A living faith, A warm welcome
It's not just about keeping an old building going in the face of adversity. The Parish of St. Thomas the Apostle is a thriving, living focus of community life within Elson and Hardway. Here, a warm welcome awaits you if you join us and share in God's Holy Sacraments and the Good News that he promises to each and every one of us.
The Parish Church has been a visible witness to the love of Christ since 1846, and as Gosport has grown up around and enveloped the small village of Elson, so the parish and its people have adapted and continued to proclaim the Kingdom of God with vigour and with friendly love.
Come and join us in worship and in fellowship and see what the love of Christ can do for you. Be fed at his Holy Table and enriched by his Holy Word, and discover the difference that the living faith can make to you. Whether you are nine, twenty-nine or ninety, St Thomas the Apostle welcomes you and can find a sacred space for you to encounter God.
Our life is lived through the sacramental worship of God; through the mass celebrated during the week and on Sundays, through the daily work of worship in the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer and through encounters with God in alternative and meditative worship. hatever your preference, St Thomas can offer a worship experience for you.
Your parish priest is Fr. Simon Rundell, and he, along with all the people of this parish welcome you to come and join us, enjoy our fellowship and hospitality and share in our joyous worship.
Come and See
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Scripture for the Day
Scripture for the Day
“Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.”
Psalm 95:1-2
Saint of the Day
Saint of the Day
Saint Berward
(also known as Berward;Bernward of Hildesheim)
Commemorated on 20 November
Member of a noble Saxon family.Grandson of Athelbero, Count Palatine of Saxony. Orphaned at an early ageRaised by his uncle Volkmar, bishop of Utrecht, and educated at the cathedral school at Heidelberg and at Mainz. Ordained at Mainz.Imperial chaplain and tutor to the future Emperor Otto III beginning in 987. Bishop of Hildesheim from 993 till 1020.Encouraged the arts; commissioned religious paintings and sculpture, refurbished existing buildings, built new ones (thus his patronage of the builder s arts), and made altar vessels of gold and silver by hand, and dabbled in architecture and ornamental ironwork.His rule was marked with peace, and around 1020 he retired to a Benedictine monastary to spend his remaining days in prayer.
Born: c. 960 at Utrecht, Netherlands Died: 20 November 1022 Canonised: 1193 by Pope Celestine III
Prayer for the Day
Prayer for the Day
Going to university or college
Heavenly Father, we pray for those who are about to enter upon a new life as students at university or college.
Teach them to use their greater freedom as good stewards of time and opportunity.
Bless them in their studies, sanctify their leisure, and enrich them with true friendships.
May your love in Christ be the inspiration of all they do, so that their life of service in after years may be for your honour and glory.
