The Benefice of St. Bartholomew

Plough Sunday - 27th January 2019

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Written by Tony Gowers

Plough Sunday

A Celebration of the Agricultural Year

at

St Leonard's Church, Semley

on

Sunday 27th January 2019
at 7.00 pm

Speaker: Mr. Stuart Asbury

Mulled cider and victuals afterwards

All are most welcome

Come, all you jolly ploughmen, of courage stout and bold
That labour all the winter in stormy winds, and cold;
To clothe the fields with plenty, your farm-yards to renew,
To crown with contentment, behold the painful plough!

From the Curate - January 2019

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Written by The Rev'd Kevin Martin

It is very easy to think that Christmas is over once our Christmas and New Year annual leave comes to an end. The Spring Term starts at school and end of semester exams loom throughout January. No doubt a few of us are planning to make some New Year resolutions when 2019 rolls in.

As a Church we continue to celebrate Christmastide up to 6th of January and then we stay in the season as we keep Epiphanytide. During this season we continue to focus on the great gift that we celebrate at Christmas. The Gift of God becoming human. A gift which means we are invited to consider how we are going to live. Not just at Christmas or throughout the month of January when new year resolutions are fresh in our minds but every day of our lives.

During Epiphanytide we celebrate the arrival of the Magi who bring gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. Each gift making explicit different aspects of Jesus’ life and presence in the world. A life and presence that has an impact on humankind for all eternity. We are invited to respond to this gift of God. And our response can lead us into some very interesting and unexpected places and situations.

I am delighted to say that my response to God's invitation has led me to be Assistant Curate in the Benefice of St Bartholomew. I look forward to serving among you for about three years. Liz (my wife) and our family are looking forward to moving into Donhead St Andrew during the first part of the new year. We currently live in Shaftesbury and have lived there since September 2017. I was Assistant Curate in the Shaftesbury Team from September 2017 until December 2018 when I was licenced to the

Before moving to Shaftesbury we lived in Wimborne. I lived therefor 10 years whilst Liz has lived there most of her life. Liz still works in Wimborne for a couple of days a week and the rest of the week works in Guildford. At the moment Liz is completing a PhD so all in all is kept very busy. I am step-dad to four children but two of these are now at university so the house is now only a full one at holiday time. Our eldest lives in Southampton with her fiancé, having decided to settle there after completing her degree and we are delighted to be (step) grandparents to a very active granddaughter of 16 months!

When responding to God's invitation to know and love God we don't ever really know where God will lead us. It won't necessarily be an easy path as there are always the challenges that life throws at us. What we are assured of, however, is that when we accept God's invitation to follow him we will receive God's Grace and Blessing to be the best we can be and to be channels of God's love into our world. When I said yes to a vocation to the ordained ministry the whole family placed ourselves into God's hands not knowing where we would be called to live. We certainly feel blessed by God to now find ourselves in this Benefice.

I look forward to ministering among you and getting to know you in the months ahead. In the meantime I wish you a very happy New Year and God's blessing on your year ahead.

Kevin Martin

Prayer Cycle and Prayer of the Month - January 2019

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Written by The Rev'd June Lane

We continue to pray for all in need in our Benefice, so please do contact Julia (tel: 01747 829166), The Rev’d June (tel: 01747 828427), Theresa (tel: 101747 829188), or the Rev’d Richard (tel: 01747 830174) with any news or requests for Prayer.

Every single one of us has need of help in some aspect of our lives so let's begin 2019 acknowledging the need for help in our daily lives. This prayer of St. Anselm is a good one to use regularly.

O Lord our God,
teach our hearts this day
where and how to see you,
where and how to find you.
You have made and remade us,
and you have given us all the good things we possess,
and still we do not know you.
We have not yet done that for which we were created.
Teach us to seek you,
for we cannot seek you unless you teach us,
or find you unless you show yourself to us.
Let us seek you in our longing,
let us long for you in our seeking.
Let us find you by loving you,
Let us love you when we find you.  Amen