St Mary's Church Henley-on-Thames

13/06/2026

For the rest of this year our gospel readings on Sundays will mostly be taken from the Gospel according to St Matthew. This morning's gospel tells of Jesus call of the twelve disciples, who are called apostles and sent out to continue His ministry of teaching and healing. Matthew sets this calling and sending out in the context of Jesus' compassion for the people, who He describes as being like sheep without a shepherd. Switching to another metaphor taken from rural life, Jesus says: "The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few". The second half of this statement we can readily sympathise with - we always seem to be looking for volunteers to sustain the life of our churches - but the first half perhaps less so. And yet in world beset with uncertainty, confusion and increasingly fear, the need for the gospel could not be more clear. Jesus calls us to proclaim His compassion in the world in word and deed; whilst we might feel ourselves and at times the wider Church to be woefully inadequate to the scale of the task, we must trust in His grace, confident that He can transform our modest efforts to further His loving purposes.

The photograph above is of the harvest at Aswan, Egypt, by Mohamed Hozyen.

This Sunday:
8am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Mary's)
9.30am Sung Eucharist (St Mary's)
11.15am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Nicholas Remenham)
4pm Choral Evensong (St Mary's) - with the Durham University Choral Society Alumni

This week:

Tuesday
6pm Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s)

Wednesday
10am BATS (Chantry House)
12noon Eucharist (St Mary’s)

Thursday
10am Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s), followed by coffee (Chantry House)
7.15pm Choir Practice (St Mary’s)

Friday
12noon Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s)

Saturday
9am Oxpast (Chantry House)

Morning Prayer is said at St Mary’s in the stalls Tuesday-Friday at 9am

Third Sunday after Trinity ~ Sunday 21st June
8am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Mary’s)
9.30am Sung Eucharist with Junior Church (St Mary’s)
11.15am Sung Matins (BCP) (St Nicholas)
4pm Choral Evensong (St Mary’s)

11/06/2026

Everyone is welcome to St Mary's on Tuesday 23rd June at 7.30pm for a presentation of our proposed new lighting system - with Pimms (and non-alcoholic alternatives...). Please come if you can, spread the word amongst friends and neighbours, and if you can help with the considerable costs of the lighting project, please visit https://stmaryshenley.org/friends-of-st-marys/ .

30/05/2026

It’s helpful to recognise that the Church’s year has a certain shape to it; understanding this shape may help us to make better sense of what we encounter in church Sunday by Sunday. We might think of it in very broad-brush terms as two halves of roughly six months each: the cycle from Advent through to Trinity Sunday, and then the long succession of the Sundays after Trinity which runs from the early summer all the way up to the Feast of Christ the King at the end of November. The first half is focussed on God’s saving works, revealed through the life, death and resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And then in the Sundays that follow – the long succession of Sundays after Trinity, when you will notice that the colour used in church is mostly green – the focus shifts from celebrating the saving acts of God to reflecting on what all this means for us in our own lives; in short, how to be disciples of Jesus. Trinity Sunday stands then at one of the two connecting points between these halves of the Christian year. And yet it may be that these broad-brush distinctions in thinking about the Church’s year are a little artificial. Yes it is helpful that we notice the character of the different celebrations; but we will recognise too that for us to separate out the loving purposes of God from the life of discipleship is ultimately impossible, in either direction. It is only through the saving works of God that we are able to live a life of discipleship; and it is likewise only through a life of discipleship that we are able to begin to comprehend the saving works of God; and it is only through both God’s saving works and our life of discipleship that we are able to begin to contemplate the ultimately unknowable mystery of the Divine life that we celebrate this Sunday.

This Sunday:
8am Holy Communion (BCP)
9.30am Sung Eucharist (St Mary's)
11.15am Holy Communion (BCP) with hymns (St Nicholas Remenham)
No Evening Prayer this Sunday

This week:

Tuesday
6pm Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s)
7pm HA&HG (Chantry House)
7pm Remenham PCC (Remenham Hall)

Wednesday
10am BATS (Chantry House)
6pm Eucharist (St Mary’s)
7pm PCC meeting (Chantry House)

Thursday
10am Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s), followed by coffee (Chantry House)
7.15pm Choir Practice (St Mary’s)

Friday
12noon Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s)
5pm Wedding rehearsal (St Mary’s)

Saturday
1.30pm Wedding (St Mary’s)

Morning Prayer is said at St Mary’s in the stalls Tuesday-Friday at 9am

First Sunday after Trinity / Corpus Christi Sunday ~ Sunday 7th June
8am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Mary’s)
8.30am Parish Breakfast (Chantry House)
9.30am Sung Eucharist with Junior Church (St Mary’s)
11.15am Matins (BCP) (St Nicholas Church, Remenham)
No Evening Prayer this Sunday

23/05/2026

It is striking how often Jesus' teaching is drawn from nature. Time and again He uses examples taken from the natural world to create parables or images that illuminate a spiritual truth. On the feast of Pentecost, described by St John Chrysostom as "the supreme and final grace, the most important feast, the actual fulfilment of the Lord's promise", we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church. The gospels give us several images taken from creation to help us to understand the Holy Spirit. First there is wind, or breath. In New Testament Greek and Hebrew the words for "breath", "wind" and "spirit" are all the same. Breath is very obviously associated with life itself; wind also is associated with the changeableness of weather that creates the conditions necessary for life and growth. Then there is fire, with its suggestion not only of warmth and light, but also of destruction - flames can be purifying, as in the refining of metals. The Holy Spirit is not something that is always going to be entirely comfortable. Another image taken from creation to help us understand the Holy Spirit is the dove, a bird associated with innocence, purity, gentleness and, especially in the story of Noah, hope. But in today's gospel Jesus gives us yet another image, perhaps a little unexpected: water. He speaks of "rivers of living water" flowing out of the believer's heart, and the evangelist then clarifies that Jesus is speaking of the Holy Spirit. Water is life-giving and life-sustaining, and during these hot days we are more than usually grateful for its refreshing properties. But like fire it has its destructive side, and its cleansing and purifying properties also help to sustain life and health. Let us pray that we together with the whole church may be refreshed and renewed by the living waters of the Holy Spirit.

The image above is of the Kedem Stream in the Judean Desert. Photograph credit: Yuvalr, 2012.

This Sunday:
8am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Mary's)
9.30am Sung Eucharist and Holy Baptism (St Mary's)
11.15am Holy Communion (BCP) with hymns (St Nicholas Remenham)
4pm Evening Prayer (BCP) (St Mary's)

This week - please note the reduced pattern of services for half-term:

Wednesday
10am Loop mapping (St Mary’s);

Thursday
10am Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s), followed by coffee (Chantry House);

Morning Prayer is said at St Mary’s in the stalls Tuesday-Friday at 9am

Next Sunday: Trinity Sunday ~ Sunday 31st May
8am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Mary’s)
9.30am Sung Eucharist and Junior Church (St Mary’s)
11.15am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Nicholas)
No Evening Prayer

21/05/2026

Our church building is very beautiful, but it is also getting very dark. Its 25 year-old lighting system is in urgent need of total replacement, and we need to find in the region of £200,000 to complete the work.

On Sunday 23rd June at 7.30pm there will be a presentation of the proposed new lighting scheme in church. Everyone is welcome. Please come along if you can, and better still bring a friend.

Refreshments will be offered - looking at the weather forecast, our minds are turning to Pimms...

Hope to see you there.

16/05/2026

The last days of Eastertide, between Ascension Day and the Feast of Pentecost, have a different character to the rest of the season. Although we continue to rejoice in the joy of the Resurrection, there is now also a note of waiting and expectation. Just as in Luke's account, the disciples are told by Jesus to wait in Jerusalem for the gift of the Holy Spirit, so too during these days leading up to Pentecost it is fitting that we should pray earnestly for the renewal of the Church in the power of the Spirit. Our New Testament reading for this Sunday provides us with an interesting detail: the disciples in the Upper Room (pictured above) are now joined not only by His Mother Mary, but also by His brothers. The appearance of Mary at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles connects us with the beginning of Luke's gospel (Acts and Luke were written by the same person); just as the story of Jesus begins with the overshadowing of Mary by the Holy Spirit, so too the story of the spread of the gospel will begin with the coming of the Holy Spirit on the gathered disciples. But the presence of Mary and Jesus' brothers also points to the unity of those who love Jesus: there are hints of a rift between Jesus and His family in the gospel narratives, but in the light of the Resurrection and the expectation of the Holy Spirit there is a new unity in prayer.

This Sunday:
8am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Mary's)
9.30am Sung Eucharist and Junior Church (St Mary's)
11.15am Matins (BCP) with hymns (St Nicholas Remenham)
12.30pm Burial of Ashes (St Nicholas Remenham)
4pm Choral Evensong with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament (St Mary's)

This week:

Monday
9am Chiltern Arts (St Mary’s)

Tuesday
6pm Holy Eucharist

Wednesday
10am BATS (Chantry House)
12noon Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s)

Thursday
10am Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s), followed by coffee (Chantry House)
11.30am Standing Committee (St Mary’s)
7.15pm Choir Practice (St Mary’s)

Friday
12noon Requiem Eucharist (St Mary’s)

Morning Prayer is said at St Mary’s in the stalls Tuesday-Friday at 9am.

Next Sunday: The Day of Pentecost ~ Sunday 24th May
8am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Mary’s)
9.30am Sung Eucharist and Junior Church with Baptism (St Mary’s)
11.15am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Nicholas)
4pm Evening Prayer (BCP) (St Mary’s)

16/05/2026

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08/05/2026

This Sunday has traditionally been known as Rogation Sunday, as it precedes the three Rogation Days traditionally associated with the blessing of fields. This ancient tradition can be understood as a counterpart to Lammastide (celebrating the grain harvest in August) and Harvest Thanksgiving (a moveable feast, typically celebrated in late September). Just as it is appropriate to give thanks for the harvest when all is safely gathered in, so too it is appropriate to pray for growth in the springtime. Rogationtide, traditionally a period of prayer and fasting, is also an appropriate time to remember the hungry. This is the Christian faith at its most material and practical, rooted both in place and in the rhythms of the times and seasons of God's creation. Our gospel reading for this Sunday might seem to stand rather in contrast with this emphasis on creation and materiality: Jesus speaks of the gift of the Holy Spirit that He promises to His disciples, and He promises too that through the Holy Spirit His disciples will be drawn into the love that unites Him with the Father. And yet this is precisely the beauty and the wonder of the Christian faith: through the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the material and the spiritual are brought and held together. Through the redeemed and redeeming humanity of Jesus, and through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, all creation rejoices with a new loveliness, and fulfils its true destiny in leading us to the Creator.

The image above is a photograph of young wheat by Jean Weber.

This Sunday:

8am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Mary's)
9.30am Sung Eucharist and Junior Church (St Mary's)
11.15am Holy Communion (BCP) with hymns (St Nicholas Remenham)
12.30pm Holy Baptism (St Nicholas Remenham)
4pm Evening Prayer (BCP) (St Mary's)

This week:

Monday
9am Henley College (Chantry House),
5pm Acorn Theatre (Chantry House);

Tuesday
9am Henley College (Chantry House)
6pm Holy Eucharist

Wednesday
10am BATS (Chantry House)
12noon Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s)

Thursday
10am Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s), followed by coffee (Chantry House)
7.15pm Choir Practice (St Mary’s)

Friday
12noon Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s)

Morning Prayer is said at St Mary’s in the stalls Tuesday-Friday at 9am.

Next Sunday: The Seventh Sunday of Easter
8am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Mary’s)
9.30am Sung Eucharist and Junior Church (St Mary’s)
11.15am Sung Matins (BCP) (St Nicholas)
12.30pm Burial of Ashes (St Nicholas)
4pm Choral Evensong with Benediction (St Mary’s)

02/05/2026

In the Sundays of the Easter season, once we have heard the stories of Jesus' Resurrection appearances and "Good Shepherd Sunday", by long tradition the Church has turned to St John's account of the Last Supper. In a way this seems strange, as if we have jumped back into Passiontide, and into the time immediately leading up to the Cross. But one of the interesting things about St John's account of the Last Supper is that Jesus is seeking to prepare the disciples not only for the coming trauma of His arrest and crucifixion, but also for the coming of the Holy Spirit and the life of the Church. Jesus' Farewell Discourse in John's gospel is long, dense, rich and complex. He's trying to cover a lot of ground, but He never seems very confident that the disciples have understood Him! This Sunday's gospel is one of the best known passages from the Farewell Discourse, and a passage that is very often chosen for funerals. It includes words of profound assurance: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?" It includes the extraordinary claim: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." And it includes a sort of meditation on the intimacy between the Father and the Son, and an invitation to enter into that intimacy: "If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him". Next Sunday we will hear Jesus developing these ideas and promises further.

This Sunday:
8am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Mary's)
8.35 Parish Breakfast (Chantry House)
9.30am Sung Eucharist and Junior Church (St Mary's)
11.15am Matins (BCP) with hymns (St Nicholas Remenham)
4pm Evensong (BCP) with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament

This week:

Tuesday
6pm Eucharist (St Mary's)
7pm HA&HG (Chantry House)

Wednesday
10am BATS (Chantry House)
12noon Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s)

Thursday
10am Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s), followed by coffee (Chantry House)
7.15pm Choir Practice (St Mary’s)

Friday
12noon Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s)

Saturday
11.30am PBS Matins (St Mary’s)

Morning Prayer is said at St Mary’s in the stalls Tuesday-Friday at 9am

The Sixth Sunday of Easter ~ Sunday 10th May
8am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Mary’s)
9.30am Sung Eucharist and Junior Church (St Mary’s)
11.15am Holy Communion with hymns (BCP) (St Nicholas)
4pm Evening Prayer (St Mary’s)

25/04/2026

Psalm 23 - "The Lord is my shepherd" - is perhaps the best-known and best-loved of all the psalms. It beautifully expresses trust in God through the changes and chances of life, and even through the valley of the shadow of death. This Sunday we will sing Psalm 23 before hearing Jesus in John's gospel declaring Himself to be the Good Shepherd. In Jesus we find the ultimate fulfilment of the vision of Psalm 23. In His life, in the fulness of His humanity, He perfectly embodies the psalmist's vision of trust in God. And in the fulness of His Divinity He shows us the trustworthiness of God through the extraordinary dimensions of His love. In the sacramental life of the Church He anoints us, He prepares a table for us, He feeds us and guides us and protects us. In the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep, we have confidence that He is with us even through the valley of the shadow of death. And we trust too that His purposes for us are that we may have life, and have it abundantly, and that, in the words of Psalm 23, our cup overflows, and we will dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives.

This Sunday:
8am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Mary's)
9.30am Sung Eucharist and Junior Church (St Mary's)
10.15am APCM (St Nicholas Remenham)
11am APCM (St Mary's, in the Chantry House)
11.15am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Nicholas Remenham)

This week:

Wednesday
10am BATS (Chantry House)
10am CBG visit for lighting (St Mary’s)
12noon Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s)

Thursday
10am Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s), followed by coffee (Chantry House)
12noon Memorial Service (St Mary’s)
7.15pm Choir Practice (St Mary’s)

Friday
12noon Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s)

Morning Prayer is said at St Mary’s in the stalls Tuesday-Friday at 9am

Fifth Sunday of Easter ~ Sunday 3rd May
8am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Mary’s)
9.30am Sung Eucharist and Junior Church (St Mary’s)
11.15am Matins (St Nicholas)
4pm Evening Prayer (St Mary’s)