Welcome to the website of St James, Bramley. We hope you will find it helpful and informative, and would be delighted to welcome you to come and worship God with us on a Sunday soon.
To find the church with a SatNav, use the postcode RG26 5DF
If you or someone you know is worried or anxious about something…
…you don’t have to cope on your own. At the church, we’d be glad to help in some way.
If you or someone you know is being abused or bullied or threatened, please do give us a call. Phone numbers and emails are on our safeguarding page: https://stjamesbramley.com/safeguarding/
We will do all we can to help.
A variety of worship styles – which one is for you?
On most Sundays, we have three morning services, each one reflecting a different style of worship – but all three committed to worshipping the same Lord and reflecting on His word, the Bible. Our aim is that the variety of styles will allow everyone to find an approach to worship that matches their own preference, so that they can glorify God in the way that suits them best.
8.00 Holy Communion: A quiet, reflective service without music. We always have a short (8-10 minutes) address on the Bible, following the same theme as the other two services.
9.00 Sunday@nine: An informal, lively and relaxed service which takes place over in Cross House, our church hall, with upbeat music led by a small band. Coffee/tea and breakfast pastries are served from 8.45 and throughout the service. Children and babies are welcome at all the services, but at this service we have activities for younger children (3-8 years) in the Shell Club and for older children (8 and up) in JAM (“Jesus and Me”). There are soft toys and cushions for tinies at the back of the hall. The sermon is always based on a Bible passage and is the same as that preached at 10.30.
10.30 Worship: A more structured Church of England morning service, using words from Common Worship or the Book of Common Prayer, and with more traditional hymns accompanied by our lovely organ. The sermon, as mentioned, is the same as that preached at 9.00, and focuses on a passage from the Bible. Children and babies are very welcome, but there is no particular provision for them at this service.
This Week’s Services
These are our services next Sunday, 28th July, in Bramley.
- 8.00: Holy Communion – St James
- 9.00: Sunday@nine – Cross House
- 10.30: Holy Communion – St James
Our sermon series in the Acts of the Apostles comes to an end this Sunday: the Apostle Paul is under house arrest in Rome, and uses his relative freedom both to develop a close relationship with the Christians already living there, as well as to pass on the good news about Jesus to the Jewish community in Rome – but, as he’s experienced elsewhere, finding them unreceptive to his preaching, to his great sadness.
Word for the Week
The people who lived on Malta acted promptly to come to the aid of the 276 people who struggled out of the sea after the shipwreck. According to Luke, the writer of Acts, “the islanders showed us unusual kindness.”
As Paul was gathering brushwood for the fire, he disturbed a poisonous viper which bit him on the hand. But our text tells us that Paul “shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects,” to the great surprise of the islanders who had been watching.
The first reaction of the islanders, when they saw the snake bite Paul, was to think that Paul must be a murderer who had somehow undeservedly escaped from drowning in the storm; justice had now caught up with him. But when he failed to swell up and die, they concluded instead that he must be divine. Both conclusions were wrong, being based on the superstitious view that in this world, people get what they deserve: evildoers get punished, good people have good fortune.
Simple experience must tell us that such a view is deeply flawed; the Bible tells us clearly that if that were the case, none of us would deserve to live, because we all fall short of God’s standard of goodness. Our readings this week remind us about God’s merciful grace to humanity, despite the fact we don’t deserve it.
| Monday | Luke 13:1-8 | |
| Tuesday | Romans 3:9-20 | |
| Wednesday | Romans 3:21-27 | |
| Thursday | Mark 2:13-17 | |
| Friday | Ephesians 2:1-10 | |
| Saturday | Titus 3:3-8 |
Other Services in our Benefice
Our parish of Bramley and Little London is part of a group of parishes known as a Benefice. We work together, sharing resources and helping one another out when needed, while also retaining our individual styles and preferences as we worship the living God.
There is just one service in the other churches in our Benefice next Sunday, 28th July:
- 10.00am – St Leonard’s, Sherfield on Loddon: Together in Worship
