Resources for next Sunday Dear Friends, I have prepared the Worship Notes for Sunday’s service based on the Acts passage detailing the martyrdom of Stephen. I consider how the word “martyr” means to “bear witness” and ponder the good and bad ways in which Stephen bore witness. I hope that encourages us in our own […]
URC Daily Devotion 1st May 2023
Monday 1st May Hope for a just economy that enables the flourishing of all life (part 1) Reading St Matthew 20:1-14 [Jesus said:] ‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the labourers for the […]
Six Hopes for Society
Six Hopes for Society Dear > I hope you’ve enjoyed our series of reflections about Edgy Saints; I’ve had lots of positive feedback as we’ve journeyed with folk we’ve often never heard of and have been stimulated to think by our team of writers – so thanks to Jack Dyce, Elizabeth Stuart, Dave Herbert and John […]
URC Daily Devotion Saturday 29th April 2023 Hildegard of Bingen
inspiration in your inbox Saturday 29th April 2023 Hildegard of Bingen 1098 – 1179 Hildegard receiving a visionUnknown author – Miniature from the Rupertsberg Codex of Liber Scivias. Information Hildegard of Bingen was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, and as a medical writer and practitioner […]
URC Daily Devotion Friday 28th April 2023 Helder Camara
Peters, Hans / Anefo © Dutch National Archives Information Helder Camara was born in the poor North East region of Brazil of an accountant father and primary school teaching mother. He entered the seminary in 1923 and was ordained in 1931 with a papal dispensation as he was below the normal ordination minimum age of […]
URC Daily Devotion 27th April 2023 St Columbanus
Introduction The period between the fall of Rome and the emergence of mediaeval European culture has come to be called the Dark Ages. For schoolchildren in Ireland it’s really where the national story begins. The gist of the mythic tale is expressed in a book with the unassuming title “How the Irish Saved Civilisation”, and […]
Worship Notes and Weekly Intercessions for 30th April
Worship Notes Dear Friends, Each week we gather in church and chapel, community centre or around a screen to worship. In worship we find God – in the music and silence, in the word read and proclaimed, in bread and wine and in each other. Faithfully, week after week, ministers, elders, and lay preachers lead […]
URC Daily Devotion Tuesday 25th April St Hild
Tuesday 25th April 2023 St Hild of Whitby, abbess (614 – 680) image from CatholicIreland.net Introduction Hild was an important figure in the Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England, she was abbess at several monasteries and recognised for the wisdom that drew kings to her for advice. The source of information about Hilda is the Ecclesiastical History […]
URC Daily Devotion Monday 24th April 2023 Deacon James
image from https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2018/10/saint-james-deacon.html Introduction There is a river in north Northumberland near Crookham called Pallinsburn, named after Paulinus, who was a key figure in Pope Gregory the Great’s mission to these islands in the late 6th century, before the monastic community on Holy Island had been conceived. Working northwards from Canterbury, the Gregorian mission reached […]
Sunday Worship 23 April 2023
Sunday Worship from the United Reformed Churchfor Sunday 23 April Today’s service is led by the Revd Dr Michael Hopkins. Welcome & Call to Worship Whoever you are, wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here. Welcome to this service from the United Reformed Church. My name is Michael Hopkins, I’m minister of group of […]