Welcome to Wokingham Methodist Church

We are now part of the Blackwater Valley Methodist Circuit, formed by the merger of our previous circuit, the Berkshire Surrey Borders Circuit, with the circuit to the south of us, the Hants-Surrey Border Circuit, effective from 1 September 2025.

Our previous minister, Revd Catherine Bowstead, has retired.  We welcome her replacement Rev Wes Hampton, from 1 September 2025.

Starting on Sunday 21^st September, evening service (with Holy Communion) will resume on the third Sunday of each month at the new time of 6.15 pm (new time chosen so you can park in the Rose Street car park without having to pay both an afternoon fee and an evening fee).

We now aim to open Little Fishes every Thursday throughout the year when Café Mosaic is open - including school holidays, but not Christmas/New Year.

Future worship and recorded services are on this page.

10.30am Morning Worship - Mrs Kim Tame

A Reflection from Rosi MorganBarry

We’re nearly there!  Four more days to Christmas.  There is probably a sense of anxiety particularly among those responsible for the Christmas dinner about whether everything needed is in the freezer/ fridge/ store cupboard, and if not, whether there is still time to do a bit more shopping.  Or maybe there is anxiety about whether we have remembered to send a card to dear old Aunt Betty.

But in all the preparations for fun and feasting aren’t we forgetting the ‘why’ of Christmas?  What are we truly celebrating?  The birth of a child to a poor couple, but one whose paternity was in grave doubt at first.  We know the story.  Luke tells us of a young woman, engaged to be married, who receives news of an unexpected pregnancy.  This is unwelcome and troubling news at first, but Mary comes not only to accept it, but also to rejoice in it.  Joseph also, as Matthew recounts, is disturbed by the news and wants to end his relationship with his fiancée.  But he too was reassured and accepted his role as foster father, one he carried out with kindliness.

We are celebrating the story of Mary and Joseph, Jesus’ parents for his young years on earth, giving thanks for their acceptance of strangely disturbing news and their care of the child Jesus, who grew up to be the Lord and Saviour of us all.  As we celebrate them let us also give thanks and pray for all who have the care of children.

Rosi MorganBarry

from Rev Wes Hampton

Waiting can be tedious.  We have so many experiences of unwelcome waiting – for the delivery which will arrive sometime in a four hour window, for the three-way traffic lights that turned red just as we approached them, and so on.  They are just my experiences of the last few days; you can add plenty of your own.

We do not want to be made to wait, for it feels like time is being wasted while we cannot do anything else.  Yet we know that if waiting a little means that our query can be answered correctly, or that we shall get to see the doctor who understands our problem, then the waiting might seem like a reasonable price to pay.  Until the wait is over, however, we do not know if that will be so.

The season of Advent is a time of waiting.  The decorations in the shops and lights in people’s windows tell us that many are racing towards Christmas.  We get caught up in the headlong rush, even though we know that Advent reminds us that God’s preparation for the first coming of his Son went on for centuries.

Every year we tell ourselves that Advent is a reflection of God’s preparation.  As such, it involves a lot of waiting.  This is not the futile waiting that annoys us and tries our patience, but the waiting that allows us to find God in the hustle and bustle of our days.

RS Thomas, in his poem Kneeling, says:

Prompt me, God.
But not yet.  When I speak
Though it be you who speak
Through me, something is lost.
The meaning is in the waiting.

May we, during these days of Advent, find the meaning in the waiting and, when Christmas comes, find the meaning in the celebration.

Wes

Some previous Pastoral Letters are available here.