November Message

As October draws to a close and November begins, we find ourselves putting the heating on and turning on the lights earlier and earlier. The clocks going back and the dark nights remind us it is autumn and winter is just around the corner.

Mornings start cold and evenings finish in the same vein but the space in-between is often glorious, warm, sunny and beautiful as the autumn colours and blue skies remind us how spectacular our local vistas are. These vistas are often captured on social media, and in our village magazines, as talented local photographers and artists make the most of our inspiring surroundings.

The inspiring service of those from our communities who have served in war, is commemorated at The Acts of Remembrance at our local churches. On Friday 11th and Sunday 13th we will remember them.

Repeating the research from 2017 the Talking Jesus team have found that people predominantly come to faith through friends and family and through reading the Bible, which should come as no surprise to those of us who are Christians. Yes, the Bible continues to inspire people and 1 in 3 people want to know about Jesus, 1 in 3…

Inspired by this what should we do about it? The first thing is pray; pray for five people who we want to know Jesus; pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us as we talk to people about our faith; give people the gift of the Bible, a library of sixty-six books reminding us of God’s perfect memory and inspiring us in our faith.

We’ll be relaunching a Bible study across our benefice in the coming weeks, one on Monday afternoon in our local churches and one in a local pub on a Wednesday evening. Keep a look out for an advert within this magazine and for posters and notices around the villages and online.

As our communities gather to remember this November may we be inspired by the memories we share and by Jesus who remembers all of us.

Rev Chris