It is good to welcome you to this website of the dynamic and vibrant community that worships in the two parish churches here in Moseley - St Anne’s and St Mary’s. We are an open and inclusive, wide-ranging group of people of Christian faith and those exploring faith, who meet together to worship God and encourage one another. The Eucharist is central to our worship and through it we receive empowerment to share God’s love to the people in the village and beyond. Our congregations regularly contain multiple generations worshipping together and in both churches you will receive a warm welcome, experience the opportunity to worship God, to learn about faith in creative ways and to be challenged and encouraged to make new friends. We always need people to help but its also fine to ‘just be’! Some of St Mary’s services are live-streamed. Please see our weekly bulletin for details of how to access these if you are not able to join us in person. With a range of ‘services’ there is something on offer for most people – please have a look. We offer Breakfast Church, as well as worship in traditional, contemporary, Celtic and Taizé traditions - something for most people.

“He is not here – he is risen just as he said”.  Matthew’s gospel tells us the women coming to Jesus’ tomb were greeted by an angel whose appearance was “like lightning and his clothes were white as snow”.  The message from the angel was not to be afraid, but for the woman to tell the disciples that Jesus has risen from the dead.  What should have been a mundane trip to the tomb to embalm a dead body became something that would change the world as we know it. 

Because of the boldness and responsiveness of those women, the Easter message has spread across the world.  It’s worth remembering that in the culture of the Middle East, women were second-class and their word would have been considered untrustworthy.  But the apostle Paul radically wrote to the church in Galatia that “there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”.  In Christ all have value and purpose.  Now we can live in freedom with one another, as brothers and sisters in God’s family.

We’re exploring this a little more over the summer as we consider what it really means to be inclusive.  We’ve signed up to be part of a national network of churches who want to do this and will be organising some special services as part of our series on inclusion.  We’re starting with a service on Inclusive Church Sunday on May 25^th at St Mary’s at 10am to which you are warmly invited.  More details are on our website.

Understanding inclusion is also something we are currently exploring through our 2025 Parish Motto.  Ephesians 4:2 tells us to “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love”.  This motto is part of our Christian expression of discipleship, and we hope that everyone who worships with us, and meets us will feel the love of God expressed in our communities to all.

With warm best wishes,    

Revd Angela Hannafin, Vicar of Moseley Parish (St Mary’s and St Anne’s churches)