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
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: A very 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
Thursday 30th May is Ascension Day.
We shall be marking the day with a service of Holy Communion at 10.30am in the church.
These are the services next Sunday, 2nd June, in Bramley and Little London
- 8.00 Holy Communion – St James
- 9.00 Sunday@nine – Cross House
- 10.30 Matins – St James
We do hope you will join us for one of these services, when we shall be continuing our sermon series about how the early Church spread like wildfire across the Middle East and into Europe, as described in the book of the Acts of the Apostles.
Word for the Week
The rioters who attacked Paul outside the temple, or the plotters in today’s reading (Acts 23:12-35) who conspired to assassinate Paul reasoned that God would approve of their actions because they were defending His glory – ignoring the fact that in carrying out their plans, they would be breaking God’s commandments not to lie and not to murder.
We all have a capacity for finding ways to persuade ourselves that the thing we most want to do is in line with what God Himself wants for us, even if it would involve breaking His laws. We turn a blind eye to inconvenient Bible truths that stare us in the face. Like those plotters, we argue that we are defending God’s glory and that therefore God will approve of what we do even if it entails going against His express commands.
God is well able, as we see in today’s reading, to bring great good out of great evil. But that doesn’t mean that He approves of our deliberately doing wrong things – deceiving, manipulating, hurting other people, even if our aim is ultimately for their good. God never sanctions the use of evil in order that good may result.
Our readings this week focus on the tension between our imperfect motives and desires and God’s perfect will and purpose.
| Monday | Romans 6:1-14 | |
| Tuesday | Romans 6:15-23 | |
| Wednesday | 1 John 1:5-2:2 | |
| Thursday | James 1:13-21 | |
| Friday | Romans 7:21-25 | |
| Saturday | Matthew 5:38-42 |
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.
These are the services elsewhere in our Benefice next Sunday, 2nd June:
- 10.00am, St Leonard’s, Sherfield on Loddon: Holy Communion
- 10.00am, St Mary’s, Stratfield Saye: Family Service
- 6.30pm, St Mary’s, Hartley Wespall: Evensong
