Leith Hill Benefice
Four Churches, One CommunityCovid-19 Support (5-Jul-20)
In quietness and trust is your strength Isaiah 30 v 15
We often have a mental picture of what strength is. We know it not just a physical thing it relates to character as well. As I lay on my bed I feel particularly weak and feeble this morning. But I can rationalise that. When I'm in the midst of a busy week physical and mental strength just fade as time goes by. That is because over the years I have taught myself to rely on me, my strength and any abilities I may have. Here the Bible reminds us that rushing around and relying on oneself is not the best way forward for the people of God. A quiet approach and trust in God's providence is where we will find strength. As someone else said in these reflections quoting also from Isaiah "those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength". May that be true for us today.
Dear Loving God, by your grace may we learn the ways of quietness and trust in order that we may be strong in You. Amen
Rev Tony Berry, 27th July 2020
St James' is now open for private worhip on Wednesdays from 2pm to 5pm - look at the Diary here for formal services. You can see here some thoughts, prayers and sermons that would have been heard at Saint James' and other Benefice churches, including all the weekly thoughts that you see here.
Early in the 2020 coronavirus outbreak, the Abinger & Coldharbour Parish News was published electronically. It is now published physically and distributed within the parishes. Electronic versions are available here as a PDF version.
See the Covid-19 page for the latest on the impact of Covid-19 on the parish, and where to look for help (supplies, support, etc.).
Press Ctrl+F5 to refresh this page so you see the latest. See Site Map for all the information available on this site (parish registers, history, pictures, music etc.). Click on the address header to see a random page.
Four Churches, One CommunityCovid-19 Support (5-Jul-20)
As you will gather as you browse over these pages, we are a church with a long history and, as a community, Abinger goes back even further. Even if we take the Domesday Book as a start point, we have been a Christian worshipping community for a very long time. So, we are very proud of our church building. It has had a very chequered history, not least in the 20th Century. But now we are doing our best to meet the challenges of the 21st both for our building and church community.
Upcoming Services
in Abinger Common
Worship, praise, prayer and the reading of God's word are all part of our regular Sunday services, and if you are ever passing and would like to join us, we'd love to see you and make you feel welcome. But we don't believe that our church building any more than our faith, is just for Sundays. We are always looking for ways which enable the building to be a community resource during the week. We use the church for a Café morning on Wednesdays in term time from 8.30am until 10.00am. We also believe in developing our understanding of the Christian faith, so we meet in small groups to study what practical things the Bible has to say about living out the Christian faith in today's world.
Recent Letters
from the Rector
Again, if you would like to join us you are more than welcome; you should be able to find the dates somewhere on the website, failing that then do by all means get in touch. Thank you for visiting the website; I hope you find it helpful, informative and enjoyable, and we look forward to giving you more than a virtual welcome when you visit us for real!
Tony Berry, Rector
For more details of music in (sung) services, see the Services page.
If you have appropriate rights, click the +GoogleCalendar icon above to edit calendar entries. See Diary page for larger format.
For any information not shown in these pages, or to enquire about Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals, contact the Parish Office here.