Thought and Prayer of the Day
by Father Geoff Lloyd
March 20, 2025
The Beginning of my Christian Journey
I was born into a secular family where any mention of a loving God and going to church was frowned upon. My Dad loved gardening, and he always told that was where he came closest to finding anything of a spiritual nature. Having said that, I went to a Methodist Direct Grant School called Truro School where I was exposed to Morning Services and RE lessons. But none of it had a personal effect on me.
It was not until I married my wife Jan that any form of worshipping God and having a personal relationship with Him started to formulate in my life. I started going to church because our 3-year-old daughter was nervous to go into Sunday School on her own and needed Dad as company and there was also an inquisitiveness on my part. Tess soon grew in confidence and so Dad was left to attend the Anglican Service. The sermons were interesting, the communion was moving and overall, it was a positive experience.
However, I was not driven into any sort of personal commitment even though I had been going to church regularly for nearly two years. But things changed for me when one of our neighbours who also went to church invited me to join a men’s group to listen to a Radio Kent Lent Course. The discussions we had, the contributions from the Radio Kent leaders and the depths we went to helped push me along my Christian Journey.
But then our secular life intervened. We moved to a new area in Kent called Biggin Hill and bought a house there. Our daughter settled into Primary School, Jan settled into the local hospital Outpatient’s Department, and I continued my police career. Although this was all positive stuff, we both found we were missing worship and our spiritual life.
Well, God certainly sorted that out by providing an excellent Anglican Vicar called Alan Morris for whom I shall ever be grateful for leading me along my first beginning proper of my journey. He persuaded me to become confirmed and challenged me and the other six members of the class. He had become a latecomer to Christianity, just like me, and was a very special influence. My baptism was on a beautiful spring evening in April in St Mark’s Church Biggin Hill and I will never forget it. Without Alan I would not be your priest today. It is wonderful the people God sends into our lives.
Prayer of the Penitent
Most merciful God, have mercy upon me, in your compassion forgive my sins, both known and unknown, things done and left undone. O God, uphold me by your Spirit that I may live and serve you in newness of life, to the honour and glory of your name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Food can be dropped off at the church parking lot between 1- 3 PM on the third Saturday of every month. We will have volunteers unloading your car and taking the food supplies into the Deacon’s Cupboard space at the church.
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