From the Vicar's Desk

From the Vicar's Desk - 22 January

Welcome to "From the Vicar's Desk" for 22 January 2021

Water into Wine

The Wedding at Cana, the first of Jesus' signs as recorded in John's gospel, is remembered most for the miracle that turned six stone jars of water, each containing 20 to 30 gallons of water, into the most exquisite, fine wine. At one level, that shows us that those who follow Jesus should not be shy of a good party and can feel encouraged to celebrate important family events. At a deeper level, this miracle turns the water of purification into the wine of celebration, thus turning upside down the expectations of how we approach the divine: not so much a process of making ourselves good enough, but an unfolding desire to join the celebration.

We're praying for you

Both individual church members and the congregation as a whole are always in our prayers. During this time of lockdown, however, we wanted to pray by name for everyone on our Electoral Roll. Today at Morning Prayer we started at A (by surname) and we will be working through a dozen or so a day between now and Lent, using your first names only to protect your privacy. If you'd like to join us in praying through our electoral roll you can find our weekly prayer list here and you can join us every day at 9.0am for Morning Prayer on SMR Live. If you ever have any specific prayer requests, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Corinne Rees funeral

Corinne's funeral will be held in church on Tuesday 26 January at 1.30pm. As with all our recent funerals, only those who have been invited can come to church for the service. If you wish to join us for the service please go to this link https://vimeo.com/event/621321. And the order of service can be downloaded here.

Home Schooling for Parents

Our Outreach team is organising sessions to give some support to local parents about how to home school. The team would greatly appreciate donations of rulers, pencils, A4 card, Rigatoni pasta, string or cord and empty egg cartons of 10. If you can help, can you contact David Cousins. Thank you.

Could you foster children?

In the earlier lockdown, leaders of the faith communities across the city came together to seek foster parents. The plea has come again from Bristol City Council and Home for Good for foster parents for at least five sibling groups. If this sparks an interest in you please watch this video and contact Claire Walker from Home for Good.

Bristol Churches Winter Night Shelter

This year Bristol Churches Winter Night Shelter is running in a Bed and Breakfast property close to SMR Church. We have rooms for seven guests and are providing three meals a day for them. SMR has responsibility for providing food each Friday. Click here to make a donation to help pay for these meals as well as other essentials for the guests. Thank you.

Live Stream kit installation

Further work has been done this week but, at the time of writing, we're still not quite there yet!

Send on / Contact me

Please forward this email on those who might be interested in SMR and contact me here (rather than using reply please)

Finally ...

I'm on BBC Radio Bristol on Sunday morning just after 8.30am being interviewed by Lucy Tegg about church life in the third lockdown.

With my best wishes

Dan

Canon D F Tyndall

Vicar, St Mary Redcliffe

0776 929 6220

Looking ahead

Sunday Services:

9.00am : Morning Prayer : Live Stream here : Words here

10.00am : Holy Communion : Live Stream here : Words here

We Are Bristol phone line is available for people who need support during lockdown: 0800 694 0184 (Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm)

< Older Post

Newer Post >

More blog posts

Sermon on Sunday,10th August 2025

By matthew.buckmaster • August 10, 2025

Preached by the Revd Laura Verrall-Kelly, Associate Vicar

Interregnum Information

By Laura.Verrall-Kelly • August 7, 2025

Keeping You Updated During the Interregnum As I prepare to go on maternity leave at the end of August, I want to share some important updates regarding our Sunday Services and communication during the Interregnum period. We’ve taken time to consider what is sustainable and meaningful in this season of transition, and while some of the changes have been difficult, they are intended to ensure we can continue to worship together well. Service Changes 8am BCP Eucharist We’ve made the difficult decision to pause this service during the vacancy, following a PCC vote (with 3 votes against). This is due to the limited availability of clergy to cover two Eucharist services on a Sunday. We’re grateful that this decision has allowed us to secure strong cover for the other services. If you’re looking for an early service, the Cathedral offers Morning Prayer at 7.40am and BCP Eucharist at 8am. This change to the 8am will happen from the beginning of October. Mattins & Evensong These will continue with support from a growing team of Lay Leaders. If you're interested in helping lead, please speak to Simon Goodman. Please note: bespoke online orders of service will no longer be produced weekly. Instead, we will use a standard booklet and hymn book in church. Online viewers will receive a standard order of service plus a document with Bible readings and hymns. 10.30am Sung Eucharist Some small changes are being made to simplify things for visiting clergy: Notices will be read by a Church Warden, Duty Warden or Church Representative Communion distribution will return to queue formation A Gradual Hymn will replace the Responsorial Psalm - there is simply not the resource to produce a weekly or termly Psalm hand out in church. We’ll use a standard “Eucharist during the Vacancy” order of service (in booklet form), with hymn books provided in church. As with other services, online resources will mirror this setup. These changes to the 10.30am will happen from the 17th August. Christingle Service Due to the scale of this service and the planning it requires, we’ve made the difficult decision to pause it this year. Without full-time clergy to oversee preparations and lead the service, we don’t believe we can deliver it safely or well. We know this will be disappointing, but this service will be back. Ongoing Communication Thanks to Chris Duncan and Sam Love, we will continue to send out a weekly email during the Interregnum. I’m very grateful to both of them for stepping up to support in this way. We know some of these decisions may not affect everyone, while others may feel them more deeply. We don’t expect universal agreement, and that’s okay — your questions and thoughts are welcome and valued. All we ask is that feedback is offered with kindness and respect for those who have worked hard to make these plans in a short space of time. Thank you for being part of this community and for your ongoing support as we navigate this together.