At the beginning of the service Alan Darvill, on behalf of the church family, said a farewell to Emmanuella and Kelvin Anderson who will be returning to Sierra Leone after Kelvin’s graduation.

The service was taken by worship leader Peter Mehaffey and the theme was Storms of life. The first hymn was “to God be the glory”. Lessons were read by Cynthia Prior from Isaiah chapter 42 v1-9 and by Mike Hockley from Matthew chapter 14 v 22-32, Peter walks on the water.

In the story from Matthew chapter 14 Peter lost faith because he wasn’t looking at Jesus. Just like Peter we go through the storms of life because sometimes we are also not looking at Jesus. Do we ask God where are you when things go wrong through loss and illness? We want to know that God will protect us. How often do we say why me?

We so often see terrible things happen in the world and again we ask why.

God loves each and every one of us and He gave humans a choice to live the life the way they want and that leads us to taking the wrong way sometimes.

God is not to blame, it’s the evil of man and God is always there with us through all the storms of life.

The closing hymn was “the king of love my shepherd is”. Pianist was Margaret Dancer, tea and coffee was served by Carole and Margaret.

The service on Sunday will be taken by the Rev Peter Facer and will include holy communion.