Goodhand in Banbury

With our superintendent minister on sabbatical I agreed to take three Sunday services to help out. This then morphed into 'oh could you do a baptism?'. So yes of course. There then followed the home visit as I don't think I have ever undertaken a  baptism without first seeing the family. So this past Sunday we received a child into the family of the Christian community, and hopefully in some small way, a  step on a  journey of faith. Who knows maybe she will become a Christian!!! I kind of enjoyed myself leading the service. I think you do more when you no longer are on the treadmill of taking a service every week. Yet as I arrived at church and saw the Baptismal family and friends arriving all dressed up for  a celebration, it reinforced questions around how we make worship appropriate for those who rarely or never come to a place of worship. I just want them to feel at ease and hear a message thats relevant to their lives. I want the experience of worship to be a p...

  Monday in Holy Week The clocks having gone forward meant it was light as I arrived at the fifth and final session of the Lent course I have been attending in Bodicote.  Technically we are in the parish and the fairly new vicar was running a course looking at prayer. So good to sit in a group each week, well attended and remain incognito. Not quite sure how I managed to deflect the inevitable questions but I did. The final evening was held in the church itself 'Praying through the communion service' So Emily walked us all through the service bringing a freshness to the set liturgy. The consequence of which was a delightful sense of peace and calm at the end of the worship and course. It can be good to go elsewhere sometimes from your normal place of worship and so it proved. Then today we joined in again with the Good Friday Procession of witness in Banbury. You can just see the famous Banbury Cross.  There must have been at least 120 folk from various churches and so go...

OX5 Run 2026 - Oxford Hospital Charity - 22nd March 2026   Yes we skipped church this morning and found ourselves part of another kind of community.  With a grandson aged 6 recently diagnosed with Kidney Cancer, and undergoing chemotherapy before an operation, our daughter, his mum signed up to run the OX5.  The run raises important extras for the Oxford Children's Hospital and Children's Services across Oxfords University hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The run takes place in the grounds of Blenheim Palace not a bad setting!! Loads of people were taking part young and old. There were those who ran with their dogs or pushed their child in a buggy and some just walked. Some had signed up as individuals and others as groups. All focussed on fundraising to make life enriched for those experiencing cancer, and those working with them. The focus to transform what can be a heartbreaking experience into one which is life giving. So what a delight to get there just in time t...

  Intercessions Sunday 8th March 2026 Based on todays reading John 4:5-42 Jesus tells the woman at the well  a time will come when people will worship God  in Spirit and in truth. Location, background, ethnic group, religion   all will become irrelevant   and so a life was transformed   and she became the first evangelist and people came to faith through her. So let us pray God of community we pray for transformation in this ever uncertain world. Where some leaders break the law and rain bombs upon the innocent and warmongers alike. We pray now for regime change that the diverse populations of the world   will be able to elect woman and men of integrity, who will tell the truth, not seek popularity,   and not use the language of division that plays on human fears. So we pray for transformation in the USA, Russia, China, Iran and Israel   Lord in your mercy Hear our prayers In those places suddenly forgotten Gaza, the West bank, Ukraine, Sudan...

Uncalculating love   And You are love: uncalculating love. When we kick You in the teeth, Your sole concern is whether we have   stubbed our toes. George MacLeod from Growing   Hope. These words from George Macleod, founder of the Iona Community, reflect a very earthy understanding of God whose passion is for creation and its well being, which includes us. It hints, I think, at the God whose concern is such that Love becomes incarnate in Jesus, and in spite of how humanity responded, the concern always remained whether we are okay. So Christmas has gone and this week through three services we have had the Transfiguration, Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent with a reflection on temptations. It has all come upon us so quickly. I know life moves at the same pace but it really does feel as if life speeds up the older you get.   Of course the season of Lent has the element of how you handle temptation as witnessed in the gospels by Jesus’s time in the wilderness. Tempted...