – Carols around the Yew Tree – All Saints

Sat 20th Dec

12:00pm-1:30pm – Saturday Lunches – St. Mary’s

Sun 21st Dec

10:00am – Holy Communion – St Mary’s

10:30am – Holy Communion – All Saints

6:30pm – Carols by Candlelight​​

Blessings this Advent

Revd Lizzie​​

Week beginning Sunday 7th December 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info
Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash

The church’s seasons and year are often shown through different colours. Frontals, vestments change colour according to where we are in each year. Advent, like Lent, is the colour purple. Purple is the colour of royalty (and of bishops!) but more importantly it is for the church the colour of penitence. So here in the second week of advent our readings start to focus on repentance, starting with the prophets this is a call to change.

What is it that this Advent we are willing to ask, brave enough to pray to change in us so that we might be ready? What are we prepared to put down, give up, make up, pivot to or away from to be as ready as possible for Christ (mas)? For each of us that will be something different. Is it a temptation that we need to be honest about? Is it a relationship that needs attention? Knowing what our weaknesses might be, holding them up to the light of God and examining them gently, carefully in prayer, can be the beginnings of this movement. As Paul notes this week it is a time of “encouragement” for us to a place of harmony. Like all good harmonies, it doesn’t mean that we will all sing the same note, or even start or end at the same time – but that when we do this examination of ourselves, that the resulting music with all others is one that brings blessing to the world. 

As well as St Mary’s Christmas Fair this Saturday (11-2pm) we have as worship the following.

Services this Sunday – 7th December 2025

10:00am – Toy Service with the Rainbows, Brownies and Guides – St Mary’s

10:30am – Holy Communion with Band and Junior Church (Nativity rehearsal) – All Saints

6:30pm – Advent Candlelit Procession  – St Marys

The Week Ahead

Mon 8th Dec

10:30am – Tiny Tots, All Saints

Tue 9th Dec

10:30am – M4T, St. Mary’s Parish Rooms

Wed 10th Dec

9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer, All Saints

Thu 11th Dec

10:00am – Holy Communion, St. Mary’s

Fri 12th Dec

1:00pm-2pm – Christmas Concert – Veterans Band, St Mary’s

Sat 13th Dec

12:00pm-1:30pm – Saturday Lunches, St. Mary’s

Sun 14th Dec

8:00am – Holy Communion, All Saints

10:00am – Holy Communion, St. Mary’s

10:30am – Advent service of the word,  with Nativity rehearsal, All Saints

4:30pm – Nativity, All Saints

6:30pm – Generations, Avonmeads 10Pin Bowling

May you have a Joyful Advent.

Revd Lizzie

Week beginning Sunday 30th November 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Uncategorized, Weekly Info
“Grocery Store at Christmas” by Michael Kappel, CC BY-NC 2.0

Dear Friends in Christ,

Supermarkets are a constant pointer to what time of year it is. The cycle from season to season seems to get swifter and also increasingly blurred. 

We’ve had Halloween, with every possible opportunity taken to shove witches and skeletons onto anything. Some of the items are creative and entertaining, but its created a massive selling opportunity completely out of proportion to the event itself. And of course, the moment its done there’s Christmas merchandise in all its forms, only punctuated by the massive hype around the recent growth of Black Friday (and I’m no more immune to this particular hype than anyone else-the temptation to score that bargain that I don’t actually need is very alluring).

But what of Christmas? What are we actually encouraged to engage with over the next 4 weeks is the season of Advent? Most people’s only contact with Advent is via the plethora of admittedly lush Advent calendars. There’s nothing wrong with this, but surely the season of Advent is more than this.

Advent’s a period of reflection. It’s a thoughtful, positive anticipation, the excitement of Christmas set alongside the invitation to see beyond the busyness and prepare us to meet with God and truly rejoice with arrival of Christmas as we celebrate the birth9 of Jesus.

This Sunday – the 1st Sunday of Advent (30th November)

8:00am Holy Communion (BCP) – All Saints

10:00am Benefice Sung Holy Communion – St. Mary’s

4:30pm Christingle Service – All Saints

The Week Ahead

Mon 1st Dec

10:30am Tiny Tots – All Saints

Tue 2nd Dec

10:30am M4T – St. Mary’s Parish Rooms

Wed 3rd Dec

9:00am Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

Thu 4th Dec

10:00am Holy Communion – St. Mary’s

Fri 5th Dec

11:00am Living After Loss – St. Mary’s

Sat 6th Dec

10:00am Coffee Morning, Book Sale & Bristol Repair Cafe – All Saints

11:00am Christmas Fair – St Mary’s

Next Sunday Second of Advent (7th Dec) 

10:00am Toy service with Guides & Brownies – St. Mary’s

10:30am Holy Communion – All Saints

10:30am Junior Church – All Saints

6:30pm Advent Sequence – St. Mary’s

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, evermore. Amen.

Blessings,

Fr Kester de Oliveira