JUNE 2026

Revd Tom Robson
We said goodbye to Tom on 17^th May when he took his last service at Apuldram. During Mother Jessica’s maternity leave Tom had taken virtually every 08.00 service for us, providing us with wonderful continuity in our worshipping lives.  We are so very grateful to him for giving up his early Sunday mornings to us. Everyone appreciated his ministry and learnt from his sermons.  Thank you, Tom!

Welcome back Jessica
We were delighted to welcome Jessica back with us at Pentecost.  She has been working hard in the background during her maternity leave and we look forward to hearing her ideas for the future. We appreciated having her back with us to celebrate the benefice Eucharist at Apuldram on the last Sunday of May.  Thank you to Harriet for playing the organ.

Summertime at Rymans gardens
The garden will be open on Sunday 14th June in the afternoon from 2pm to 5pm.
There will be a wonderful, colourful display of roses, as well as other early summer flowers, to admire. The church team will be on hand with refreshments, so enjoy the garden then come up to the church to relax with a cup of tea and home-made cake.

Apuldram Parish Meeting
The bi-annual meeting took place on Thursday 21st May.  To read the minutes from this meeting go to https://apuldramparish.gov.uk/parish-meeting/agendas-minutes/

Interesting churches
Following on from last month, this is the second instalment from Jose Pound on Jerusalem churches visited by her and Graham in 2000.

The Garden of Gethsemane, Church of Dominus Flevit and The Church of All Nations
How different it was on the Mount of Olives. For three thousand years there has been a Jewish burial ground overlooking the city which is still in use today. It’s full of flora and fauna, lizards, spiders, the odd snake, a few birds and small plants trying to get a toe hold in the cracks amid crumbling tombs. Passing these ancient tombs, we climbed to a peaceful and lovingly tended garden filled with roses and flowers and shaded from the heat by ancient twisted gnarled olive trees. A smiling Monk bade us welcome and spoke to us, how different from the surliness we encountered before. We were by the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus spent His last night praying before being arrested and taken to Jerusalem on His way to Golgotha before the crucifixion. Someone had brought a plant, and the monk took it and planted it for them, what a lovely personal touch. Beside the garden The Church of All Nations had been built with money donated by many countries, including the UK. Designed by Antonio Barluzzi, it was consecrated in May 1924. The interior is quite dark and brooding, using greens, blues and purples from the colour spectrum but toned right down under a deep blue ceiling with stylised star motifs representing the night sky and the agony of Christ before his arrest. Bronze, wrought iron, stone, stained glass and gold are all fashioned into writhing, twisting, flowing, sinuous forms typical of the Art Nouveau movement, and which added to the atmosphere. I think this is another place one needs to be in with fewer people and maybe a bit more time as there is much artwork I would have liked to have looked at in more detail.
Then halfway down the western slope of the Mount of Olives, you come across my favourite little church. Constructed in 1955 within a pretty garden, the tiny modern church of Dominus Flevit, Latin “the Lord wept”, was built to resemble a teardrop, commemorating the first Palm Sunday when Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem, stopping at this point where he wept for the future fate of Jerusalem. Franciscan Friars welcome you to this simple and beautiful little church with its white painted walls and a gold mosaic tear drop roof with a vent in the top through which you could see blue sky. Above the Altar a semicircular decorative wrought iron grille with a central Chalice and Patten set into it acted as the Reredos. The Cross on the Altar appeared to be aligned and superimposed on the Dome of the Rock. A subtle placing, suggesting the Dome belonged to Christianity as well as to Islam or Jewry, although some suggest it is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that is the focal point. It was filled with a group of pilgrims who were holding a very simple service with a couple of prayers then broke into spontaneous singing of ‘There is a Green Hill Far Away’ ending with The Peace, which we all joined in with and none of us will forget.

St Anne’s Church, Jerusalem
We started our descent towards the Jericho Road passing the Greek Orthodox church of St Mary the Virginwhich had just had its five onion domes restored and they were glistening in their new coat of gold leaf. This is the place where Princess Alice of Greece, mother of the Duke of Edinburgh, is buried. We crossed the busy main road and entered the old city by St Stephen’s Gate, known in the time of Jesus as the Sheep Gate, leading to the Via Dolorosa. We visited the Pools of Bethesda, referred to in the Gospel of St John, being told they were ‘situated by the Sheep Gate’. Until excavations in 1964 they were believed to be elsewhere, but these new discoveries are very much as St. John described them. The name derives from the Hebrew and Aramaic words Beth and Hesda meaning the house of mercy or grace; the words also translate as shame and disgrace; appropriate as the pools were associated with those suffering from Leprosy and who were ‘outcasts’ came to be healed. Just beyond Bethesda you come to the church of St. Anne. This place was a must as this is where the Bible has it that Anne lived and gave birth to the Virgin, so of course it attracts many hundreds of visitors, especially choirs as the acoustics are fantastic. Originally a Crusader church, Saladin saved it, turning it into a Madrassa to become a great seat of learning.  From the 1920s it became a French Domaine, and today it is a well-maintained church set in very manicured gardens with not a weed in sight nor a dead leaf anywhere. From outside one could hear singing, and once inside you understood why as the acoustics were superb and the whole church was alive with music echoing around the honey-coloured stone walls. But first we descended to see the shrine to St Anne, the place that is reputed to be her home and where Mary was born, the singing, now muted, forming a backdrop. Back up in the church a German group were giving a rousing rendition of ‘Onward Christian Soldiers. Then a young lady stood up and sang in a high clear soprano about the love of God and the wonderful things He has done. Not only was it lovely to listen to, but it was so moving tears rolled down my face. Then another group took over and sang ‘There is a Green Hill Far Away …’ maybe the same group who had been in Dominus Flevit. Yes, certainly a place one could feel nearer to God. A place that lingers in the memory and I can hear the singing still today, a very tangible feeling of being in a spiritual place with likeminded pilgrims.

 

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St Mary’s Meeting Room is available to hire Please email apuldramchurch@gmail.com for information