from Rev Wes Hampton

When we move to a new town or area, there are many things to learn.  Perhaps the most obvious and pressing is the need to find out where places are, and how to get to them.  While it seems obvious to everyone else how to get from the library to the supermarket, or the railway station to the medical centre, the recently arrived may begin by working out how such places relate to their new home, and later be surprised to learn how they relate to one another.

Somehow, we manage all this, thanks in part to on-line street maps which know all about roadworks and one-way systems, and often thanks to the wisdom shared by those who know through their own experience.  When we add in market days and special occasions in the local calendar, we might eventually get to know most of the things that people seem to assume we all know intuitively.

The experience of entering into the unknown, however, strikes more than just those who have moved house.  Have you ever been to church while on holiday, and discovered that everyone in the congregation except you knows what to do?  We look around nervously, checking that we are standing/sitting/kneeling at the same time as everyone else, and continually wonder what happens next.

If congregational worship can seem so foreign to us, how much more difficult must it be for people to understand us when we talk about our relationship with God.  Our starting point is so different to that of many others, that we may struggle to make sense.  Yet we must try, for the greatest gift that we have to share is that encounter with the living God which inspires and enlivens us.  Some people have told me what a wonderful place Wokingham is, and I shall get to know it better.  How much more eagerly, therefore, should we be to tell others what a wonderful thing it is to know the love of God.

Wes Hampton

A Reflection from John Williams

Psalm 124 is encouraging to read.  It begins with the question “What if the Lord had not been on our side?”  The writer goes on to talk of the possibility of his people being carried away by floods. or swallowed by their enemies.  That was a real possibility – there were hostile nations all round - Syria, Assyria, Egypt and Philistines. Of course, these are not things that happen often in our experience.  But floods, extreme heatwaves and wildfires are becoming more and more common due to climate change, and increasingly we hear of conflicts all over the world.  We are thankful that we live in a safe and quiet country but there is so often news of accidents or people being killed.

Paul, in Romans, looks at it from another angle: “If God is for us, who can be against us?”  He goes on to say that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ: trouble, hardship, persecution, danger or death.”  Some of these can come closer to home.

Commenting on Psalm 124 in “Signposts” Derek Tidball brings it all down-to-earth saying: “God is not only on our side when we face spiritual temptation or attack, but equally when the car breaks down, the washing machine leaks, the computer freezes, the motorway is blocked and the roof caves in. …. He is on our side in the ordinary frustrations of living.”

In large things or small, He is there for us.  And who is He?  As the psalm ends: “Our help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth”.  What better helper can we have?

A final thought; could this be a practical everyday definition of faith; knowing that the Lord is on our side in everything.  It certainly brings peace of mind.

John Williams

from Rev Wes Hampton

It is good to be here with you, and to begin a ministry with the Blackwater Valley Circuit and, in particular, the churches at Wokingham, Woosehill, and Church at the Pines.  Thank you for your prayers in the lead up to our coming, and for all the practical ways in which you have been preparing for this new chapter in the life of these churches.

Some of you were able to attend the Welcome Service on 1 September, when the sense of a new beginning was evident in a number of ways.  The expressions of welcome came from within the Methodist Church, and from ecumenical colleagues.  These included Fr Sam Tanna-Korn and Rev Cara Smart, who had themselves been inducted and licensed into their new roles just a few days earlier, and we continue to pray for them.

Additionally, the service included the inauguration of our new circuit, as both the ministers and the Circuit Stewards were presented and given the assurance of support from the congregation.  As if that wasn’t enough, our preacher was Rev Conrad Hicks, who was in his very first day as the new Chair of the South East District.  At every turn, the service proclaimed that something new is happening.

At the same time, we were reminded of what has already happened, and the mission and reorganizations of the past.  If you find a two-pound coin in your pocket, and it bears the inscription “Standing on the shoulders of giants”, you may get a sense of where we are and how we should think of all this ‘newness’.  We have not begun a new story but are turning a page together.

All of this, as our prayers and hymns reminded us, is possible only in the power of God who has called us.  We look forward with confidence because we have known God’s care and direction bringing us to this point.  In Joseph Hart’s well-loved words

we’ll praise him for all that is past,

and trust him for all that’s to come.

Wes Hampton

A 'Reflection' from Rosi MorganBarry

Hymn Book Quiz

(most answers can be found by searching the hymn book!)

How many hymns are there in Singing the Faith?

What is the first line of the first hymn in the hymn book?

What is the first line of the last hymn?

What hymn book did we use in the Methodist Church before STF?

When was STF first published?

There are 3 main sections in STF – what are they?

Name 2 of the most prolific hymn writers.