What's on this month
Our October 2026 update: the month's services and events, news from the parish, and a thought for the month.
October 2026
Please note: there is no Prayer Space meeting this month.
Every Sunday service is at 10.30am. Our regular services →
Holy Communion, followed by Harvest Lunch10.30am
Nursery visit to Church1.45pm
Matins10.30am
Muddy Church3.00pm
Churchyard clearing morning
Holy Communion10.30am
Holy Communion at Helen Ley Care Centre11.00am
Holy Communion at Priors House2.30pm
Morning Worship10.30am
Coffee & Chat in the Parish Room10.30am to 12.00 noon
Dog Walkers Coffee in the churchyard
All Souls Service10.30am
From the parish
Following our Harvest Festival Service on Sunday 4th October we will be taking your food offerings to Lillington Food Bank so please bring non-perishable goods. Thank you for your ongoing support for the foodbank: for those of us who don’t have to worry about where our next meal is coming from, it can be hard to remember that not everyone is so fortunate.
Muddy Church will be happening in the churchyard on Sunday 11th October at 3pm. Come dressed to be outdoors and have some fun!
The next churchyard clearing morning will be on Saturday 17th October: come along and help if you are free. Please bring your own tools with you. The final session this year will be on 12th December to help clear leaves from the churchyard.
Join us for Coffee and Chat in the Parish Room on Wednesday 28th October: a chance for a proper conversation with one another!
This is our annual service to remember and give thanks for all those we love but who are no longer with us. As part of that service, we will read out names and light candles.
If anyone would like a name included, please let Sue know in advance of the day or add it to the list at the back of church. They can be someone who has died recently or a little while ago.
You may also remember that earlier this year one of our prayer stations in the churchyard offered people the opportunity to put the name of a loved one onto a red heart and we kept these on the church windowsills for a while. They will be brought back into church for the All Souls service. If you would like to add a name to a heart, there will be blank ones available at the back of church throughout the coming month.
Geoff’s October Eco-Tip, “Greening your home this Autumn”, and some very good news: the Churchyard Biodiversity & Heritage Project team have passed their mid-term National Lottery Fund Review.
Thought for the month
“For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing. But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”
The autumn equinox is upon us and we are once again celebrating Harvest Festival, even though the actual harvest was gathered in quite a while ago. We are very lucky at St James to worship in a place surrounded by farmland where we can so easily see the evidence of God’s great bounty towards us, a bounty that the book of Deuteronomy describes.
In our world of 24-hour supermarkets, with their shelves bursting with both fresh and packaged foods from all around the world, it can be easy for us all to take food for granted. (I’m sure Geoff would want us to consider where some of that food comes from, and how many air miles it may have travelled.) We know that this has been a tough year for our farmers and we should all take time to be grateful for the land and people who produce the amazing variety of food we enjoy and to thank our God, from whom they all spring.
Let’s not forget that we are the lucky ones: hidden hunger still exists in the midst of this modern ‘land of plenty’ and many people still need to turn to foodbanks for help as they find that their weekly wage simply doesn’t cover all their outgoings, particularly at a time of rising fuel costs and increasing inflation.
Generally speaking, we don’t have to worry whether there will be enough money in the bank to get us to the end of the month. We can afford a holiday, or little treats for ourselves or our families. “Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth” says our scripture quote. Harvest is a good time to remind ourselves that the true source of all our wealth and our ability to produce it is God himself: shouldn’t we express that gratitude by helping others, by generously giving away what we can afford to, just as God gives so generously to each one of us?
As we leave another Harvest Festival behind, please continue to remember those who need to use our Foodbanks when you go shopping and buy something to put into our collection box. And as you do, I invite you to pray that through the food they receive, they will also taste something of God’s great love for them, a God who both sees their immediate need, and who cares passionately about their future. Remember too, the abundant generosity he shows in all our lives, both in times of scarcity and in times of plenty, be thankful and share your blessings.
With love, Sue
We thank you Creator God, for the harvest of our countryside: fertile, diverse and beautiful, supplying so much of what we need. We praise and thank you for shelves that are laden and cupboards that are full; for food that is always available, varied and affordable; for a healthy appetite and the means to satisfy it. Let us not forget those who live in poverty, uncertain of where their next meal will come from and remind us to share our abundance of good gifts with others, so that none may go hungry.
Everyone is welcome at St James. If you have a question about anything this month, please get in touch.