Close
Due to the Omicron variant we are asking parishioners to please wear a mask and sanitise hands on arrival, and observe social distancing where possible, thank you
Singing is still permitted, both congregational and choir
All welcome
Like and follow us on Facebook
St Mary’s Church, Finedon
On behalf of the whole parish of Finedon may I invite you most warmly to step over our virtual threshold. You will find within our contact details and details also of forthcoming services and events here at St Mary’s. We are, of course, the parish church not only for the those who worship here but for everyone in Finedon, and the social calendar is almost as busy as the ecclesiastical calendar. Whatever you seek – friendship, community, something to challenge and stretch you, something to give you comfort and peace, the love of Jesus Christ, or simply the satisfaction of curiosity – you are most welcome to step over our real threshold too and see what we have to offer.
Yours in Christ, Fr Richard.
The church of ST. MARY-THE VIRGIN consists of chancel, north and south transeptal chapels, clearstoried nave of four bays, north and south aisles, south porch, and west tower. The tower is surmounted by a lofty spire and the porch has an upper story. There is a modern vestry on the north side of the chancel.
Of the original 12th-century building nothing remains except the font, the church having been entirely rebuilt at the beginning of the 14th century. With the exception of the tower and spire it is all of one date, and is one of the finest examples in the county of a church of this period. The tower and spire were erected about fifty years later. The whole building is therefore substantially of one style and it preserves a unity in design which gives it particular distinction.
You may think that Christmas starts way too early, arriving shortly after the FA Cup Final, or so it seems, as desperate retailers scramble for our pounds, shillings and pence after two very lean Christmases indeed. But it might make more sense for Christians to complain that actually it goes on too long. We were always taught that the festivities of Christmas end on Twelfth Night, the eve of the Epiphany. Did you take your deco-rations down then, as tradition decrees? Perhaps you chose to leave them up a bit longer, to keep the good cheer coming?
Actually tradition is on your side, or partly on your side, if you keep Candlemas, the Feast of the Presentation, which falls on February 2nd. In the old days this was when the greenery was finally taken down – ‘Down with the rosemary, and so – down with the bays and mistletoe – down with the holly, ivy, all – wherewith ye dress’d the Christmas hall’ ,as the poet Robert Herrick put it in the 17th century.
The church had us sweeping up pine needles in February not to string Christmas out as long as possible in the hope that at-tendance figures would remain buoyant into the New Year and beyond, but to remind us that Christmas begins not with the John Lewis Advert but with the birth of Christ on Christmas Eve, a great and mighty wonder, witnessed by the shepherds, then the kings, at the Epiphany, and made manifest by his bap-tism, at the wedding at Cana, and now at Candlemas, in the Temple. The aged priest Sime-on, at the threshold of the hereafter, greeted the arrival of the baby boy with the words, Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, for I have seen your salvation.
Simeon, the three kings, the shepherd and us, all have had our eyes opened not to the daz-zle of tinsel and glitter but to the hope of the world in the life of a child.
No matter how long the winter, nor how cheerless the day, or unpromising the future, nothing can diminish the wonder and the glory of that.
May wonder and glory sustain you now and for ever more.
Yours in Christ,
Fr Richard.
All copy should addressed by the 15th of the month prior to publication
To: Colin Needle
Tel: 01933 682098
email: finedonchurchmagazine@gmail.com
Fr. Richard invites you to Parish Eucharist in church on Sundays at 9.30am and Wednesdays at 11:00am
and also Evening Prayer on Sunday evenings at 6pm on Zoom
Detailed information in the Sunday Sheet each Sunday morning
