Welcome to Wokingham Methodist Church

We are now part of the Blackwater Valley Methodist Circuit, formed by the merger of our previous circuit, the Berkshire Surrey Borders Circuit, with the circuit to the south of us, the Hants-Surrey Border Circuit, effective from 1 September 2025.

Our previous minister, Revd Catherine Bowstead, has retired.  We welcome her replacement Rev Wes Hampton, from 1 September 2025.

Starting on Sunday 21^st September, evening service (with Holy Communion) will resume on the third Sunday of each month at the new time of 6.15 pm (new time chosen so you can park in the Rose Street car park without having to pay both an afternoon fee and an evening fee).

Future worship and recorded services are on this page.

10.30am Morning Worship - Mrs Kim Tame

from Kim Tame

Dear Friends,

As autumn rains start to make their appearance, and the acres of brown countryside start to show little patches of green, a verse from Isaiah seems relevant;

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth."  (Isaiah 55:11)

Ancient people knew well that their very lives depended on a reliable cycle of weather, and these days we can see the result of destructive human activities.  Rain that brings life can also be wild and stormy, bringing turmoil and destruction. We take it for granted at a price.

Biblical metaphors can still remind us that God's activity may seem like the weather; unpredictable as the wind, life-giving like the rain; welcome refreshment after a time of heat and drought.  Yet God's work carries on with purpose.  It accomplishes what God wills, even when we can't understand it, at all levels of life; for our lives as much as the whole universe.

The weather is not personal; it is the same for the just and the unjust.  Yet this verse is encouragement; what we do is not measured by visible results.  We are the sowers, not the controllers of the harvest.  The rain does its work, and seeds - even those that have lain dormant - will grow.  Trees and grass recover from drought.  And seeds we sow now - literal and metaphorical - have their future fulfilment.  Seeds of hope, grace, encouragement, kindness and love will bear fruit in their own time.

In this Sunday's service, we will be thinking about Jesus' parable of the unforgiving debtor.

from Rev Wes Hampton

Dear Friends,

I am writing on the feast day of St Gregory the Great.  Gregory is remembered as the pope who sent St Augustine to reintroduce Christianity to the southern part of Britain.  We can leave the church history lesson for now, and take a look at one event from Gregory’s life.

While still a monk, Gregory left Rome intending to cross the Channel as a missionary.  However, while he and his companions had paused to eat and rest, a locust landed on the bible that Gregory was reading.  “Look at the locust” said Gregory, but he wondered if it might be a sign from God.  He decided that the Latin word “locusta” sounded like “loco sta”, which means “stay in place”, so he waited.  In less than an hour a messenger arrived from the pope calling him back to be the ambassador to the imperial court at Constantinople.

We might think it very odd to regard a single locust as a sign from God, but this story presents Gregory as someone who is attentive to God.  Are we listening out for what God is saying to us?  Sometimes we need to be open to the possibility that God is speaking to us, and ready to hear no matter what method God chooses.  If you have ever thought that God does not have anything to say to you, or that God would only communicate in a 'proper' way, look at the locust.

Sometimes we think that we have a monopoly on divine wisdom: we hear a suggestion but doubt that anything good can come from that source.  We tell ourselves that we have good reason, even when we only have a thinly-veiled prejudice.  Yet the good may come from the most unexpected quarter, if only we will allow ourselves to see it.

As our new Methodist year begins, and as we give thanks for the ministry of St. Gregory, let us listen for what God is saying, whatever channel God uses.  And look out for the locust!

Wes

Some previous Pastoral Letters are available here.