Photo by John Stone
Join us for Sunday Service
10.30am every Sunday, followed by a chat over tea and coffee.
Next service: 18th October – Revd John Banks, including Holy Communion
_____________________
17 West End Road, Mortimer Common, RG7 3TB
Minister: Reverend John Banks
Mortimer Methodist Church is to respond to the gospel of God’s love in Christ and to live out its discipleship in worship and mission.
It does this through:
Worship The Church exists to increase awareness of God’s presence and to celebrate God’s love.
Learning and Caring The Church exists to help people to grow and learn as Christians, through mutual support and care.
Service The Church exists to be a good neighbour to people in need and to challenge injustice.
Each one of us is God’s special work of art. Through us, God teaches and inspires those who view our lives. ———– Joni Eareckson Tada
Love comes out of heaven, unasked and unsought. Pearl S Buck
Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12 vs 23-24)
______________________________
October 2026 Newsletter
Message from Allan Meakin:
I have a love hate relationship with Autumn, which now seems to be arriving. Although the warm sunny days of Summer are still thankfully hanging around, I love the coolness of early morning mists and the colours of leaves as they turn from green to oranges and reds and purples. I love the taste of a fresh ripe English apple or pear. I love the sight of a harvest moon which the BBC tells me, is due, this year, tomorrow evening.
I like a tidy garden and hate the decay and untidiness of the Autumn season, when wind and rain tear off what were beautiful and colourful dry leaves and throw them into heavy decaying piles in the corners of the garden. What were statuesque garden plants die-back and crumble. In Autumn a tidy garden is very hard to achieve.
As I write – on the last Friday in September – we are still in the beautiful phase of autumn, with leaves mostly on the trees, wind and rain expected sometime, but not yet having arrived.
This autumn my thoughts have turned to the 25th anniversary of the destruction of the Twin Towers on the 11th September 2001 when seven buildings were destroyed and over 3,000 lives lost, following a planned terrorist assault. It’s been impossible to avoid images from the day as the internet news has been pushing them towards me for weeks. Pictures of this man-made destruction remind me of the allied annihilation of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in September 1945 when nearly 200,000 people, mostly civilians, were sacrificed for the “greater good”.
There is a huge contrast here, between the beauty of the world God has made and the capacity for hate and destruction that we find buried in the heart of mankind.
The Bible reading on the Methodist Website for today is this verse from Genesis chapter 3 v 8. “[Adam and Eve] heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden”.
Adam and Eve, having been given a beautiful place to live, rejected the loving God and his pattern for living and now, because of their guilt and shame, tried to hide from this giver of all that is good.
As the season of Autumn builds around us, let’s give thanks for the world God has given us and with determination make the decision to embrace the love of God in Jesus Christ. That through his influence in our lives we might seek what is beautiful and reject any thought leading to destruction.
Allan Meakin September 2026
_________________________
Church Service 10.30am every Sunday. Junior Church.
Lectionary
Worship
Ladies Monday Morning Prayers. Ladies Monday evening Bible Study.
Men’s Thursday evening Bible Study. Pastoral care.
Learning and caring
Service to the community
Warm Welcome Faith and friends Who Let the Dads Out Safeguarding
Eco Church Bric-a-Brac
The Philippines Appeal
At the end of the service on 7th December, there was a collection for people in The Philippines who have suffered earthquakes and typhoons in 2025. The total raised was £855 and this was sent to 4Freedom Philippines (4freedomph.com), an organisation co-founded by Peter Clemison, the son of a member of this church family. Thanks so much to all for your generous donations
Citizens Advice Tadley & District
Citizens Advice Tadley & District will continue our presence in Mortimer as part of our Outreach program.
Whether you’re worried about debt and finances, benefits, housing, employment, or something else, our trained advisers can help you understand your options and find a way forward. We’re an independent charity, so everything is free, confidential, and completely impartial — no judgment, just practical support.
The sessions will be held at the Mortimer Methodist Church from 10:00 to 12:30 on every first and third Friday of the month.
To avoid delays, we can make appointments – just contact us using the details below. Alternatively, just pop in, have a chat, and see how we can help. Sometimes a bit of friendly advice can make all the difference. If you do drop in, please be aware that you may have to wait for an adviser to be available.
Contact us Phone: 0808 278 7987 (including a voicemail service)
Online: https://www.catadley.org/email
In person: at Mortimer Methodist Church, 17 W End Rd, Mortimer Common, Reading RG7 3TB.
____________________
Warm Welcome report for 2025 to May 2026
We are a drop in from 9.30 to 12.30 every Friday morning meeting in Mortimer Methodist Church and Hall.
Most stay for the morning just enjoining each other’s company chatting to each other or joining in with the many activities that are on offer.
Our weekly meetings consist of the following.
We have various activities on the go every week. Two tables of up to 9/10 people both men and women playing cards mainly Whist. Two puzzles on the go with up to 8 people sitting around the two tables. Recently our Art and Craft tables have had as many as 12 people joining in with painting as well as the many other craft activities that are going on in that area.
We are lucky enough to have a retired Physiotherapist within our group and she takes up to 17 people out and into the Church where they sit in a circle and enjoy a fun hour of chair keep fit. Lots of laughter can be heard coming from that group as they do their exercises.
At least another 30/40 people just enjoy siting and chatting with each other or playing one of the board games that are always on the tables for them to play if they wish. There is always puzzle books, crossword and Sudoku books and adult colouring books that they can collect and take back to their table and sit quietly enjoying their own space. We always have Newbury Weekly News,
Reading Chronicle and a Daily paper are on the tables for our guests to read if they wish.
Tea/Coffee and Biscuits are on offer all morning. Some can drink up to 4 cups throughout the morning. Homemade cake is on offer from 10.30am.
We have a lovely lady and her petting dog pop in on the first Friday of the month. Our guests love petting her dog. On the 1st and 3rd Fridays each month Tadley Citizens Advice Bureau set up in the lounge where they offer advice to all of the villagers of Mortimer including those who visit our group. People can make appointments by phoning their Tadley office or just drop-in and wait for a free slot to speak to them about an issue that they need help with. While waiting people are very welcome to drop in on Warm Welcome for a Cuppa and slice of cake while they wait.
New this term for a trial period 45 min 10.00 to 10.45. Two of our regular helpers, one of which is a lay preacher, have been offering a Bible Study Group to any who wish to go out into the lounge for about 45 mins study and understanding the different stories in the Bible. This is held on the 2rd, 4th and 5th Fridays. This group is open to all and is not denominational. At the moment about 4 people
go out and enjoy learning together.
Last May we run a Coffee Morning with both cakes to eat and also for sale in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. We advertised the morning to other villagers. Every space in the Church was used. While with us all visitors were invited to wonder around and join in with the Warm Welcome activities. This was very successful raising over £800 for Cancer research.
This May we will be holding a Coffee Morning with cakes to eat and for sale in aid of Dementia.
We knitted Rabbits and Chicks covering small cream eggs and donated them to the Alexander Devine Hospice where they were sold for £3 each. This year we knitted some 40 egg covers and filled them all with eggs.
We enjoyed a lovely Christmas Party everyone enjoying lovely food some games and best of all a professional singer/entertainer Mr Derry Pope sang to us for one hour
Just before Christmas Children from St Johns School came and sang to us then came into the hall and played games while chatting to our guests.
We entered Mortimer Scarecrow Trail some of our group enjoyed making Wallace and Gromit. We won second prize.
We are now preparing for World Bee Day in the month of May where we will decorate in and around the Methodist Church and grounds with knitted bees. All knitted by our ladies in the group.
Also new to us this year is the Mortimer and Burghfield Handy Bus. This has been invaluable for some of our group who wouldn’t be able to get out without this very valuable service. I think there is still one space left on the bus.
We have up to 58 people joining us every week with new people still dropping in most weeks.
If you are reading this and think that you might like to join us please just pop in on Friday mornings or know anyone who might enjoy time chatting to others. Or if you would like to help, we do still need helpers to help set up/pack up and also to help serve the tea, coffee cake etc.
Quotes from a few of our guests.
- I would rather come here than go to my therapist. It does me more good.
- This group saved my life after my husband died.
- I wish we could meet every day of the week.
- I have made so many friends here. I have got a life now.
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time 18 Oct
Matthew 22: 15-22
New International Version – UK
Paying the poll-tax to Caesar
15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the poll-tax to Caesar or not?’
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, ‘You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.’ They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, ‘Whose image is this? And whose inscription?’
21 ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied.
Then he said to them, ‘So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
Prayer of Commitment (inspired by Matthew 5: 14-16) and other prayers.
__________________________
Praying for peace between nations, peace in communities and peace in our hearts.
International Prayer of Peach
Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth; lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust; lead me from hate to love, from war to peace.
Let peace fill our heart, our world, our universe.
The source of this prayer is credited to both Hindu and Buddhist faiths and it was used by Mother Teresa in 1981 at St James Church, London. It is used by people of all faiths and none each day at noon to form a wave of prayer and hope rippling each day around the globe.
______________________________
Mortimer Methodist Church has installed a Bench, (made of recycled plastic) at our Cemetery in Drury Lane. So when waking, you may rest in the peace and tranquility of our wonderful village, and give thanks.
A welcome rest when walking in our beautiful countryside.
________________________________________
