Life events at St Mary’s
Baptism & thanksgiving
Baptism (sometimes known as Christening) is a service in which people acknowledge that they belong to God and commit to follow Him as part of His Church. At the baptism of a child parents promise to raise their child to know that God loves them and make the decision to help them follow Jesus as members of the church. Adults and some older children will make promises to follow Jesus on their own behalf.
Baptism is available for children or adults who regularly attend St Mary’s or who live within the parish, provided they have not been baptised before. Usually a baptism takes place as part of Sunday morning service.
If you would like to consider baptism for yourself or your child, please come to St Mary’s for a Sunday service and speak to one of the clergy.
For those who are uncomfortable with baptism for their child, or do not feel that they can make the promises required of them, a Thanksgiving may be more suitable. In a service of Thanksgiving, the family and friends of a child come together to give thanks for God’s gift of that child and to commit the child to God’s care and blessing.
If you choose to have a Thanksgiving service, it is still possible to have a Baptism service for your child at a later date.
Weddings
A church wedding is an opportunity for a couple to make their commitment to one another before God, and to seek God’s blessing on their married life together. If you would like to get married at St Mary’s, please contact us or come to a Sunday morning service and speak to one of the clergy.
Church of England weddings are governed by law, and there are certain restrictions on who can be married at St Mary’s. At least one of the couple must be one of the following:
A regular member of St Mary’s church
Live within the parish (check here if you live within the parish)
Have a close family connection to St Mary’s
We strongly encourage couples getting married at St Mary’s to do a course of marriage preparation with us. Marriage preparation creates a space for couples to have conversations about aspects of married life that they may not have thought about.
The legal preliminaries of a church wedding can take some time, particularly if one of the couple is not a British citizen. Please do get in touch with us in plenty of time before your desired date to ensure that there is time. Please ensure that the date of your church wedding is arranged with the church before booking other venues for receptions.
For more information about church weddings, see here.
Funerals
A Christian funeral service is an opportunity for us to commend our loved one into the hands of God, trusting in His love and His promises of eternal life, and seeking His comfort in our grief. It is a privilege for St Mary’s to be able to help bereaved families by conducting funerals. We can help families in the choice of hymns, readings and other aspects of the service that would be most fitting for your loved one.
If you are recently bereaved and would like a Christian funeral for your loved one either in St Mary’s church or in a crematorium, please contact us or tell your funeral director. If you are planning your own funeral and would like it to be held at St Mary’s or conducted by one of our clergy at the crematorium, please contact us and inform your funeral plan provider.
It is no longer possible for burials to take place in the St Mary’s churchyard, but it is possible to arrange for ashes to be buried in the Garden of Remembrance. If you would like to discuss this, or would simply like to speak to one of our clergy, please contact us.