Welcome to Earley St Nicolas
Open to God, Open to One Another, Open to the Community
Thoughts For This Week
See things in a new way
Dear Friends, Occasionally you see things in a new way. Earlier in the year a couple of our congregation attended a guest speaker event for Café Théologique, the public theology series I have been hosting for over a decade in Reading. The guest was speaking about the...
Gaudete Sunday
Dear Friends, This week we are celebrating Gaudete Sunday, a day of joy within the more thoughtful season of Advent - "gaudete" is Latin for "Rejoice!". We will light a pink (rose) candle on the Advent wreath and our readings are focused on the joy and hope in...
Feast of St Nicolas
Dear Friends, As we journey through the days of Advent, many of you as I am finding, are being challenged by all the different messages that are daily being shared with us. Mine started last Monday when I joined a gathering at Abbeyfield, the care home where my...
Advent Pit Stops
Dear Friends,I can’t quite believe Advent starts this Sunday. The countdown to Christmas has started. The pace is picking up. So much to do! Bring it on!...but hang on a minute, I’m already busy, how can I fit more in? Even my to do lists, have lists of their own....
Oasis
Dear Friends,This past week I was assisting Julia for a REinspired session with year 3 children from Loddon school. Shockingly, they were already looking at the Christmas story. Despite my initial grumpiness about rushing into Christmas before we had even got to...
COP30
Dear Friends, You may have heard in the news that the UN climate talks, COP30, are taking place in Belém, Brazil. This Sunday we will be lighting our eco candle and saying a prayer for COP30 at the start of our service. The words of the prayer are given below. This...
Remembering
Dear Friends,Throughout the Church’s year we are remembering. So in this year we have remembered the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed which expresses the faith in which we live our Christian lives. At our Festivals we remember Christ’s birth at Christmas and his...
Blessed!
Dear Friends, On 1 August I reflected on the theme of ‘investment’ with you, based on the parable of the rich fool. I pondered what this looked like through the lens of our collaborative family fun mornings ‘Summer Vibes’ with Louise from Oasis. At that first summer...
Awestruck!
Dear Friends, I’ve been off on my travels again, this time by train around France and Spain. It was a really good trip and the highlight for me was the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) in Barcelona. Do have a look at the website if you’ve not see it...