Dear Friends, 

November is a time, in the church, to look back at the past, a time of remembrance, those 'Sundays before Advent' or 'Sundays of the Kingdom'.

 We start November with All Saints' day when we give thanks for all those who have led holy lives and are in heaven, but don't have a particular day on which to be remembered. This is followed by All Souls' Day when we remember the ordinary souls, those whom we have known and loved but see no longer. It has been the custom in the church to remember those whom we wish to remember and those who have died recently, so on the evening of All Saints' Day, which is Sunday 1st November, on the Eve of All Souls' we have a special Evensong at 6.30 p.m. when we can remeber our loved ones who are departed. Please join us.

 Then the following Sunday the 8th November is Remembrance Sunday when we remember those who have fallen in war, especially the First World War, and the Second, and those since. There has certainly been a large sacrifice recently with our soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. Sometimes we need to question war and the church has a number of criteria in which to judge a just war or not. One of them is that there must be a good chance of winning (or the fighting would be in vain). And one has to question whether Afghanistan will ever be a winnable war, especially in the light of history.

Our Remembrance Sunday Service is at 10.45 a.m. at the War Memorial followed by the Service in church.

Our churches year finishes on Sunday 22nd November with Christ the King. We are assured at the end of things that Christ reigns supreme. We often picture him in heaven seated on his throne, wearing a crown and holding the orb and sceptre. Look out for this in some of our stained glass windows!

We begin our new church year with Advent Sunday, 29th November, with a looking forward to Christmas, when Christ first came, and to his second coming as Lord and Judge.

 My prayers and best wishes,

 Fr. Philip Edge - Vicar.