Click the link to view. And enjoy 😊

My Dear Friends,

I really enjoyed our wander through the Fruits of the Spirit, and having a series kept me motivated. So I am going to do a few sessions on Prayer. 
I know I will be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs (I have absolutely no idea what that phrase actually means) but it will do me good to contemplate the mystery of prayer, and I would be delighted if you would join me.

I shall begin by being a bit self centred, just as a way of introduction, and then move on to some more general practices, and most importantly the teachings of Jesus.

My first proper encounter about prayer was in Sunday school, where I was taught that not only God was everywhere, but that he knew the secrets of our hearts.
I was amazed at this and loved the idea that if God knew what was going on inside of me, I didn’t need to spell it all out, I could just think it, and he would know. I felt very close to God.
My sister has a picture of me, about 6 years old, praying all on my own. Ah Bless!

But then, I became a teenager, and didn’t want God knowing what was going on in my mind. It was personal, and private, and nothing to do with him. And what could I do about those thoughts that popped in uninvited, and were of a particular nature. I felt a bit vulnerable, and wasn’t sure what I should do. Should I suppress those thought, try and hide them from God, pretend, cover them up, confess them, beat myself up?

It was hard going, and generated so many fixed feelings in my adolescent faith, and I coped by separating certain things off from God. And I kept that up for a while until I heard a very famous politician saying ‘I don’t let my faith interfere with my politics’, and I thought what a hypocrite! How dare he have a faith that separates it from his job…. And of course I immediately realised that what I was doing. (I was still pretty young) 
But then came the revelation that, if God knew the secrets  of our hearts, then there was no point in hiding, or separating, or even blushing. He knew, and what that meant was that I had no choice. He knew me better than I knew myself, and yet he still loved me. The truth dawned on me that with regard my relationship with God, the best way was to be completely true to myself. Honest and open, real, warts, and imagination, and all. It was totally liberating. Where else could I be so true. I didn’t have to pretend that I was happy, or sad, or even interested. I could just be me, and that was brilliant.

So, by my late teens, I had got to the stage where I had a very good relationship with God. But not so great with myself. That was still a work in progress, and it still is.

Years later, after university where I tried to answer the big questions of Life, God,  Heaven and all that, I got a job working in the Accident and Emergency Operating theatres at the Royal Free in Hampstead, It was brilliant, and when I watched a Post Mortem, it was like a Religious Experience. How could the human body evolve just by accident> It was just way too precious to have just happened by chance.
Then Theological College, and then Ordination. By this time I was about 12. (Or so it seems)

Move along some more years, and I am married with three children under 2, and home life was just so hectic. I went to see my Spiritual Director, Brother Giles from Alton Abbey, and said ‘My home life is madness, so much going on with three babies and everything happening all at once. What should I do about my prayer life, can I give up my pattern? And he said ‘No. Say your prayers!’
That was the best bit of advice I have ever received. If I had stopped saying my Morning Prayer every day, I would have probably stopped praying altogether because there would not have been time, or it would not have been convenient. So, with the Blessing of my wife, I carried on.

The point of all this is very simple, and I will continue with the theme on Friday, but just the liberation of being completely truly ourselves in our relationship with God, and whatever happens, take some time to pray.

Where, when, how and why will be uncovered in the next few articles.

Bless you,

As ever,

Fr Marcus.

Reopening our churches

As of Sunday 5th July 5 of our 7 churches have returned to regular Sunday communion services at their normal times. 

Denia will re-commence services after the summer, and, until September Javea will be offering mid-week communion on Wednesdays, but Sunday services will be back after the summer months. The Thursday service at the Forum in Alfaz del Pi is also back.

In El Campello we are beginning with a service in a private home, because our normal chapel makes social distancing difficult.

In Gandia, La Fustera, Calpe and Albir we are back in our usual places at our usual times.

Some of us are keen to get back, while some of us are still anxious. Our chaplains explain that no one should feel under any pressure to return. Indeed many churches in the UK do not plan to re-start physical services until the autumn or beyond.

The Service of the Holy Eucharist follows the same format that we have been enjoying with Fr. Rodney on Facebook, but we will be able to worship together in the church building. Things are a little different but we do hope that if you feel ready to join us, you will feel very safe with all the measures that the team have put in place. Masks must be worn, you will be “sanitised” on arrival, the churches are disinfected before and after each service and we keep a record of attendance and seating in case “track and trace” is required. However we are sure that with the measures in place any risk of infection is now well managed.

For those not yet ready to come back to church Fr. Rodney and Fr. Robin’s Sunday Eucharist will continue on Facebook, at 11am (Spanish time). Just search for Rodney Middleton (Orba) on Facebook. The recording will also be available on YouTube, and the link will be circulated via the Blog Post and on the pages of Facebook.

Many of our regular congregants are not here at the moment, and this is just for information for you. 

Here is the link for today’s service with Fr. Rodney and Fr. Robin. You can watch it now –

Click here to view –

From Fr. Jim –

Due to construction, Javea will not be resuming services until the 15th of July.

Good Morning you lovely people, and welcome to the last in this series. We will move on to something else on Tuesday, but I hope you have enjoyed walking with me along the road that leads to Self Control! Everybody’s favourite Fruit of the Spirit.

Just to put things in to perspective, we have been unpacking the Fruits of the Spirit that Paul talks about in Galatians 5. 22-23 
The Fruits of the Spirit are Love, Joy , Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control.

Paul teaches us that if we are led by the Spirit we will encounter these things in contrast to the unpleasantness of being led by the passions of the world. And who would not want these beautiful attributes in their life.

So, Self Control!
Firstly a little humorous aside. I once suggested to our Chaplaincy Council that as a fund raiser we could run a Smoothie Stall at events, selling our own recipes Fruits of the Spirit Smoothies, called Love, Joy Peace etc. My suggestion was that Self Control was more of a cocktail than a smoothie, and we could put vodka in it. Sadly the idea never came to fruition but I still like it as a concept.

Anyway, back to the matter in hand. Paul sets the scene in Romans 7.15 ‘I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ‘
It is so gratifying that even Paul struggles with this one.
Just to put this all in context, we love the idea of being in control of our actions, but in reality, sometimes they control us. Have you ever had to go on a diet? Why was that?
Have you ever tried to cut down on those things you do too much? Of course you have. I remember my friend telling me ‘It is easy to give up smoking; I have done it hundreds of times!’ You also know that feeling when you are told to do something. Don’t press the red button, don’t press the red button, don’t press the red button, press the red button.

The examples are endless, and we all fall short regularly. Sometimes the consequences are minimal, but they can be catastrophic! I have lost count of the funerals I did years ago when the driver only popped out for one drink, but stayed longer than they had planned.

Paul acknowledges that it is really hard, and describes the thing that causes it as the sin which is inside of us. And of course he is right, but probably using words which don’t help as much today. We like to think of a broad range of ideas that impact out actions: peer pressure, the emotion of the crowd, advertising, ignorance, addiction, personality, and our false ego which lies so easily to us, and draws us away from our true self.
All of these, and many more are encompassed by Paul’s use of the term ‘sin’.
But when we read more of Romans, we get to understand what sin actually is, and it is pretty simple. Sin is not taking God seriously.

On our own, we certainly fall short, and do those things that we don’t want to do. The harder we strive, the greater our fall. But we know that fruits are not the result of us striving, but the consequence of us ‘Living by the Spirit. The more we allow God to influence our lives, the more likely we are to experience those beautiful fruits.

So, here is the a simple idea that can have a huge affect on our lives, and it is just to take God seriously. 
To do that we bring God much closer to ourselves, and don’t think of some great abstract concept, but rather the intimate and personal companion who is Jesus, and whose Spirit dwells within us.

The lovely Saint Lawrence does every action to the glory of God, so much so that it becomes his natural process. We can learn from that, and have God in our minds as we make our choices. It is not about beating ourselves up, but rather allowing the presence of God to inform, inspire and encourage us, and when that happens we will practice self control.

I hope you are having a great day, and that you continue to walk the paths of the Fruits of the Spirit.

Next Tuesday we will begin something new, until then, Bless you, Bless you, Bless you.

As ever,

Fr Marcus

Five of our 7 churches will re-open for Sunday worship from this Sunday (July 5th).

Denia will re-commence services after the summer, and, until September Javea will be offering mid-week communion on Wednesdays, but Sunday services will be back after the summer months.

In El Campello we are beginning with a service in a private home, because our normal chapel makes social distancing difficult.

In Gandia, La Fustera, Calpe and Albir we will be in our usual places at our usual times.

Some of us are keen to get back, while some of us are still anxious. Our chaplains explain that no one should feel under any pressure to return. Indeed many churches in the UK do not plan to re-start physical services until the autumn or beyond.

The Service of the Holy Eucharist will follow the same format that we have been enjoying with Fr. Rodney on Facebook, but we will be able to worship together in the church building. For those not yet ready to come back to church Fr. Rodney and Fr. Robin’s Sunday Eucharist will continue on Facebook, at 11am (Spanish time). Just search for Rodney Middleton (Orba) on Facebook. The recording will also be available on YouTube, and the link will be circulated via the Blog Post and on the pages of Facebook.

Things will be different but we do hope that if you feel ready to join us, you will feel very safe with all the measures that the team have put in place.

Many of our regular congregants are not here at the moment, and this is just for information for you.

Click the link to view

Follow the link to enjoy –