On the Spot
April 2026: Easter
As I write this, it is cold and misty after a couple of days of 'false Spring', so we are back to the British habit of complaining about the weather! However, local wildlife doesn't seem to share our gloom: daffodils are abundant, I have frogspawn in my garden pond and the birds are in fine voice as they claim territories and nest sites. AND the weeds are growing!
All are signs of new life, which is the main message of Easter. Hence the significance of fluffy chicks and eggs although not necessarily the chocolate variety. I fondly remember my mother giving us boiled eggs dyed in different colours on Easter day. Anyone know why? I don't.
The word Easter comes from the word Oestrae which is thought to be the name of an Anglo-Saxon deity of fertility, the early Christians using this pagan name to counter their festival. Since early times the Christian church's main message of Easter was the defeat of death and the gift of eternal life.
The correct name is the Resurrection of Christ and this is what we celebrate; the raising to new life by Jesus three days after his very public death by crucifixion.
However, it is important not to take Easter in isolation, otherwise it becomes, as a former Bishop of Durham controversially said, 'conjuring tricks with bones' and loses the impact of being the gift of the greatest act of love for us ever. When taken with Jesus's ministry, his teaching, his healing and care of the marginalised, when we walk with him on his journey of passion, dying on the cross after forgiving his torturers and then being transformed into new life in the tomb, it all starts to make sense. In our churches we have services the week before (Holy Week) to aid us on that journey, in Roman Catholic churches there are the Stations of the Cross and many of us have used the forty days of Lent before Easter as a time of spiritual preparation.
All for what? A gift from God available to us all.
'For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.' from the gospel of John chapter 3 verse 16.
A promise from God, available and free. Simply believe. Better than any Easter egg!
Peter Rutter, Lay Reader
Note: Please see our page on prayer for lots of resources
March 2026: Draw near this Lent
The Bishop's Letter
The Church of England’s theme for Lent 2026 is Draw Near: Life-giving habits for Lent. It’s a very different way of thinking about the season. Often, we identify Lent as a time for prayer and fasting when we ‘give things up’. More recently many have decided to adopt an opposite approach – of ‘taking something up for Lent’. ‘Draw near’ has a much wider remit. Each week, it invites us to explore a different aspect of Christian discipleship – worshipping together, praying, exploring the Bible, sharing communion, offering service and sharing the good news with others.
The ‘Draw Near’ approach fits well with how Lent began. During the Church’s earliest days, those wishing to become Christians were known as ‘catechumens’, people who were learning to live as disciples of Jesus. Preparation was intensive. It took place particularly in the 40 days before new Christians were baptised on the Saturday night before Easter Sunday. Our season of Lent comes from this ancient practice.
When the Church began, it didn’t have the trappings we’re used to seeing around us such as buildings, hymn books, pews, or paid ministers. Church wasn’t an institution. It was known as ‘the Way’. Christians met in each other’s homes and sought to work out how to follow Jesus in their everyday lives. This wasn’t so much about head knowledge, believing a particular set of doctrines. It was about the habits and practices that Christians constantly cultivated to help them draw nearer to God who is with us, in us, around us and beside us every moment of every day. ‘Draw Near’ comes out of this heritage. It’s an invitation to make Lent a journey that brings us closer to God.
I invite you to make use of ‘Draw Near’ this Lent. It includes materials for adults, for families and for children, resources for schools and encouragement for churches. More information can be found at www.cofeio/DrawNear. As we approach Lent, let’s draw near and join each other on the journey to God that is the Way.
Michael Beasley,
Bishop of Bath and Wells
February 2026: Generations growing in faith together
The Bishop's Letter
Our extended family recently got together for a celebration. We were nine adults from 24-68, one toddler, and one dog, and it was glorious! The joy was simply in being together, whatever our age.
I sometimes wonder what would happen in the life of our churches if we could adopt the same outlook there? Each generation glad that the other is there. Each generation contributing something to the whole. Each generation looking to the interests of the others, making sure there was something that spoke to the others even if not to them.
The writer of the Chronicles records something you could miss if you weren’t looking for it. In 2 Chronicles 20, when Judah was facing attack from Ammon and Moab, King Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast and summoned the people. This is what it says in verse 13:
“All Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.”
At a time of great peril, when the king was seeking the LORD, all generations came together to pray. We often think of intergenerational meaning us older ones passing on wisdom to the younger ones, and that’s certainly part of it. But a truly intergenerational family, which the church is, means all generations welcoming one another, valuing one another, learning from one another, and praying with and for one another. It’s not a one-way thing.
Our younger generations are ambassadors from the future, with wisdom to give us about their culture, and how to share the timeless truths of the gospel with their peers. They are leaders and learners, just as we all are.
What might it look like across our diocese if we committed to making room for other generations? What might it look like if, like the people of God in ancient times, we came together in our year of especial focus on prayer - adults, young people, and little ones - and sought the power and wisdom of God together? I have a feeling we’d be surprised!
Fiona Gibson, who will become Bishop of Taunton on 8 February 2026
Note: Please see our page on prayer for lots of resources
January 2026: Time to learn to pray
The Bishop's Letter
'Lord, teach us to pray.' In Luke's gospel it's these words, spoken by the disciples, that causes Jesus to give them the Lord's Prayer (Luke 11:1-4). Jesus says to his friends, 'When you pray say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.'
Many of us think that we should be able to pray automatically. And that if we can't, it's either because it's 'not our thing' or because we're failing. Yet in Luke's Gospel, the disciples still need to ask Jesus how to pray, even after they've been knocking around with him for ages. So maybe we should give ourselves a break and accept that working oug how to pray is not obvious and that all of us need to learn.
In 2026, I'm asking all of us across our diocese of Bath and Wells to make the year one of especial focus on prayer. I'm hoping we'll all be able to say the words, 'Lord teach us to pray' and that together we'll all grow in our experience, understanding, insight and practice.
How can we learn about prayer? We have to make a start. We need to make some mistakes. We need to learn from others. It doesn't happen in the abstract. Prayer is a 'learning by doing thing' where if we stick at it, we grow and change.
How might you learn to pray more this year? There isn't a master plan designed to get everyone on their knees. Most action will happen locally where we can identify what we need, work out who can help us, ans then get underway. Some simple resources designed to be helpful are being made available. More importantly, please do talk to your vicar or other church leaders about what might be possible where you are.
Together, let's say these words in the year that is to come: 'Lord, teach us to pray.'
A very happy New Year to us all.
Bishop Michael
October 2025: Harvest
We are blessed to have two thoughts this month!
I love Harvest time. It combines two very important things.
Firstly it is about community and coming together. The Harvest Home is big in this area and I remember going as a child to them. So you can imagine the delight of coming back here and celebrating all that is good with friends. I was greatly saddened at being in hospital when Shipham held theirs; I was so looking forward to it.
Secondly, it is the opportunity to thank God for his goodness to us. Anyone with fruit trees in their garden will know that this year has been an exceptional year, and early as well. Thatcher’s cider had picked all their ‘Katy’ variety before September – unheard of. At the Rectory we, too, have been blessed. So blessed, in fact, that two small boughs broke off under the weight of apples. Heather and I have taken so much pleasure in putting out our battered wheelbarrow full of apples and, within 24 hours, it is empty. Eaters are coming to an end but the cookers have come into their own. Please swing by and take some but remember to bring a bag!! Heather has the joy of taking apples to work and bringing home figs, courgettes and pears in return. There is something very special in sharing what we have. The writer of Proverbs says this: “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” - Proverbs 11:25. It is at the heart of the Gospel and, as churches, we seek to demonstrate and share the love of Jesus in whatever way we can. Sharing what we have, be that produce, time, love or care, is what makes communities so strong. Grace and peace from the Lord be with you all this Harvest season.
It seems hardly possible, but already Summer is ebbing into Autumn – one of my favourite seasons. Autumn is a season of abundance. Not only have the crops been harvested, but the hedgerows and woods are bursting with fruits of all kinds. Creation is resplendent with colours, smells, and tastes – enough to fill all our senses with delight.
For Christians, Autumn is the time to give thanks to God for the beauty and generosity of His creation – for all that makes life possible and enjoyable. We have such a generous God, or as Paul writes in his second letter to the Corinthians, ’He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God ‘’
As the above passage implies, God gives to us so that we can share with others, that they might see something of him in our generous giving.
On September 6th our Harvest season started with Harvest Home in Shipham. As usual, it was a joy to start the village celebrations in Church with some enthusiastic singing, before the children brought up the harvest loaf to be blessed (complete with possibly the biggest harvest mouse I have ever seen!). The celebrations continued with a wonderful lunch in the marquee on the football field, and some enthusiastic dancing later on in the day! Once again, a good amount of money was raised not only to secure the future of Harvest Home but also to fund local good causes.
By the time this magazine goes to press we will also have celebrated Harvest Thanksgiving in St Leonards Church Shipham, and we still have services in Crook Peake (5 October), Rowberrow (12 October) and Axbridge (19 October) to look forward to.
I hope that wherever you live, you will be able to find an opportunity to enter into the spirit of Harvest this year by joining one of our Harvest Services and experiencing for yourself the generosity of our wonderful Creator and the joy of sharing with others.
With every blessing. Sue.
September 2025: Life changes
You may know that Aileen has stepped down from her role as editor of Catch This [from whence On the Spot originates], and will be finishing fully at Christmas but as an interim measure for the next months, we are reducing the size to make it more manageable to produce. We are so grateful to Aileen for taking on the editorship of the magazine over the years. We hope and pray that a replacement editor can be found, but in the meantime, we will continue with the slim version including adverts.
In the new year, there will be a single version of only adverts which will provide a useful reference to keep handy. This will accompany a four-page magazine… As I reflected on this slimmed down version of the magazine, it seemed that this could be used as a metaphor for our lives. As we journey on the road of life, without knowing it, we pick up things. What starts out in the simplicity of our early childhood years has somehow become a life with its burdens. Such things weigh us down and prevent us from flourishing. We read in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Not only do we have a thief, but we have burdens which prevent us from living the life which Jesus desires for us.
As with the magazine, sometimes we need to stop and examine what is important and what can be dropped. Easier said than done but Jesus is fully aware of the burdens we carry. In Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 11 we read, 28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” In a similar way, Peter takes up this invitation in his first letter when he writes in chapter 5, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
A slimmed-down life, physically, mentally and emotionally, will leave breathing space for the spiritual life in Jesus as well as room to enjoy what really matters. I pray that you will be able to begin a journey of de-cluttering and slimming-down and that you will see, quickly, the fruits of such an important task.
August 2025: God is in charge, no matter what
Aileen kindly reminded me that it was my turn to pen some thoughts for the month of August. Aileen also sends a copy of The Bishop's Letter just to jog the thought processes. The Diocesan letter for this month is by Bishop Christopher Foster. In it he is pondering the lack of detail in Wikipedia for the special days of Christian celebration in August.
Wikipedia is a useful source of information for us all. Although, as it is an open-source format of knowledge that can be contributed to and edited by anyone, some care must be taken with answers found. Wikipedia relies on donations for funding its model of free access to all. However, only 2% of users donate. That is 2% supporting the other 98%!
This ‘got me to thinking’ about the Church of England. Free access for all, no matter creed, faith, race, age, gender, wealth, or outlook on life. Anyone can make a call on their local parish church and expect some form of help, whether practical, spiritual or a signpost towards the correct direction. The limitless grace, healing, and wisdom of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ can always be found within our local church communities. This is why I remain an Anglican.
July 2025: Enjoying our gardens, not just for summer
Over the summer months, there have been a number of garden shows; the best known are, of course, Chelsea and Hampton Court.
Several years ago, I visited Hampton Court and was inspired by the show gardens, while knowing I could never match any of them in my garden in Shipham without enormous expense! This year I visited Malvern Flower Show – here the show gardens were much simpler, but interestingly all had water features, and the theme of most of them was of stillness and of the garden being a place to unwind.
Gardens are mentioned a number of times in the Bible. The first man was placed in a garden and God asked him to tend it. It was a place where humans could live in peace with the animals, a place to enjoy the beauty of creation. Elsewhere in the Bible, the garden is considered a place of shelter and shade, a place of protection and quiet retreat.
In 2021, during the pandemic, the Bible Society was asked to create a garden based on Psalm 23. It was designed to be a sanctuary garden, with images of rest and refreshment, especially as many people were affected by the lockdowns and had experienced anxiety. You can look up images of the garden, which has now been replanted in Winchester Hospice, on the Psalm 23 website.
The designer of the garden felt that the psalm was like a journey through life. There are good times as well as bad but how reassuring to know that, through them all, the Lord is our shepherd. The still waters are an image of a tranquil pool rather than a rushing stream. It’s hard to find spiritual food in our fast-moving society.
Knowing that God wants to lead us to these green pastures and still waters to find rest and refreshment, to restore our souls, is so important to our well-being.
And during the hard times, He’s there for us, too. The big rocks in the garden represent the dark valleys of life which most of us will go through at some time. While we can’t escape this kind of experience, sometimes these valleys can overwhelm us and we see no hope. But, however dark our valley might be, we don’t stay there forever. We go through it and we’re not alone: God is with us, supporting us and
comforting us.
Finally, God’s goodness and mercy are never far away and we can be thankful for His many blessings, even in the midst of the trials of life. And there is the hope of eternity as we put our trust in the Good Shepherd, and the promise that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. So why not take some time in your busy life to re-read Psalm 23 and allow yourself time to be still and let God restore your soul?
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil:
my cup overflows.
Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Pam Williams
June 2025: Why does my garden remind me of God's grace?
I expect by now the heavens will have opened and we are suffering from rain, rain, rain or else drought, drought, drought!
I'm writing this sitting in my garden enjoying the flowers and blossoms of an amazing spring; there isn't a cloud in the sky as I look up.
Many people testify to the fact that the place to meet God is in a garden. In the story of the garden of Eden, man and God meet for the first time, so maybe my garden-not-as-good as Eden is the place to meet Him?
Many of you will be aware that Penny and I moved house last summer (if you can call it that), moving what I guess was about 400 yards from Beech Road to Fair Hill. We inherited a beautiful well laid out, secluded and peaceful garden. The one I’m thoroughly enjoying now.
When we first came to Shipham in 1975 our garden had not been tended for some time and we more or less started from scratch, thus just about every plant with a very few exceptions was planted by us. In contrast we now have a garden where nothing was planted by us! Every day we can go out and often express our joy, surprise and delight in seeing another plant or flower we had no idea was there or what it is for that matter. A stunning carpet of bluebells is now just over.
We feel each time that we are being blessed with a beautiful gift from the previous owner, that somehow, their love is being showered on us. Something we neither worked or asked for or, for that matter, deserve.
It made me think, is how God works? While we got a lot of pleasure from our old garden, it was always something we had achieved by our own efforts and nothing, apart from bindweed (!) came as a surprise. But here we are now being entranced by an unasked for and probably undeserved gift. The difference between the work of my hands and the work of God's hands.
I think that is not a bad definition of grace.
He offers us His love free of any condition, regardless of anything we have or have not done, purely because He wants to. All we have to do is receive it.
I wonder, is this insight I have from our new garden the first example of God's grace for me? So I reflected, and I am still reflecting and I'm glad I didn't write them down because I would have run out of paper ages ago! The sheer number of times something has happened which could have gone another way is staggering. Each one a gift of undeserved unasked for grace. So I keep counting the blessings.
Why don't you try it?
Be prepared to be surprised!
Peter
May 2025: Do you know five people who could use prayer?
Dear Friends
We have just celebrated Easter and our spirits are lifted as we see our gardens bursting into life and colour around us. We all need things in our lives that give us a boost, a lift, something to look forward to, or a change in routine.
Easter gives us the spiritual boost that we need after the long winter months but sometimes it can be the smallest thing that can make a difference: a smile, an act of kindness, a chink of light shining through the cracks of darkness, the sight of something in nature that makes us stop and reflect.
After Easter, the disciples of Jesus spent 40 days with Him before He ascended to Heaven. During this time there were constant reminders that he had destroyed the finality of death and had opened heaven up for people to hold the hope and promise of a home with God.
This year Ascension Day falls on Thursday 29th May. Ascension Day is one of the great Church festivals and, as a benefice, we will be using this as an opportunity to share another service with Crook Peak Parish, and Alistair will be leading a service of Holy Communion at 1900 at Compton Bishop.
After Ascension Day, Pentecost will soon be with us, and we will celebrate the empowering of God’s Church by the Holy Spirit.
For the last 10 years, the Church of England has encouraged Christians everywhere to use the period between Ascension Day and Pentecost as a time to pray for the worldwide church, and more specifically that God’s Spirit might work in the lives of five people.
Why not set aside the period between 29th May and 8th June as a time to bring hope and light to others by praying specifically for five people known to you?
If you use the internet you can visit: https://www.thykingdomcome.global/ and find some creative inspiration to help you from some of the many free downloadable resources available.
As we enter into this post-Easter season of renewal and new life, let’s take the opportunity to share our Easter joy with others.
With every blessing,
Sue
Last Updated by HJF 23 Mar 2026