Dear friends,
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters” (Genesis 2:8–10).
From this brief description, we note several things about the Garden of Eden: 1) it was planned and planted by God Himself; 2) it was mankind’s first home; 3) it contained incredible variety, with “all kinds of trees”; 4) it was a beautiful place, as the trees were “pleasing to the eye”; 5) it was a fertile, fruitful place; 6) it provided nourishment and nutrition, as the trees were “good for food”; and 7) it was well-watered.
The Vicarage garden is not any of these things. We are not quite as good in the garden as some of the previous occupiers.
However, we are very thankful for many green-fingered neighbours in Basildon who have been kind enough to agree to open up their gardens this Sunday 17th from 2pm-5pm for those of us who are inspired by nature to have a look around in an effort to raise some funds for St. Stephen’s. Please do consider coming out, finding some peace, tranquility and joy in many delightful gardens, enjoying delicious homemade teas, cakes and supporting the Church too.
We look forward to seeing you on Sunday!
Love,
Grant
Thank you to all those who have agreed to open their gardens, make teas and cakes and gate-keep. We all at St. Stephen’s really appreciate your generosity.
A special gift for Jen’s ordination
Our curate Jen Green will be ordained to the priesthood on 18th October at a very special service at St. Stephen’s, Upper Basildon at 4pm by the Bishop of Reading - (please do come if you are free!).
We have organised a gift for her which is a silver home communion set which she will be able to use in her ministry throughout her life. It symbolises the work and role of a priest in sharing and celebrating God’s special meal with his people.
If you would like to make a contribution towards the cost of this lovely gift, we would be gladly welcome contributions using the button below. Thank you so much.
SERVICEs THIS WEEKend
Upcoming in the villages
See all upcoming events on our website
HArvest Festivals
As I am sure you’ll have seen, our wonderful local farmers have been very busy recently harvesting the fields. Some folks have been asking when we are celebrating Harvest this year and the answer is 24th September right across the whole benefice. We’ll have a celebration communion service at Ashampstead at 8.30am, followed by a Harvest themed bacon butty Sunday at Basildon. then we round the day off with a Harvest Evensong at Aldworth followed by homemade apple pies and local cider! I hope you can join us as we give thanks to God for his goodness and provision.
Services next Sunday 24th September
Join us for morning prayer and worship
LAtest episode of our Podcast
