#489 Ye watches and ye holy ones
This week, as I scurried around the church on Wednesday evening, I heard the choir practising a hymn about angels. I believe they were getting ready for Michaelmas this Sunday.
I’m told that angels are messengers, bringing tidings of comfort, strength, and sometimes a sharp nudge in the right direction. Well, even a mouse could use a nudge now and then (especially when I’m tempted by the biscuit tin). I like to imagine them keeping watch not only over grand cathedrals and lofty spires, but also over little creatures like me, scampering in corners and nibbling crumbs. Perhaps their wings brush past us more often than we know!
Fr Sam writes
It is now a whole month that I have been in place as Rector here in Wokingham. I am enjoying it thoroughly and I am so glad to be getting to know so many of you. Thank you for your warm welcome. Do please continue to invite me round so I can get to know you. Or do feel very warmly invited to come to the Rectory: you are always welcome and the kettle is always on.
Since I arrived, I have been saying Evening Prayer in St Paul’s each weekday. It is remarkable that I have never been on my own. Sometimes someone has come to pray the office with me. On other occasions there has been someone in church praying by themselves, or asking me to pray for them.
This is possible because the church doors are open. This is such a wonderful service to our community. Even more than that, it is a testimony that God’s love is available and welcomes everyone who passes by.
People often ask ‘is it alright for me to be here?’ The answer, of course, is always ‘yes’!
This Sunday
This Sunday at St Paul’s we are celebrating Michaelmas, the feast of St Michael and All Angels. We will hear of St Michael battling the dragon (Revelation 12.7-12) and of Jesus’s words to Nathaniel, promising that he would see the angels of God (John 1.47-51).
Grant that as your holy angels always serve you in heaven, so, at your command, they may help and defend us on earth.
At St Nicholas’s and at Woosehill, this Sunday is the Harvest Festival.
Services this Sunday
9.30am: Parish Mass St Paul’s (Fr Sam Tanna-Korn)
Organ prelude: Aria and Fugue (from ‘A Fugal Trilogy’) – Healey Willan
Anthem: Ave verum corpus (K. 618) – W. A. Mozart
Organ Voluntary: An Easter Alleluya – Gordon Slater
10am: Harvest Thanksgiving & Holy Communion Woosehill (Revd Cara Smart)
11am: Community Eucharist St Nicholas’s (Fr Sam Tanna-Korn)
Lucky Numbers
The Lucky Numbers draw for September took place over coffee after the 11am Communion service at St Nicholas on Sunday 21 September 2025.
Congratulations to the lucky winners:
£50 No. 3 Margaret Carver
£25 No. 73 Gordon Lupton
£15 No. 75 Lyn Austen
£10 No. 48 Peter Baker
Lucky Numbers is a monthly draw which was launched in 1997 under the title Spire 2000. Each share in the draw costs £2.00 per month and the total number of shares is unlimited, so you can apply for as many as you wish. Should you wish to take part, supporting our parish church fund for restoration and renewals work on St Paul’s church building and enjoying the chance of being a winner, please contact Tony Roberts or Liz Gallagher at St Nicholas, Emmbrook or Mary Cassidy at St Paul’s.
Tony Roberts can also be contacted by phone on 0118 9795351 or 07810 643770.
Woosehill Church magazine
The September/October edition of the Woosehill Church magazine is now available. Hard copies can be picked up at the back of church at St Paul’s or you can read it online.
This edition includes words from three new clergy, as well as news from the church and other articles of interest.
Autumn Bazaar & Grand Draw
The St Paul’s Autumn Bazaar this year is on Saturday 8 November 12 noon to 3.00pm at the Parish Rooms. Save the date!
Grand Draw tickets are on sale now from Liz Gallagher or Teri Austin.
This week’s calendar: the saint and the lion’s paw
On Tuesday 30 September, the Church celebrates the feast day of St Jerome. He is most famous for his translation of the Bible into Latin: he translated the Old Testament directly from its Hebrew source for the first time, rather than going from the much later Greek version. His translation wasn’t perfect, but it has made him one of the most significant and infulential figures in the history of Christianity.
He is also famous for his asceticism, his zeal for reforming the Church, and for the story that he once tamed a lion in the wilderness where he lived by removing a thorn from its paw.
As we remember St Jerome, let us pray for all those who translate the Bible in our own day.
