St Edburg's Church, Bicester

13/05/2026

13/03/2026

Thought for the Week 15 March 2026

This fourth Sunday of Lent is commonly known as Mothering Sunday. It has had several other names - Laetare Sunday from the Latin Laetare Jerusalem – translated as Jerusalem rejoice; Refreshment Sunday; Rose Sunday because medieval Popes sent gifts of golden roses to Catholic rulers and the priests wore pink robes to celebrate; Simnel Sunday – because Simnel cakes used to be eaten on this Sunday; Sunday of Five loaves – because the traditional gospel was the feeding of the 5,000.

This Sunday has so many names because it is a different to the other Sundays in Lent. We are in the middle of Lent with three weeks still to go to Easter. It is the middle Sunday of Lent, and needed to be marked out in some way. Lent is a period of going without, giving alms, and of prayer and of thinking about one’s relationship with God so a brief break from Lent rigour for just one day was welcome – hence Refreshment Sunday.

It is best known now as Mothering Sunday. Originally it was the Sunday when people returned to their ‘mother’ church – the church of their family and their place of baptism. From mid-1600s the focus shifted to adult children working away from home going back to visit their families on this one Sunday of the year. The custom was revived by Constance Penswick Smith (1878 – 1938), daughter of the vicar of Coddington in Nottinghamshire. She re-established many customs such as the church giving flowers to the children to give to their mothers.

So now this Sunday’s focus very much on showing our mothers how much we love them and how grateful we are to them for what they have done for us - practical things when we are small, teaching us to behave, or just being there to listen and give advice. So it is right to thank them and to look after them in our turn.

Jesus as always shows us the way. He grew up in a family and until he was about 30 he worked with his father in their carpenter’s workshop. Later, his family followed him. Even when he was dying he took care that his mother would be looked after, by telling John to treat her in the future as his own mother. So let us follow Jesus’s example and love, look after and care for our mothers, and show them that we love them.

Christopher Young

Caption to accompany the picture
Grave of Constance Penswick Smith, Coddington church by Julian P Guffogg
licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
and edited to show only the grave of Constance Penswick Smith

26/12/2025

Thought for the week

The Journey

We are a mere four days away from Christmas Day, the day when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Joseph and Mary had left their homes in Nazareth to travel to Bethlehem, the city of their ancestors where they were required to register as part of the census. Bethlehem being the ancestral city of their forefathers.

Bethlehem was, in those days some 70 miles as the crow flies, able bodied people could cover about 20 miles per day walking, slightly more if riding a donkey. At best three or four-days travel. However, we must remember two vital pieces of information:

• Mary was heavily pregnant – a mere few days prior to the birth of the baby she was carrying. Travelling at about 10 miles per day, it would have taken Joseph & Mary about 8-10 days to reach their destination. Regardless of the route, the journey would have been quite arduous & was probably a scary prospect for the young, pregnant mother.
• The direct route from Nazareth to Bethlehem lay in the path of the most direct route and in those days, there was considerable hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans, passing through Samaria it is likely they would have been harassed and probably refused any sort of accommodation. As was the custom of many Jews it is likely that Joseph would have taken a longer detour from Galilee, crossing the river Jordon early in the journey and crossing back much closer to Bethlehem, an increase of some 20 miles.

Bethlehem sits on a plateau where Joseph, Mary & any others who travelled with them would still have been obliged to make the steep 16 mile (26 km) climb up the road from the Jordan valley near Jericho to the heights on which Jerusalem and Bethlehem rests. In Jesus’ time, this section of the road was called “the Way of Blood”, because of the danger from robbers. Incidentally, this section of road is where Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan is set. It ascends 3,500 feet over 16 miles, which makes for quite a steep gradient. It is likely that by this day – four days before the birth of Jesus Joseph and Mary faced this long and steep climb.

As we prepare for our Christmas celebrations let us remember the trials and tribulations that Joseph and Mary had endured to get to this point and the anguish that faced them as they climbed up to Bethlehem followed by the news that there was “no room in the inn” once they arrived.

Ian Cribbes

30/11/2025

Christmas Services 2025 St Edburg's Bicester with St Laurence's Caversfield.

30/11/2025

Thought for the Week

Countdown to Christmas

Advent starts on Sunday. Even in the wider community beyond church, it is seen as a special time of counting down to Christmas, as the variety and availability of Advent Calendars shows. It might seem odd, though, to mark a Christian season by daily chocolates! But that’s all fine, if we also remember that it is a precious time, a time of waiting in hope. The emphasis is not so much on bewailing our sins, as in Lent, but on joyful looking forward in hope. It’s a time when we hear again those scripture passages about waking from sleep and putting on the armour of light. It’s all about being ready to meet the Master when he comes.

Looking back at the ancient prophets, we learn that it means preparing the way of the Lord, a way for him to come again into our hearts and into our community. And the last of the prophets, that mysterious and challenging character, John the Baptist, comes again into view, preaching repentance as the time of God’s Anointed is drawing near.

And of course, foremost in our thoughts are Mary and Joseph and their quiet confidence in God, responding to the challenge to bear the Christ-child and parent him in the traditional ways of God’s people, preparing him for his adult mission. We imagine that their journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, some 90 miles or so, begins roughly as we start Advent. And within our church community, we offer them a symbolic welcome as they travel, hosting them for one night via the custom of Posada.

This all comes to life each week in church as the people of God meet in worship. With no flowers and no Gloria until Christmas, the tone is set for a prayerful and patient time of waiting in expectation. We try to hold back from singing Christmas carols until Christmas itself, and there are many wonderful Advent hymns, such as O Come, O Come, Immanuel, Hills of the North Rejoice and On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry. The countdown to Christmas is spiritually rich and fruitful.

Michael Kingston

24/11/2025

CHRIST THE KING

Christ the King Sunday marks the end of the liturgical year, before Advent takes over and the cycle begins again with a new Gospel focus. It might be a moment to consider the journey you have been on with the Gospel of Luke this year, especially if both readings from Luke, one from the beginning and one from near the end, are chosen today. Unless you are going to be very counter-lectionary about things, the overarching theme of the service is chosen for you, but each of the readings offers a different perspective on what the idea of Christ as King might look like.

It can be jarring for today's ears to hear of the crucifixion in the Gospel reading appointed for today, when minds are already (prematurely!) drawn towards a baby in the manger: Christmas lights will be up in town centres; the TV adverts will be in full swing; and children will already be thinking about what might appear on a letter to Santa.

There might be benefit in emphasising that dissonance. Next week we will be thrown into the familiar routine of advent expectation for the Messiah – and there will be time to draw on the difference between the freedom-fighting warrior king that was expected, and the itinerant teacher and healer who arrived. But this week's readings come as reminder that the difference was no less present – and no less puzzling to onlookers – even as the crowned Messiah takes up His kingdom, ‘crowned' by thorns and giving heavenly citizenship to the thief beside Him.
The other major calendar event beginning this week is the beginning of the 16 days of Activism to End Gender-Based Violence – starting on 25 November, with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.


Christ the King Sunday celebrates the authority of Christ as King and Lord of all things. Officially called “The Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King.” The Feast of Chirst the King is celebrated on the final Sunday of Ordinary Time. It is also the final Sunday of the liturgical year, the last Sunday before the First Sunday of Advent.

The Feast of Christ the King is is a moveable feast; the date changes every year. In 2016, the feast falls on November 20.

The Liturgical Year is a Cycle
Itfollows a rhythmic cycle which points us toward beginnings and ends. Our faith and our liturgical practices proclaim that Jesus Christ is the “Alpha”, (the first letter of the Greek alphabet) and the “Omega” (the last letter), the beginning and the end.

Ian Cribbes

14/11/2025

Thought for the week 16th November

Unremembered acts – Sarah Mortimer

We have just been through a season of remembering. Remembering grounds us, roots us in our reference points and, most importantly, allows us to cherish the people who are part of our life story either personally or collectively.

We won’t all be remembered for heroic actions. And those who are remembered for their heroism did not set out to be remembered. They committed, in the moment, to do the courageous thing. Being remembered was not an aim; it was a by-product.

Jesus says in Matthew’s gospel (6:1, J B Phillips translation) ‘Beware of doing your good deeds conspicuously to catch men’s eyes or you will miss the reward of your Heavenly Father’.

If we carry out our actions with a view to being remembered or, more immediately, to be noticed as we act, it has an impact on our inner self. If we make a show of our generous acts, Jesus says, we are rewarded in full by the accolades we get. It leaves no space in our hearts to receive God’s words to us, ‘well done, good and faithful servant’ as those loved by God and living in God’s grace, freely given and freely received.

Wordsworth, in one of his poems, refers to ‘little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love’ as ‘the best portion of a good man’s life’*.

May we be trustworthy in the little and happy for our acts of kindness and of love to go unnoticed and unremembered because our self-worth is fully realised in God’s love for us. And may we embrace with trust God’s all-sufficient grace.

*William Wordswoth: Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798

11/11/2025

St Edburg's will be holding its annual Christmas Tree Festival in December, details are provided below. Everyone is welcome, so come and enjoy. Refreshments will be available throughout the festival and as always, we have an excellent selection of musicians coming to perform during the weekend.