Photo by John Stone
Join us for Sunday Service
10.30am every Sunday, followed by a chat over tea and coffee.
Next service: 25th October – Mr Allan Meakin
_____________________
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)
______________________________
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time 25 Oct
Matthew 22: 34-46
New International Version – UK
The greatest commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’
37 Jesus replied: ‘“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’
Whose son is the Messiah?
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 ‘What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?’
‘The son of David,’ they replied.
43 He said to them, ‘How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him “Lord”? For he says,
44 ‘“The Lord said to my Lord:
‘Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.’”
45 If then David calls him “Lord”, how can he be his son?’ 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
A prayer that the Spirit of love transform us.
Descend into our hearts, O Spirit of love, and there transform us until we are fire of your fire, love of your love, and Christ himself is formed within us. Amen.
Elizabeth of Schönau (c.1129–1164)
Prayer of Commitment (inspired by Matthew 5: 14-16) and other prayers.
_________________________
Church Service 10.30am every Sunday. Junior Church.
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.
____________________
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
__________________________
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.
________________________________________
