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Lent Course 2026

A course about real life and real faith, inspired by the BBC TV series Broken with Sean Bean. Devised and written by Bryony Taylor, Rebecca Tobin and David Twomey.
Each session will last around 90 minutes, and will include reflective prayer activities, bible reading and an opportunity for discussion and questions.

The aim of the course is to help us engage with the realities of life, and how they can be framed by faith in Jesus Christ. As Leonard Cohen said: ´there’s a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in’.

The themes for the 6 weeks are:

• Beauty in the ordinary
• Loving the unlovable
• Guilt and shame
• Impossible situations
• The power of Holy Communion
• Is the Church still relevant and needed today?

Dates: 19th 26th Feb, 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th March.
Each session is stand-alone, so you don’t have to come to every one.
For more information contact Mtr. Fiona +34 623 39 24 99

Mtr Fiona’s December 2025 Newsletter

Chaplain's newsletter December 2025

inter group quiz nights 2025(1)

Sermon John 10. 1-10 – 26/04/26 Remembering the Tenerife air disaster

There is something arresting in the way Jesus speaks in today’s Gospel, because just when we might expect him to say, “I am the shepherd,” he says first, “I am the gate.” It is not the image many of us would choose. We might prefer something more poetic, more obviously comforting, more immediately familiar. Yet this picture is chosen with care, and perhaps because it says something we especially need to hear.

A gate can sound, at first hearing, like a barrier; gates keep people out; they mark boundaries; gates can be locked. We live in a world where so many gates feel closed to us: opportunities denied, relationships broken, futures altered, doors that once seemed open now firmly shut. So when Jesus says, “I am the gate,” it would be easy to imagine him as someone standing in the way.

But that is not how this Gospel uses the image at all. In the world Jesus knew, the gate of the sheepfold was not there to frustrate life but to protect it. It made rest possible; it what kept danger from overwhelming the vulnerable; it allowed those inside to be safe enough to sleep. And then, after the night was over, it became the place through which the sheep passed out into open pasture.

That is why Jesus says, “Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” There’s a generosity in that language. He does not describe imprisonment but movement; not confinement but freedom; not fear but nourishment. In and out. Rest and adventure. Shelter and openness. Security and growth held together.

So when Jesus says, “I am the gate,” he is not presenting himself as an obstacle between humanity and God. He is telling us that in him we find the way into the life for which we were made. He is the open gate through which grace enters our lives, and through which we are led into deeper trust, wider hope, and truer freedom.

There are, of course, many other gates offered to us. There is the gate of success, which promises that if we achieve enough we shall finally feel complete. There is the gate of possessions, which whispers that one more purchase, one more upgrade, one more layer of comfort will satisfy the heart. There is the gate of resentment, where we nurse old injuries and imagine bitterness will somehow protect us. There is the gate of self-sufficiency, where we pretend we need no one and nothing. We walk through such gates expecting life and often discover only smaller rooms.

Christ’s gate is different. It opens not into a cramped enclosure but into abundance.

And that word abundance is also worth pausing over for a moment, because it too can be misunderstood. Jesus says, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” This doesn’t mean a life free from pain, because Jesus himself suffers. It doesn’t mean a life untouched by grief, because Jesus himself weeps. It doesn’t mean constant ease, because the saints of every generation would quickly tell us otherwise.

Abundant life is something richer and deeper than comfort. It is life that is truly alive. It is the capacity to love and be loved., for example. It is the ability to receive joy gratefully without trying to hold onto it too tightly. It is courage in difficulty, peace in uncertainty, meaning in service, beauty in ordinary things, hope that survives disappointment, and the steady knowledge that beneath all the changes and chances of this world, we are held in the love of God.

Abundant life can be found in laughter around a table, in friendship that has lasted decades, in prayer whispered through tears, in forgiveness long delayed but finally given, in generosity that expects no applause, in the quiet strength to keep going when life has become heavy going. It is eternal life already beginning among us, even now.

That matters especially when we gather, as we do today, remembering those who lost their lives in the Tenerife air disaster, and holding in prayer those who still carry that loss. Events such as that remain painful not only because of the scale of tragedy, but because of the suddenness of it. People set out on an ordinary journey, with plans and expectations, doubtless with excitement for what lay ahead. In an instant, everything changed.

Such losses remind us that life is precious and fragile, and that much of what matters most can never be controlled. They also remind us that grief does not disappear simply because years have passed. Love has a long memory. The calendar may move on, but the heart keeps its own time.

So today we do not remember those who died merely as victims of a disaster, nor as names attached to an event in history, but as beloved people whose lives contained laughter, character, relationships, hopes, habits, stories, and all the ordinary details that make a human life unique. No one is reduced, in the sight of God, to the worst moment that happened to them. God knows the whole story, and God holds the whole person.

And for those who mourn, perhaps still in ways others cannot fully see, the Gospel offers this quiet comfort: there is no tragedy that can close the gate of Christ’s mercy. Human confusion may close earthly futures. Accidents may shatter plans. Death itself may seem like the final locked door. Yet the risen Christ stands where every road appears to end and says, even there, “I am the gate.” Even there, there is passage into life. Even there, love is not defeated.

That is the hope Christians dare to hold onto. Not that sorrow is unreal, nor that loss is small, nor that easy answers can be found, but that nothing, not even death, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And because that is true, the Gospel is also an invitation to the living. If life is fragile, then let us not postpone abundance. Let us not delay kindness until a more convenient season. Let us not hoard affection as though it gains interest in storage. Let us not wait endlessly to say thank you, I am sorry, I forgive you, I love you. Let us not assume there will always be another chance to notice beauty, to share joy, to mend what is frayed, to turn again towards God. The gate stands open now.

Christ comes among us not merely to help us endure life, but to awaken us to it. He leads us from fear into trust, from narrowness into spaciousness, from isolation into communion, from despair into hope. He gives life abundant, not someday only, but here, within the texture of our ordinary days.

So today, as we remember with affection, pray with compassion, and give thanks for lives loved and not forgotten, may we also hear the voice of Christ calling us forward. The gate is open. The pasture is wide. The love of God is larger than we imagined. And the life Christ gives is stronger than death itself.

Mtr Fiona Jack
Chaplain

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Please click this link to read previous sermons: https://allsaintstenerife.org/all-saints-midweek-letters/

IMPORTANT NOTICE/ AVISO IMPORTANTE/ WICHTIGER HINWIES

All enquiries regarding the Boot Sale should be made either by WhatsApp on 615 222 311 or by email on bootsale@allsaintstenerife.org
Thank you

Todas las consultas sobre la Boot Sale deben hacerse por WhatsApp al 615 222 311 o por correo electronico a bootsale@allsaintstenerife.org
Gracias

Alle Anfragen dezuglich der Boot Sale entweder per WhatsApp unter 615 222 311 oder per E-Mail an bootsale@allsaintstenerife.org gestelt werden
Danke

A5 DATES FOR CAR BOOTS

Dear Friends,

With the awful news of the volcanic eruption on La Palma, please can I ask for your prayers for all on the island and everyone who is being affected by this disaster. Many will know that our Chaplaincy has strong links with La Palma and that I take a service there once a month. Please remember Alan and the congregation, praying for their safety and for everyone on the Island.

With Blessings
Fr Ron Corne.

This year’s Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal raised €491.17. Due to the pandemic only 10 poppy tins were distributed which included 2 used by All Saints.

Many thanks to both campuses of the British School of Tenerife, Los Realejos and La Luz, who between them raised over 50% of the total. Breakdown as follows:
British School of Tenerife – Los Realejos campus €57.68
British School of Tenerife – La Luz campus. €198.49
All Saints Church raised €138.12

On top of the above monies will be added the proceeds of the collection from Remembrance Sunday, totaling €233.70, making a grand total of €724.87. Thanks to ALL who contributed!

Wendy Sanderson
Churchwarden

On 6th August, the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, Fr Ron Corne was licensed as Chaplain of All Saints, North Tenerife.  The Celebrant and Preacher was the Venerable David Waller, Archdeacon of Gibraltar.

Click here to see a photo album of the occasion

Thanks to our Assistant Priest, the Revd Rachel Ganney, and Paul Ganney for their work in recording the service.  Also, thanks to all those who made the occasion so special with arrangements in the church, and for the lunch afterwards.

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THIS COMING SUNDAY, we will remember the 138 passengers and 8 crew members who lost their lives in the Dan Air 1008 accident from Manchester to Los Rodeos (TFN) on the afternoon of April 25, 1980. The plane fell about 20 kilometers from the Los Rodeos airport, crashed against the El Diablillo mountain in the municipality of El Rosario. At All Saints’ we have a rose garden to commemorate each victim. We will never forget the families of the victims and the 146 men, women and children who lost their lives on that tragic day.

The anniversary of the disaster is marked each year at the Sunday service nearest to the date as the congregation gather in the garden to remember those who died that day.  This would have been this coming Sunday, however our Chaplain will remember the victims in his reflections.  Fr Ron has written a reflection about the Rose Garden which you can read here.

As well as our memorial garden here at All Saints’, there is a memorial in the Southern Cemetery, Manchester commemorating the victims of the disaster, whose names are inscribed on a series of slate tablets within a small grassed enclosure.

ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH holds a number of social activities throughout the year. To keep up to date with all that’s going on at the church please bookmark this page and pay us a regular visit.

Each month between October and May, the church hosts a quiz for teams of six from the various British groups active in and around Puerto de la Cruz.

Among those taking part on a regular basis are: The Church, The English Library, the British Games Club, ESTA (the amateur dramatics group). and the Friends of Tenerife. Each of the competing teams takes a turns at compiling the questions.

The quizzes are open to everyone but only the regular teams are able to compete for the monthly trophy.

They start at 6pm, with the aim of finishing around 8.30pm.

Admission is €2 per head and a full bar service is available. Monies raised go to a charity chosen by the group who organised the quiz. Players generally take along their own food for the evening, to consume during the interval.

Quiz Dates for 2024/2025, with the organising group in brackets: