| 08:00 | Buckland
Holy Communion (Said 1662) | | 09:00 | Hinton Waldrist
Holy Communion (Said 1662) | | 09:00 | Hinton Waldrist
Holy Communion (Said 1662) | | 10:00 | Buckland
Holy Communion (Common Worship) | | 10:00 | Charney Bassett
Holy Communion (Common Worship) | | 10:00 | Longworth
Family Service | | 08:00 | Buckland
Holy Communion (Said 1662) | | 10:00 | Longworth
Holy Communion (Common Worship) | | 10:00 | Pusey
Holy Communion (Common Worship) | | 11:15 | Lyford
Holy Communion (1662 sung) | | | |
| » | Buckland
St Mary the Virgin
| | » | Charney Bassett
St Peter
| | » | Hinton Waldrist
St Margaret of Antioch
| | » | Littleworth
Church of the Holy Ascension
| | » | Longworth
St Mary's
| | » | Lyford
Grange Barn
| | » | Lyford
St Mary's
| | » | Pusey
All Saints' Church
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 The United Benefice of Cherbury with Gainfield was set up in late 2003. It is part of the Deanery of Vale of White Horse, in the Achdeaconry of Berkshire within the Diocese of Oxford. The Benefice consists of seven churches: Longworth, Hinton Waldrist, Buckland and Littleworth situated along the A420 from Oxford to Faringdon and Charney Bassett, Lyford and Pusey lying to the south of the A420.
The Rector is the Revd Sally Welch (pictured here) living with her husband Jeremy and their four children in the Rectory at Longworth. The Associate Priest is the Revd Joy Hance living with her husband Nick in the Vicarage at Buckland.
Daily Prayer may be found on:
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/dailyprayer
| | | Dear Friends
By the time you read this, we will be nearing the end of the Christmas holiday season. People are taking down their Christmas trees, and vacuuming up the needles and the broken bits of ornament. They are packing up the lights and furtively setting aside unwanted Christmas presents for 'regifting'. Very soon it will be time for the old routines to start again - work, school, life returning to normal. Christmas 2008 will be boxed up and put in the attic for one more year and we will ask ourselves, 'where does the time go?' And that is an interesting thought - where does Christmas go? Where did Christmas go for the shepherds, and the wise men? What happened to them after Christmas was over?
Where did the shepherds of Bethlehem go? They had heard the angels singing on that starry night. They had gone to the manger and seen the baby Jesus. They had been filled with the Spirit of Christ which could last all year. But meanwhile, there were sheep to be tended and pastures to be cultivated and fences to be mended and little lambs to be guarded and wool to be sheared. There was a lot of routine work to be done.
Life is like that for most of us. We return to our old steady routines, our appointed tasks. We too go back to our everyday living.
The Bible tells us what happened to the shepherds. It could have said, "They returned to their jobs." That is common. But the Bible adds that "they returned to their jobs ... glorifying and praising God." That is uncommon.
And where did the wise men go? What happened to the three magi after Christmas? The Bible says, "Being warned in a dream, they departed to their own country another way."
I think that the wise men returned to their own countries being wiser people. Why wiser? Because they knew that they had found God in the least likely places. They found God in a stable, in a manger, and forever after, wise people would be alert for the signs of God's presence in common places.
But, what does this mean for us as we return to the same old office building, the same old kitchen, the same old school, the same old conflicts, the same old problems...that we all faced on December 24th. What does that mean to go back to our old routines and old jobs, glorifying and praising God, aware that God can be found in all sorts of places?
It means to return being more thankful to God for his goodness to us, for his generosity, for his gifts, for his beauty, for his grace to us. It is to be aware that God is with us in the ordinary tasks of our daily lives. Christmas is the great message that God is with us in our ordinary jobs of life; that it is through the ordinary routines that God works in the world. We are called to make this world a better place by doing the ordinary things of life graciously and peacefully.
Where did the shepherds go? Back to their sheep, praising God. Back to their fields, praising God. Back to mending fences, praising God. And the wise men? Seeking God in the ordinary, the everyday, the mundane, and finding him there.
And where do you and I go after Christmas? Back to our fields, praising and glorifying God. Back to our kitchens. Back to our shops. Back to our office buildings. Back to our routines at work, glorifying God. Knowing that God loves us. Knowing that God with us in the ordinary routines of life. Knowing that it is through the common and ordinary routines of our petty lives that we carry out God's work in the world.
Sally
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