Handsacre Methodist Church

07/09/2026

27/08/2026

Discover that desire to be holy.

Join us this coming Sunday at St Paul's in Rugeley from 11 am.

11/08/2026

Families with primary aged children most welcome to join us this Wednesday 12 August to Friday 14 August 9.30 to 12 for fun activities, story telling and crafts based on a different Bible story each day. Come for one or all of the sessions or just drop in. The Vine cafe is open for coffees, teas, home made cakes, toasties, omelettes…

07/08/2026

What is doubt? There are many definitions, but one suggests it has something to do with distrust or suspicion. There is also the suggestion that doubt is linked to a lack of confidence.

When you consider a coin where you have doubt on one side, what might be on the other side of the coin? For some people, the best remedy for doubt is certainty, but does this provide a way to live? Is it certainty we long for when the coin is flipped or could we consider an alternative on the reverse side of the coin?

In a story about a boat in a storm, Jesus observed his disciples struggling, so he began to walk on the water towards the boat. Peter saw Jesus and he encouraged Peter to step out and walk on the water.

'Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”' (from Matthew

Some churches thrive upon certainty, feeding upon fear which people exhibit in their everyday lives. Some people relish a black and white belief system, drawing upon bible verses often taken out of context. One of the best things I heard on the Bible Course by Andrew Ollerton was the phrase:- 'if you take a text out of context, you are left with a con'. Bible verses must always be understood in context and used to build people up rather than destroy them.

Doubt in Christian life is often frowned upon. It's seen as a sign of weakness and ascribed to someone whose faith, like the seed, is on stony ground or at best in shallow soil. However if doubt and faith are two sides of the same coin, we can happily live knowing that the coin is ours to treasure as we wrestle each day trusting that the coin will land face side upwards. This trust provides confidence so that our faith can then grow.

Perhaps on the reverse side of the coin from doubt is faith. Faith is different from certainty as it includes the need for trust and a lack of suspicion. Is anything actually certain in this life or is it better to rely on trust and faith?

Certainty provides no refuge. Would we ever step out onto the water of life and walk towards Jesus when waves and storms are never certain or predictable? Faith, girded in trust, draws us onto the water knowing that Jesus is calling us onwards and when we have those times of doubt, Jesus can flip the coin we carry and change our lives.

Do you wallow in doubt and suspicion? Have you become wary of all that life is throwing at you and the coin of life no longer seems able to be flipped over from doubt to faith? Do you still believe the myth of certainty as a solution for making life choices?

As we pray today, help us to trust in the coin of faith and doubt, knowing that God will turn the coin to reveal side of faith which will face us at times when doubt is engulfing us in shadows.

Amen.🙏

01/08/2026

As well as The Vine Cafe & Community Space being a Cafe, it also provides 'Community Space' for other times in the week.

If you are looking for a space for your group to meet or you are setting up a group to meet a particular need, then pop into The Vine and see what's on offer.

31/07/2026

'Ah, look at all the lonely people'. Words from a 1966 song by the Beatles. Eleanor Rigby is a lonely woman who cleans up rice after weddings and eventually dies alone. Father McKenzie is a lonely priest who writes sermons that no one hears, whilst mending his socks in an empty room. The message of the song is to highlight how many people live unnoticed and pass away without anyone caring. The song contains the haunting question about lonely people 'Where do they all come from and where do they belong'?

Loneliness is much talked about in the current age, but what exactly is it and how does it not only impact on individuals but society as well. In a recent study in the UK it was reported that over 3 million felt lonely often or always. How do we measure Loneliness? Is it just a subjective feeling or an objective reality?

Loneliness, whilst often associated with aging, is a condition which can affect anyone with particular risk factors. Those facing bereavement, living alone, living with disability or illness, caring for a partner, someone with physical and mental health difficulties, a low income and unable to afford activities, excluded from the internet and with reduced mobility are at risk. When people are faced with 1 or more of these risk factors, their capacity to cope with life is reduced and loneliness may descend upon them.

The theologian Henri Nouwen talks about the loneliness which is present in a crowded room. People making pleasantries at a party seemingly creating a sense of belonging and togetherness and yet the very opposite is taking place. He goes on to talk about the need to find Solitude as a remedy for this kind of Loneliness.

In the story of the dinner party or wedding banquet, Jesus is telling those had ears to hear that the respectable people who were invited to the banquet made excuses for not coming and those who were deemed less respectable and initially uninvited were then welcomed and included. The message from the master to the servants is a stark reminder that rejecting the banquet has consequences, as the very nature of the banquet is about a welcome to all.

‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet'

Loneliness can come about when people are excluded for some reason. How many times do we hear about people who have not been welcomed because of their race, gender, sexuality, disability, age and other factors which appear to make them different from the so called norm. Is there really such a thing as a 'normal' person when the bible tells us how we are fearfully and wonderfully made and each of created uniquely in our mother's wombs.

So who today is on the invited list and rejects the invitation and who is not invited initially but then later welcomed? The excuses which people made for not coming were not hostile but just that they were easily distracted, too comfortable or too busy. The so called important people are making excuses. The host does not want to have an empty table because absence from such a banquet is a scandal.

Jesus was aware that many people were being routinely left out; the poor, those with disability, those who didn't fit the social or religious expectations of the time. It was never assumed that these people would be invited so their absence would not be missed. Jesus parable of the banquet is to lead us as followers to include and not exclude the very people often rejected by society and in some cases the Church as well.

The banquet table doesn't just routinely fill itself but requires the servants to continually go out to find people.When we sit in the comfort of our churches and wonder why the table is never full, or the pews are becoming empty, is it because we have stopped inviting people to the banquet?

As we pray today, open our labelling hearts to a passion for inclusion and finding solitude and show us the 'roads and country lanes' which we must walk so that the banquet table of God is bustling with diversity enveloped in His love. Amen. 🙏