Church Posts

Dear Friends, I hope that you have enjoyed the Summer and feel refreshed as we start the beginning of the new Methodist year. One thing that has remained constant throughout the Summer is the Coffee Morning on Friday. Thank you to all who serve the teas and coffees on Fridays and to all those who bring others along to it. If you do not come, then please do – we look forward to seeing you there. When I was a…

Dear Friends, As you know, Andy and I enjoyed two weeks away in May. We love going away to North Wales, and it was good to enjoy some walks we had done many times and some that were new. One of the walks we did included clambering among the ruins of Castell y Bere, which then led us onto the village of Llanfihangel-y-Pennant. Some of you may have heard of this village as it was where Mary Jones lived. The…

Dear Friends, As many of you will know, Andy and I have just got back from a holiday in North Wales. We really enjoyed it, and the weather was perfect for walking. We usually stay in a place near Dolgellau, in the foothills of Cadair Idris, and it is absolutely beautiful. I remember one year when Andy and I were there, we went to a local church, and the preacher was a very old man, and he was speaking about…

Dear Friends, I don’t know about you, but I can’t believe that we are already one-third of the way through this year. Time is flying past, and Spring has well and truly arrived. The beautiful arrays of colour that the season brings are everywhere, and thoughts are turning to summer and possible holidays. Birds are nesting, eggs hatching, and it is an exciting time of year with something seeming to happen in the garden every day. Things are changing all…

Dear Friends, Christ is risen! Hallelujah! What wonderful news – Jesus who was dead, is alive again and reigns forevermore. How this message fills our hearts with joy and may we, the redeemed of the Lord, say so! I wonder how quick we are to share good news with others? I heard a man say recently, that in the days before mobile phones, as he had taken his wife to hospital to have their first child, she had given him…

Dear Friends, Over the last few days it has been amazing to see how the plants have responded to the warmer weather we have had this week. We now have crocuses, daffodils and primroses out in our garden – a sure sign that Spring is on the way. The couple of ponds we had in our garden – that we didn’t order – have also disappeared at last! The birds are very active building their nests and it is lovely…

Dear Friends, As I was driving home the other day I came to the roundabout on the pond. I was wanting to turn right and normally at a roundabout those on the left have to give way to those wishing to join the roundabout from the right. That is not the case at Otford pond. For those wishing to turn right from the High Street to go along Sevenoaks Road, they have to wait for those entering the left from…

Dear Friends, I sometimes think that it is good to follow the stories of some of the main characters during Advent. We can learn so much from their lives and also see the faithfulness of God. Take Zechariah and Elizabeth for example. For many, many years they had been praying for a child and it seemed that the time for this had gone, but God in his faithfulness heard their prayer, and in due course, in God’s timing, they had…

Dear Friends, I don’t know about you, but I love the smell of freshly baked bread. When you go into a home or a shop you can smell it straight away, and it fills the whole place. I was in a shop the other day, and the smell of the bread was making everyone feel hungry. I often think of that when Jesus says ‘I am the Bread of Life’. For me, it’s not just about the bread that we…

Dear Friends, One of my favourite verses of scripture is found in Deuteronomy 32 v 11. The passage speaks about how God found and cared for Israel, how he looked after them and guarded them. It goes on to say how God was like an eagle that stirred up its nest and hovered over its young, spreading its wings to catch them and carried them aloft. I love the imagery here – the eagle stirring up its nest to cause…

Dear Friends, I hope that you have enjoyed the Summer and feel refreshed as we start the beginning of the new Methodist year. I can’t believe that I have been here a year now, but I feel excited by all that the Lord has in store for us during this coming year. My screen saver today is a beautiful picture of a lake and mountains in Colorado. The colours are vibrant and the sun that is just poking over the…

Dear Friends, As we go through life, we find there are some who are encouragers …and others who are not! There are some who we can walk alongside and feel our spirits being renewed, lifted; there are others who can make us feel the opposite – always discouraging, crushing our spirits, whether they mean to or not! Yet at times, we all need encouragement. Barnabas was an encourager. The first time we meet him in the Bible (Acts 4), he…