Minister’s Message – March 30, 2025

I wonder if you’ve heard the term “helicopter parenting”? It’s used to describe an over-protective style of looking after one’s children which is marked by high levels of involvement and control. This type of parenting is driven by adults who fear that their child might come to harm or fail to flourish; however it can actually be harmful and lead to the child failing to develop the ability to make decisions, depending on its parents for solving any problems that it encounters, or simply becoming anxious about life in general.

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Minister’s Message – February 16, 2025

Bible reading: Psalm 1.

Just before 9 o’clock on the evening of February 6^th last year, a passenger train hit two trees which had fallen across the track near Thetford in Norfolk. It was a dark night and there was no way that the driver could have seen the trees. The train was travelling at over 80mph and came off the rails; fortunately it wasn’t badly damaged and just one of the 32 people on board suffered a minor injury. The two trees and the train were quickly removed so that the line could re-open; the investigation into what had happened took several months.

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Minister’s Message – February 9, 2025

Bible reading: Luke 5:1-11.

We enjoyed belting out the songs in our Sunday afternoon boys’ Bible class: “On the victory side”, “Marching beneath the banner”, “When the road is rough and steep”, “In my heart there rings a melody” and “The Lord hath need of me” among many others, all accompanied by the piano. Many of them were militaristic in a way we’d frown on today; they were also quite old-fashioned, even by the standards of the mid-1960s. Little did we know it, but “Youth Praise”, guitars and a Christian musical revolution were lurking just around the corner.

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Minister’s Message – January 19, 2025

Bible reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.

It seems to be widely accepted that there are 78 different organs in the human body. The most vital are considered to be the skin (which we probably don’t think of as an organ), the brain, heart, kidneys, liver, pancreas, stomach, small and large intestines, and lungs (I’m not sure why they are so far down the list as I’d have thought they were essential!). The picture becomes less clear once we start to zoom in a bit closer: do we count our kidneys and lungs, for example, as one organ or two; and what about the bones which, in our list, have all been lumped together? And, of course, if we were to focus in to the microscopic level we’d see the complexities of the various structures and cells which, when put together, form our bodies. Truly, to echo the writer of Psalm 134, we are “fearfully and wonderfully made”!

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Carol Service – Minister’s Message

The carol “O little town of Bethlehem” – it’s technically a hymn – is one which most of us know by heart. We love the picture, probably enhanced by years of Christmas cards, that it brings to our minds: the picture of a sleeping town with stars (possibly The Star!) in the sky, and a pinpoint of light spilling from the door of the stable. The atmosphere – just as in “Silent Night” – is one of stillness, tranquillity and calm; God is in his heaven and Bethlehem, indeed the whole world, is at peace.

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Minister’s Message – December 1, 2024

Bible reading: Jeremiah 33:1-9, 14-16.

Message.

This, of course, was no ordinary tree. It had been planted in the late 1800s by the landowner John Clayton. It was a favourite of both walkers and photographers. It had featured in the film “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” although it was many miles from Sherwood Forest. It was the setting for marriage proposals, sentimental moments and the scattering of ashes. And in 2016 the Woodland Trust named it “English Tree of the Year”. You might say that this tree was iconic – and now it was gone. People felt bewildered and bereaved as they contemplated the loss of an old friend: how could anyone have perpetrated such a senseless act? The Police and the National Trust began investigations and two men accused of committing it are due to stand trial this week. I’ll return to this story later.

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