First things first

November 2026

Dear Friends

What do you do when you wake up?  Hit the snooze button, turn over and sleep a little more?  Get up, wash and dress?  Head for the cereal cupboard or the coffee maker?

What did Jesus do when he woke up?  “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”  (Mark 1:35)

He’d been up late the night before: “… after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed.  The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons …”  (v32-34)

And Jesus’ opportunity for undisturbed quiet prayer would soon be broken when his disciples found him and told him “Everyone is looking for you!” (v36-37)  Jesus then says that they must all get on the road again so that he can preach about the kingdom of God in the next village, and the next …

What was Jesus praying to his Father about in solitary places on those dark mornings?  The many needs of all the people who flocked to see and hear him?  His own tiredness and weakness?  For the crowds to truly believe that God’s Son had arrived among them?  For strength to keep going until it was time for him to head for hostile Jerusalem and lay down his life for his friends?

What could you pray about if you were to seek God early in the morning?  Here’s a prayer you could pray:

Dear Lord,
Thank you for giving me this day to live in your world.
Forgive me for trying to avoid you.
Protect me by your mighty power,
Keep me from giving in to temptation.
And help me to do what pleases you.
I ask in the name of your Son,
Amen.

If Jesus needed to get up and pray to his Father, I can’t need that less.

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Lifting the Weight of Debt

October 2026

Dear Friends

30 years ago John Kirkby set out on an incredible journey in his home town of Bradford.  Feeling compelled by God’s kindness to him, he began to draw on his background in finance to help those who were weighed down by debt; parents who couldn’t feed their children, families facing eviction and desperate people living without hope.  He used his expertise to negotiate with creditors, set up budgeting systems and offer a lifeline to those trapped in debt.

Since then the work of the organization that he started, Christians against Poverty (CAP), has expanded across the UK in partnership with local churches.  It is nationally respected by finance companies and those seeking to help people in debt.  The Kendal and District Debt Centre was relaunched four years ago and now the churches of Burton and Holme are pleased to announce that, in line with our long-held ambition, the work of the Centre has been expanded to cover our villages.

The service is provided by those who are unashamedly followers of Jesus Christ but is available to all people, whoever you are or whatever you believe.  However you’ve found yourself in difficulty, the service is completely free, funded by donations from churches and individuals.  Help and advice is provided face-to-face, usually in the privacy of your own home, by trained experts from your local area.  You’ll meet someone who can really understand the things you may be facing alongside your debts, and who appreciates that debt can leave you feeling very alone.  If you choose to follow a recommended route out of debt CAP and the local team will support you every step of the way.

‘CAP are unsurpassed when it comes to the debt help they give people across the country.’ 
Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert

If you would like to know how CAP could help you please go to capuk.org/debthelp
or call 0800 328 0006.

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Due Thanks

September 2026

Dear Friends

What do you do before you eat?  Wash your hands and sit at the table?  Look at the food on your plate?  Open your mouth?  Yes, but what else?

What did the Lord Jesus do?  He said thank you: “Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples …”  Matthew 14:19 

It’s good to thank the person who cooked and served your meal.  And it’s good to thank God, because it’s all a gift from him.  God created through Jesus a world full of food, and then gave us the ability to plant and harvest, to husband and butcher, to prepare and cook.

What happens when you don’t thank mum or whoever cooks the food in your house? That’s not being fair to her; it says that we don’t appreciate her hard work.  And so it damages your relationship with her.

What happens when we don’t thank our Heavenly Father for our food?  We damage our relationship with Him as the generous provider of everything who deserves our thanks.  For, through Jesus, he sustains the universe from moment to moment and nothing would otherwise continue to exist.

Here’s a prayer (or ‘grace’) that you could pray before a meal:

Dear Father in Heaven,
Thank you that, through Jesus, you have given us this good food to eat.
Amen.

Maybe you live in a home where God is not thanked or you go to a school where prayers are not said.  You could ask someone, “Would it be OK if we thank God for this meal before we eat?”  And if it’s not OK you could thank your heavenly Father quietly without a fuss.

And if you’re the head of your household then I think it’s your responsibility to make sure that all those who ought to be thanked are thanked.  It’s never too late to put that right.

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Quintessentially

 July 2026

Dear Friends

What makes England England?  Evensong?  I doubt that was your first answer but maybe it would have appeared in a longer list of our nation’s valued features and traditions.

The English service of ‘Evening Prayer’ goes back to the 16^th Century and the Book of Common Prayer crafted by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer but based on earlier Latin services.  The service can be ‘said’ without music but in ‘Evensong’ the timeless words of the service and readings from the Bible are interspersed with psalms, canticles and hymns set to beautiful music.

In the hope that such services will once again be a regular and much-loved feature of our villages we are initially arranging two services of Evensong in the peaceful setting of St James Church Burton at 6pm on two summer evenings: Sunday 19^th July and Sunday 16^th August.

In ‘Choral Evensong’ virtually all the singing is by a choir while the congregation mostly listen.  But our services of ‘Sung Evensong’ will give more opportunity for you to join in with well-known hymns with the choir singing some pieces too.

So, this is a warm invitation to you to step away from your busy life for a while and come to our ‘Village Evensong’.  All ages are welcome, including children.  Come and sing, or come to listen.  The services will last around 45 minutes.  No need to book or pay.  No dress code.  There is a small amount of parking in the church car park at Burton for those who need it – just drive through the churchyard gates.  But if you can walk down from the village that will be helpful.

If you are interested in singing in the choir for either of these services please text or ring Ali Burrows on 07741 458587.  There will be two choir practices on Tuesday evenings for each service.

“Evensong’s long evolution brings with it a powerful sense of connecting present with past, of tapping into something much greater than ourselves.”

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Painful Truth

June 2026

Dear Friends

The side of my jaw is numb all the way to my ear and I’ve been warned not to chew on that side for two days.  Yes, I was at the dentist this morning having a filling replaced.  Why do we subject ourselves to such pain?  My mouth hadn’t been hurting at all, until the dentist got to work!  But of course I trusted the dentist’s judgment when she told me that there was some decay that needed to be treated, even though I was unaware of it.  Disease is a bad thing, but not knowing that you need treatment is more serious.  Even while I was suffering the pain of treatment I did find comfort in knowing that a skilled practitioner was doing me good.

Complaining sticklers (aka ‘Pharisees’) followed Jesus everywhere grumbling about what he was doing and saying.  They strongly objected to him eating at the home of a tax collector (notorious for cheating and for collecting taxes on behalf of the hated Roman invaders).  And they grumbled that the other dinner guests were ‘sinners’ who had openly flouted moral standards and laws.

But Jesus said that he hadn’t come to treat people who were well.  Doctors and dentists focus their efforts on those who are sick, and Jesus claimed to be a doctor for our souls with the power to treat our deepest disorders.  “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  (Mark 2:17)

Christian congregations are not places for people who are good and who want to shine up their gold stars.  They are for those who know they are sick and are willing to entrust themselves to the painful but effective treatment of Doctor Jesus. 

The Pharisees, of course, did not need such treatment.  They were good people, at least in their own eyes, ‘who never did anyone any harm’.  Maybe if they hadn’t been so quick to dismiss Jesus he would have been able to tell them about their undiagnosed disease and counsel them to come to him for a cure.

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

A Living Legacy

 

May 2026

Dear Friends

If you have sons or daughters then you probably hope to leave an inheritance for them.  Although we know that the love, discipline, guidance and support that we give our children is the best kind of inheritance we would still like to leave them good things and financial help.  But that can be hard to do:

Our car may be full of rust holes by the time they get it.  Our curtains are already faded and the chairs worn.  Changing tastes mean that they may not appreciate the crockery we were given for our wedding.  Inflation is shrinking the money we have in the bank.  And let’s not get started on inheritance tax!

If you’ve had the heart-breaking task of clearing out your parents’ house then you know that so many of the things that were at the heart of their home could have had no destination other than the skip.

Peter begins his first letter with great excitement over an inheritance that can never perish, fade or tarnish.  This inheritance springs directly from Jesus’ resurrection – God gave to his Son a resurrection body that is like ours yet magnificently no longer subject to disease, decay and death.  And He promised that all who turn away from senseless rebellion and turn to His Son will be guaranteed the same future and the same resurrection bodies.  And where does God keep such an inheritance?  Not in a leaky garage, a dusty loft, or in a depreciating currency but in the place that is beyond the reach of the curse that afflicts everything in our world, safe in heaven with Him.

From there, like a precious heirloom emerging from safe storage, the full and glorious inheritance of all Christ’s disciples will one day be revealed along with a renewed earth no longer subject to frustration.

Peter’s letter to the Christians across Asia Minor will be the focus of our Sunday services in May and June – why not join us?  We guarantee a warm welcome.  Come and hear about an inheritance like no other, that is for you and your family.

Sincerely

Graham Burrows

Shaken

April 2026

Dear Friends

Since December we now all know what an earthquake feels like (albeit a small one) and how worrying it is to think that your roof is falling in or your neighbour’s house has exploded. 

Most people are glad to get off boats and planes and get their “feet back on solid ground”.  But those who experience big earthquakes say that it is deeply unsettling when the ground is no longer solid and no place of safety remains.  So the shaking of the ground can stand as a symbol for any sudden, unexpected or overwhelming disruption to our lives or to the world.

There are two earthquakes recorded in the Gospels. 

The first happened at the same moment that Jesus, crying out in a loud voice from the cross, gave up his spirit and died.  “The earth shook and the rocks split”  Matthew 27:51.  We don’t need to believe that God ‘interfered’ in the normal movement of tectonic plates to produce an earthquake at just the right time – we just need to accept the Bible’s claim that no atom moves without God’s command, He “rules over all”  Psalm 103:19.  God shakes the world that rejects and crucifies his Son, giving notice that judgment is coming for the stubborn and unexpected rescue for the trusting.

The second earthquake happened 3 days later (according to their way of reckoning) at dawn on the first day of the week.  “There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.”  Matthew 28:2  What else but a violent shaking of solid ground could convey the enormity of what was happening, the splitting of history into BC and AD.  The reign of death that brings such misery to all was giving way to a new era in which all who trust in Christ are assured that they too will stand triumphant on the other side of death.

The three sad days are quickly sped;
he rises glorious from the dead.
All glory to our risen Head.
Hallelujah!

Sincerely

Graham Burrows