Important Notice:

Dawn Saunders the Benefice Administrator has changed her working structure. She is now available in the Benefice Office on Mondays from 1pm - 5pm and Tuesdays to Fridays from 9am - 5pm. These hours will remain the same during the School holidays.

Summer Teas in Church

Summer Teas in Church
Throughout May until the end of September
St. Michael’s Blewbury every Sunday from 3-5pm.
Tea/coffee/squash (refillable) and a slice of cake is only £1.50.
Do drop in for a sit-down and a chat – everyone is most welcome

Annual Teddy Bears Picnic

THE CHURN Mothers Union
August 4th at 12 noon in the garden of Charmian Marples, Badgers Holt, South Street, Blewbury
Please bring a rug/chair and a picnic plus teddy bear. We welcome all children and any young mums, dads, friends, grandparents and carers. Soft drinks and ice-creams will be provided. If it rains we shall move inside the house – it may be a bit cramped but we shall manage and have fun together. See you there!

New prayer initiatives in the Benefice

Following on from the Lent Course, Exploring Prayer, some of us have decided that we would like to meet regularly to share some corporate silent prayer. Two prayer events have started - All are Welcome
"Christ in Quiet"
Monthly contemplative prayer services will be held in the churches across the benefice on the last Saturday morning of each month. The next one will be held at Blewbury Church on Saturday 26th June.
“Exploring Silence”
We shall meet each week on Tuesdays at 6pm (after Evening Prayer) in Upton Church for a period of silence preceded by some simple teaching about contemplative prayer; the whole session should last no longer than 45 minutes. If you want to know more speak to Revd Louise or Fr Anthony.

Churn Benefice Website

The website now includes a Diary of events. If you have any church events to be included please send details to Dawn in the Office. Also please do send reports and pictures of events that have taken place in our churches to Dawn to be included on our events page.

Rectors Reflections

The Demand of Love

Well, the Summer is upon us, and the Wedding Season is in full flow. In churches up and down the land, couples are making their wedding vows to each other, in the presence of God and His people.
In the modern marriage service, husband and wife promise to love, comfort, honour and protect each other. The word “protect” in the modern service replaces the word”keep” , which appeared in the old service; this was a wise change, as for many people nowadays the word “keep” has lost its connection with the concept of protection. If you were to describe someone today as a “kept” man or a “kept”woman, you would be very unlikely to mean that they were being kept safe from danger, lovingly protected by their other half!
The idea of protection is an important ingredient in all the different things that go to make up what we mean when we use the word “love”. Nowadays, we tend to be rightly cautious about intervening in other people’s lives, even if our sole wish is to protect them from what we see to be a real danger to their well-being. Perhaps we are frightened that if we do get involed, we will simply makes things worse, or even end up being sued! Sometimes we might be painfully aware of how little we know about a particular situation , and take the view that in the face of such limited knowledge it would be best simply to do nothing. Sometimes, of course, we’re simply too busy to get involved, and soothe our conscience by telling ourselves that the person in question has to “take responsibilty” for their own lives.
Of course, all this is true enough. But there are times and situations when we do need to intervene directly in the lives of those we love, in order to protect them from harm. It could be that they are living their life in a way which is profoundly destructive, not only for themselves but also for those who love them. They might be in a situation full of danger, of which they themselves are blissfully unaware.
I’m not suggesting it is always easy to protect someone we love from harm; it is often exceptionally difficult, and sometimes impossible. We will, of course, make mistakes, and sometimes things won’t work out quite as we had hoped. But there are times and situations when we will need to intervene to protect someone we love. It is the demand of love. Fr Jason

Churn Youth Group

Sunday 18th July – Cancelled
It is with regret that we have cancelled the Youth Group session in July. We look forward to seeing you all again in September. Have a great Holiday!

Bible Study Group

This group meets at the Benefice Centre on Wednesday evenings at 7.45pm, everyone is welcome to this informal group (as and when able) for study and discussion.