This Sunday we are continuing our series on the Psalms and Chris Macqueen will be speaking at both services – 9am and 10.30am.
Both services will be Holy Communion services and we are hoping that the livestream at 10.30am will work.
Click here for the livestream…
At 10.30am we will be praying for the team that will be leading the Lighthouse holiday club, starting on Tuesday next week.
Written by Jenny Tebboth, August 2026
It is almost a year now since we launched the ‘All In’ service with the aim of worshipping in creative ways across the entire age spectrum of the church family so that we learn and grow together.
Highlights for me have been the use of art for reflection and the opportunity to give and receive prayer as a way of responding to what God has been saying to us. It has been a joy to see whole families serving in different ways; on the AV, welcoming, leading prayers and giving the notices by news reel!
Starting in September we have a new series for the All In service which will take us right through to next July. It is based on a short passage from Acts which give us Luke’s portrait of the very first community, of followers of Jesus and the way they behaved toward each other which was like nothing anyone had seen before and stood out in that society like a light on a hill!
‘They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and generous hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2: 42-47
We are using the book ‘Holy Habits’ by Andrew Roberts as our guide. He selects ten characteristics of the early church which, as we practice them will build a healthy and thriving community of faith which has an impact on the communities we live in. We have decided to call them HEALTHY HABITS to stress the life-giving nature of each of them. All of them can be practiced equally by all of us of whatever age or culture.
He contrasted this way of living with what he observed in his own society at the time; people who often hated one another and were even ready to kill one another.
Month by month we will focus on one of the characteristics described in Acts; work out how to apply them in ways that are contemporary and fitting to our context. Then we will use the following weeks to apply them at home or at work. Our aim is that we all grow deeper in faith – not only in understanding but also in the way we live so that we become gradually, as Jesus taught us ‘the light of the world’ and the ‘salt of the earth’. A high calling indeed but one that can be nurtured through practicing what Jesus taught and living in imitation of him.
Tomorrow we are starting our summer series “Psalms for Life” at St Mary’s. Jenny Tebboth will reflect on the very first Psalm with us – 9am at St Mary’s, 10.30am both at St Mary’s and on our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPoDz05jL84
PSALMS FOR LIFE
In our services in August, each member of our preaching team will pick a favourite Psalm and reflect on it with. Join us to mine the riches of the Book of Psalms to gain wisdom for life. Starting on Sunday 2 August, both at 9am and 10.30am.
As well as being Father’s day, this Sunday is Trinity Sunday and we will be continuing our ‘you are part of everybody’ series at both our 9am Holy Communion service and our 10.30am service with Sunday club for children.
click here to join the 10.30am service on you tube
This Sunday we have three services to choose from!
There will be a 9am Holy Communion service followed by our regular 10.30am service with Sunday club for children which is also available online via our YouTube channel.
In the afternoon at 3.30pm we have Cafe Church at St Marks. Please join us for tea, cakes, singing, quiz and talk entitled: What is the Bible?
The King of Kings, follows the story of Charles Dickens captivating his son, Walter, by narrating the story of Jesus. What begins as a bedtime tale becomes a life-changing journey. Through vivid imagination, the boy walks alongside Jesus, witnessing His miracles, facing His trials, and understanding His ultimate sacrifice. The King of Kings invites us to rediscover the enduring power of hope, love, and redemption through the eyes of a child.
… preached at the Good Friday service at St Mary’s on 29 March 2024.
In Christ all the fullness of God was pleased
to dwell, and through him God was pleased
to reconcile to himself all things,
whether on earth or in heaven,
by making peace through the blood of his cross.
Colossians 1.19-20
Words written by St Paul. But, often, that reconciliation, that peace is not our experience.
When we look at a conflict like the current war in Gaza we are tempted to say, “Why can’t they just be rational, sit down and work it out?”
In a sobering article, Yuval Noah Harari writes that neither of the two sides are acting irrationally. Harari is a bestselling Israeli author and he describes the “founding events” that determine the instinctive responses of Israelis and of Palestinians: For Palestinians the founding event is the 1948 Nakba, which means disaster in Arabic, when 750,000 Palestinians were driven out of their ancestral homes, followed by many other atrocities since. For Israelis, the founding event is the Holocaust in which six million Jews were killed, followed in 1948 by the attempt of Palestinians and Arabs to annihilate the new state of Israel. For both sides, their deep-seated fears are perfectly rational.
But is that all we can say?
How can we overcome deeply entrenched hostilities?
We need a cause that is greater than our divisions.
Throughout history, demagogues and dictators have understood this. They promise a perfect plan, a solution to all problems, if people will only pledge allegiance to them. And sooner or later, every single one has been unmasked as a sham, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.
Listen again to St Paul’s words:
Through Jesus God was pleased to reconcile TO HIMSELF all things.
Lasting reconciliation is found when our allegiance to Jesus trumps all others.
Rowan Williams compares our membership of Jesus’ church with jury service. If you’ve ever been called up for jury service you know that you were summoned. You didn’t volunteer. And you didn’t know any of the other jury members, you didn’t know whether you had anything in common, except this: you were all summoned.
The church is the community of those who have been summoned by Jesus and have responded to his call. We do not choose the person who walks beside us, who sits on our left and on our right. Jesus does. Our unity is not found in a common language, ethnicity, social class, political agenda, churchmanship, worship style, preferences, dislikes, hobbies. Our unity is found only in Jesus.
When our tribe, our family of origin, our nation, our personal or political agenda is more important than Jesus’ call to follow him, deep and lasting reconciliation will fail.
What is our deepest allegiance in life, that trumps all others? When our honest answer is “Jesus” then we can walk together in all our difference.
Who am I? I am a follower of Jesus, redeemed and loved by him. And I recognise in you another Jesus follower – a brother, a sister.
In your order of service you should have found a photo. I took it in 2013 when Edda and I visited the Holy Land, in a street in Bethlehem, looking towards the security fence separating Israel and the West Bank. You can see Jerusalem in the distance. And there in the ravine of houses stood – a cross. A sign of hope. Jesus overcomes the deepest divisions.
In Christ all the fullness of God was pleased
to dwell, and through him God was pleased
to reconcile to himself all things,
whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
As followers of Jesus we can already begin to live this future hope in the here and now. And often that will be costly. There will be resistance. Because our allegiance to Jesus challenges all other competing agendas, all human attempts to exercise destructive power over others.
Last Sunday was the anniversary of the death of Oscar Romero. He was the archbishop of El Salvador and on that day he was assassinated while celebrating mass. During the civil war in his country he called Christians on both sides brothers and sisters. He summoned them to put their allegiance to Jesus first.
He said, “There is only one Church, a Church that adores the living God and knows how to give relative value to the goods of this earth.”
On March the 23rd 1980, he delivered a sermon in which he called on Salvadoran soldiers, as Christians, to obey God’s higher order and to stop carrying out the government’s repression. He was shot on the next day.
Today, he is one of the ten modern martyrs depicted in statues above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey in London.
Our allegiance to Jesus will sow seeds of reconciliation that will never be lost.
A different life is possible. A life of reconciliation and peace. Jesus gave his life for that future.
He gave his life for you.
He gave his life for me.
He gave his life for the world.
He is summoning us afresh today.
How will we respond?
St Mary’s Church Office
Village Road
Denham UB9 5BH
Tel: 01895 832771
