Church Blog

There are many occasions through the year when Hambledon shines as a community. Bonfire night organised by some of the menfolk is one example of this, shortly followed, more sombrely, by Remembrance Sunday when we gather to remember the fallen from our community and those known more personally to us. The reading of the names of those fallen during the two wars from this village is a moment when I never fail to be struck by how a generation of men, and in many cases it would seem, generation of families were laid waste but not forgotten. Great trouble has been spent putting together a book of remembrance for these men, and as a churchwarden it is my privilege to turn the page once a [...]

PROGRESS REPORT FROM THE CHURCHWARDENS Discussions with Soberton and Newtown have continued and there has been a good feeling in those meetings of a collaborative approach to acquiring and sharing a "vicar".  Things will not be the same as in the past for us in Hambledon, nor will they be the same for Soberton and Newtown.  We have been used to having half a vicar for a long time, but to be fair we have perhaps had the larger half.  With both Richard and Robin, their other job did not keep them busy on Sundays and we reaped the benefit of their presence and ministry for far more than half the time.  That will change as we share with other parishes, but that sharing will [...]

FROM A LAY READER Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Saints Peter and Paul, happy birthday to you! Actually, I have to point out, we're not celebrating their birthday but the day chosen to honour them as the anniversary of their martyrdom in Rome in about the year AD 64. The only saint celebrated on his birthday is John the Baptist. Let's hope that July 8th, the day chosen for our Patronal Festival to celebrate the lives of St. Peter and St. Paul, will be blessed by lovely sunny weather such as we're enjoying as I write this. What a contrast to the cold snowy time we suffered at the beginning of March! Life is full of contrasts, which makes it [...]

Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia. As I write this the excitement of Easter has almost evaporated, it was six Sundays ago. However as far as the Churches calendar is concerned we are still in the Easter season. I recently read an article that suggested that 1st April should always be Easter day. The reasoning behind this statement is that God’s actions or sometimes lack of action appears to those who consider themselves wise to be foolish. To consider that God acts foolishly is to reveal a misapprehension of God’s purpose and his relationship with his wonderful creation! As I look out of my window I see the leaves opening on Sam Lake’s trees. As I walk around the village I see [...]

I expect many of us remember that verse from childhood. A hot cross bun was something one only saw once a year, usually on Good Friday. Now one appears to be able to buy a bun with a cross at any time! It used to make me very annoyed! – but no longer! Why? Since Christmas I have been noticing afresh how the layout of the shelves and advertising slogans change within our larger shops – and carry on changing. As soon as Christmas was over large signs proclaiming ‘Sales’ were the order of the day. – then very soon red roses and red balloons proclaimed the advent of St Valentine’s Day; as I write this, the prominent colours are softer – pinks and lemons, [...]

If you accepted at face value what the media says about the Christian Church, it would be easy to reach the conclusion that it is in terminal decline. Yet by the time that you read this, our church building will have been through three occasions in less than three months when it has been officially described as ‘full’. This is the word we use when more than 300 people are in attendance at a service. Not bad for a village of around 1,000 souls! There are many reasons given by those nationally who don’t support the Christian Church: ‘I have better things to do’; ‘It’s just a privileged club’; It’s based on a fairy tale’; ‘It’s embarrassing, divisive and irrelevant in our world’; ‘I’m too [...]