Word from one of our ministers 

Dear friends,
At this time of year, the days shorten, the leaves fall, and our thoughts turn naturally towards remembrance. In the life of the Church and the nation, November invites us to pause: to remember those who have gone before us, to honour lives given in service, and to notice again both the preciousness and the fragility of peace.


The Ardennes American War Cemetery in Belgium, visited during our summer holiday.

During our summer holiday, Mandy and I visited the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium. Nothing quite prepared us for the magnitude of what lay before us: row upon row of white crosses and starts of David, each one marking a life, a family, a story, and a future that never came to be. We were deeply moved and felt profoundly privileged simply to stand there beside the graves of those brave men who gave their all in the Second World War for the safety and freedom of others.

That safety and peace can never be taken for granted. Across the world today, they are threatened in many ways: by Russia’s continuing aggression, by the strategic and military challenge posed by China, and by a more uncertain and sometimes transactional stance from the United States, not to mention their war with Iran that threatens the world economy. We see again how easily service of the common good can give way to selfishness, greed and the desire for power. In such a world, remembrance is not nostalgia. It is a call to resist the forces that diminish human life, to seek peace with courage, and to renew our commitment to one another.

Psalm 121 speaks into these shifting sands: “I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come?” The answer, of course, is not found in military strength, political certainty or economic power. “My help comes from the Lord, the psalmist reminds us, who made heaven and earth.” That says to us that God is the one constant in our lives. When nations change direction, alliances strain and familiar certainties feel less secure, the God who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. This does not release us from responsibility; it gives us the courage to act faithfully, because our hope rests in One whose love does not shift.

November also includes Transgender Day of Remembrance, observed each year on 20 November. It is a day when communities across the world remember transgender people whose lives have been lost through violence and hatred, and stand alongside all who continue to face prejudice, exclusion and fear.

Isaiah 43:1–7 offers words that the Church must hear and embody: “I have called you by name, you are mine”; “you are precious in my sight, and honoured, and I love you.” These words speak of the place and value of every one of God’s children. They leave no room for treating another person as a problem to be solved, a threat to be feared, or a life of lesser worth.

As right-wing and extremist voices grow louder in many places, we remember those who have suffered at the hands of prejudice and hate: those who have been murdered; those driven to take their own lives; those who have struggled to find safety, community and a place to belong. We remember not as distant observers, but as people called to help build a world in which each of us is seen as, and treated as, a beloved one of God—created in love, held in love, and returned to love—through the mercy and justice of God, our Creator and Redeemer, who looks upon us as “precious” and “honoured”, and by whom we were “formed” and “made”.

Open Table Gathering — 8 November, London Road
At our Open Table gathering on 8 November at London Road, there will be a short act of recollection and remembrance for transgender people, led by Rebecca Williams, who is part of the Open Table Community here in Horsham. All are welcome to share in this gentle and prayerful act.

A prayer for Transgender Day of Remembrance

God of every name and every life,
we remember before you those who have died because of prejudice, hatred and violence.
Hold in your eternal love those whose names were known and those whose stories were overlooked.
Draw near to all who carry fear, grief or loneliness;
give courage to those who seek justice,
and teach your Church to be a place of welcome, safety and truth.
May every person know themselves called by name,
precious, honoured and loved.
Kindle in us a love stronger than hatred
and a hope no darkness can overcome.
Amen.

Friends, in this season of remembrance, may we do more than look back. May we allow memory to shape how we live now: grateful for costly courage, steadfast in prayer, alert to every threat to human dignity, and committed to the peace of Christ. May we lift our eyes to the horizon of God that is every before us and then look around us with compassion—seeing in every neighbour a life formed, made, precious, honoured and loved by God.

With every blessing,
Rev Tony