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St Giles’ morning service is at 11.00, normally Sung Eucharist, using the same adaptations of Common Worship as at St Margaret’s. Until recently there was also an 8.00 Holy Communion on alternate Sundays, using BCP with English Missal additions. There are no normal weekday services or Evensongs. At St Giles these are arranged for Feast Days, and during Advent or Lent; as well as evening Masses on Ash Wednesday, Ascension Day, Corpus Christi and St Giles Day. Stations of the Cross are followed during Lent; and a full range of observance takes place in Holy Week. There is a small, but lively, children’s group serving both churches: this meets on third Sundays at South Mymms Village Hall, and on first Sundays the St Giles Eucharist is a Family Service, using an abbreviated form of the adaptation of Common Worship.
All occasional offices are offered (baptism, confirmation, weddings, funerals), offering opportunities for outreach. On average there are 12-15 funerals a year, 6-8 weddings and 8-10 baptisms between the two parishes. Recently small house groups have been started at St Giles, though not widely attended. Children at St Giles School are prepared for confirmation in their final year, and adult confirmation classes take place according to need (i.e. most, but not all years). Confirmation classes attract about 10 children and a few adults each year.
In addition to the range of Special Services common to many churches (Christingle, Harvest, Mothering Sunday, Remembrance Sunday, Patronal Festival), St Giles has a unique dole service, the Bread Service on Christmas Eve. This is probably one of the best attended services of the year, attracting most residents of both villages, and being very popular with children and their families. Both churches also offer Carol Services at Christmas, and share in the Black Horse Sermon on Good Friday evening.
St Giles maintains a High Anglican liturgy (vestments, incense, candles) and St Margaret’s a more restrained tradition, broadly in the middle of the Anglican spectrum (surplice and stole for Holy Communion, scarf and hood for Matins). This variety is what attracts people to either church from wherever they live. Indeed a few churchgoers will alternate between the two to suit their particular spiritual needs at different times. Consequently the Benefice as a whole can offer a wide range of practice to the community at large. It should be stressed that, while St Giles maintains the Anglo-Catholic tradition, this is practiced in such a way as to be inclusive, and relatively informal, adapted to the needs of those who attend on each occasion. Similarly at St Margaret’s the variety afforded by the use on a broadly alternating basis of both Common Worship and the Book of Common Prayer is valued by those who attend.
Pastoral opportunities have been noted above. To recap, St Giles School is a major source of contact with the wider village community. The links with the School afford the Priest in Charge an important opportunity for ministry. Applications for weddings from persons living outside the parishes are looked on favourably, providing that the couple concerned is prepared to fulfill the six months “habitual attendance” requirement. This provides a major opportunity for outreach, and for rejuvenating the life of the congregations. The same applies to baptisms and funerals, and weddings for those living within each parish. A further pastoral opportunity remains to be explored further, namely connections with those who work, but do not live, in the villages, whether at the two research centres, or at the services and associated businesses.
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