Dear Friends,

This week, many of us looked up as the moon passed across the face of the sun. For a little while the familiar light of a hot evening was changed. The sun was partly hidden, but of course it had not gone away. Its light remained, even when something came between us and its brightness.

Perhaps that gives us an image to carry as we think about this week’s readings (links below). Sometimes God’s purposes can seem hidden from us. We draw boundaries, make assumptions about who belongs, or wonder whether God’s promises still hold. Yet our readings remind us that God’s mercy is more persistent, and God’s welcome far wider, than we sometimes imagine.

Isaiah speaks of God gathering people from beyond the expected boundaries into a house of prayer for all nations. In his letter to the Romans, Paul insists that same God has not abandoned his people. And in our gospel passage from Matthew, we meet a Canaanite woman whose extraordinary persistence and faith cross the boundaries of religion, ethnicity and expectation. Her encounter with Jesus becomes a powerful moment in which grace reaches beyond the limits others might have assumed.

Together, these readings invite us to ask where we have allowed something to obscure our view of God’s generous purposes. Who do we imagine is outside? Where might God already be at work beyond the boundaries we have drawn?

Yours in Christ,

Ian

Worship this Sunday

Sunday 16 August 2026

Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

REGIL St James

8.30am Holy Communion (BCP)

BISHOP SUTTON Holy Trinity

10.30am Eucharist

CHEW STOKE St Andrew

6.30pm Evensong

Next Sunday:

Sunday 23rd August – Trinity 12

9.00am Morning Worship (Felton); 11.00am Eucharist (Winford); 4.00pm Evensong (Nempnett Thrubwell); 6.30pm Evensong (Stowey)

Readings & Collect

Isaiah 56: 1, 6-8

Romans 11: 1-2, 29-32

Matthew 15: 21-28

O God, you declare your almighty power

most chiefly in showing mercy and pity:

mercifully grant to us such a measure of your grace,

that we, running the way of your commandments,

may receive your gracious promises,

and be made partakers of your heavenly treasure;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

BCP Collect:

O God, who declarest thy almighty power most chiefly in shewing mercy and pity: Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way of thy commandments, may obtain thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For your prayers

Please pray for…

… the Holy Church throughout the world … Make us a people whose doors, hearts and lives are open; save us from drawing boundaries where you have drawn none, and from deciding too quickly who belongs and who does not. … for our benefice as we prepare for a period of vacancy;

…  our world … Be with those who lead the nations, granting them wisdom, compassion and integrity …  for those who are excluded or displaced, for refugees and strangers, for those whose voices are ignored, and for all who must persist simply to be hear;

…  all who are in need …all who cry out for help … those who are ill in body or mind … those awaiting treatment or living with uncertainty … those who are lonely, anxious or exhausted … and those who care for them.

… those who have died and rest in the peace of Christ, especially Albert Hassan (Clutton/Chew Stoke), Michael Hurford (Dundry/Winford)  and those whose anniversary falls at this time … rest them in your eternal love, and bring comfort and strength to all who mourn.

Contact

Revd Dr Ian Mills, Rector & Area Dean

The Rectory

4 Parsonage Lane

Winford

BS40 8DG

Telephone: (01275) 474504

chewvalleywest@gmail.com