August 2024 – Church News from Mereworth, Wateringbury & West Peckham
‘Time to Remember’ service: Sunday 22nd September
I thought I’d take the opportunity this month to highlight the ‘Time to Remember’ service which will be on Sunday the 22nd of September at 14:30 in St John the Baptist’s Church, Wateringbury. The Pastoral Team there have come up with the idea of offering a service in church for those living with the loss of loved ones. Families who have come to us for funerals and the internment of loved one’s ashes over the last three and a half years have been invited. Although invitations have been sent to them the service is for any who would appreciate the opportunity to come along to church and remember those that have passed away. I’ll be leading the service along with Revd Jim Brown and LLM Betty Earl.
The aim is to give those that come space for reflection and the opportunity to give thanks for the life of the one they have lost. There will be an opportunity to light a candle in memory of that person and listen to readings and, if they wish, join in with the prayers and hymns. All will be followed by refreshments after the service.
But others who are not mourning can come. Perhaps you could attend so as to support those that are struggling with bereavement and join with those of us who will be praying for them. Furthermore, people are welcome to come who want to take the opportunity to reflect on their own mortality. That sounds a bit morbid but it makes sense because death is something we can be sure of in life! Why not take time to remember that and reflect on it? We spend time preparing for all sorts of things in life; why not the one thing you can be sure you will have to face?
C.S. Lewis famously wrote that ‘suffering is God’s megaphone to a deaf world’; I think death is as well. I know it’s good for me to be woken up to the pain and sorrow that other people feel. Furthermore, we have to face something which I say at every funeral ‘in the midst of life we are in death.’
And to do all this in church is in itself a great reminder of something else. It is a reminder of The Faith held dear and which sustained the hopes of generations of British people ever since the Gospel of Christ came to this land some 1,800 years ago.
Perhaps it’s time you remembered; and perhaps our Time to Remember service will be a good place to do it. You will be very welcome to attend.
Revd Gary Townsend
Rector of Mereworth, Wateringbury and West Peckham.
01622 813178
mwwpchurches.org
