Our main Sunday morning service is at 10 am and lasts just over an hour. Sometimes we will have to rush off after the service—for lunch, or to meet visitors, but for most of us, most weeks, the time spent chatting and socialising after church is as important as the service itself.

This is, of course, just as it should be. Going to church is, at its most basic, a social activity. We come together to give thanks to God for all the good things in life. Chief amongst God’s good gifts are other people, so it should be no surprise when we want to spend time with the other people in church with us.

After both morning and evening Sunday services we have coffee and biscuits or cake. But on special occasions we have all different sorts of receptions in church as we celebrate together.

When we have a baptism the families of those being baptised quite often sponsor a reception after the service. On special Sundays and festivals we have receptions with fizz and home-made hors d’oeuvres. And of course there is always plenty of mulled wine, mince pies and panettone at Christmas.

Our newest tradition is flaming Drambuies at Pentecost—when we celebrate the Holy Spirit descending on the apostles’ heads in tongues of fire! In the summer, when the Vicar and the weather are feeling suitably sunny we all go over for Buck’s Fizz and sparkling wine on the vicarage terrace.

Our main Sunday service is always a Eucharist—when we celebrate Jesus’ presence amongst us. The main focus of the service is when we share together in a meal of bread and wine, as Jesus did with his friends. At St John’s we think it’s important to remember how important this sharing of hospitality is. That’s partly because it’s good fun, but also because it’s how we grow in love for one another as well as how we show God’s love in the world.

That’s why it’s just as it should be that at St John’s chatting over coffee, having a laugh and getting to know one another better often goes on as long as the service that comes before it!