Advent to Candlemas ‘By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet in the way of peace.’ (Luke.1.78-79) God of promises, Sometimes we wait generations For the dawn from on high; Sometimes only years. We wait for justice and hope and light and kindness To mingle in the tangle of our days. And we age while we hope. So may we age and hope with tenderness and truth. [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. November sees us moving into a season of remembrance, a month in the church year sandwiched between Creationtide and Advent when we have space to reflect on those who have gone before us in our personal lives, in our faith lives, and in the public sphere. In particular of course we remember those from our neighbourhood and from our families who fought for freedom from fascism. Our streets and lapels sport the symbol which evolved out of the slaughter fields of WW1. This is from the Imperial War Museum website: [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. What are you putting in the basket? ‘When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.’ Deuteronomy [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. The Season of Creation, usually runs from 1 September to 4 October, culminating in a Harvest Festival on October 5th. The season is an annual ecumenical celebration of prayer and action observed by Christians together across six continents, it is an opportunity to consider and to renew our relationship with our Creator and with all creation in which we share our common home. Each year a Biblical text is chosen for the season and this year’s verses come from Isaiah Chapter 32 in which the prophet Isaiah describes the desolation [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. To be a pilgrim…..is to be blessed by the hospitality of strangers. The Diocesan Pilgrimage brought our two lovely parishes together as both pilgrims and hosts; linking us geographically as we walked from Chaldon to Whyteleafe and linking us in forms of mission and discipleship that became immediately apparent as soon as we set foot outside the churchyard of St Peter and St Paul. As we walked, conversation flowed, we shared our stories and we had people join us along the way ... Derek who chose the flat section on Kenley [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. Dear Friends, This letter comes to you as we enter a new phase in the shared life of the two parishes of St Peter & St Paul and St Luke, in bidding farewell to Revd Annie I am losing a wonderful colleague and a fruitful shared ministry that began and ended with breakfast at ‘Bills’ (not Tiffany’s)! Between those two breakfasts lies a period of flourishing for both churches, not least because we made it through Covid together and undiminished. Both churches have benefitted from the close attention of what has [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. What does it mean to be a people of prayer in this season of Eastertide which lasts for 50 days and culminates in Pentecost? It means to pray ‘thy kingdom come’ it means to pray for spirit filled lives and so in our Eastertide collect we pray: Risen Christ, you filled your disciples with boldness and hope: strengthen us to proclaim your risen life and fill us with your peace, to the glory of God the Father. Amen (Church of England Easter Collect) and even in the ruins of [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. Have you written that letter? Last month I talked about letter writing, I wonder if it inspired anyone to put pen to paper... In the second half of Lent there is still time start a new habit by reaching out to a stranger or a friend with a letter. Is something you could do? For inspiration here are some organisations that invite letter writing, could you pick one and have a go? https://www.hardmantrust.org.uk/how-we-help/penfriend/ https://prisonfellowship.org.uk/our-work/letter-link/ https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions https://rebelsinprison.uk/ Here is an Easter Challenge Make two Easter Cards using [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. St Paul writes to the Thessalonians: Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, ‘There is peace and security’, then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labour pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. Dear Friends, We had a double newsletter to cover December and January and so this is the first letter of 2025, and it comes to you at a time in our church calendar when we are listening weekly to Paul’s letters to the Hebrews and Corinthians. Reflecting on the process of writing this ‘newsletter’ three things occurred to me I never think about Paul’s epistles as actual letters. Are parish newsletters like epistles? We rarely we write letters nowadays. Some of you may be old enough to remember that [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. Dear Friends, This nineteenth-century painting by William Holman Hunt, which now hangs in St Paul’s Cathedral, captures the narrative of these familiar verses from John’s gospel and from The Book of Revelation also thought to have been authored by John. Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. Revelation 3.v.20 I am the light of the world. John.8.v.12 In this [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. Dear Friends, This nineteenth-century painting by William Holman Hunt, which now hangs in St Paul’s Cathedral, captures the narrative of these familiar verses from John’s gospel and from The Book of Revelation also thought to have been authored by John. Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. Revelation 3.v.20 I am the light of the world. John.8.v.12 In this [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. Dear Friends, As I write I am absorbing a disappointment; a disappointment that a planned visit to Palestine has been cancelled and subsequently my BA flights have also been cancelled, so instead of rushing to Heathrow after our ‘All Souls’ service on November 3rd I shall remain here with you in Chaldon. I am sharing this piece of personal news with you because I think it has implications for us all……. What are we as Christians called to do about the horrors we see in our world? My decision [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. “so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Romans 12 v.5 This month marks a year since the Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent unrelenting attacks on Gaza. As I write the region is on a knife edge as Israel invades Lebanon…and Iran bombards Israel. Please if you can spare a moment join our Vigil for Peace on October 10th. We are called to be a people of prayer, and of hope, and it is in that light that [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. This season is shared worldwide as a means to help Christians to better understand the climate and ecological crisis and to connect this to their faith. The season attempts to provide a space to consider our response to the crises unfolding in our world. Together we are encouraged to build moral courage and create the conditions for the rapid and prophetic action that is so desperatelyneeded to ‘safeguard the integrity of creation’. I wonder, how does our perception change when we begin to experience the natural world as sacred? For [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” Genesis 8 v 22 “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'” Dr Martin Luther King By the time you receive this summer newsletter the polling stations will have closed and counting will have begun. As we look on from the sidelines watching the rise and fall of political careers it is good to keep a perspective on life that is grounded in [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. Parish Pilgrimage – a small glimpse of a big experience 4 days in a new landscape, walking with God, learning together. Our pilgrimage this year had 21 walkers and for the first time to my great delight we were joined at the beginning and end by others who could not commit to the walking but felt called to explore with us. We had a fantastic church full of supporters and fellow worshippers at 8am on Sunday 12th. Willing drivers ferried us to the train station and we made [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. Some of you may remember that prior to the pandemic we had tour of a number of churches similar to our own with a view to how we might improve and adapt our beautiful pre-Norman church. This led to a number of proposals that had to be put on ice until after lockdown. We are now back up and running and the project has been taken off ice and set into motion as follows: Urgent repointing and repairs to the external stonework, this will involve removing cement pointing from the 1960’s [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. Hours before the death of Jesus, Judas ate too. Jesus fed Judas too. Jesus prayed for Judas too. Jesus washed Judas’ fee t too. I struggle to fathom what kind of love this is… A love that would feed the mouth that deceived you. A love that would wash the feet of the traitor. A love that could forgive even the vilest betrayals. Honestly I struggle to comprehend it. And then, suddenly, I realize… that I’m Judas too! And in that moment I’m so thankful & altogether overwhelmed that, Judas [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. You may have spotted the Church of England ‘Watch and Pray’ booklets in church, if you have picked one up I hope you have found it as helpful as I have. There are still some available at the back of the church and although we are a third of the way through the 40 days it is never too late to start a Lent practice! As an alternative or additional resource, Make Room: A Child’s Guide to Lent and Easter written by Laura Alary and illustrated by Ann Boyajian, walks adults [.. Read more ..]

Lent comes early this year, we have barely drawn breath from Epiphany and Candlemas before we find ourselves turning towards the cross and resurrection. There are many ways in which you may wish to mark out the 40 days from February 14th to March 31st but whatever you decide please do make use of all that the church community will have to offer over this time of reflection and contemplation. We have a smorgasbord of offerings from public witness to your faith through vigil in London, through walks across the diocese or join in with quiet local [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. This newsletter will span the 3 church seasons of Advent - Christmas - Epiphany, December/January 2024. What a surfeit of riches we have in store to see us through the dark cold days of midwinter and what temptations lie ahead, temptations that will, if we don’t take care, find us spiralling into busier and busier days trying to do everything and please everyone.... This newsletter stands as a reminder to you that the Church calendar calls us to a different way, to march to a different drum. The seven newly [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Your Treasurer. Generosity is at the heart of our faith, we believe in a generous God and our own generosity is a testament and hallmark of our faith in action. Every month when reading Chaldon's newsletter, I am always impressed and amazed by the diversity of events and services being offered by Revd Helen and her team of helpers. Did you realise it is not only Revd Helens determination and team of helpers that get things done at Chaldon it’s also YOU.. Treasurer of Chaldon Church I must say a huge Thank You to [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. “For every thing that lives is Holy.” William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell As we turned from September to October, and the days begin to feel a little more autumnal our newsfeed is full of the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree. The sadness and bewilderment caused by this apparently random act of vandalism seems to touch a chord with us all. Trees matter to us, and when we lose them our landscape both internal and external is changed and often we feel their loss as a personal [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. As the harvest is gathered, as the leaves begin to fall from the trees, as all things which gave the summer the look of vigour come to the end of their season, may I be reminded of the life-giving aspect of letting things go when their time is up. From: The Celtic Year by David Cole September is a transitional month, a time of change as summer turns towards autumn and holidays turn towards term time, of course these transitions affect some of us more than others. Those who work [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. This question could be the premise of almost any sermon or theological discussion, but reading a recent article (see below) the question assumed a sudden more urgent meaning as I was provoked into thinking about the nation states whose ‘kingdoms’ will soon disappear beneath the waves as climate breakdown advances, they become one of the real and present day casualties of a global fossil fuelled economy: A century from now – if not sooner – entire states could become uninhabitable, raising doubts about what will happen to their citizens, governments, [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. Slowing Down. The rhythm of walking has given me food for thought over the past few weeks and left me wondering what Jesus ministry, or the life of St Cuthbert and so many other early Christians, would have looked like in the age of the car! Cars isolate us, they make us kings and queens of our own little private space and shield us from encounters with others, encounters with the elements or with the natural world. In the gospels it is easy to forget the day-to-day details of the Jesus’ [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. The month of May at St Peter and St Paul’s has come to be associated with walking, this habit of a Parish Pilgrimage began as a result of two things: Our church’s place at the half way point on the Pilgrim Way from Winchester to Canterbury. A very successful Lent Course based on a film ‘The Way’ about group of pilgrims walking the Camino to Santiago. In response to these 2 things, in 2019, a group of 12 walked from Chaldon to Canterbury and the plan was to do the other [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. The month of April will be defined in the church community by Eastertide – a season associated with delight, optimism and relief at the end of a long period of winter and abstinence. We are probably more affected by the wintry weather than the Lenten abstinence but it is good to be moving towards celebration and sunshine this week. In the Celtic tradition people used to gather on hilltops and dance for joy around a fire on Easter Dawn, we will have the fire without the dancing or the hill! Another [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. Here I Am! Send Me! These words are a reminder of the much loved hymn: I the lord of sea and sky I have heard my people cry All who dwell in dark and sin My hand will save.... The words are lovely to sing and perhaps make it a little too easy to hang around waiting to be sent or to receive ‘the call’ but the thing about Lent is that we are invited to step up and join in, to say ‘Here I am Lord’. Most people know all [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him. Luke.2.39 -40 These are the final lines of our Candlemas Reading and set a course for us as well; as Jesus disappears into obscurity for thirty years and re-emerges on the banks of the Jordan we turn ourselves from Crib to Cross and the journey through Lent to Jerusalem. February seems [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. As recent global and local events have taught us the world is an unpredictable place. This newsletter is designed to guide you and tide you over all the way till February 1stby which time all manner of things could have happened! The good news is that the ‘good news’ of Christmas remains and is a daily reminder of the incarnation of the divine in the form of a newborn baby and endures forever as Christ in the world. At this time of year, as Christians we journey to Bethlehem and beyond [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. Although it is unseasonably warm as I write this, or maybe precisely because it is unseasonably warm this newsletter comes as a reminder to remember... November is the month of remembrance, remembering Guy Fawkes on November 5th, remembering the Two World Wars on November 11th. Although problematic, there is of course Thanksgiving on November 24th if you are American, and then at the end of the month we are remembering Lost Species and St Andrew on November 30th. Coming the week after we have celebrated All Saints and All Souls, [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. ‘Autumn Story’ is a 1980 children’s book, the third of the four seasons in Jill Barklem’s Brambly Hedge series. In it the young mouse, Little Primrose, wanders off and finds herself in unchartered territory. In the picture at the head of this newsletter you can see this territory illustrated and, hiding under a toadstool you can just make out little Primrose Woodmouse hiding, lost and alone. As I write, ‘Unchartered territory’ feels like a good description of Autumn 2022... In the story a search party is set up and everyone sets [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. ‘Use your Loaf’ - to think logically, rationally, or with common sense; to use one's head. The phrase comes from rhyming slang in which "loaf" is short for "loaf of bread." My Mother used this phrase a lot! For www.greenchristian.org.uk/gc-campaigns/loaf-2 Use your LOAF means: Locally produced Organically grown Animal friendly Fairly traded As we approach Creationtide and Harvest we must think hard and pray hard and act in the context of a fragile harvesting future – already a reality for many, and we see changing growing conditions in our own [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. Summer Spirals. I confess to loving a labyrinth - the sort you walk slowly and prayerfully not the sort you get stuck in with a minotaur! And a spiral labyrinth is the image conjured for a certain approach to doing theology; funnily enough referred to as the ‘Doing Theology Spiral’. I find this model a useful reminder of how to keep a balance between reflection and action. The months of July and August traditionally are seen as times of fun and relaxation, the weather may be on our side and for [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. This newsletter is being put together as the nation celebrates the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, I was in Glebe House our local nursing home as the first events unfolded and therefore doubly aware that this is certainly not holiday time for everyone. A stint at the foodbank quickly brings home that it is not easy to party when you are struggling to make ends meet...or feeling isolated and alone, and yet events like Jubilee give us an opportunity to connect outside of the ordinary everyday stuff and let go for a moment [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. Why May? It could be named after the Roman goddess Maia, who oversaw the growth of plants, alternatively, the name may (oh dear!) have come from the Latin ‘maiores’ meaning elders, who were celebrated at this time of year. For some May is a month devoted to prayer to Mary the mother of our Lord.  Whatever the myths and meanings and traditions handed down to us in the naming of our calendar months they can still resonate. This is still the time of year when we celebrate new growth and surely [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. As we move into the final 2 weeks of Lent I invite you to consider how many Easters you have celebrated, how may Easter Eggs have you given and received......... Now consider how many times you have seen the church stripped bare and had your feet washed by others on Maundy Thursday, stood outside in the dark for the reading of the gospel, or sat through a Good Friday meditation? Every year churches invite people to step into Holy Week and immerse themselves in the story of crucifixion and resurrection, to [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. “I invite you to continue to think about compassion through the lens of hospitality”: were the words of Bishop Christopher introducing the 2021 Lent Appeal last year as we faced another Lent under lockdown. This year his appeal continues the theme of home and hospitality as we are invited to consider those for whom home is not a ‘given’, those for whom home is precarious or non-existent. On going to print a whole new group of people are being added to the list of those whose homes are so dangerous [.. Read more ..]

Letter from Revd Helen Burnett. This short month gifts us 4 Sundays before Lent begins. In the church calendar, this could easily be ‘in between time’ or even ‘dead time’ as we shift from a season of celebration to a penitential period following the adult Christ through his ministry to the cross and resurrection. On these Sundays we will be reading through the middle section of Luke’s gospel in which the apostle lays out the core principles of Jesus teaching including, perhaps the most important of part all his teaching – the sermon on the [.. Read more ..]