Church Matters – Sunday 1st November

Sunday 1 November

10am Parish Communion – Easton

4pm Café Church – Itchen Abbas Village Hall

6pm – A Service of Prayer & Reflection – Easton

“The fellowship of the Beatitudes is the fellowship of the Crucified.”

The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“For anyone not united to Jesus Christ, this life is the best it will ever get. For anyone united to Jesus Christ, this life is the worst it will ever get’

Dane Ortland ‘Finally home: the Christian hope of heaven’

I recently signed up with a new dentist and went along for my first check-up. He was a nice man, but it was the question he asked me that I’ve been pondering ever since.

“Are you happy with your smile?”

There are a number of ways to answer that question. Mine was to say that I was perfectly happy. This is not my first spin around the dance floor and, frankly, I don’t have a budget line for being unhappy with my smile.

I then set off for the funeral of a friend’s father.

Phil was the first person I met at university and was used by God to help me grasp the gospel. He told me in freshers week that he had a church gathering that met in a barn on his family farm. That seemed both odd and fascinating. We’ve been friends ever since.

When I arrived at the funeral, the church was packed. Charles had farmed in a Cambridgeshire village for his entire life. There is a longer story to tell about his remarkable life, but everyone seemed to agree on one thing: he always had a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

As the vicar brought the service to a close, he explained that Charles would like us to ‘tap our toes and sway a little’, if we felt so minded, as the coffin left the church for burial.

Charles had chosen a quick-jazz version of The Old Rugged Cross. His much-loved flat cap sat on top of the coffin. It was a fitting tribute to a man who had clearly lived life on his own terms, and it became a talking point at the wake.

“Are you happy with your smile?”

It’s a surprisingly deep question.

For the teenager with less-than-perfect teeth who has fallen for a girl in double maths, it may well be the most important question in the world. At other stages of life, we may be more concerned about what our smile reveals than how it looks. Can people see our happiness? Our sadness? Our fears? Do we have reasons to smile at all?

As Charles’s coffin passed me, my dentist’s question returned to my mind.

And, almost audibly, I could hear Charles saying:

“My smiles just fine thanks”

So we’re going to unpack that question ‘How’s your smile?’ on Sunday and there’s no better place to find a diagnostic for it than in the Beatitudes

with every blessing

David

David will be on annual leave until Saturday 31st October

To book a place click here

We are proud to announce that St John’s Church has been given a Bronze Eco Church Award. Our other churches are currently working through the same process.

Christmas Sheep Making at St John’s

You may remember last year a group of very lovely helpers produced kits to make fluffy sheep for us to distribute to the children in the valley. The children were then able to make the sheep and bring them along to the Crib Service where they were placed around the stable in our nativity scene during the service.

We would love some more helpers, we have planned another working party this year to produce these kits at 10am on Thursday 5^th November at St John’s. So if you would like to join us for a coffee, chat and cutting party please come along (with your scissors) no sewing required!

If you would like to contribute to the cost of producing these kits, please drop a donation to Beccy (in an envelope marked as ‘sheep’).