We have a new address for our benefice website: www.achurchnearyou.com/Shiplake-Dunsden-HarpsdenAlthough anyone who types that in will actually be automatically redirected to (these) our current pages https://www.achurchnearyou.com/benefice/27-442AP/ (so that address can still be used too) but the new address is much clearer and easier to share and remember. If there is anything you want to see on the website, or anything you spot that is out of date, please do let me know by email on webeditor.sdh@gmail.comWe have now changed the administrator on the Facebook page and are updating it occasionally, but this website and the weekly Benefice Newsletter are the most up to date places for news. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/shiplakedunsdenharpsdenInvestigation has revealed that the old website https://www.shiplakedunsdenharpsden.org.uk/index_php.html had previously been closed down but it seems the name has been re-registered and some of the old content cloned. It is causing confusion so please tell people the correct website address and if you want the full story or have any ideas on how to get it closed down, please get in touch. Many thanks and best wishesVic Email: webeditor.sdh@gmail.com
Church Lane repairThe repair is now scheduled for July! Access to the church and college will not be permitted unless it is for an emergency or by foot but any work is overnight . Access for residents only will be provided but whilst they are working they will ask them to avoid the use of the lane if at all possible. They will also place a road closure on the A4155 Reading road for the purpose of storing delivery vehicles, machinery and are possibly looking at completing some additional work on this road at the same time. Whilst they appreciate that this will be inconvenient for residents, a full signed diversion will be in place for the two or three overnight shifts. They will also be putting out advanced signage two weeks before the works and will also be writing to everyone concerned to provide more information about the works, timing etc.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has shared a prayer for the Middle East.Let us pray for God’s mercy and protection for all the people of the Middle East.Please pray especially for Archbishop Hosam and the whole Episcopal/Anglican Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, including the Diocese of Iran.Anglican churches are caught up in this conflict in countries across the region. As they continue to follow Christ’s call to be peacemakers, may they be strengthened in the face of yet more trial.Around the Anglican Communion, let us hear and join this call to urgent prayer. May God protect the innocent from this violence and destruction, and may all parties uphold international law and return to negotiations.And for our Anglican sisters and brothers across the region: may God’s peace continue to guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.AmenArchbishop Sarah Mullally
We have just celebrated God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ promise, recorded in John 14:18 ‘I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.’Within a day I received this email message from 2 different companies I buy from -We understand that Father's Day can be a sensitive time for some. If you would prefer to not receive Father's Day emails from us, just let us know and we'll take care of it.I know Father’s day is not a religious festival like Mothering Sunday but Christians worship God who Jesus described as Abba, Our Father.The Aramaic root Abba is used to address God directly in certain solemn, ancient pre-Christian prayers. Abba suggested a deep, respectful, and personal relationship with the divine. In giving us the Lord’s Prayer with its opening call to ‘Our Father’ we are reminded that, by grace and through Jesus, we are adopted into God’s family as sons and daughters.Throughout the world, as Christian brothers and sisters, we have been praying between Ascension and Pentecost ‘Thy Kingdom Come’. The petition is that others may know Jesus, His kingdom and God as creator, divine source of life. Genesis describes men and women, humanity, as is in the image of creator God.As disciples of Jesus we are commissioned to share news of God and His Kingdom not to create a kingdom of God based on our experiences of human behaviour. We worship the perfect parent not a gender based being. We are also commanded to share the gospel in and for every generation which does mean we have to know the society we are seeking to reach out to.St Paul described many ways he could associate with those around him with an understanding of their situations – he connected as a zealous Jew, an educated Pharisee, a persecutor of Christians, a convert to Christ, a tentmaker and missionary, a Roman citizen and a prisoner, an intellectual capable of debate using Greek philosophical concepts, and knowing what it was to live with ‘a thorn in the flesh.’Jesus associated and connected with those around him by living a life of loving self-sacrifice. He showed empathy and compassion with generous grace, acceptance and unconditional love. This was his consistency to all and in all places - always putting God first. In doing this, Jesus met the needs that underpin the sensitivity that my email message suggests – individuals who mourn their fathers, fathers who mourn their children, men who would love to be fathers, fathers and families estranged, fathers feeling mental pressures especially when stereotyping conflicts with their normal. Not all fathers love football!That email both made me sad that it was necessary and yet I am thankful it challenged complacency. It alerted me to the complex needs of all parents, the realities many live with - the changing nature of society.And it is today’s society we are called to serve.Let’s be culturally different to the tone of the email. Let’s not need one day to say thank you to our father figures. Let’s meet men and women where they are in life. Let’s be confident in how Jesus revealed Our Father’s love for each and every one with no gender questions.May every day be one where Abba’s presence guides and blesses us.Shalom ~ Pam <><
