St Mary the Virgin Church

Jesus’s ‘Beatitudes’ carry familiar phrases – ‘Blessed are the meek/Blessed are the poor in Spirit/etc’. A recent Facebook post offered a wonderful modern-day ‘Beatitude’: ‘Blessed are we who laugh at ourselves, for we shall always be entertained.’ It was accompanied by a photo of three monkeys in fits of laughter. Wise, as well as witty, words. (With thanks to the ‘Clergy Coaching Network’ Facebook group for this ‘Beatitude’.) February is not renowned as a fun month. Winter’s cold and gloom have their welcome, even if the days lengthen. As a child of the ’60s, my domestic  soundtrack included Flanders and Swann’s songs. ‘February’s […]

There are many things I don’t understand. One of them is why anyone would wish to be Prime Minister. Particularly now. I’m grateful that strangely someone does. How swiftly the message of ‘peace on earth to all men’ can recede in Christmas’s wake. I shan’t wade into the Brexit debate. But at the start of this New Year the political wrangling and many uncertainties cast a heavy shadow. ‘The hopes and fears of all the years’ we sung; these now seem condensed into an event in March around which debate has become increasingly toxic. ‘Here’s a New Year message for […]

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, […]