In 2026, a new benefice of seven parishes will be formed out of our Benefice, the Benefice of Huish Episcopi et al and the parish of Drayton. We are praying for a new Rector to lead us in worship and carry the church out into our communities.The seven parishes have been working harmoniously together for the past two years. You will have an associate priest and two readers to assist you in your mission. There is a comfortable modern rectory in Curry Rivel.We pray that you will answer God's callFull details of the vacancy are on the Diocesan websiteThe Benefice profile can be downloaded here.
The United Benefice of Curry Rivel, Fivehead and Swell Welcome to our Benefice. Below are the services and other gatherings for August 2026. For more information, please contact our Associate Minister Revd. Scott Patterson at scottr.patterson@btinternet.com AugustSunday 2nd August10.00 – Parish Communion Service (CW) + refreshments Fivehead 6.00pm – Evening Prayer Curry RivelSunday 9th August 10.00 – United Benefice Communion service + refreshments SwellTuesday 11h August10.00 – 12.00 – Craft & Coffee, Old School Room Curry RivelSunday 16th August10.00 – United Benefice Communion Service + refreshments Curry RivelSunday 23rd August10.00 – United Benefice Communion Service + refreshments Fivehead 6.00pm – Prayer Book Evensong (BCP) SwellSunday 30th August10.30 – Joint Extended Benefice Communion Service + refreshments Curry Rivel
(August 2026 Curry Rivel News)The Transfiguration of Jesus It’s an unusual story. One day, Jesus is with three disciples on a high mountain in Galilee, when His appearance dramatically changes. Also, Moses and Elijah suddenly appear, and from a cloud comes the voice of God - ‘What is this all about?’ This event was witnessed by James, Peter, and John, who were close friends of Jesus. In the future, they were to become prominent leaders in the Early Church. They needed to see something special that would help them remember Jesus in the difficult years ahead. They had a glimpse of Christ in His divine glory. His face shone like the sun and His clothes turned white as light. While this was an extraordinary sight for the disciples, it served to encourage Jesus who once had glory and majesty in Heaven. One day He would have it again. But firstly, He had to fulfil His mission: to suffer on the cross and die. Why were Moses and Elijah standing with Jesus? Moses was the giver of the Law and Elijah represented all the prophets. They had pointed people to the promised Messiah. Jesus was about to complete God’s plan of salvation. God’s voice was heard to remind Peter there was no need to build shelters. They were not going to stay on the mountain. God spoke to get the disciples to fix their attention of Jesus. The wonder of the Transfiguration was a short interlude before Jesus had to return to His work and subsequent death on the cross. This story is a reminder that our times of spiritual blessing have to be followed by down-to-earth commitments and responsibilities. In the same way that Jesus gave His friends a glimpse of His awesome glory, to help them face challenging and traumatic times ahead, our special times in His presence are provided to encourage us and equip us for the trials we may have to face. Our journey through life may sometimes rise to the peaks but we can’t stay on a ‘high’ all the time – no matter how much we want it! We have to descend to face everyday challenges if we are to fulfil our calling in Christ. From our mountain-top experiences we all need to find a balance between times alone with God and serving Him in the company of others From: The Parish Pump (June 2026 Curry Rivel News)Jacob, the man who encountered the holiness of GodLester Amann considers the man who is our ‘spiritual father’… Have you ever had a dramatic turning point in your life? Was there an incident, a meeting or something you saw or read which profoundly changed you? The Old Testament character Jacob had a dream, which changed his life. One night, in the region of Luz, a Canaanite city, Jacob had a dream. He saw a ladder, on which were angels, linking earth with heaven. The dream revealed to him that God is continually connected with this world. When Jacob woke up, he knew he was in a special place. He became a changed man and changed the place name from Luz to Bethel, which means House of God. Many years later Jacob changed his name from Jacob to Israel. Bethel became a holy place. How might we define a holy place? We could say it’s a place where God has touched earth with something of heaven e.g. with a miracle or a vision. Venues such as Lourdes (France), Lindisfarne (England), St Peter’s in Rome or Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre are considered Holy Places. The Garden of Gethsemane was a special place for Jesus.Jacob certainly wasn’t faultless or impeccable. His encounter with God didn’t completely change the way he behaved, but it gave him a fresh perspective on life and where he fitted into God’s plans. Like Jacob we too may encounter God at a particular time and grow slowly with God and His plans for us. God doesn’t wait until we are perfect before He can use us. Sometimes we too may need a Holy Place to make or to return to, to help us remember we are in God’s hands. Dear God, in my busy life, find for me a place where I can be still; a place to meet with You. I am weak and need your strength for each situation. Give me a holy place where I know your arms are embracing me, always safe and secure. Amen. From: The Parish Pump (February 2026 Curry Rivel News)MiraclesBy Dr Ruth M Bancewicz, Church Engagement Director at The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion in Cambridge. She writes on the positive relationship between Science and Christian faith. We live in a world where we can expect the sun to rise tomorrow and the milk to pour out of the bottle when we tilt it over our cereal. But for God, the properties of matter and the biological processes that we know and read about in text-books are simply the usual ways He works. If He chooses to do something unexpected to demonstrate something about His character, His relationship with us, and His purposes, then He will. A group of 14 UK-based science Professors wrote to the Times in 1984, saying that “We gladly accept the Virgin Birth, the gospel miracles, and the Resurrection of Christ as historical events. We know that we are representative of many other scientists who are also Christians standing in the historical tradition of the churches.” For the non-believer, I would suggest a thought experiment: if God exists, why should He be bound by the same laws of physics as us? Professor Christine Done is an Astrophysicist at the University of Durham. In the book True Scientists, True Faith’ (Monarch, 2014) she writes: “Even when I was an atheist I used to get cross at discussions…on how all Jesus’s miracles could be physically explained. To me, once you have believed in a God, a supernatural being, then it’s obvious that supernatural stuff could happen, since any God who can make the physical universe and its laws can presumably suspend those laws in any time and way He chooses.” There are also miracles which appear to be a case of wonderful timing. The wind blew all night and the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry land, for example. The biblical writers don’t seem especially interested in distinguishing between wonders that seem to break the usual rules of how things happen and those that don’t. Many in Jesus’ audiences were not won over by His wonders. Most of the people in the crowds who ate the food He produced out of nowhere were quite happy to turn on Him when the religious authorities decided He was dangerous. We can only make sense of something unexpected, such as an answer to prayer for healing, in the context of a growing relationship with God. The exciting task for a Christian is to explain what this interaction looks like, and to demonstrate what ‘your kingdom come’ looks like in our communities. God works through us in words, works and wonders. From: The Parish Pump (January 2026 Curry Rivel News)Epiphany!By the Revd Roy Shaw, a retired but active priest in the diocese of York, where he is a spiritual director. You probably know from tales of Greek mythology that gods and goddesses would often appear out of nowhere in ancient Greece to beguile or trick mortals. The word for this in everyday Greek was ‘epiphany’; - the appearance or manifestation of a divine being on earth to humans. For Christians Epiphany is the season after the 12 days of Christmas. Our Epiphany Bible readings tell of the ‘manifestation’ of Jesus to a wider audience than those in the Christmas stories. We mark this in the first instance by placing the Wise Men in the crib scene; they have now arrived to see the consummation of their hopes and travels in the infant Jesus. And our Epiphany readings usually continue through the season with Jesus’ baptism; John the Baptist’s witness to Christ; Jesus’ family attempting to take charge of Him because of His popularity with the crowds; and the Presentation in the Temple. In all these, something of divine glory is being made manifest. In more common parlance today, an epiphany means a sudden or blinding realisation (‘I had a sudden epiphany that John was going to marry Celia’). That modern meaning is helpful; ‘Gosh, epiphanies can be part of our Christian experience!’ Remember that occasion we were so conscious of God’s love holding us? Or the time we knew the words we used to that stranger were infused with a grace we didn’t know we had? These and similar experiences which we’ve probably all had can be seen as our epiphanies- a time when God was made manifest to us (and possibly through us) in a distinct w Have you ever thought of those sorts of experiences as an epiphany? Not ring-fenced to a particular time of year, but part of our everyday experience, as we seek to live out our baptism promises, and follow Jesus through the ups and downs, the humdrum and the extraordinary, the joys and sorrows of the everyday. The promise and reality of Christmas is ‘Emmanuel-God with us’. And the reality of Epiphany is that God IS with us, in the everyday realisation of how great God is, how much God loves us, and how God pours upon us grace after grace after grace. May we have many epiphanies in 2026, and may they all bring us closer to the God who has chosen in His love to reveal Himself to us From: The Parish Pump
