United Reformed Church Services: June

Services are at 10:30 am unless otherwise stated.

Services will be taking place in our Chapel building.

However, at the time of the CRN June edition being collated, preachers & worship leaders for Sundays through out June have not been finalised. Please keep an eye on the Notice board outside the Chapel: June's Preachers will be posted there when arranged.

We are an inclusive, outward looking group of people and we welcome all: wherever you are on your life/spiritual journey we welcome you without regard to age, gender, denominational background, sexual orientation, race or ability. We respect the traditions of our past, engage with present and look forward to the future, believing that Christian truth is not contained in static prepositional statements but is ever changing and constantly evolving. Tea/coffee is served after every service providing the opportunity to meet and chat with each other and the preacher.

URC Minister: Rev. Tim Richards 01458 252799

Dear Friends,

One of my favourite current T.V. shows is The Repair Shop; the transformation of much-loved objects that have fallen into a state of disrepair brought back to life in the hands of skillful craftspeople. Once I would have found the idea of such a programme less appealing than watching paint dry! But I think I enjoy it so much because I lack those skills and really admire those who can work with material of whatever sort and create practical, beautiful, functional objects.

I was never very practical. It took me two years at school to make a tea trolley which, if memory serves, is still sitting in my mum's attic. (I threw myself into as many drama productions as I could instead). I had friends who used kits to make model aeroplanes, tiny bits of plastic which became something else, something whole. My paternal grandfather was an engineer and I was delighted and amazed when as a small child he made me a pair of metal stirrups for my rocking horse, (I still have them).

I also marvel every time I see major road improvements taking place. How on earth do people know what they are doing? It looks chaos and yet it will all come together with the aim of improving the journey.

Whether it is an individual making something whole out of parts, or groups of people bringing different skill sets and experience to bear on a project that has as its aim the fulfilment of something beyond the scope of one person, I find the process interesting.

The Apostle Paul's letter in scripture (known as 1 Corinthians) about the body of Christ remains current and applicable to so many situations today. Look it up – We cannot all do everything, we are not all interested in everything, but we can contribute to the whole. We can bring our knowledge, our gifting's and working alongside others create that which we could not do on our own.

But if to achieve something worthwhile, we need to understand the overall plan and, if we do not want the road improvements to lead us into nowhere or the self-assembly furniture to collapse underneath us, we need to both pay attention to the plans and listen to each other.

Working together takes determination, patience and belief that what is being worked for is worthwhile. We have seen great examples of communities coming together during this pandemic, not least in Curry Rivel.

Almost anything can be achieved when people commit to pulling together. As we emerge from lockdown, I hope we will not forget the importance of these lessons we have learned.

Yours,

Rev. Tim.