Welcome
The Shirwell Mission Community comprises eight Churches in seven rural parishes in North Devon:
Bratton Fleming; Challacombe; East Down & Arlington; Kentisbury; Loxhore; Shirwell and Stoke Rivers.
The Mission Community
Services during
November & December 2018
The Mission Community lies within the Shirwell Deanery and covers an area of just under 50 square miles with a population of approximately 2600.
The parishes extend north east of Barnstaple to the Exmoor National Park and the Somerset border.
The Rector is Revd Rosie Austin, who lookes after the seven parishes. She is assisted by a curate Revd Martyn Tyrrell, two retired clergymen, Rev Chris Tull from Challacombe and Rev Mike Miller from South Molton.
Rosie lives in Bratton Fleming, the largest of the parishes and placed centrally within the Mission Community.
Martyn lives in Shirwell, the second largest parish.
All enquiries for weddings, funerals and baptisms should be made to Rev Rosie Austin:
Telephone 01598 711962
Email: rosieaustin@live.co.uk
|
Date |
Place |
Time |
Service type |
|
November 4
All Saints Day
White |
Bratton Fleming Shirwell East Down Bratton Fleming |
09.30 09.30 11.15 14.30
|
Holy Communion Morning Worship Holy Communion Remembering Service |
|
November 11
Remembrance Sunday
Green |
Bratton Fleming
Shirwell Stoke Rivers East Down Challacombe Loxhore Kentisbury |
09.30 10.45 09.30 ------ 10.45 10.50 15.00 |
All Age Worship Act of Remembrance Holy Communion + Remembrance (to join with Bratton Fleming) Act of Remembrance Remembrance Service Remembrance Service Remembrance Service + display |
|
November 18
2 before Advent
Green |
Bratton Fleming Shirwell Kentisbury East Down Loxhore |
09.30 09.30 09.30 11.15 11.15 |
Holy Communion All Praise (Celtic Liturgy) Holy Communion All Praise (Celtic Liturgy) Holy Communion |
|
November 21 |
Shirwell |
19.30 |
Commissioning Service for the new Rural Dean, with Bishop of Crediton |
|
November 25
Christ the King
Red |
Bratton Fleming Shirwell Stoke Rivers Bratton Fleming Challacombe |
09.30 09.30 11.15 15.45 18.30 |
Morning Worship Holy Communion Holy Communion Messy Church Songs of Praise followed by ‘Church Warming Party’ with puddings |
|
December 2
Advent 1
Purple
|
Bratton Fleming Shirwell East Down Loxhore Challacombe Methodist Chapel |
09.30 09.30 11.15 15.00
15.30 |
Holy Communion Holy Communion Holy Communion Evening Prayer BCP
Christingle |
|
December 9
Advent 2
Purple |
Bratton Fleming Stoke Rivers Challacombe Shirwell |
09.30 11.15 11.15 16.00 |
All Age Worship Morning Worship Holy Communion Christingle |
|
December 14 |
Bratton Fleming |
14.00 |
School Carol Service |
|
December 16
Advent 3
Purple |
Bratton Fleming East Down
Shirwell |
09.30 15.00
18.30 |
Holy Communion East Down with Arlington Carol Service Carols by Candlelight |
|
December 19 |
Kentisbury |
10.30 |
School Nativity Service |
|
December 22 |
Bratton Fleming |
19.00 |
Village Carol Service |
|
December 23
Advent 4
Purple |
Bratton Fleming Shirwell Challacombe Kentisbury Loxhore Stoke Rivers
|
09.30 09.30 15.00 18.00 18.30 18.30 |
Gather for Prayer Morning Worship Carol Service Carol Service United Village Carol Service Carols by Candlelight
|
|
December 24 Christmas Eve |
Bratton Fleming Challacombe Bratton Fleming Shirwell
|
16.00 22.00 23.30 23.30 |
Crib Service Holy Communion Midnight Communion Holy Communion (combined with East Down) |
|
December 25
Christmas Day
White |
Loxhore Shirwell Bratton Fleming Stoke Rivers |
08.00 09.30 10.00 11.15 |
Family Communion Family Communion Family Communion Family Communion |
|
December 30 Christmas 1 White |
Shirwell |
11.00 |
Team Service |
|
|
|
||
Rector’s Ramblings November 2018
Remembering and imagining.
On Remembrance day this year, one hundred years on from the Armistice, the bells will be ringing in all the church towers where this is possible. And as they do so, we might only be able to imagine the mixed emotions for those people who first heard them announce that hard won peace as news travelled from bell tower to bell tower like beacons. Joy and celebration... or relief perhaps, hope that loved ones might start heading home… or a desperate grief that so many would never return.
Exhibitions, displays, services and silences allow for us to use imagination to help us to remember times and places which we will never be able to actually recall, but in this way we are able to honour all those who served and serve in conflicts past as well as present; men and women from all continents serving in all sorts of ways.
Fostering imagination helps us, and helps new generations to join in our communal remembering as we say, “we will remember them”.
As we use our imaginations to remember the past, so too we use them to hope and dream for our present and future. Our hopes and dreams for the world are reflected in Micah 4:3: “they will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more.” What might our world look like if this became reality?
For far off countries today mired in deadly conflicts such as Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Somalia and Mexico where thousands have died in this past year, and thousands more will never see their loved ones return, we can only use our imaginations as we think about them and pray for them and hope for peace. We may never be able to visit or see the country through any window other than a TV screen or newspaper… but we can share emotions common to all people in all places, and imagine the dread of the sound of a plane overhead or a knock on the door with news.
Nurturing our imaginations helps to foster compassion and encourage us in our understanding. And through this we are better enabled us to commit to the words we say in our various acts of remembrance; “we commit ourselves to work in penitence and faith for reconciliation between the nations, that all people may, together, live in freedom, justice and peace.”
Blessings,
Rosie