Dear Friends
As I write this, it is exactly a month after the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and such a lot seems to have happened. I want to publicly thank our amazing bell ringers who rang our church bells so many times from when the Queen died to her funeral which was very moving on many occasions. I also want to thank the wonderful people that enabled the church to be open on so many days during that period for people to come and be. I have seen a variety of viewing figures for our Queen’s funeral, and I imagine that many of us were among those viewing a historical and moving day on our screens.
At the funeral of our Queen, The Dean of Westminster talked about Westminster Abbey being a place where remembrance and hope are Sacred Duties. I would say this of every church. When we have the pleasure of welcoming children into church from our schools, one of the things that I always talk about is how we are a place of remembrance through our war memorial which sits in church and from which we read out the names of those who died in service of our village. Through being a place where we hold funerals for those who have died. Through being a place where people can come and be and light a candle. We hold all of this in the hope that we have through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and knowing that God is always with us through His Holy Spirit. Our hope is not in ourselves but in our God who loves us.
As we move into November, we enter a season on Remembrance with All Souls and All Saints at the start of the month and then on the 11th November at 11am we remember the time when fighting in the First World War ceased and to this day we still hold a 2 minute silence. On the 13th November which is Remembrance Sunday, our services will be 8:30am and 10:30am and then a Service of Remembrance at 3pm – all are welcome to join us at St. Peter’s for any of these services.
As we move into December on Sunday 4th December at 4pm, we will have a Blue Christmas Service for those that have been bereaved and want to remember loved ones. We will read out names of those whose funerals we have taken in the last year, but if you would like the name of your loved one added to this list, then please do let me know and it will be our privilege to read out the names of people who are so dear to you and to give you an opportunity for remembrance and to light a candle.
With every blessing for this month Rev Sarah
01733 248690/07498 230858 or yaxleyvicar@gmail.com