5th March this year is Ash Wednesday, so called because it is the day starting Lent when, from the Middle Ages, it became a custom to be marked in ash with the sign of the cross. (There will be...

The Notice Sheet for 12th January 2025 can be found here. This Sunday is Plough Sunday with a 'Ploughing For All ' service at Stonham Aspal at 10.30. Plough Sunday services at Hemingstone at 9.30am...

The Notice Sheet for the North Bosmere Benefice for 27th October can be found here Evening Prayer at St Mary's at 4pm on Sunday 27th October.  Please note that the clocks go back one hour on...

The Notice sheet for the North Bosmere Benefice can be found here Morning Worship at St Mary's at 9.30am on Sunday 20th October. All welcome. Tickets are still available for the Raedwald Ensemble...

The North Bosmere Notice Sheet can be found here. St Mary's Preserves Coffee Morning on Saturday 12th October. Details of all services throughout the Benefice can be found on the Notice Sheet....

The North Bosmere Benefice Notice Sheet for 29th September can be found here. The Benefice service is being held at St Mary's Coddenham on Sunday at 10am.  All are welcome. The service at St Mary's...

The North Bosmere Benefice Notice Sheet can be found here. St Mary's celebrated 'Harvest' last Sunday.  The Church was full of beautiful flower displays - thanks to the talented team of flower...

The North Bosmere Benefice Notice Sheet for 15th September can be found here. The service at Coddenham this Sunday is the Harvest Festival at 6pm. All are welcome to join us as we celebrate the work...

Information about all North Bosmere Benefice services for 1st September can be found here. There will be a Holy Communion Service at St Mary's at 11.00am.

Last Sunday we revisited the story of the last decade.  How I came to be Rector of our 10 villages and how we had journeyed together.  It is a journey through doubt (it won’t work), reluctance to...

Savoury Saturday Saturday 13th July !0.00 - 12 noon Sausage rolls, cheese scones and other savoury delights! Freshly brewed coffee and cake. We look forward to welcoming you. All proceeds to the...

The day had dawned brightly but with storms forecast for later, and so it proved to be.  Driving home in the evening, I was treated to an ever changing skycap; blue sky and white clouds give way to...

As our time on Iona drew to a close, we gathered for the Eucharist one last time.  From many parts of the Christian family, we shared the common cup; a symbol of our unity and shared roots.  Over...

The Rector is on retreat. The Notice Sheet for 23rd June can be found here Evening Prayer at St Mary's on 23rd June at 6.30pm.

This week we are off to Iona and after all that I have heard from last year’s Pilgrims, I am very much looking forward to spending a week on the island. We are going by train and it will take us 2...

For a moment it looked like rain once more.  The sky darkened, the trees danced in the wind, the cars were covered in fresh water droplets; now the sun has returned.   One minute sun, the next rain,...

Do this in remembrance of me. Remembering is important but how good is your memory?  Some things (like riding a bike or using a knife and fork) become so deeply ingrained by use that we just do them...

The day thou gavest Lord is ended; the darkness falls at thy behest; to thee our morning hymns ascended, thy praise shall sanctify our rest. Today the sun has shone, adding real warmth to the air. ...

FROM THE RECTORY. - BEHOLD I DO A NEW THING[1] In August I will bring to a close almost 50 years of paid employment.  Much though I am looking forward to the next stage of my life, such a...

It won’t all fit!  The simple fact is that the home we will soon be moving to is smaller than the Rectory; things have to go.  Each move generates more new stuff, but we keep the old just in case....

The Annual Parochial Church Meeting for St Mary's Church is open to all parishioners and is an opportunity to find out about church activities including the fundraising campaign for repairs to the...

From The Rectory - The Twelve Commandments?[1] Freed from slavery in Egypt, as the Israelites set out for the Promised Land, they quickly discovered that freedom comes at a price.  As slaves the...

And did those feet, in ancient times, walk upon England’s mountains green. So begins William Blake’s ‘Jerusalem’. Last week, our feet walked, not on mountains, they are in short supply around here,...

The congregation at St Mary's celebrated Easter Day with a Communion Service. St. Mary's church has been beautifully decorated for Easter by volunteer florists with some spectacular flower...

All are welcome to join our services as we celebrate Easter.   Friday 29th March Good Friday - walk from St Gregory's, Hemingstone, starting at 11.00am to join an outdoor service at 12 midday...

By the time you read this, Mary and I will be homeward bound after a few days on the coast. Coastal paths are seldom tidy; littered as they are with everything from discarded string, through the...

This child is set for the fall, and rising again, of many in Israel. Lk 2: 34 It had been a strange week.  A short break in a favourite haunt, overshadowed by a gloomy uncertainty.  We drove home as...

You are invited to join us in a celebration of Motherhood and the Gift of Family at our Mothering Sunday Worship for all at St Mary's, Coddenham on Sunday 10th March at 11.00am. We welcome everyone...

Regular readers of this reflection will know that I recently had a short stay in hospital.  The journey began late on Ash Wednesday and led, inexorably, through A&E to hospital admission. During...

Looking out from the 6th floor of Ipswich hospital, I was struck by how straight the horizon was.  Below me lay the Ipswich suburbs and beyond the horizon was punctuated by the occasional man-made...

Turning off the main road and heading up the hill I could see in the field ahead a strange looking machine.  Between the machine and the road lay a long pile of sugar beet; it’s harvest time again....

The opening words of St John’s Gospel; words made familiar more than anywhere else, as the climax of countless carol services.  Christmas is done for another year. Last Sunday we marked the...

Our beautiful candlelit service of Choral Evensong on Sunday 28th January at 4.00 pm celebrates Candlemas, when we think of Christ as the light of the world. Music will be led by the Benefice Choir.

It’s late morning, it’s raining (again) and so gloomy that I need the study light on.  How different from yesterday when the sun shone and we were able to enjoy a brisk, winter walk.  Then all was...

The congregation at St Mary's Church would like to wish everyone a very happy and peaceful Christmas. All are welcome at our Christmas services. The Crib service is at 4.00pm on Christmas Eve and...

Join the congregation on Christmas Eve at 4pm as we recreate the Christmas story and build our nativity scene. Children can make a Christmas lantern to celebrate the birth of Jesus - Light of the...

The rain had stopped, for the moment at least, but it remained a dark night; no stars or moonlight reached through the cloud. As she drove carefully along the country lanes, her headlights picked...

Christmas Coffee Morning Saturday 9th December 10.00- 12 noon Festive Fayre, mulled wine and coffee with homemade cakes Win with our mega Christmas Tombola and Guess the name of our 'lovely'...

Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel.  The opening words of the morning canticle, the Benedictus.  It is a regular feature of Morning Prayer but have you ever wondered where it came from or why?...

Celebrate Christmas at St Mary’s Coddenham CAROL SERVICE with the Benefice Choir Sunday 17th December at 4pm Followed by festive refreshments. CHRISTMAS EVE  at 4pm Crib Service for all the family...

And so, as darkness falls, and with it yet more rain, the old year draws to a close.  This Sunday, the first in Advent, is the beginning of the church’s year; only 25 days until Christmas.  Now is a...

Christmas gets earlier each year - a common complaint.  Barely has summer finished and the Christmas adverts start appearing.  Shop early, they say; well there’s early and early. It always brings a...

The sun shines, my study is bathed in light and, for a moment at least, this is a place of peace.  Peace, for many, is a rare pleasure as the world is becoming increasingly fractious once more....

And so to Thetford Forest for a day out.  Monday promised to be the best day of the week, and so it proved.  Time with old friends, a walk in the forest and a good lunch. Climbing out of our car...

It’s a beautiful Sunday morning; blue sky, bright sun and a gentle breeze.  From my study window I can see nothing to point to the chaos of two days ago. My Friday began quite normally, until I...

Concert at St Mary's Church Saturday 28th October at 7.00pm A great chance to hear some of our local musicians - Ian Burton (Trombone) and Ian Galbraith (Organ) alongside Anna Phillips playing the...

St Mary's October Coffee Morning - Preserves Day Saturday 14th October 10.00am - 12 noon. Freshly brewed coffee and homemade cakes. Delicious preserves - Jams, Marmalades and Chutney for sale....

We have been enjoying some distinctly unseasonable weather and with it there have indeed been some gloriously golden evenings. I suspect that the colour of the sky has something to do with the...

All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storm begin which is just as well because, as I begin this reflection we are treated to a short, sharp thunder storm. It’s Harvest Festival Season; the...