Filter menu

Sort

We are pleased to present our new Parish Profile. This has been a big project over the last few months and we hope it gives you, the reader, an insight into the life and work of St Nicolas, Cranleigh.
<a href="https://landing.churchdesk.com/en-gb/file/149b3f7f-83cc-499c-a8cb-8239253538ff" target="_blank">St Nicolas Parish Profile 2026</a>

A group gathers outside St Nicolas Cranleigh church for a community or parish event.

St Nicolas Cranleigh

Find out more about the life and work of St Nicolas in our 2026 Parish Profile

Parish Profile 2026

THE ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING
will be held on Wednesday 15th April 2026
 
at 7.30 p.m. in the Church 
 
All Church Members are invited to attend.&nbsp; Apologies for non-attendance and Any Other Business should be notified in advance 
 
to the PCC Secretary, <a href="mailto:paul@stnicolascranleigh.org.uk">paul@stnicolascrsanleigh.org.uk</a>; Tel: 548824

Interior of a large, old church with high arches and stained glass windows.

APCM - 15th April 2026

Sermon Mothering Sunday 2026 – Exodus 2:1-10 and Luke 2:33-35 
 
&nbsp;
 
What do we think God is like? How do we imagine Him? 
It is so tempting to project on God as just being a bigger, stronger, more important version of ourselves. 
And secretly, I suspect, many of us including myself, have an image of God that is surprisingly similar to the image we may have of whoever happens to be the president of the United States of America. 
Why does God not just smite the evildoers? Why does he not destroy them? Why does he not just intervene? Why does he not just sort everything out with some missiles, rockets or lightning and thunder? 
What’s been going on in the Middle East for many years, and especially recently, might suggest some reasons to us to be thankful that God doesn’t operate like that.&nbsp; 
But it’s a very understandable mistake all of us make all the time. And we end up making our own god, an idol. We often worship the God as we feel He should be. The God we would be if we could. Not God as he actually is. 
And who God is, he shows us in the Bible, and especially in Jesus – and it turns always out to be more than we could think up or imagine. 
So, on this Mothering Sunday, it is especially appropriate to stop and reflect on how God is not only described as Father, Almighty, Creator, but also in Scripture as Mother. And how mothers in a special way reflect something about what God is like and how he works in our world.&nbsp; 
It is no coincidence that mothers play a very big role in the big moments of salvation history, the story of God and us. 
Our first reading tells us about Israel, suffering in Egypt. Oppressed. Enslaved. And there is a genocide going on, Pharaoh orders for every newborn Hebrew boy to be thrown into the Nile. 
So what does God do? How does he respond to the prayers of his people? 
A woman becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son. 
It’s madness. What difference would a baby make? Besides, there was no greater risk than having a baby boy, because remember, Pharaoh wanted to kill all those! Yet, it’s how God decides to bring liberation to his people. Through a pregnant, waiting mother, giving birth to a little boy. Through the sacrificial and nurturing love of a mother, God will make things right. 
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It’s a very powerful parallel with Mary giving birth to Jesus. 
God works in a messy, awful, broken world bringing healing, salvation, and liberation through a mother giving birth to a baby. 
And then, after about three months, little Moses becomes too big and too loud to hide. Mother Jochebed has to do an even more difficult thing. 
It is perhaps only those who have suffered from not being able to have children, or losing children through miscarriages, or who have lost their children later on, or who suffered many anxieties for their children, who understand what Jochebed might have felt like, as she put her three month old baby in a basket of reeds, and leaves him in the Nile. 
A feeling that’s described in our Gospel reading as a sword piercing through her soul. 
Notice how, maybe with the special genius of a mother, Jochebed does exactly what she is asked to do, but with a clever twist. Pharaoh wants to throw all the children in the Nile. She literally throws her son in the Nile. Protected by a little basket.
 
It’s an act of faith and trust that few of us can imagine. 
Her faith is rewarded by her son being saved by no one less than Pharaoh’s daughter – again, pure madness to have the daughter of the oppressor be the instrument of Moses’ and in the long term, Israel’s saving. 
Israel’s faith and prayers are answered when Moses grows up in Pharaoh’s palace, and becoming the one through whom God liberates the enslaved, frees Israel from Egypt, and leads them through the desert to the promised land. 
That whole story starts with a faithful mother. And in it we see something about who God is and how He works. We see it in so many other mothers, in the example of so many saints – ask Claire later about Perpetua and Felicity, two early Christian mothers who died for their faith – and in so many of our own mothers and mothering figures. We can see something of God’s love and care in them. 
It’s perhaps the reason why Mothering Sunday originally wasn’t about our own mothers – though it’s always good to celebrate them – but about Mother Church. The Church is especially called to reflect something of God sacrificial and nurturing and faithful love and care. 
Mothering Sunday used to be an opportunity to go back to the church in which you were baptised, reflecting the role of Mother Church in the new birth, our rebirth into a new life, in our baptism. 
Again, it is worth remembering that only God is perfect, and we, our mothers, the church, at our best reflect something of what He is like, but are always flawed – and sometimes we can just be so hurt by the flaws of those who are called to mother us. 
And it’s why it’s so good and so important for us to spent time with God, the source of that self-sacrificial, nurturing and liberating love. To get to know Him by spending time with Him. To come to church. To read the Bible. On our own and with others. To pray on our own and with others. To be with the mother and father figures in this church who help us in our faith. To eat with our brothers and sisters in church, inside this church building as we are fed by God in the sacrament of communion, and outside – at the Parish Breakfast and the Lent Lunches, and when we invite them over to the house. 
To experience in Mother Church, in those who mother us, and in our own mothering, something of the self-sacrificial love of God. 
And this Mothering Sunday we can also be inspired by the example of Jochebed, and maybe there are things, people or feelings that are very precious to us – maybe our children, maybe our mothers, maybe our relationships with them – that we need to carefully put in a little basket and entrust in God’s hands. 
Amen.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

Sermon for Mothering Sunday, written by Rev'd Erik Heemskerk

Sermon notes - 15th March Mothering Sunday

Sermon Sunday 22 February 2026 – First Sunday in Lent – Giving (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21)
It is Lent! The season of fasting, giving, and praying, leading up to Holy Week and Easter. And our Gospel reading today is most welcome – it is Jesus telling us how to give, pray and fast. 
I was struck when I read this and looked at the commentaries, that Jesus doesn’t really offer space to opt-out. Jesus simply says, ‘when you give’, ‘when you pray’, ‘when you fast’. In other words, Jesus simply assumes that we, his followers and friends, will pray, fast and give. 
They are the disciplines of the Kingdom of Heaven, as I said two weeks ago, helping us to trust in God our Heavenly Father, and not to worry too much about life here on earth. 
So, if we find that we recently have not really taken the time in our inner room for prayer and Bible reading on our own with God, this Lent is an invitation to go back to that, even if it’s only for five minutes each day. And I know from experience, even 5 minutes each day is harder than it sounds like. 
If we have to confess that the last fast we’ve done was Dry January – the secular fasting season – or a diet to lose a bit of weight, if we find we’ve fasted for the sake of our bodies but forgot to fast for the sake of our souls, this Lent is an invitation to give up something here on earth for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. If your health or other circumstances already have made this a time of fasting for you, please bring God into this time of fasting. 
That’s prayer and fasting, now let’s spend the next few minutes delving deeper into the third of these three disciplines, Giving. 
<ul><li>Selflessly Giving
 </li><li>Holy Giving </li><li>Joyfully giving </li></ul>
Jesus says, when you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do. Just imagine that. Walking up to the plate, having someone in front of you blowing the trumpet, drawing attention to you and your donation! There is some suggestion that in the synagogue they would blow the trumpet during the offertory – a bit like us singing an offertory hymn, but Jesus is exaggerating it to make fun of people who use their generosity to aggrandize their status. &nbsp;
 
And he’s actually not far off the truth.
 
In the ancient world, society was built on this principle. If you were rich, you were building temples for the gods, of course making sure you put your name on it, and organising entertainment and meals for the poor, of course wonderful events with one person at the centre, yourself. 
It worked quite nicely. The rich got the respect, honour and influence by buying it – and there was even a social obligation on them to do this, and the poor got their food and entertainment. Everyone was happy. 
Yet. 
Jesus tells us to be different. Because this type of generosity is an earthly one not that of the Kingdom of Heaven. It leads to the rich and powerful deciding everything, and exploiting the poor while feeding them the scraps. It leads to lies and hypocrisy, not to genuine love and generosity. 
Jesus blows up this ancient system of giving. Don’t blow the trumpet. Don’t make a show. Give so secretly that even your left hand has no clue what your right hand is doing. 
Because, Jesus teaches, when we give, as well as when we pray and fast, we do so to draw our attention and that of others away from ourselves to God and to others, not to ourselves. Give selflessly. 
Giving is holy business, and that’s quite exciting! 
In the Old Testament, Moses’ Law tells people to set apart a tithe, 10%: 
‘A tithe&nbsp;of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the&nbsp;Lord; it is holy&nbsp;to the&nbsp;Lord.&nbsp; Every tithe of the herd and flock&mdash;every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod&mdash;will be holy to the&nbsp;Lord (Leviticus 27:30-32).
 
What really struck me about this is that the tenth that is given to the Lord is called ‘holy’. Holy means literally ‘set apart’, special. Belonging to God. 
10% of your net income may be a helpful guideline as you reflect on your giving. But it’s only a guideline – the New Testament emphasises generous giving, there is no minimum or maximum amount. &nbsp;
 
But I find that idea of that 10% of what we get as holy very helpful. As one church member said to me a while ago: 90% of my income at the start of the month is for me, and that 10%, I put it apart, it doesn’t even belong to me. 
Another thing you may find helpful is thinking about it in this way. You may consider setting 5% apart at the start of the month, to give away. And keep the other 5% for spontaneous generosity. Paying for someone else’s coffee. Inviting people over for dinner. Dropping a meal round to someone who needs it. Or some flowers to your sick neighbour. Giving some money to a particular cause that comes up. Or feel free to save it all up for International Buy-A-Priest-A-Beer Day – yes this is a thing, September 9th, make sure you put it in your diary.&nbsp; 
See all those things as well as your donations to the church as giving to God. As holy things. Giving makes us part of God’s holy business! 
This week I came across quite an incredible statistic. An organisation called Stewardship did research into giving, and found that committed Christians donate almost five times more than the average person living in the UK. Isn’t that amazing? 
And we see that being true here locally. This church costs about 4500£ a week to run, each year about 250.000£ is needed to run this church, and the large majority of that is one way or another, through your giving. &nbsp;
 
With that money, we worship God and reach out with the Good News into this community, minister to this village, keep the church building open, welcoming, and safe and accessible for all, run our work for families and children, serving this community. And about £10.000 a year is spent by us collectively to show God’s love and goodness to important causes near and far across the world. We support Wintershall’s education programme, telling the story of Jesus to primary and secondary schools. We support Hope in Action in providing homes for homeless, ex-offenders and survivors of sexual abuse here in the UK. We support Rowleys here in the village. We support Ride for a Woman empowering women in Uganda. And more, talk to the Mission and Outreach team.&nbsp; 
If we actually stop to think about it, it’s amazing what your generosity leads to. This is cause for pure joy! Thank you all so much! 
Unfortunately, in recent years a rise in inflation and a decline in giving has made it harder to balance the books for us as a church. So, if you’d like to join in our regular giving, or like to review your giving, you can take away a card at the end of the service that gives you some info on quickly and simply setting up yourself on the Parish Giving Scheme, with a monthly set donation. If you’re not on this already, please consider using it as it is the easiest way to give for you and for us. Quite possibly, you already give all you can give, please then just be encouraged today by being reminded that your giving is selfless, holy and joyful. &nbsp;
 
It would be wonderful to have our books balanced this year, but it would be far more wonderful to be a church that in everything lives and breathes God’s generosity. A church that gives selflessly, holy, and joyfully, taking part in what God is doing in this village and in our world – and I know you have already begun to be such a church. 
To be and to grow further into a church where we don’t have to anxiously look at whether we are going to balance the books this year, but where the PCC and the next Rector rejoices at the generosity and has to wonder: How do we find a purpose for so much generosity? 
In a few moments, we will sing our offertory hymn and the plate passes round –many of you don’t carry cash but give in other ways – but let’s during that time dedicate, offer ourselves, all we are and all we have, selflessly, holy, and joyfully to our God, for this season of Lent and beyond. 
Amen.&nbsp;

Parish Profile 2026

APCM - 15th April 2026

Sermon notes - 15th March Mothering Sunday

Sermon notes - 22nd February 2026