Sunday 12^thNovember,10.15am, Glazeley Church; Remembrance Sunday.

There will be a service in the church, followed by the Act of Remembrance at the war memorial at 10.45. There will also be a short Act of Remembrance in Billingsley Church at 10.55am.

Saturday 18^thNovember, 9.00am, Breakfast at the Down. Contact David Poyner (details below) or Marion (marion.corfield@talktalk.net) if you wish to come; cost £8. A social event in aid of Chetton church, to meet people from our local communities. All welcome.

Sunday, 19^thNovember, 10am St Bartholomew’s Glazeley; Holy Communion

Sunday, 26^th November, 8am St Mary’s Billingsley

Holy Communion

David Poyner, assistant curate.   Tel 01562 68638 /0780 100 9693; email D.R.Poyner@aston.ac.uk Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BillingsleyChurch/  or  a Church Near You, https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/10415/  (Billingsley)/ Glazeley&Deuxhill: St Bartholomew – A Church Near You (Glazeley)

Compline originated in monasteries; it is last the service of the day and after saying it the monks would immediately go to their cells to go to bed. By the time this article appears, it will have taken place, but if you have never heard of the service, I would encourage you to listen to one of the many recordings you can find on the internet. Sung compline combines said prayers and readings with haunting plainsong; I still vividly remember the impact it had on me when I attended my first service, forty years ago. At Billingsley we have less plainsong (although I hope we managed some in our service) but we do sing a number of hymns that hopefully catch the mood. At the March service, we also welcome a new preacher to the church, Canon Rose Lawley, who has retired as a vicar from Kidderminster to live in Highley.

January and February are quiet months at Billingsley Church as we have only one service a month, an 8.00am Holy Communion. At the January service, the small but faithful congregation was augmented by one of our friends who normally worships at Highley. Everyone is welcome at this service; particularly for those anywhere in the benefice who need to go out during the day on a Sunday, it gives an opportunity to do this and still attend a service. The January service was noted for the coldness of the church, due to a problem with the heating. I am pleased to say that this has now been fixed; many thanks to engineer Barry Valentine for helping us. We are aware that our boiler is old and only has a limited life; whilst raising funds for a replacement heating system will be challenging,  we are starting to investigate options.

We are looking forward to the resumption of our 6.00pm evening services, on the second Sunday of the month. In March, (8^th), our service will be based around Compline. This originates from the prayers that monks said just before they went to bed; it is made up of readings, prayers and music that allow us to reflect on the events of the day/weekend/week, so that leave in a calm and peaceful state. Today, many call this “mindfulness” and at the university where I work, courses based on it are put on to help staff deal with stress, but it has been practised in the church for centuries.

Another good way of de-stressing is to watch nature in the countryside. Billingsley Churchyard, with its benches (and the porch and church for shelter if the weather turns bad; tea and coffee making facilities available in the church). We manage the churchyard to try and encourage wildlife as well as providing a respectful space for those who have loved ones who are buried in it. At the end of January, we did a bird survey and hope to get a grant for putting in bird boxes. So if you are feeling stressed, just sit in the churchyard and enjoy God’s creation!