Churches April 2024

St Helen's Church

Thought for the Month - Getting Wise

Brinkburn Partnership of Catholic Parishes

Mission Free Church

St Helen's Church

Sunday Service:

10am Holy Communion

(1st and 3rd Sundays)

10am Morning Prayer

(2nd, 4th and 5th Sundays)

Everyone is welcome.

St Helen’s Annual General Meeting

Sunday 14th April - Morning Prayer service 10am, followed at 10.45am by AGM in Church.

PCC Meeting

The next meeting of the PCC is on Wednesday 15th May at 7.00pm in St Helen’s Meeting Room.

St Helen's Contact Details

During the Interregnum the Area Dean will be responsible for the Parish.

Rev. Chris Groocock 01670 813358

Website: www.achurchnearyou.com

Thought for the Month - Getting Wise

Something came into view for me this Lent which I wanted to share – how can I be wiser? At St Helen’s we’ve run a five week Lent course using the film Chocolat which helped us to discuss, ponder, reflect, and share. The film from 2000 is about a French woman, Vianne, and her young daughter, Anouk, who open up a chocolate shop in a small remote village that shakes up the rigid morality of the community. Some interesting scenes as well as themes emerged. Also worthy of note is that we enjoyed the hot chocolate, sweets and biscuits!

The third week has stuck with me about ‘Getting Wise’. Wisdom, from a Christian perspective, encompasses more than mere intellectual knowledge. It extends to the moral and spiritual side of our lives. We can ask God for wisdom and have the Bible to help us consider what is true, right, and lasting. Reflecting on what is good for us, for others, and honours God. This can’t be a bad thing?

In week 3, the themes of, power and control exerted by a number of the characters in the film emerged. One of the obvious situations where unhealthy power and control were being used was the mayor, Comte de Reynaud over his parishioners. Interestingly there was a back story as to why he behaved the way he did – no time to explore here. Vianne arguably was wise in some ways; she saw the destruction his power and control had on others. What I found useful was thinking about situations we had faced or encountered. Where something is not quite right and what did we do about it or on reflection should have done about it?

We read verses from the Bible to see what Jesus did. Jesus had numerous disagreements with the religious authorities of his day; he challenged power imbalances and the way people treated each other. As the film drew to a close there had been some good changes for many of the characters. It wasn’t a fairy tale ending but I believe people had found wisdom and had done what was truly right and lasting.

Diane Armstrong, St Helen’s