Thought For The Week 20 July 2025

Welcome to our service today. Recently Max Muldrew returned from a trip around Europe and will be sharing about his time visiting the Milan Cathedral, which houses a famous statue of Saint Bartholomew, one of the 12 disciples of Jesus. He became the patron saint of Armenia and was  martyred in typically gruesome fashion. We look forward to hearing from Max about his experiences and any inspiration we can draw from the life of Bartholomew.

I have been participating in the contemplative prayer times held in the St Stephen’s chapel and ably run by Sue McCoy and Catherine Richardson. Last Wednesday night we were  reflecting on Psalm 46 from the Message translation. I was particularly struck by this  sentence:

We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,

courageous in sea storm and earthquake,…

Do you ever feel like you are standing at a cliff edge of doom? I do sometimes. Usually, the sense of doom is overblown in our own minds but even if it is not, even if we really are on the edge of doom, our stance in God is to be fearless. We can draw courage from God who holds all things in the palm of his hands and promises to bring us through all circumstances by his faithful love.

Thank you to those who participated in the family forum discussion about our monthly Trinity Heritage service held 2 weeks ago. It is helpful to get feedback like this. The next step is for parish council to discuss and decide on the way forward. However, please note that the August service will go ahead at the usual time of 2pm. Any changes made will take effect from the first Sunday in September.

Nga mihi nui,

Brent Richardson