This blog, in future...

I shall be moving away from my work as parish priest to Rawreth at the end of January 2011. My hope is, nonetheless, that this blog may continue to serve as a useful reference guide to a number of parish-related matters and may, in due time, be re-adopted by another blogger in service of the mission of God in this place.

Watch this space!

the journey home: Ceasing blogging...

the journey home: Ceasing blogging...: "I have always been a very occasional - and rather amateurish - blogger. So what follows is not of any earth-shattering consequence, but w..."

Booking a Baptism at St Nick's...

Baptisms will ordinarily take place at the Holy Communion service of worship on the FIRST SUNDAY of each month. The service begins at 10.00am and lasts for between 1 hour 15 minutes and 1 hour 30 minutes.

A booking form can be obtained from the back of church or by email request and should be returned to the Rector at your earliest opportunity (and certainly not less than a month before the date arranged for the Baptism).

Joy Roussell Stone exhibition of paintings

It was a delight - during half-term week at the end of October - to see St Nicholas' church building made use of as an exhibition space.

Joy Roussell Stone is the now-retired former Head of Art at The Plume School in Maldon and it was a great privilege to see her paintings of subjects from the Holy Land, Essex and elsewhere, along with some striking studies of found driftwood and a powerful impression of the Grand Canyon.

I am grateful to her friend, former colleague, fellow artist and one-time resident of Rawreth, Mary Keeble, for these few photographs. I am also excited to be able to report that it was Mary who sculpted the small statue of our Patron, St Nicholas, which sits in a niche above our church entrance doorway. Latterly, dear St Nicholas has been missing his hands and the three bags of gold they held - Mary has graciously offered to re-sculpt these and re-attach them! She is thus holding the commission of the Rector and PCC to do just that!

We now hope to have further art exhibitions and events in our church building, after this little beginning. Our next plan may well be for some installation art - please watch this space!...

Exhibition of artwork at St Nicholas church Rawreth

Throughout this half-term week - Monday 25 October until Saturday 30 October - St Nicholas' church building is serving as a gallery for the paintings of Joy Roussell Stone.

Visitors are welcome at any time. Refreshments may be available at some times.

Much of the work on display is available for sale.

Enjoy!

‘LOVE BADE ME WELCOME’ - presented by ‘Reflection’

‘LOVE BADE ME WELCOME’
presented by ‘Reflection’

St Nicholas church, Rawreth - Sunday 18 July 2010, 6.00pm


Reading First letter of St John 4 : 16b (New Revised Standard Version)

Music Ubi Caritas (Words, trans from the Latin by James Quinn; Music, Dom Gregory Murray)

Reading First letter of St John 4 : 7-12 (NRSV)

Music Psalm 90 (Setting by Christopher Walker)

Readings St John’s Gospel 14 : 15-17 (New Revised Standard Version)
St John’s Gospel 15 : 9-12 ( “ “ “ “ )

Music If ye love me, keep my commandments (Setting by Thomas Tallis)

Reading The flowing light of the Godhead (Mechtild of Magdeburg)

Music My song is love unknown (Words, Samuel Crossman; Music, John Ireland)

Reading Love bade me welcome (George Herbert)

Music Come down, O Love divine (Words, Italian trans R Littledale; Music, R Vaughan Williams)

Reading The Kitchen (Tim Marks)

Music Enfold me in your Love (Words & music, Margaret Rizza)

Reading Abou Ben Adhem (Leigh Hunt)

Music I give to you a new commandment (Words, John 13 & Liber Usualis; Music, Peter Nardone)

Reading First letter of St Paul to the Corinthians 13 : 1-8a, 13 (Revised English Bible)

Music Let love be real (Words, Michael Forster; Music, Christopher Tambling)

Readings Excerpt on Marriage, from ‘The Prophet’ (Kahlil Gibran)
He wishes for the cloths of heaven (W B Yeats)

Music Träumerei (Dreaming) (Robert Schumann) - Piano solo

Reading How do I love thee? (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

Music My love is like a red, red rose (Words, Robert Burns; Tune, 18th century?)

Readings Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (William Shakespeare)
A code poem for the French Resistance (Leo Marks)

Music O make me holy (Traditional spiritual)

Readings Summer (Spike Milligan)
In a Bath teashop (John Betjeman)

Music The Lark in the Clear Air (Traditional Irish) - Descant recorder & keyboard

Reading First Meeting (A S J Tessimond)

Music Ubi Caritas (Taizé chant; Music, Jacques Berthier)
May the Lord bless you (Words, adapted from Gaelic Blessing, & music : Margaret Rizza)

Reflections - a parish event this Sunday...

REFLECTIONS
‘LOVE BADE ME WELCOME’
AN EVENING OF POETRY, SONG, MUSIC, TESTIMONY ABOUT THE NATURE OF LOVE, HUMAN AND DIVINE.
ST NICHOLAS CHURCH
SUNDAY 18 JULY 2010
6.00PM
DONATIONS ON THE DOOR – ALL WELCOME