Faith and Light Tea
Tables ready for a lovely tea, provided by St Marys team after the Faith and Light service, at St Johns Harpenden.
Tables ready for a lovely tea, provided by St Marys team after the Faith and Light service, at St Johns Harpenden.
St Mary’s Church, although small in physical terms, has a vibrant community at its heart and a distinctive ethos of caring and sharing responsibility for its buildings and people.
We seek to relate to and serve people at the north end of Harpenden while remaining a part of the wider parish of Harpenden. Please take a look at St. Mary’s monthly missive.
If you are planning to visit, please take a look here
If you don’t see what you are looking for below, there’s more about St. Mary’s here.
You can explore more documents that relate to St. Mary’s here.
HJB
25/11/2021
The Apostles Creed and the later Nicene Creed are two important documents of theological summary and history. Both creeds reveal historic Christian assumptions about who God is, and what is God doing. However there are aspects of the creeds that should be examined to help to define the difference in meaning of the names Jesus and Christ.
Apostles Creed. – “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell…”
» Read moreAt St Marys we are participating in Eco Church: A Rocha UK’s award scheme for churches in England and Wales who want to demonstrate that the gospel is good news for God’s earth.
Their resources are designed to equip a church to express its care for God’s world in its worship and teaching; in how the church looks after its buildings and land; in how it engages with the local community and in global campaigns, and in the personal lifestyles of its congregation.
We want to be a church which cares for creation as an integral part of loving our neighbours and following God faithfully.
You can find out more about Eco church here: Eco Church – An A Rocha UK Project
Please take a look at this wonderful water pump below; restored and renovated by Rob Hemmin to be part of our harvest display, it represents clean water for all and enough rain to water our crops; as we explore the theme of water. Our superb flower arranging team have put lots of thought into all of these windowsills to reflect our focus on Eco church: the areas where wild flowers were planted or encouraged to grow, to help our wildlife; the pollution of our seas, oceans and rivers; and the importance of our trees and woodland
Jeel al Amal (“Generation of Hope”) Boys’ Home and School in Bethany
St Mary’s has held Jeel al Amal in our prayers ever since 1999, when our own Rev’d Duncan Swan led a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, during which a number of people from St Mary’s visited the Home in Bethany, in the Palestinian West Bank. There they saw the dedication and the love that the surviving founder and her staff showed to the boys – as one of our members described it, “Christianity in action”. They determined to continue to support the Home, and ever since, St Mary’s has held events in aid of Jeel, and our coffee money has been devoted to Jeel.
» Read moreBible Reading Fellowship (BRF) notes are available to order for private use at home. These include a daily passage from the bible to read with a reflection and prayer.
On the last Friday afternoon of each month a small group gather at St. Mary’s for an informal discussion based on their readings .
» Read more