Newsletter - 05/06
Rector’s weekly newsletter 5th June 2026
This Thursday the Church celebrated The Feast of Corpus Christi, allowing us to reflect once again on the mystery of God's presence with us in the Eucharist. The feast reminds us that Christian faith is not simply a set of ideas but an encounter with Christ, who continues to nourish and sustain his people through word and sacrament.
Last Sunday was Trinity Sunday, and during our collective worship in school this week we explored the meaning of the Trinity. The children were invited to describe both their friends and God using three short phrases. It proved a simple but effective way of recognising both what we can know about someone and the limits of our descriptions. Any attempt to explain God entirely through human categories ultimately falls short. While theologians rightly warn against the heresy of Modalism, there is still value in reflecting on the different ways we experience God's activity in the world.
This week, at least, many of us may have been especially aware of God the Creator. After a prolonged dry spell, bursts of almost biblical rainfall have refreshed gardens, fields and reservoirs alike. Local farmers, gardeners and wildlife have all benefited from the much-needed water. The changing weather serves as a reminder both of our dependence upon creation and of the God who sustains it.
With Trinity Sunday behind us, we now enter the long green season of the Church year known as Ordinary Time, which stretches for almost six months until Advent. "Ordinary" does not mean unimportant or routine. The word comes from the numbering, or ordering, of the Sundays. During this season the Church's focus shifts from the great festivals and mysteries of Christ's life to the ongoing task of Christian discipleship. We are invited to consider what it means to follow Christ faithfully in the ordinary rhythms of daily life: in our homes, workplaces, schools and communities.
Over the next fourteen weeks, the lectionary readings will help us in that task. We shall take an extended exploration of St Paul's Letter to the Romans, one of the most influential texts in the New Testament. To help us engage more fully with this remarkable letter, I shall be using the epistle reading as the first reading at our Sunday Communion services in Penshurst and Fordcombe throughout this period. Alongside Romans, the Gospel readings from Matthew will guide us through some of Jesus' most important teaching.
Last weekend it was a great joy to celebrate with Dom and Tilly as they were married at Penshurst. We wish them every blessing as they begin their married life together and pray that their home may be filled with love, faith and happiness in the years ahead.
I look forward to seeing many of you at the Penshurst Village Fete on Sunday 7th and wish every blessing upon this and the fundraising events in the gardens of Chiddingstone on 14th June. Let's hope the weather is kind!
With every blessing,
Lisa
Rev’d Lisa Cornell.
Rector of Penshurst, Fordcombe and The Chiddingstones
Upcoming Services:
Sunday 7 June
10:00 - Holy Communion at St John the Baptist, Penshurst
10:00 - Family Service at St Mary’s, Chiddingstone
Sunday 14 June
08:00 - Holy Communion at St John the Baptist, Penshurst
10:00 - Holy Communion at St Peter’s, Fordcombe
10:00 - Holy Communion at St Mary’s, Chiddingstone
Sunday 21 June
10:00 - Holy Communion at St John the Baptist, Penshurst
10:00 - Holy Communion at St Mary’s, Chiddingstone
18:00 - Evening Prayer (celebrating Midsummer’s Day) at All Souls’, Poundsbridge
Life Events:
We remember those whose anniversary falls at this time of year, they shall be prayed for in church on Sunday.
Events and fundraising:
Friday 3 July at St John the Baptist, Penshurst - D'Arcy Trinkwon - Organ concert
Learning and growing:
Don’t forget the new National Safeguarding Standards. There is a link to the new leaflet on our website, and you’ll see posters going up in our churches soon. And following the appointment of our new benefice Safeguarding Officer, Wendy Ellis, we now have a contact email established – please direct any safeguarding queries or issues to safeguarding@highwealdchurches.org.uk
Mailing:
If you know anyone who would like to be added to our weekly mailing, do let us know (and similarly let us know if you’d like to come off, though we’d be sad to see you go). If you’d like to contribute to the work of the benefice, you can go to our parish giving page via the www.parishgiving.org.uk website (we’d be very grateful). Alternatively, you can always find it on our benefice website: https://www.highwealdchurches.org.uk/news)
