Dear Friends, According to Shakespeare ‘all the world’s a stage’. It is a good thing, for some, that the stage is not that for a lavish, big budget musical. Many of you will have heard of (or seen by now) La La Land – the modern day rom-com musical taking Hollywood by storm. Nominated for […]
Russell’s Newsletter – June 2016
Dear Friends, This month, on the weekend of 10th-12th June, the country and Commonwealth celebrate the Queen’s Official 90th birthday. However one views the constitutional monarchy that she represents and although our own denomination proudly states that “we believe Christ gives his Church a government distinct from the state” and that the Church “must serve […]
Russell’s Newsletter – February 2016
Dear Friends, Love is in the air! As I write, Valentine’s Day is looming and I have my annual panic about trying to find the right card for my wife, Nicola, that says what I would want to say without also making her feel sick. Trying to put love into words is no easy […]
Russell’s Monthly Newsletter – January 2016
Dear Friends, Happy New Year! Church Meeting, on Sunday 17th January, will be asked to approve a new Safeguarding Policy for Children and Adults at Risk. The Elders, both serving and non-serving, have spent some time considering what should be included in the policy, using expertise and advise from the wider church, both the United […]
Russell’s Newsletter – November 2015
ear Friends, I do not remember 1914. Of course I don’t! Even Olive Himsley, now aged 101, does not remember 1914. But we do not forget. We vowed we would never forget – the horror, the death, the war that was to end all wars – and we do not forget that it didn’t end […]
Russell’s Newsletter – October 2015
Dear Friends, At a meeting of our Synod Area (URCs across South London) Rev’d Jennifer Millington, known to many of you from her time as assistant minister in Purley, reflected on the changes in attitude to and practice of ministry since she had been ordained in the mid 1980s. She concluded the changes were significant […]
Russell’s May Newsletter
Dear Friends, For the majority of my lifetime the Church in the Western World has been going through an identity crisis. Participation in ‘organised religion’ has been on the decline and ‘church’ has been seen to be more and more irrelevant to the lives of individuals. Of course there are notable exceptions, but for denominations […]
Russell’s New Year 2015 Newletter
Dear Friends, Welcome to 2015. I wonder how well you are doing in keeping those New Year resolutions. Whilst I am sure that my GP would wish that I was sticking rigidly to a new regime of plenty of exercise, healthy diet and generally stress-free living, I will have long failed by the time Reflections […]
Russell’s Christmas 2014 Newsletter
Dear Friends, Christmas 2014 will seem very strange at Purley URC. Partly because some good and valued friends, whom we have been mourning recently, will not be with us. Also, though, because for the first time in so many years, there will not be the usual Christmas Day Lunch. The lunch, entertainment and tea on […]