St Michael's Church, Stoke Gifford
Living to make a difference
Always popular, these teas give a chance to connect together with old friends and meet new ones whilst enjoying a scrumptious tea.
Bookings are essential, so book early to secure your place!
Why not come along to join in with our traditional Evensong service in church at 5pm after the tea? You would be very welcome.
Bookings open Friday 7 March.
You will get a confirmation email of your booking.
Solitude
During Lent 2025 we looked at the practice of Solitude, as part of our teaching series, Practicing the Way, where we learn habits to help us become more like Jesus, and develop a Rule of Life.
Distraction is one of the greatest threats to spiritual health in the modern world.
We all feel it — we’re bombarded by noise like never before.
Jesus has an invitation for us: Step away from it all (for some moments) to be alone with him, for the sake of our souls and the sake of others.
Jesus, scripture tells us, withdrew to the quiet places to pray. (Luke 5:16) If Discipleship involves following Jesus, doing the things that He did, what might this Solitude practice look like for us?
What can we expect?
We will be exploring the theme of Solitude and following individual sermon titles each Sunday
There will be a series of resources, including weekly exercises and readings, and additional resources to help us create life-changing daily rhythms.
This Practice is also perfect to use with Lifegroups with detailed videos and resources available.
Watch Tom’s talk here
Tom recommends we read 1 Kings 19:18-20 again and adds:
–He rests
What might rest look like for you before you enter solitude?
–He’s real
‘What are you doing here Elijah/[insert your name]?
Like Elijah can you answer this question honestly before God? You may want to write some things down.
–God renews
Elijah’s purpose and calling is reaffirmed at the end, but it takes time and a lots of waiting (40 days!).
Take time in the quiet and stillness to simply wait on God, with no agenda. You may hear his still small voice, you may not. At this stage just practise ‘waiting’ in the quiet for a five minutes or so, and enjoy His presence.
This year’s recommended Lent reading is “An Invitation to Solitude and Silence – Experiencing God’s Transforming Presence” by Ruth Haley Barton (ISBN-13: 9780281085781, 9780281085989)
Ruth also has a podcast on leadership, and in Season 5 she focused on this book. The first episode of that series can be found on Spotify here or on Apple podcasts here
The Practice of Silence – a pdf sheet from the Diocese of Bristol
Silence – Gateway to God, a Grove Booklet by David Runcorn
Going on Retreat – How to make the most of Time Out with God – A Grove Booklet – Liz Hoare
Into the Silent Land – The practice of contemplation by Martin Laird
Grove booklets related to the topic:
Solitude and Community – Open to God: Open to others By Helen Marshal
Seeking Spiritual Direction – How to find support for your spiritual life, By Nick Help and Liz Hoare
Rivers in the desert – finding spiritual renewal in barren times – Nigel Scotland
If you haven’t read it it, we also recommend last year’s Lent reading “Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus. Become like him. Live as he did: Be with Jesus. Become like him. Do as he did” by John Mark Comer This book complements not only our Lent sermon series on Solitude but other spiritual practices that we are looking at as part of the Rule of Life
This group meets every Tuesday in the Church building at 12.30pm.
All are welcome as we explore the practice of silence and enjoy God’s presence together. Each session starts and ends with a reading and prayer.
Lent 2025
Lent began with our Ash Wednesday Communion Service on 5 March at 7.30pm in church.
This lovely service included the opportunity to be signed with the cross in ash, as we began this season of reflection.
This Lent we are looking at the practice of Solitude as part of our long-term teaching series, Practicing the Way, where we learn habits to help us become more like Jesus, and create our own Rule of Life
We will be looking at it under the following individual sermons
Read more about the practice of Solitude here
This year’s recommended Lent reading is “An Invitation to Solitude and Silence – Experiencing God’s Transforming Presence” by Ruth Haley Barton (ISBN-13: 9780281085781, 9780281085989)
Ruth also has a podcast on leadership, and in Season 5 she focused on this book. The first episode of that series can be found on Spotify here or on Apple podcasts here
If you haven’t read it it, we also recommend last year’s Lent reading “Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus. Become like him. Live as he did: Be with Jesus. Become like him. Do as he did“ by John Mark Comer This book complements not only our Lent sermon series on Solitude but other spiritual practices that we are looking at as part of the Rule of Life
Also available are Daily Lent Reflections from the Church of England. Head to the Church of England website to sign-up for daily emails or purchase a booklet. Or you can access all the content on the Everyday Faith App
Do you have something at home which is broken but you don’t quite know how to fix it? Well, the Repair Café may be for you! We have people fixing textiles, small electrical items, bikes and much more!
Do you use Ecover washing up liquid? Would you like to get a refill to avoid getting a new plastic bottle? If you do then come along to the Repair Café and we can sell you a refill. Please bring along your old bottle and we can refill it for you.
Our next Repair Café is below
The next events for Repair Cafe are:
Repair Cafe runs from 10am til 12pm
If you have things to repair or you’d like to get involved in repairing things do come along. Please contact Mike Watkivs via email
