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Benefice of Langelei Newsleer October —December 2015 Benefice Mission: “Our Vision is of a community where Christ has been brought to the community and the community has been brought to Christ. Our Mission as churches in this benefice area is to maintain sacred spaces, and be flexible, interac ve and collabora ve with the use of resources” Hello and welcome to our Benefice Newsletter. and welcome to our Benefice Newsletter.

A message from David, the Team Rector In 2010, the clergy team gave me a gift to mark 10 years of ministry in Hemel Hempstead. The gift was a year’s subscription as a Friend of the Royal Academy in London. I suspect the idea of the gift came from Lauretta Wilson who knew I had an interest in art and of course she has a very particular interest in and passion for the relationship between art and theology. I have continued to renew the subscription and much enjoy going to exhibitions and also the many other perks that are offered to Friends.

Rev Canon David Lawson

Lauretta has over the years shared her love of art as a means of exploring the Christian faith with the clergy in our staff meetings as well as with the congregations of St Benedict’s and St Mary’s. So often we seek to nurture our congregations using courses that use a lot of words and that is not necessarily how many people learn and grow in their faith. Using the visual can appeal to people at a different level and can be a much more enjoyable and effective means of growing in our understanding of the faith. One of the wonderful experiences of pondering over a painting or a work of art is how each person sees something different and that helps to make our appreciation of what is before us much richer and fuller. Recently I shared with the Thursday morning study group at St Mary’s a reproduction of a 19th century painting by a French artist by the name of Jean-Francois Millet. The painting is entitled ‘The Angelus’ and depicts a man and a woman in the middle of a field pausing from their work in reverence as The Angelus bells is tolling in a distant church. The painting appears below and I invite you to have a look at it and allow it to speak to you. It was not painted as a religious painting specifically but rather to capture something of rural life which Millet had known since his childhood. The painting was inspired by Millet remembering how his grandmother would stop working in the fields to recite The Angelus, the prayer commemorating the Annunciation to Mary by the angel Gabriel. In the painting he captured a momentary respite from the agricultural life and work of peasant farmers. One message we might draw from this painting is to encourage us to make some time during each day to stop and acknowledge God, a simple prayer we can recite silently or aloud, which reminds us of God’s continuing presence with us at all times. Just to add it was Lauretta who first introduced this painting to us at a staff meeting. Thank you Lauretta for broadening our horizons in the exploration of faith through the medium of art!





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All Saints Church, Kings Langley The Revd. Canon David Lawson - Team Rector 01923 291077 david@beneficeoflangelei.org.uk The Revd. John Quill - Assistant Priest john@beneficeoflangelei.org.uk All Saints' Church Church Lane, Kings Langley,WD4 8JS Benefice Office: 01923 266596

Holy Trinity, Leverstock Green The Revd Lizzie Hood Team Vicar at Holy Trinity 01442 264860 lizzie@beneficeoflangelei.org.uk The Revd. Hitesh Dodhia 07546 033740 hitesh@beneficeoflangelei.org.uk Holy Trinity Church Bedmond Road, Hemel Hempstead, HP3 8LJ 01442 264860

St Mary’s Apsley The Revd. Canon David Lawson - Team Rector 01923 291077 david@beneficeoflangelei.org.uk St. Mary's Church London Road, Hemel Hempstead, HP3 9ST

St. Benedict’s, Benne%s End The Revd. Laure.a Wilson Team Vicar at St. Benedict's 01442 243934 laure