Church

 

St Peter's Church, Westleton from the south-east.

St Peters Church in early spring
(Photo: Hillas Smith)

Westleton Parish Church of St. Peter

Our present church dates from 1340 when the original Anglo-Saxon building was completely rebuilt. When complete the church had a tower but this collapsed in the 1770's. The tower was reduced to a stump which survived until the Second World War when a landmine that fell close by made it unsafe and the remains had to be dismantled.

The exterior of the parish church is unusual in that it has no tower or spire and also has a thatched roof.

Westleton is one of the eight parishes within the Yoxmere Confederation. Please initially contact Church Warden J. Branch 01728 648140 jbranch563@gmail.com or S. Foster, 01728649034 susanelizabethfoster@icloud.com 

The church has a wide variety of services at which both traditional and modern liturgies are used.

The church has fine acoustic qualities, which, combined with its light airy appearance, makes it a superb venue for concerts and recitals. These are held on a regular basis and details may be found in the Parish Magazine “The Yoxmere Fisherman”.

More information is available at the website:
www.achurchnearyou.com//westleton-st-peter/

Westleton is one of 8 parishes in the Yoxmere Benefice of the Church of England Diocese of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich.

Visit the website of the Church of England Diocese of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich for more information about the work of the diocese.

Meet the Rogers Family

Revd Tim Rogers will be joining us here in the Yoxmere Benefice as our new incumbent as soon as the Covid-19 restrictions allow.

Meanwhile he has written to us giving a brief introduction to himself and his family. 

St Peter’s Church Westleton GOOD NEWS for 5th July 2020 Happy 72nd Birthday NHS On July 5th, 1948, the National Health Service was born with an official unveiling at Park Hospital Manchester, now Trafford General Hospital. But the history of the NHS started way before that, there had been decades of discussions and at the outbreak of the second world war an Emergency Hospital Service was created on September 3rd, 1939. In December 1942, Sir William Beverage proposed major changes in his ‘Social Insurance and Allied Services’ report. February 1944 a White Paper entitled ‘A National Health Service’ was published by Henry Willink Conservative Minister for Health. Following Labour’s victory in the 1945 election, Aneurin (Nye) Bevan, a fiery ex-minor from Wales, was made Health Minister and in the following July he published the ‘National Health Service Act of 1946’ The National Health Service was founded in July 1948 with 1,143 voluntary hospitals comprising some 90,000 beds and 1,545 municipal hospitals with 390,000 beds. Health care was free for all and the privilege of wealth no longer dictated treatment. The NHS is now the fifth largest employer in the world with 1.9 million employees in the UK across more than 350 different professions, spending in excess of £130 billion. Now during this pandemic, it has treated something in the order of 100,000 Covid-19 patients. Please pray for all who work in the NHS, from Matt Hancock the Health Secretary right the way through to the guy who cleans the loos. They are all there for us when our needs are greatest. It is with great sadness that we announce Revd Richard Ginn passed away peacefully on Wednesday after a long battle with cancer. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Linda, Sarah, David, Andrew and their families. A true servant of God, may he rest in peace in the glory of our Lord. Sue and JeremyWant to share a birthday, anniversary or contribute to our newsletter? Please just call 648140 or email jbranch563@gmail.com The July edition of the Fisherman is now online, go to http://westleton.onesuffolk.net/Church and click on Yoxmere Fisherman link in box to the left Sunday 5th Radio Suffolk 8am Sunday Morning Service Radio 4 8.10am The Revd Lucy Winkett, Rector of St James’s Church, Piccadilly, and composer Bob Chilcott explore the power of music to speak into troubled times. Join Bishops Martin and Mike 10am Sunday Service from the Cathedral www.facebook.com/stedscathedral or www.facebook.com/BishopsCofEsuffolk/ BBC1 TV 10.45am Sunday Morning Live, exploring the ethical and religious issues of the day 1.15pm Songs of Praise Katherine Jenkins meets the Archbishop of Canterbury to mark the Birthday of the NHS and Florence Nightingale’s bicentenary. Reflection from Tim for Trinity 4 Romans 7:15-25; Matt 11:16-19, 25-30 Last week I was welcomed into the benefice with a ‘welcome’ passage from Matthew 10, in which I talked about our all being ambassadors for Christ. In the Fisherman this month I reflected (in the light of our not having met for church for three months) on what church is — and so, hoping that you have read those thoughts, I offer here thoughts here on priesthood, that just about touch on todays readings, even if they are not expositions of the passages. By such means I hope to point you to God, and by reading between the lines, you will meet me, too. I think about faith a lot in terms of connection. We are an inherently ‘connect-y’ sort of species. We value family, friends and neighbours, and a major lens through which we see ourselves is in terms of our connections within groups — our relationships. But we also need a sense of connection within ourselves (e.g. the physical of walking can at times do wonders for our spiritual and mental wellbeing), and connection with the land. Christians recognise their need for connection or relationship with God. Priests, ministers, presbyters, vicars, pastors are people who are there to facilitate that connection. We are spiritual plumbers or sparkies! We are there to help you know God, to draw you into God’s love, grace and goodness. Priests strive to connect people with God through prayer, and the Bible and helping to interpret the Bible, and through communion and baptism — the stuff that we find in church services, but we’re there for the rest of the week too. If God is love, and those who live in love, live in God and God in them, then priests ought to be pretty lovely people. The principle way most people encounter God is through the Christians who have been shaped by that love. We need to preach by who we are (and doesn’t Paul in Romans 7 know it?!) But we also preach. I don’t want to be preachy, though. Good preaching, like good literature should not tell us what we had better think, but should help us think better! Sermons should be a thinking space in which together we see God more clearly, and be shaped by that insight. But we mustn’t always preach to the converted. Priests do mission work too — talking God with those who don’t know God — and pastoral work — listening and loving those who most need to experience God’s love at the moment, and hoping that God shines through.All Christians are priests, inasmuch as we all are shaped by our faith in God, and communicate something of God in our walk and our talk. We all connect people with God, and invite God into their lives through our prayer. In Matthew 11:27 Jesus says, “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Jesus is the perfect priest because he knows the Father best of all, is the best at connecting us with him and the best at showing us how much God wants to connect to us. Happily, he chooses to reveal the Father to us, and that revelation is free to share — let’s share it! All Christians are priests, as I have said (and 1 Pet. 2:9 backs me up on this!), so another thing that priests do naturally is to nurture the priesthood of others (who then do the same, and so on) — sharing their insights into God, and loving as God has loved them, to the best of their ability. Now, what do you think? Have I missed something you think is important? And can you see yourself as a priest in some of the ways I have described? (Be generous!) And what does it mean for you to connect with God, and to connect others to God? Take a moment to reflect on that… and God bless you. (ps. Priests bless as well, don’t they? And lots of other things too…)

 

 

Includes two images of books available for sale.

Westleton 100 Club

 

The 100 club is a joint venture between the Church and Village Hall. The proceeds are shared equally between them. To see the winners click on the link in the box at the top left of this page.