St Mary's and St Richard's, Northolt

30/08/2026

11/08/2026

On Sunday, we continued thinking about Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit as creator, sustainer, and more.
Our gospel reading (Matthew 14:22–33) follows the previous reading about the feeding of the multitude. Jesus has sent the disciples on by boat, while he went to pray. When a storm arises, Jesus walks across the water to the boat. Seeing him, the disciples don't recognise him and are scared, but he tells Peter to get out of the boat and walk on the water to join him. Peter starts walking, and is fine at first, but then notices the wind and loses his focus on Jesus, so starts to sink. Jesus reaches out his hand and catches him, and when they both board the boat, the storm stops.

God meets us in our own storms and moments of doubt to sustain and support us. Our refuge and strength, God is our deepest source of strength.

Rev'd Julia asked if any of us can swim, and recounted her own experiences taking swimming lessons as an adult. She remembered being told by her teacher to think about what your arms and legs are doing, but when doing so Julia realised her legs weren't doing enough and she was told she'd end up sinking. When the teacher told her to focus on the horizon and swim towards that, she found that she was better able to progress with her swimming as she wasn't distracted by her arms and legs! She likened this to Peter's experience of stepping onto the water. While he was focusing on Jesus, he was fine and able to walk on water as Jesus did. However, when he stopped looking at Jesus, he lost that focus as he was distracted by the wind, and started to sink.

We can and should look at and to Jesus - taking our focus from the things that worry us so they don't overwhelm us. This may be easier said than done - sometimes there are times that no matter how hard to try you forget to trust and focus on Jesus. But our God is kind and merciful - compassionate. Just as Jesus reached out his hand and caught Peter as soon he got into difficulty, Jesus reaches out to us in our times of trial and tribulation.

Jesus meets us where we are - we just need to be willing. He will sustain us and keep us above the waters.

08/08/2026

On Sunday, Rev'd Julia's sermon looked at how the gospel reading depicts God as both creator and sustainer. The feeding of the multitudes is one of the only things that is repeated across all four gospels, so it is something that we should make an effort to understand.

To set some context, Jesus had just heard about the death of his cousin, John the Baptist. He tried to go somewhere for solitude, but is followed by crowds of people. Instead of sending them away, he welcomed them, healing the sick, and feeds them in the evening.

The disciples saw that there wasn't enough food to feed everyone, so said that they must be sent away, but Jesus saw things differently. The disciples had forgotten about the miracles that Jesus had worked in front of them before.

The gospel reading reminds us to not make God too small - not to underestimate him.

Why do we find it hard to believe that the Creator who brought the universe into being could feed a hungry crowd? Why do we struggle to believe that God cannot come to us where we are?

Jesus sustains us, giving us strength, wisdom and hope that we so desperately need in this day and age. Let us think about how Jesus feeds us, doesn't grow weary and tired, knows every detail of our lives. We must pray for our own sustenance. We have ups and downs in our lives, mental and physical struggles, unexpected things occur, but none of these are signs that God has abandoned us. God is right there in all we do, and there is always enough.

Take a moment and think about what it is that we need more of - strength, wisdom, courage, faith. Be bold, and pray for that.

29/07/2026

On Sunday 26th July, Revered Julia was enjoyed a well-deserved weekend off, so we had the pleasure of welcoming Father Keith back to St Mary's to preside over our service. Fr Keith is an old friend of the church, having covered for many holidays and during a large part of the interregnum (the period when a church is "between priests") before Rev'd Julia joined us.

Fr Toby took to the lectern to share his thoughts with us all after the readings. The gospel this weekend was Matthew 13:31–33,44–52 - in Fr Toby's words, a rapid-fire set of parables from Jesus. All similes where Jesus is likening the Kingdom of Heaven to experiences that the listeners might understand. In essence, they say that the Kingdom of Heaven is larger, greater and richer than anything that has come before.

God calls us into his Kingdom, forgiving our sins and welcoming us with open arms. While forgiven by God, we must remember that our lives and even the smallest of actions have consequences, so it is essential that we lead good lives as best we can.

God chooses to freely welcome us all into his Kingdom, and there is nothing we can do to stop him not welcoming us and others. Nothing can separate us from God's love.

23/07/2026

The sermon on Sunday was ably delivered (as always) by Father Toby. He started by looking at the gospel reading from Matthew (Matthew 13:24–30,36–43) - another parable from Jesus about farming.

The reading paints a picture of a farmer who sows an entire field of wheat, but while he was sleeping, an enemy sows weeds in amongst his crop. Instead of letting his servants pull the weeds up and potentially disturb or damage the wheat, he instructs them to let them grow together, and at harvest remove the weeds first, bundling them together and storing separately to be burnt, before harvesting the wheat.

Jesus explains this as an allegory, with him sowing the seeds of wheat (good souls), while the devil sows the seeds of weeds (or discord and disharmony) around them. The lesson is that God loves the world as it is - the worth of the good is so great that God will not sacrifice them to destroy evil within the world. The ends do not justify the means.

God had tried this with Noah - an attempt to eliminate all that is evil in the world with the flood waters, but this didn't resolve the issue in the long term. So Jesus accepts us, and chooses to redeem us through his death to absolve us of our sins.

Sunday was also the baptism of baby Jasmine, and Toby then explained the parable in relation to some of the content of the baptism service. During a baptism, the parents and godparents are asked if they will renounce the devil and all his works - this acknowledges that evil is still present in the world, but that we have the choice to renounce it. Parents and godparents, as well as all of the extended church family, are there to help their charges (in this case, Jasmine) to develop the wisdom to know what God's will is.

As the baptised children of God, we are all adopted children of God. As a good parent, we know that he is merciful and loving, and will not abandon us.

17/07/2026

On Sunday, Father Toby's sermon looked at our New Testament reading for the day, which was Romans 8:1–11. Effectively, Romans 8:1-11 declares that believers in Jesus Christ are free from condemnation and the power of sin. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, they no longer walk according to the flesh, but instead experience life, peace, and the promise of future resurrection.

Fr Toby asked how could anyone not be uplifted by a vision where everyone is included in the Kingdom of God - rich or poor, where all the people of the earth are blessed and restored. But, it is part of the human condition that a message like this may not always be taken to heart.

Often, we don't look at our own happiness and wealth to be enjoyed as it is, but to be compared to others'. For many of us, we are happy if we have more than others, but not if others have more. If we look deeply, we find that the gospel can empower us to see that it is only our relationship with God that has value in this world. And only in comparison to this relationship do other things have value.

Our gospel reading was Matthew 13:1–9,18–23, which was the Parable of the Sower, where seed is scattered on a variety of grounds - some more fruitful than others. Fr Toby shared that it is our duty as Christians to nourish any seedlings which have sprouted, to help them grow and help others understand the message of the gospel. Often we find that the busy-ness of modern life makes it hard to find time for faith when we're working, studying, bringing up a family.

At St Mary's church, we've been lucky to have a seedling that has sprouted. For the past year, we have been blessed with the presence of a Ministry Experience Intern named JP. He's been an integral part of our church family for 12 months, and now leaves us to set his own roots elsewhere and follow his path of faith, while nourishing other seedlings. We bade a fond farewell to JP on Sunday, sending him away with a gift, but were deeply touched when JP gave a very thoughtful gift to us. He commissioned two rather beautiful, hand-made and unique icons of our patron saints - St Mary and St Richard, which you can see in the photos here. Thank you JP, we'll miss you.

12/07/2026

12th July 2026 at St Mary's