St Mary the Virgin Church

Imagine for a moment you’re a Roman citizen in AD 320 or so. All your life, you’ve merrily celebrated on December 25th the feast of the birthday of Sol Invictus – the ‘Invincible Sun’ and patron deity of the emperor. Now, though, Emperor Constantine has rebranded it the Feast of the Nativity, for his new upstart deity Jesus Christ, the true sun god so he claims. You are irate. How dare he trample over our festival? OK, so he’s the emperor; he can do what he wants. You share your grievances over a jug of beer with a Germanic pagan […]

               Monday 10th December, Christmas Social 8pm @ Tuck Mill Cottage

One of those blue historical plaques, increasingly common on old buildings, humorous-ly says ‘Jacob von Hogflume 1864-1909, inventor of time travel, lived here in 2189’. If only we could travel forward or back in history. What would we tell the future, or the past? November 2018, 100 years on from the end of the Great War. What would we tell those celebrating the end of those tragic four years? What would they be keen to tell us? November is a month of remembrances. ‘Remember, remember, the fifth of November,’ and all that. Not that on the 5th we think about […]

This month marks ten years since the most damaging Feniton floods in recent years. Memories for many remain painful. The risk of repeated trauma still exists; floods are a present threat as well as a past reality. Progress with alleviation schemes is frustratingly slow. In the meantime there is much gratitude for the invaluable work of flood-wardens and local councillors. Some reading this won’t have been affected personally, or you may live in another village. But a community’s feelings are shared. Most will have experienced different traumas in their lives. Each of us have our own unique story to tell. Each need our story to […]

Alongside being the vicar, I work three-days-a-week training non-ordained people in church ministry in Devon (with SWMTC, South West Ministry Training Course). During interviews in June for a training course in the autumn, I asked each applicant how the course would fit in with their lives. One candidate’s reply was, ‘I couldn’t have done it if it had been over the summer. But starting in September works well.’ He went on to explain that he works in farming. This brought home afresh to me that the yearly cycle used by our schools and places of higher learning was historically designed […]

July 11th the date we were spending our first night as residents of these parishes. Also the date of England’s World Cup Semi-Final. We wanted to enjoy both. The timing was tight. The removal men emptied our vicarage in Appledore by late afternoon, ahead of delivering the next day. We hurriedly tidied up the last bits, packed camp-beds and overnight things in the car (along with the all-important TV), bade our farewells to our old house, and headed off for the new. We arrived at The Rectory within half an hour of kick-off, the TV still to tune and food to find. But with much joy, […]

A few weeks ago, the news was full of the scandal of Facebook allowing the information about its users to be harvested for political purposes. It raised the question: Who knows what about you? It is a complex question, though. I am wary of big businesses knowing lots about me, but when someone gives me a gift that is just right for me, I am really pleased that the person knows me so well. The difference is motive. Businesses may well do something good for you, but their motive is profit; if a friend does something that shows how well […]

Ash Wednesday… Love Lent, Love one another! As we fast track to February, with the red and green of Christmas now fading into another memory, we enter the repentant and reflective season of Lent – and the celebrations of St. Valentine’s Day. A saint steeped in legend and mystery, but one who points us to a time of year that is full to the brim of chocolate hearts, flowers and romance. This year Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day land together, on the same day. Valentine’s Day can offer a great opportunity to encourage the affirming of relationships with our loved ones, […]