Speakers: Lemn Sissay

PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE IN DATE FROM 13th Nov to 2nd Oct
Lemn Sissay, inspirational poet, performer, writer and broadcaster, explores the courage to discover one’s true identity, to speak truth to power, and what it means to celebrate your own creativity and unique poetic voice.

St Martin in the Fields welcome our congregation to join each lecture. Please make your own arrangements to watch each talk in turn. We will assemble on the St James Church Website online Zoom site after the live lectures end for a discussion which will end by 9pm.

St Martins say they are “Very happy you want [St James Riding Mill] to Live stream our lecture series. As you will see tickets are by donation or free. Please tell your members they can book free online tickets as well as tickets which include an online donation of £10 - they can decide. There is limitless availability to free tickets they just need to ticket that box”

Often a reflective service of Holy Communion in contemporary language, gathered around the Lord's Table in the nave of our beautiful church. We sometimes hold alternative services for special occasions, or simply to vary our worship. We meet together afterwards in the Church Cottage next door for coffee.

A time of reflection and silent prayer led by different members of our congregations; ending with a short time of shared prayer using the Northumbria Community's version of Compline. Please check the current Parish Magazine to see whether we are online or in church.

A reflective, said service following the Church of England's traditional pattern, in contemporary language. A short talk is normally included in this service.

This is our main Sunday worship service. It may be a Service of the Word, or Holy Communion - please refer to our website Calendar page for the latest details.

UPDATED TIME AGAIN IN OCTOBER 2023: As in September we will start at 7.30pm, the better to accommodate those involved with family meals.

We come together in Riding Mill to listen, to pray and to sing reflectively, in the Taizé Community style.
The community in France includes people and traditions from around the world, with an emphasis on youth. The music and prayers are sung in many languages, and include chants from the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions. The music emphasizes simple phrases, usually lines from Psalms or other pieces of Scripture, repeated and sometimes also sung in canon. You can find out more about the ecumenical Taizé community and their style of worship at www.taize.fr/en.
Come early to help set up the candles...

(Image by Surfnico - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25243958)

Speakers: Ken Loach

‘The duty of a film director is to focus more on the soul of the spectator.’

Ken Loach discusses some of the transformative films he has made and why he wanted to make them, and his method of telling the stories of those who are seldom heard.

St Martin in the Fields welcome our congregation to join each lecture. Please make your own arrangements to watch each talk in turn. We will assemble on the St James Church Website online Zoom site after the live lectures end for a discussion which will end by 9pm.

St Martins say they are “Very happy you want [St James Riding Mill] to Live stream our lecture series. As you will see tickets are by donation or free. Please tell your members they can book free online tickets as well as tickets which include an online donation of £10 - they can decide. There is limitless availability to free tickets they just need to ticket that box”

Speakers: Rory Stewart

Rory Stewart’s podcast The Rest is Politics with Alastair Campbell has explored the art of disagreeing agreeably and offered captivating insight and detailed discussion of an insider’s view of politics both at home and across the world. Rory Stewart joins us in person to tell us where he stands and to answer our questions.

St Martin in the Fields welcome our congregation to join each lecture. Please make your own arrangements to watch each talk in turn. We will assemble on the St James Church Website online Zoom site after the live lectures end for a discussion which will end by 9pm.

St Martins say they are “Very happy you want [St James Riding Mill] to Live stream our lecture series. As you will see tickets are by donation or free. Please tell your members they can book free online tickets as well as tickets which include an online donation of £10 - they can decide. There is limitless availability to free tickets they just need to ticket that box”

Speakers: Sam Wells

Known as one of the most creative theologians writing today, Sam Wells has become most associated with the practice of being with, as distinguished from three other ways of relating – working for, working with and being for. In a dozen books published over the last 12 years he explores the full implications of the notion of being with in relation to mission, ethics, pastoral care and social welfare. More recently he has explored the significance of this notion for the core tenets of Christian theology – God’s purpose in creating, in coming in Jesus, and in bringing the universe’s story to an end. His ideas are challenging and transformative in their implications for conventional understandings of Christian doctrine and put him in tension with the majority of theologians through the centuries.

St Martin in the Fields welcome our congregation to join each lecture. Please make your own arrangements to watch each talk in turn. We will assemble on the St James Church Website online Zoom site after the live lectures end for a discussion which will end by 9pm.

St Martins say they are “Very happy you want [St James Riding Mill] to Live stream our lecture series. As you will see tickets are by donation or free. Please tell your members they can book free online tickets as well as tickets which include an online donation of £10 - they can decide. There is limitless availability to free tickets they just need to ticket that box”

Lots of churches in England have run what have been called ‘light parties’ where people celebrate All Saints by dressing up as well-known Christian saints (like St James!) as an alternative to ‘traditional’ Hallowe’en costumes.
We are doing this, too, in Riding Mill, to tell about Jesus and how he is like a Light that the darkness cannot overcome.
That’s why we will come out tonight in the Light, and why your sweets are in ‘Bags of Hope’.
Look for us in the new graveyard...
...Treats...
...no Tricks.

There will be silence, reflective music, prayer, and the chance to light a candle or simply remember. People are encouraged to drop in, and out, as they would like. If you miss this, and would have appreciated the time, might I suggest something? Our church building is open now, for all, every day. It serves as a place of Stillness, Calm and Quiet to reflect and remember. To curate the memories you shared with a soul friend. There is even the means to light a candle.

Speakers: Professor Catherine Sleeman, Rachel Clarke and Cariad Lloyd

One thing is sure – one day we will face our own mortality and the dying and death of those we love. But where do we stand in relation to death, and how do we approach the dying and loss of those we love?

St Martin in the Fields welcome our congregation to join each lecture. Please make your own arrangements to watch each talk in turn. We will assemble on the St James Church Website online Zoom site after the live lectures end for a discussion which will end by 9pm.

St Martins say they are “Very happy you want [St James Riding Mill] to Live stream our lecture series. As you will see tickets are by donation or free. Please tell your members they can book free online tickets as well as tickets which include an online donation of £10 - they can decide. There is limitless availability to free tickets they just need to ticket that box”

You are invited to join us for a time of silence and a prayer at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of eleventh month. This is less a service than an assembling to pay respect. Our main service will be on Remembrance Sunday.

Our services on Remembrance Sunday start with a civic service in Church at the normal time for Parish Worship, 10am. From there we shall move outside to join other churches and the whole Riding Mill community at the War Memorial in the New Graveyard in Church Lane. There, community wreaths will be laid before a time of silence at 11am.

Speakers: Amina J Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General of the UN

We invite you to join us for the Christian Aid Annual Lecture hosted by St Martin-in-the-Fields and delivered by the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, Amina J. Mohammed. Prior to her appointment, Ms Mohammed served as Minister of Environment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, where she steered the country’s programme on climate action and efforts to protect the natural environment.

St Martin in the Fields welcome our congregation to join each lecture. Please make your own arrangements to watch each talk in turn. We will assemble on the St James Church Website online Zoom site after the live lectures end for a discussion which will end by 9pm.

St Martins say they are “Very happy you want [St James Riding Mill] to Live stream our lecture series. As you will see tickets are by donation or free. Please tell your members they can book free online tickets as well as tickets which include an online donation of £10 - they can decide. There is limitless availability to free tickets they just need to ticket that box”