• Nurturing Faith
• Sustaining the Human Spirit
• Serving the Community

Sunday 7th September 2008 Patronal Festival

Thought for the week

Mary responded creatively to the call to become the mother of Jesus, son of God. Since then she has been the inspiration of creativity down the centuries in art, in music, in dance, in poetry and in other ways. We are reminded of this today at the Family Eucharist - in the art-work around the church, in the music we shall play and sing, in the dance at the Gloria and in the poem by Edwin Muir on a separate slip of paper. Each of us has been given creative gifts of some kind. Remembering
Mary encourages us to make the most of these. The most creative gift of all is in our relationships - with God and with one another. It is through this gift that we are enabled to make the most of who we are in every way.
Peter Cotton

As a Christian community we have three main concerns.

We seek to be a company of people who are nurturing faith. This faith is rooted in the good news of God revealed in Jesus Christ and is expressed and strengthened in worship, in learning together and in fellowship. You will find details of our worship services and our home groups programme on other pages of this website.

We also set out to use our historic building as a resource for the whole community. It lends itself to cultural events, music, drama, exhibitions and is a fascinating visual aid for school pupils to use in pursuit of many aspects of the national curriculum. In all these ways we seek to play our part in sustaining the human spirit. Again, look through other pages for details of how you might be involved in these aspects of our life.

Believing that faith must lead to action, our third concern is to be serving the community. We do this in various ways. Members of St Mary’s through their own jobs and their social involvement are sharing in this service. The church community itself has a ministry among young families and vulnerable people and we are always looking for new ways of putting faith into action. Why not come and join us?
Why not join the choir or the bellringers?

Daily Prayer for Today

Morning Prayer
Evening Prayer
Night Prayer

"Daily Prayer provided by the official Church of England web site, © The Archbishops' Council of the Church of England, 2002-2004."

Welcome to the website of St Mary’s Church, Hemel Hempstead, The Parish of St Mary and St Paul. We are part of the wider church scene in the town, details of which can be found on the website of Churches Together in Hemel Hempstead http://www.hemelchurches.org.uk

St Mary’s Church stands at the heart of the Old Town of Hemel Hempstead, just off the High Street. Its tall and elegant spire makes it unmistakable. It has been a place of worship for over eight hundred and fifty years and provides a real focus as a centre of spirituality and history in a town most of whose history goes back barely fifty years.