Things are not right at the moment – not right at all for human flourishing. For most of us, this is a new and unnerving experience especially with the ‘news’ that there are many more months to go, though many of us suspected this some time ago. We want things to be...

Normally this is Harvest but in this strange world of 2020, it is the preparation for the Annual Meetings. These should have happened by the end of May, but they have been delayed. We will be holding our Annual Parish Meeting – for the election of Church Wardens – and...

Friday September 11th - Today is “9/11” – two numbers together that mean so much – though it is now nearly 20 years ago that the awful event happened. So many died and so many had their lives changed for ever, whether from wounds, from dust inhalation leading to...

“I lift my eyes to the hills: From where does my help come?” “Our help comes from the Lord, who has made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121 v 1) September 6th will mark exactly a year since I was licensed as Team Rector. Little did I know, or any of us know, what the...

A Bank Holiday weekend should be a time for get-togethers, time-out, celebrating, and for me, the August Bank Holiday marks the end of summer and the beginning of autumn; I always think you can sense the shift in atmosphere and see it in the light and in the trees....

A microscopic virus plays havoc with the world – it keeps us apart and there is the fear of contagion. Countries are not safe to travel to or from. Various versions of vaccines are being developed but which are the good ones? And also in the news, along with...

This week will have been dominated for many families by the A level results – and the anxiety and then either relief or frustration / disappointment / anger. For others, this would have been a week of holidays away somewhere, a family celebration or gathering, and the...

Holidays are special and looked forward to, and August is holiday time – but for many not in the same way this year. Holidays: we associate holidays with going away and maybe beaches or travel. The roots of the word are – of course – Holy Day – and they were the...

As we go to press (!) our churches are open for worship. Please join us on Sunday. Our online service and resources are also available on Facebook and YouTube for those who are not able to get to church for whatever reason. As we go to press (?) we are making sense of...

This weekend would have been the Flower Festival; “would have been” is a phrase we are using too often to explain what is not happening this summer. “We would have been going to ..”, “we would have had ..” This weekend we do celebrate St Anne, the mother of Mary,...

A year ago I was packing my desk at Church House in Manchester. I had no idea what the next 12 months would bring. For many, the last 12 months have brought big changes even without the impact of the corona-virus; for all the last four months have brought huge changes...

It has been so good to be able to hold services in the church building; we hope now to have a regular pattern of services St Anne’sSunday @ 11.00 am and Wednesday @ 9.30 amandSt James’Sunday (fortnightly) @ 9.45 am (from July 26th) We will move to having Communion...

July 12th 6th after Pentecost Readings: Psalm 65 and Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23 The parable of the Sower and the seed is one we probably know well, and it is one of the few parables that Jesus explains. There are those who don’t really get the message at all, there are...

So this Sunday we can open our churches to welcome those who come to worship. We cannot however exuberantly throw open our doors; we cannot process singing and dancing into church; we cannot shout Hallelujah and let the children run, but the churches can again be a...

July 5th - 5th after Pentecost Readings: Psalm 145: 8-14 and Matthew 11: 16-30  When we read through a gospel, and our Sunday readings don’t include all the gospel – hopefully you are reading the bits in-between as we go along – we realise there is the teaching of...

So we get to July – summer and the temperature has dropped back! Some things never change, or rather stay ever-change-able! And some things do change again: after a couple of weeks of opening churches for individual prayer, the government now has given permission...

June 28th 4th after Pentecost Readings: Psalm 89: 1-4, 15-18 and Matthew 10: 40-42  Today’s gospel passage is short and at first, seems quite simple to understand. Jesus says that we should welcome the person who comes in Jesus’ name; probably this refers to wandering...

Church buildings beginning to re-open! It was lovely that St Anne’s was open for prayer on Wednesday and so good to see people in the building and able to pray. We now wait to hear what we need to do to open for services – the government has made a statement but not...