Items filtered by date: August 2025
I was born and brought up in Brighton, and moved to Solihull in the West Midlands in 1980, and then on to Lincolnshire in 2000. In 2009 I remarried, and moved onto my wife’s farm in Derbyshire in 2009. I have a son who lives in Bristol with his family, his wife Fiona and their children Isabella 3, and Charles (Charlie) born on 14th April this year. I have retired from paid employment and I keep myself busy by pottering around the family farm, getting more involved in church work and driving as a volunteer for Community Transport. Before I retired I worked formerly as an Internal Auditor and latterly in resident involvement making sure that tenants of Local Authorities and Housing Associations have a voice in the organisations that they are tenants of.
Black Sheep and Crooked Spires
Hilary Moore, is to be ordained as a Self-Supporting Pioneer deacon at a service in Ashbourne on Sunday July 5th. She will serve her curacy at the Order of the Black Sheep in Chesterfield with a secondary placement at St Mark’s and SS Augustine’s, also of Chesterfield.
Alan Griggs, 43 is to be a self- supporting Curate at St Barnabas, Derby after being ordained Deacon by the Bishop of Derby, the Rt Revd Dr Alistair Redfurn , at a service in St Oswalds Church, Ashbourne on Sunday 5th July at 10.45am.
Marian Brookes, a former Reader, is to be ordained Deacon by the Bishop of Derby,
Alastair Redfern, at a service in St Oswald's Church, Ashbourne on Sunday July
5th. (10.45am) Marian will serve her curacy as a self-supporting LOM in the Parish of All Saints Church, Ripley.
Marian lives in Ripley with her husband Jim. They have two married daughters and four lovely grandchildren who make them laugh and keep them in touch with the ever changing culture of our time! Both Marian and Jim have retired from careers in education.
A lifelong Christian, I grew up just outside Glasgow with my parents, brother and sister. By my mid teens, I was immersed in Christian groups, leading Bible studies, giving talks at my school Scripture Union group, which I chaired for my last two years there, and helping lead various children’s holiday clubs and camps. Since then, I have been involved in leading children’s clubs and youth groups fairly regularly, though there has been a gradual switch to leading adult groups over time.
The Shop Stop
Department stores were developed in the 1870s. Until that time people went to the shop or the market to buy what they thought they needed to sustain and enjoy life. Of course people would browse, and see, and buy, new things. But ‘shopping’ was generally targeted to wants and needs.
Church and Common Life
The same was true of church. People went to public worship to be taught and sustained in the Christian faith. This common experience and set of reference points provided the basis for community – common standards and values. Of course people would see and pursue relationships and practices beyond these ‘norms’, just as they would be in church and let their imaginations explore the atmosphere, the words, the stained glass and the crucifix. But the liturgies were fixed, and ‘spirituality’ was generally nourished through a fairly set approach to the needs and wants of the soul.
The Department Store
The Department Store was a sign of huge shift: from a targeted, functional approach to sustenance and survival, to something very different. Now, in one place were assembled nearly all the goods a shopper might need or want. The atmosphere shifted from being functional to one of coaxing demand – encouraging the individual to see and want more than they might have envisaged when they entered the store. With ‘eternal’ florescent light and pastorally helpful staff the focus was upon each person feeling comfortable, able to seek ‘personal’ service and satisfaction. There soon developed a money-back guarantee to reinforce this prioritisation of personal control and commitment.
A New Heaven and a New Earth
Now the big stores set the scene for the seasons, offer loyalty and credit cards, provide carefully chosen mood music. Each invites identification with a particular version of ‘heaven’ – where dreams are fulfilled and life is made worthwhile. A very particular kind of spirituality!
Church and Choice
Meanwhile – in church – we have an increasing contrast between a similar shift towards offering customer satisfaction – built around the needs and dreams of the ‘customer’, and that deeper spirituality which challenges each of us to become a slave, a servant – giving ourselves up to the agenda of others. Love god and love your neighbour as yourself – Jesus taught. This is the seed of a very different spirituality – about service rather than satisfaction, and about sacrifice rather than success. We are challenged to define our lives not by what we purchase, but through what we give away.
Shopping and Spirituality
Shopping is important for our survival. We are blessed with so much choice. It provokes a certain kind of spirituality – whose logic is individuality and competition. Witness the chaos at sale-times!
Spirituality enlivened by Jesus Christ, is even more important for our survival. It provokes another kind of life – informed by the Holy Spirit, bound together in God’s grace, and paying particular concern to those who lack the obvious trappings of a good life.
As our purses and wallets become stuffed with ever more loyalty cards, should each church provide a loyalty-to-Jesus card? If could be the first thing we see when we go shopping. It might provoke prayer for a different kind of lifestyle!
In response to some recent lead and silver thefts from churches, Derbyshire police have issued the following guidance notes.
Church Security Advice Note - B Division
There is a well-known hymn, written by Susan Warner in 1868, with the refrain – you in your small corner, and I in mine! Each of us lives in a small space – in a locality, with family, friends, at work. In the modern world we are more and more conscious of others in their own very different small corners. We call it ‘diversity’.
From Corner to Circle
There are two things that connect the corners and put us in a single circle. One is the planet, the environment. Something we all share. On which we all depend.
The other is the mercy of our Creator God who gives each person life and breath – the seed of eternity.
The circle works through ‘harvest’. Partly our work together on earth to provide nourishment and sustenance: the harvest of fruits. But harvest also happens through our sharing together in a spirit of co-operation – the harvest of fellowship.
From Derbyshire to Delhi
Each year in our Diocese we celebrate this harvest of fruits and this harvest of fellowship.
In 2014 we expressed this connection and companionship between our small corner in Derbyshire and the life of our brothers and sisters in Delhi, in the Church of North India. I am delighted to report that your wonderful generosity raised £21,500 to enable women in the slums to establish small recycling businesses. Making the most of the harvest of the fruits of the earth. Building the capacity for a spirit of confidence and community to enrich life in these testing corners of God’s creation.
Thank you for helping us to connect the corners – and to create a spiritual circle of grace and goodness in which we can all give thanks to the Lord for His mercy, and for the new life He grows amongst His children. The fruits of our fellowship continue to grow.
Angola and Education
This year, 2015, we are working with another small corner of God’s life and love – girls and women in Angola. They are often penned into a very small corner indeed – lacking opportunities for education or work beyond the narrowly domestic. Gifts denied the opportunity to grow, flourish and contribute to the wellbeing of the wider community.
Further details will be available soon – for parishes and for schools. There will be a special launch event. We are working in partnership with Christian Aid, who have excellent local links.
The Generosity of God
Please try to be generous. Give thanks to God for the blessings of life in your small corner. Let us see if we can make our contribution to the harvest of fruits and fellowship that our Lord longs to raise up in Angola, and in Derbyshire, and in our life within the comforting circle of His grace.
St Alkmund’s Church, Derby are excited to hold an Election Husting event on Wednesday 22nd April, 7.30pm
The evening will take the form of a discussion with the principle candidates for Derby North and Derby South constituencies, along similar lines to the BBC program ‘Question Time’.
The event will be chaired by The Rt Revd Dr Alastair Redfern, Bishop of Derby.
Bishop Alastair said: ‘ It is important for the public to engage with their prospective parliamentary candidates to question the parties’ pledges but also to raise the importance of those policies locally. I am pleased that St Alkmund's are able to provide a space to allow this discussion to take place and look forward to chairing this exciting event’
The event will be attended by representatives of the Conservative party, Green Party, Labour, Liberal Democrat Party and the UK Independence party.
It is anticipated that the discussion will cover a range of topics including:
• Overall political approach and thinking
• Specific policy areas
• local issues relevant to Derby
Audience members are invited to submit a question prior to the event and a selection of the best will be chosen on the night. Audience members will also be able to ask follow on questions around topics under discussion.
For more information about the event visit https://sites.google.com/site/stalkmundshustings2015/home
Doors open to the public at 6.45pm with the event starting at 7.30pm. The event will close at 10pm. All are welcome to attend.
In brief: what is a reader?
Licensed Lay Ministers, also known as Readers, play an important role in the public ministry of the Church by leading worship, teaching and preaching, as well as in a wide range of missional and pastoral contexts. As theologically trained lay people they offer a ministry within the church and to the wider community; and are well placed to encourage people in their everyday faith. The office of Reader in the Church of England is governed by canon law (Canons E4, 5 & 6).
The ministry of individual Readers varies according to their gifting and mission context. Whilst most Readers minister collaboratively as part of a team of lay and ordained ministers some work very much on the margins of society sharing God’s love and message of hope to those who may not yet know it.
READERS ARE:
- Called by God to a ministry of the Word
- Licensed by the Bishop to exercise a public and representative lay ministry in Church and the wider community
- Theologically trained and equipped as:
- teachers of the faith
- enablers of mission in the everyday
- leaders in church and community
Some Readers are also trained and authorised by the Bishop to offer funeral ministry, some are authorised to lead Communion by Extension services.
