Minister:
Revd James Patterson

Stewards:
Mary Spooner
Bridget Appleby
Sandie Wheatley

Hall and church bookings
Mr Malcolm Appleby

Mrs Mary Spooner

Mrs Bridget Appleby

Bridget is also the church's Safeguarding Officer

"What caught your eye today?"

Superintendent's Newsletter

by Revd Anne Ellis 

This was the title given to a series of photographs posted on a social media site by a friend of mine. It started as ten photos, one each day, that morphed into a year long project. Lorna set herself the task of being deliberately observant of the situations and people she found herself dealing with on a daily basis, in the hope that by sharing those things that caught her eye it would encourage her to look up from her screen to the world beyond. The result was an eclectic mix of places and people, starry skies, sunsets, and also of the small things that surround us, unremarkable for their very familiarity. Those small everyday things that could, so easily, have gone by unnoted: the leaf design swirled on top of a cappuccino by a skilled barista; a coil of rope laid neatly beside a mooring, a bowl of podded peas ready for shelling; a jug full of spring daffodils; the jazz singer’s glitzy shoes. Each photograph underscoring the rewards of looking in anticipation, expecting to be surprised.

Our lives are full of the familiar; people, places, routines, the things we know about and understand. It is our experience of the familiar that provides the interpretive framework we use to make sense of the world in which we live and function. The tendency is, however, to see what we expect to see, and to look no further.

The lectionary cycles of the Christian year lead us over familiar ground. The Christmas narrative with angels, shepherds and an unmarried couple has become embedded in popular culture. The season of Lent brings us once more to the Wilderness and temptation resisted, and of signs, miracles, mercy and judgment we know well. What thrill can remain, say. in the telling of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, with all its hopes of a new Davidic dynasty, when Good Friday is already anticipated? Have we decided already what the Scriptures are all about? What Jesus is all about?

May be, like Lorna, we need to raise our eyes and choose to become deliberately observant of what the gospel writers are saying and come intentionally to each anecdote and passage afresh. It is then the well-worn phrases, words and situations, and even the smallest of details, may  catch the eye of our imagination and surprise us with insights anew.