Here is the Summer Edition of the St James' Church Magazine, containing lots of news and articles about forthcoming events. A good read!

Find out about our Choir Festival and book tickets here.

Find out about our Festive Folk Gig and book your tickets here.

Readings: Isaiah 25:1-9; Matthew 22:1-14 Today’s reflection is by Reader, Cal Bailey. Matthew 22:1-14: The Wedding Banquet In August our oldest daughter Liz got married to Mike. They had done the organising – a big change from when Jo and I were married. They had invited about 100 people and the weather was magnificent. We had a fabulous day. It is not difficult to understand why Jesus chose a wedding banquet as a picture of the Kingdom of Heaven. A wedding is on

Readings: Isaiah 5:1-7; Matthew 21:33-end Today’s reflection is by the Vicar, the Revd Canon Jonathan Cain. This was preached on the occasion of the baptism of Bryony Boardman, aged 9. Where did it all go wrong? Where did it all go wrong? This question arises whenever people try to make sense of the world. In the UK just now we see this question arising in conversations about housing, about the cost of living, about the way public things became private things. We h

Readings: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-end; Matthew 21:23-32; John 3:16 Today’s reflection is by Reader, Cal Bailey: “By Whose Authority?” “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” Authority isn’t respected anymore! I suspect this has been said for hundreds of generations by adults in many countries around the world. It isn’t just Donald Trump and Mark Carney who can’t agree on much, who accuse each other of being disrespectful, who challe

Readings: Jonah 3:10-4:11; Matthew 20:1-16 Today’s reflection is by the Vicar, the Revd Canon Jonathan Cain. It’s not fair! Anyone who has spent any time with young children—especially siblings—will know this cry well. It erupts with great force over the smallest things: unequal slices of cake, who gets the blue cup, who sat in the front seat last time. It’s not fair! It is the anthem of childhood justice. And while adults may not shout it quite so freely, the sent

Readings: Genesis 50:15-21; Matthew 18:21-35 Today’s reflection is by Reader, Pete Gillions Last week Paul spoke how words of scripture can be and have been misinterpreted and misused ,and how in Pauls own family the teaching at their Church divided the family. It led to Pauls own mother never seeing her own mother again. Not something that reflects the love of God in any shape or form. And sadly todays text has also been similarly misinterpreted and misused. The text rea

Readings: Isaiah 51:1-6; Matthew 16:13-20 Today’s reflection is by Reader, Cal Bailey. What is Salvation? A teenager dives into the sea, hits the bottom, the spine breaks, and can’t swim back to shore. A youngster and a family hits crisis. Can this ever be God’s plan for our world? Our Old Testament reading comes from a prophet who was speaking to people in despair. The Jews had been defeated in battle, seen their capital city and temple de

Readings: Isaiah 56:1, 6-8; Matthew 15:10-28 Today’s reflection is by the Vicar, the Revd Canon Jonathan Cain. Minority Report I wonder if you remember the 2002 science fiction film Minority Report. In case you missed it, here is a brief plot summary. The film is set in the year 2054, and Washington D.C. has implemented a Pre-Crime programme, a police initiative that uses three psychics, called Precogs, to foresee murders before they occur. These predictions allow

Readings: 1 Kings 19:9-18; Matthew 14:22-33 Today’s reflection is by Reader, Pete Gillions. Meeting Jesus in the storm Do you ever feel that you could do a better job of things than God? Often life appears that way. In the early 1990’s the world became aware of the terrible neglect of babies and young children orphanages in Romania. There was also equally bad mistreatment of children with learning difficulties. Many Churches from around here explored ways of helpin