So how is it coming along?  All that present buying, card writing and recipe planning?  Did you buy your wrapping paper in the sales last Christmas (we did!), or will you still be rushing around on Christmas Eve?  Christmas, like many things in life, needs forward planning.  We know it’s coming, so we make preparations to get ourselves ready for the big…

Dear Friends, This is a very important week for our church and benefice.  Not only have we launched the financial appeal for the building project (St Nicholas Church Fundraising Letter November 2018), but by the end of the week we should have a good idea about the location and pattern of our services and activities during the 6 months or so we…

As I write there is turbulence in Westminster; our Prime Minister is fighting for her political life as cabinet ministers resign, and MPs and pundits rage against the deal for being too harsh, too weak, too vague or too specific.  I suspect it’s not her deal they are angry about, but any deal.  They are like the people of Jesus’ day who…

I found out this week that there are 14 men who fought and died in the 1st World War buried in our graveyard.  14, out of 100’s from Stevenage and over 15 million worldwide, whose bodies are in France, Belgium or buried on far-flung shores.  Add the number killed in conflicts in the 20th century and you reach around 100 million.  The…

Last week brought a wonderful moment for those of us worried about religious liberty in the UK as the Asher family (the bakers) from Northern Ireland, were cleared of discrimination after refusing to decorate a cake with the slogan “support gay marriage.” If you saw any of the interviews the family gave afterwards, I’m sure, like me, you would have been impressed…