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 16th February 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

Waiting on the Waiting

The middle of February brings us into a betwixt and between time. The days are still cold, yet they are also noticeably longer and lighter. We are moving away from winter, but spring is not quite here. There are glimpses of what is to come, and yet it feels as if we are still in the thick of it.

Easter, the ever-moveable Calander feast comes as late as possible in 2025, and so that gives a rare opportunity of a three-week gap before Lent even begins. It feels a bit like the waiting room, before the waiting room. Or the departure area, that isn’t quite yet the actual departure area. What possible purpose could this extra waiting space bring? 

I want to rush through it…to not consider its importance or notice its possible usefulness. Yet, perhaps it is a time to slow the steps down and not race through the year wishing it away – getting to of 2025 and looking back saying “Where did the year go?”  These three weeks before Lent can be a blessing, a time of not requiring more from me than the attention to just the space it brings. So it is not a drag, or a bind to reach March – but the move from the speed of a sprint, into a steady jog, so that we can walk more easily into the year, and on the way hear more clearly God’s call on our lives. 

This Sunday 16th February

10am – Sung Holy Communion – St Mary’s

10.30 – Holy Communion with Hymns – All Saints

The Week Ahead

Monday 17th

No Tiny Tots – Half term!

Tuesday 18th

No Music for Toddlers – as its half term! 

Wednesday 19th

9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints 

Thursday 20th

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

Saturday 22nd

12.00 – 2:00pm – Saturday Lunches  – St Mary’s  

Sunday 23rd

8.00am – Holy Communion – All Saints 

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

10.30am Cafe Church – All Saints 

Blessings and peace to you all.

Revd Lizzie

Week beginning Sunday 9th February 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

Dear Friends,

It’s been lovely this week seeing more sunshine and feeling that the days are getting a bit longer again. There are snowdrops in the churchyard and there is the real sniff of Spring in the air-though I wish the temperature was a bit higher!

As we near the end of the Candlemas octave we also reach the end of the period of celebration and reflection that started back with Lent. I will miss the specialness of the services and the music but am also looking forward to what is to come. 

However, change is bittersweet. It’s endings as well as beginnings, and our Candlemas text reminds us of a moment of change and transfer. The Old Covenant becomes the New, with Jesus handed into the care of the aged Simeon to be blessed, knowing that at this supreme moment his role on this earth is completed, and he steps out of the narrative. Later, John the Baptist will do the same, notwithstanding the mix of drama and chronicle that ends his story.

This is a meeting of the human and divine, grounded in family and community. Jesus is explicitly anchored in his society, but Simeon prophecies that that same community will be fractured and reassembled to be a new thing by what is to come. He will expand and transform Judaism, embrace the Gentile, create something new but also that contains and continues what is right from what already exists. Luke very specifically reminds us that Jesus is Jewish and remains Jewish. All that he becomes-all that he does-needs to be interpreted in this context.

This Sunday (4th Sunday before Lent)

08.00am – Holy Communion – All Saints

10:00am – Sung Holy Communion with Candlemas Procession – St. Mary’s

10:30am – Muddy Messy Church – All Saints

7:15pm – Generations – All Saints Link

The Week Ahead

Monday 10th

10.30am – Tiny Tots – All Saints

Tuesday 11th  

10:30am – M4T – St. Mary’s

Weds 12th 

 9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints

Thursday 13th 

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

1.00pm – Funeral – St Marys

Friday 14th

12.30pm – Concert – St Marys

Saturday 15th

12.00 – 2:00pm – Saturday Lunches – St Mary’s

3pm – Interment of Judith West followed by refreshments

Next Sunday 16th (3rd Sunday before Lent)

10:00am – Holy Communion – St Marys

10.30am Holy Communion – All Saints

 

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 in

Week beginning Sunday 2nd February 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

This Sunday we begin our Candlemas celebrations. A pivot point between Christmas and the beginnings of Lent. In the gospel story from Luke, we hear how Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the Temple to be “presented”. A ritual of thanksgiving for a new child and also what was the re-entry into society for a mother. It is a delicate, vulnerable and yet heart warming pilgrimage that they make. At one point Mary hands over the baby Jesus to Simeon, an ancient priest who had been waiting for that moment all of his life – to hold the Saviour of the World in his arms. We all have to delicately hand over precious people at times in our lives. With hearts in our mouth that we hope that the person receiving them will not drop them (always my fear with babies!) and to entrust to others the care of our most dear and loved ones. It happens at baptisms, weddings and funerals. It happens at the school gate, the work door and thresholds to nursing homes. We do so always in trust – that like Jesus,  that they will be received, blessed, adored and recognised for who they are. It is a source of trust that needs a lighted path, and so as we begin our Candlemas festivities come to church to have your own candles blessed, to hear the good news and to trust that the God holds us tightly in love and care.

This Sunday’s Services – 2nd February 2025

10.00am – Creative Church – St Mary’s – (Theme is Scripture)

10.30am  – Holy Communion with Junior Church and Band – All Saints

6.30pm – Choral Candlemas Evensong – St Mary’s.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Monday 3rd Feb

10:30am – Tiny Tots – All Saints

Tuesday 4th Feb

10:30am – Music for Toddlers  – St Mary’s

Wednesday 5th Feb

9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer   All Saints 

Thursday 6th Feb

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

Saturday 8th Feb

 12–2:00pm – Saturday Lunches  – St. Mary’s 

Sunday 9th Feb

8:00am – Holy Communion – All Saints

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

10:30am – Muddy Church – All Saints 

7:15pm – Generations – All Saints Link 

With my prayers and blessings to you all.

Revd Lizzie

Week beginning Sunday 26th January 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

If you only heard one word from the mouth of Jesus, what might that be?  ‘Love’.  ‘God’.  No, I suggest that the key word Jesus speaks to us today (as he did 2000 years ago to the first disciples) is ‘now’!

When should I do good?  Now!  How often should I forgive my brother?  Actually, the number does not matter.  What matters is: now!  If you pass the person who has been beaten up in the street (while the priest and the Levite pass by on the other side), when is the best time to help?  Now!

St Paul captures this in a wonderful verse on 2 Corinthians.  First God says to us: “at an acceptable time, I have listened to you; on the day of salvation, I have helped you”.  In other words, God hears us NOW – as soon as we pray.  God does not delay – God’s help may not be what we expected, nor what we thought we want; but there is no delay.

Martin Luther was asked: what would he do if the world were to end tomorrow?  He answered, “I would plant an apple tree today.”  Now!  There is a Greek proverb which says: a society grows great when old people plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.  There is value in doing something today – even if the benefits will not be manifest till many years later.

So, perhaps it is not surprising that the key moment in this week’s Gospel reading is when Jesus says “now”!  “I am now.  God’s promises are now – in me, by me, with me.”  And that ‘now’ continues up to today.  God’s actions are not merely found in the past.  God acts today – in us, by us, with us.

This Sunday 26th January the services at church are as follows

8am – Holy Communion  – All Saints

10am – Sung Holy Communion – St Mary’s

10.30am – Cafe Church – All Saints

(Cafe Church is a open and informal space which begins with coffee/tea and breakfast that enables worship with space for discussion and reflection with others.  We are currently looking at the Book of Romans together and is good way to get to know people and learn together about the Christian faith)
 

THE WEEK AHEAD 

Monday 27th Jan

10.30am – Tiny Tots – All Saints Church Hall 

Tuesday 28th Jan

10.30 am – Music for Toddlers – St Mary’s 

Wednesday 29th Jan

9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints 

Thursday 30th Jan

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

Saturday 1st Feb

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

12.00 – 2:00pm – Saturday Lunches  – St Mary’s 

3pm  – Queer/Open Tango – All Saints  

Sunday 2nd Feb       

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

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

6:30pm – Candlemas Choral Evensong – St. Mary’s

Revd Bob Cotton

Week beginning Sunday 19th January 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

This Sunday, we reach the centre point of the Epiphany season. It is a season when we remember the way Jesus was revealed to the world. This week we reach what John refers to as the first of Jesus’ signs. Yet all our readings through Epiphany are signs that point to Jesus. The gifts of the magi, the Holy Spirit at Jesus’ baptism, the power of Jesus’ miracles, his fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies and his presentation at Temple all show facets of who Jesus is and why we can put our trust in him.

Our opening hymn at St Mary’s this Sunday gives a summary of this revelation or “manifestation”. Starting at Jesus’ birth, we sing of the events that we hear about in the Epiphany readings. Yet the hymn asks for more than just “Songs of thankfulness and praise”. It prays that we may learn more of Christ from the bible and that we grow to be more like him in all we say, do and are. 

This Sunday morning, we have chances to reflect on these themes with Holy Communion at St Mary’s at 10.00 and at All Saints at 10.30. In the evening, there is the Epiphany carol service at St Mary’s at 6.30. This gives the following services for this Sunday 19th January:

10.00 amSt Mary’sHoly Communion
10.30 amAll SaintsHoly Communion
6.30 pmSt Mary’sEpiphany carols

During the week, we have our normal midweek services with Celtic Morning Prayer at All Saints on Wednesday at 9.00 am and Holy Communion at St Mary’s on Thursday at 10.00 am.

Next week follows our normal fourth Sunday pattern, with Holy Communion at All Saints at 8.00 am and at St Mary’s at 10.00 am. At 10.30 am at All Saints we have our café church, where we will be continuing our look at Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. This week’s theme is salvation, which Paul writes about in chapters 3 and 4.

This gives the following Services for the coming week:

Wednesday 22nd9.00 amAll SaintsCeltic morning prayer
Thursday 23rd10.00 amSt Mary’sHoly Communion
Sunday 26th8.00 amAll SaintsHoly Communion (said)
 10.00 amSt Mary’sHoly Communion
 10.30 amAll SaintsCafé Church

So, as we start a new week, let us pray that we can see that revelation of Christ and follow in his way, using the words of Christopher Wordsworth’s hymn:

Grant us grace to see thee, Lord,
Mirrored in thy holy word.
May we imitate thee now,
And be pure, as pure art thou.
That we like to thee may be
At thy great Epiphany,
And may praise thee, ever blest,
God in Man made manifest.

Yours in Christ

Mark

Week beginning Sunday 12th January 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

Dear Friends in Christ,

This time of year is all about change. The old year is out, the new has come. Some of us will be glad to be in a new year, others will be sad. Nostalgia for recent events may be tangible, as may be a sense of relief that a difficult year is over.

Alongside this are the January blues. After the anticipation of Christmas with all the glitter that seems to accompany it, we now get to January, with typically the real bout of cold weather, very unwell bank accounts, and a sense of losing that sparkle as all things Christmas are packed away again. And there’s the feeling of a long wait until the next moment of joy, the advent of spring, holidays, longer days. 

But what’s the reality for us? We’re not immune from any of the above, but we know that the rejoicing simply begins at Christmas. The removal of the sparkly allure of the season doesn’t remove the actual joy of the love and freedom of God made incarnate through Jesus. That’s the bedrock for us, even when the world around us is at its greyest, and there’s much to be anxious about in this new year-but Gods love is infinite, vast and always with us, no matter what the externals may indicate .

Amen

Sunday 12th January: Baptism of Christ

Readings

Isaiah 43: 1 – 7; Acts 8: 14 – 17; Luke 3: 15 – 17, 21 – 22.

8.00am – Holy Communion  – All Saints

10.00am – Holy Communion – St. Marys 

10.30am – Messy Muddy Church – All Saints 

The Week Ahead

Monday 13th January

Tiny Tots – 10.30am to 12noon 

Beavers – 6.30pm – All Saints Community Hall

Tuesday 14th January

Music for Toddlers – 10.30am – St Mary’s Parish Room 

Wednesday 15th January

Morning Celtic Prayers – 9.00am All Saints Church 

Benefice Bible Book Club  2pm – 3.30pm St. Mary’s Parish Room

Thursday 16th January

Holy Communion – 10.00am. St. Mary’s Church

Cubs – 6,30pm. All Saints Community Hall

Scouts – 8.00pm. All Saints Community Hall

Friday 17th January

Living After Loss – 11am-12.noon St. Mary’s Parish Room

Saturday 18th January

Saturday Lunches – 12noon. St. Mary’s Church

 

Next Sunday

Sunday 19th January: Second Sunday of Epiphany

Readings

Isaiah 62: 1 – 5;1 Corinthians 12: 1 – 11; John 2: 1 – 11

 

10.00am     Holy Communion – St. Marys

10.30am      Holy Communion – All Saints

6.30pm       Epiphany Carols – St. Marys

 

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

Week beginning Sunday 5th January 2025

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

Epiphany

I am very fond of the season of Epiphany which comes straight after Christmas. I have pondered why this is and have come up with three reasons “I love Epiphany”

1) It feels like you get all the joy of Christmas with a little less of the stress! 

2) Its just a lovely word to say, with all the lovely “ph” sounds it rolls off the tongue!

3) It connects us deeply to our Eastern Christian Heritage that has so many riches.

So this week, we begin our Epiphany journey, as the church begins to grapple with and wonder at the God who is made manifest, real, visible in the baby of the manger. As the Magi make their appearance, having travelled far and for so long. As we learn of the tyranny of rulers and the burden of being a refugee. I invite us all to enjoy deeply this Epiphany season, so that it might bring us healing, perspective and joy.

This Sunday 5th January our worship is as follows

10am – Creative Church – Theme “East” – St Marys

10.30am – Holy Communion with Band and Junior Church – All Saints

6.30pm – Sung Holy Communion for Epiphany – St Marys

THE WEEK AHEAD

Weds 8th Jan  

9:00am –  Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints 

Thursday 9th Jan

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

Friday 10th Jan

1:00pm – 2:00pm – Lunchtime Concert – Kookie Yukes – St Marys

Saturday 11th Jan

12:00pm – 2:00pm – Saturday Lunches  – St. Mary’s 

Sunday 12th Jan        

8:00am – Holy Communion – All Saints 

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

10:30am – Muddy Church – All Saints 

7:15pm – Generations – All Saints Link

Epiphany Collect to ponder – till we see each other

O God, who by the leading of a star manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: mercifully grant that we, who know you now by faith, may at last behold your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

Blessings for 2025

Revd Lizzie

Week beginning Sunday 29th December 2024

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

Happy Christmas from all at St Mary’s. Apologies, but no proper newsletter this week.

What’s on this week:

Sunday 29th December

10:30am – Joint Benefice Communion at All Saints

Thursday 2nd January

10:00am – Holy Communion at St Mary’s

Saturday 4th January

12:00pm – Saturday Lunches at St Mary’s

Sunday 5th January

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

6:30pm – Sung Communion on the eve of Epiphany – St Mary’s

Week beginning Sunday 22nd December 2024

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

This week we celebrate the last Sunday of Advent and that leads us into the full wonder of Christmas. The readings take on the focus of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her magnificent song which declares the reshaping of God’s world, and how we are all invited to be drawn closer to the crib of creation. God’s story unfolds in the most unassuming and unexpected people. As Rachel Mann , theologian, remarks

“God calls the unlikely, and Mary joins a long line of those who will take their place in God’s wondrous work of transformation.’

A peasant girl who gives birth to a peasant king. 

Gods call is universal, one for all people. It is the message of hope that kindles its place in the soul of humanity. It is the great triumph of truth, love and hope and one that the world craves to hear and that we wonder at as we sit with candles, sing with carols and relearn again how God intends the world to be. 

It is the way of community, it is the message of the church, it is our hope. So come and celebrate with us in the multiple different services to listen again to the word made flesh, a song of humanity. A song of joy.

WORSHIP THIS WEEK

SUNDAY – 22nd DECEMBER

8am – BCP Holy Communion – All Saints

10am – Sung Holy Communion – St Marys

10.30am – Holy Communion with Hymns – All Saints

6.30pm – Carols by Candlelight – St Marys

CHRISTMAS EVE – 24th December

4pm- Family Carols and Christingle – St Marys

7.30pm – Carols by Candlelight – All Saints

11.30pm – Midnight Mass – St Marys

CHRISTMAS DAY – 25th December

10am – All Age Family Communion – St Marys

10.30 – All Age Family Communion – All Saints

Next Week

Sunday 29th December – BENEFICE SERVICE OF HOLY COMMUNION – ALL SAINTS

Blessings this Christmas.

Revd Lizzie

Week beginning Sunday 15th December 2024

On By Sam ToogoodIn Weekly Info

Rejoice in the Lord Always

Happy Gaudete! What a great word to say and reflect on. It is a word that has been set to many a tune, but the one that always springs to my mind is the Steeleye Span 80’s version – a gift of an earworm for your weekend!

Here in the middle of Advent the season makes a slight change of step. This Sunday coming has been known as Gaudete Sunday – a word that means “Rejoice”. The pink candle on the advent ring is lit. It marks a moment when our eyes can see in the faint distance the manger that we are asked to move towards in order to wonder at the gift of Jesus that God brings us all at Christmas. 

“Rejoice” is the word that springs from one of the readings that we are given this Sunday – St Paul in his letter to the Philippians says this

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

It is an encouragement that despite the darkness that enfolds us that in everything by prayer we can bring our needs to God, and to be assured that the Lord is near and to be gentle with each other. Amongst the fever of Christmas preparations, I want to continue to cling to Advent, to stay in that place a little while longer in this season. Yet the call is to keep going, step by step, till we finally arrive prayerfully able to give over all that we need to God who comes to love the world. 

We have the joy of being able to welcome the Bishop of Bristol, Bishop Viv, to celebrate holy communion and preach at 10am at St Marys. Our rejoicing continues at All Saints in the afternoon at 4.30pm with our children sharing with us the Nativity. Both services full of the glimpses of hope, love and rejoicing that we are called to be part of. Bring yourselves, your families, your neighbours and friends to rejoice and join in the joy.

Worship – Sunday 15th December

8:00am Holy Communion – All Saints

10:00am     Sung Holy Communion with Bishop Viv– St. Mary’s

(10:30am    Rehearsal for the Nativity– All Saints)

4:30pm     Nativity Service – All Saints

THE WEEK AHEAD

Mon 16th December

10:30am Tiny Tots Christmas Party 

7:30pm – Advent Group 

Weds 18th December

9:00am – Celtic Morning Prayer – All Saints 

12:00pm – Funeral of David Godfrey 

6:00pm – Fishponds School Carol Service 

Thursday 19th December

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

11:00am – Advent Group – St Mary’s

Saturday 21st December

12:00pm – 2:00pm – Saturday Lunches  – St Mary’s 

1:00pm – D&D fundraiser “Yuletide Ball”– All Saints  

Sunday 22nd December

8.00am – Holy Communion BCP – All Saints 

10:00am Sung Holy Communion – St Marys 

10.30am Holy Communion– All Saints 

18.30 – Carols by Candlelight – St Mary’s 

In gentle prayer

Revd Lizzie