News
CARNIVAL 2025
The Carnival Committee is now in the process of distributing the monies raised this year - their proposal having been agreed by the PCC in October. A total of £12,000 having been raised, the St Mary's Fabric Fund will benefit by £6000 whilst £3000 will be paid to College Lake Nature Reserve at Tring (The Bucks,Berks & Oxon Wildlife Trust) the principal charity for this year. The remaining £3000 was then divided between a total of 17 local organisations, charities, schools and parish councils.
All that remains is to thank everyone once again for all your support. Chris Banks
MACMILLAN COFFEE MORNING
Sheila Banks, on behalf of Macmillan Cancer Support would like to thank everyone who supported the coffee morning on 26th Sept 2025 in any way. It was a tremendous success and all donations of cakes, savouries, raffle prizes and money were much appreciated. A grand total of £1,050 cash and £65 in card payments was raised. Thanks also to all the willing helpers.
Talking Point - Artificial Intelligence
The North Chilterns group presented ‘Talking Point’ on the subject of Artificial Intelligence on 22nd October at St Mary’s Eaton Bray.
We were expertly guided by our speaker, the Revd Canon Dr Tim Bull. Tim is currently an Anglican Priest serving at St Albans Cathedral and as the diocesan director of ordinands for the diocese of St Albans. He has previously been a member of the Lee Abbey Community in Devon, and a vicar for 10 years in the Chelmsford diocese.
Prior to ordination, Tim gained a PhD from Durham University in software engineering. He worked as a chartered software engineer, and a university lecturer in computer science. Tim is a member of the Society of Ordained Scientists and a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. His interests include faith responses to fake news and disinformation, and the interface between theology and Artificial Intelligence – a topic on which he has spoken widely. He is a founder member of the AI Christian Partnership.
There was a great turnout from the North Chilterns churches, with an interested, engaged, and concerned audience.
Tim took us through the following headings:
AI as invention
We traced the development of AI from computer games to Large Language Models, and the explosion onto the scene of Chat GPT in 2022. It’s only been readily available to the public for a brief three years yet it’s almost impossible to avoid now.
AI as a tool
When is it acceptable and not acceptable to use AI, and who should set the rules? Will it destroy jobs and are they the jobs you might expect? How can AI be used in ministry? And how much transparency should there be around this?
AI as a liability
AI is prone to “hallucinations” – making things up. It is very easy to be taken in by the plausible, and “almost true”. And what now is truth as we live in the postmodern world?
Truth matters.
AI as oppressor
Parts of the developing world are exploited as the rare earth elements needed for the technology are mined. Tech infrastructures are inadequate in the developing work and thus AI is largely only available to richer areas, and of limited use elsewhere.
Exploitative employment practices mean, for example, Kenyan workers being paid $2 an hour to view and filter out traumatic material.
AI as scapegoat
It is convenient to blame AI for things going wrong, when the issues are actually with the actions of people and society, not technology.
AI as a person
Will robots ever be like people? Can they exhibit complex emotion, ambiguity and imagination, spirituality, care and empathy? Computer hardware is a binary system – the human brain is not.
AI as idol
Where do we put our faith – in God or the internet? Salvation is through God alone, not technology
AI as illusion
AI is fundamentally a guessing machine, not actually intelligent.
There was time for questions and discussion and Tim concluded his talk with 7 points.
1. God made us ingenious co-creators
2. Use AI ethically as an amazing tool
3. Be wise to know truth from falsehood
4. Justice comes through people and society
5. Live as someone made in God’s image.
6. Don’t expect tech to fix every problem
7. As the deep questions that matter most
For more information see the AI Christian Partnership - https://aichristian.org/
New Safeguarding Officer
We welcome Elisabeth Jones as the new Parish Safeguarding Officer. Elisabeth has been associated with St Mary’s in various capacities for many years. She currently serves on the PCC and is instrumental in organising and serving the delicious coffee and croissants for café church
Elisabeth’s contact information, along with other relevant safeguarding information is posted in both porches. There is also a pink safeguarding binder in the book swap area at the back of the church should you require further safeguarding information.
We are very grateful for all the work carried out by Gaye Soule, the previous Parish Safeguarding Officer to ensure that St Mary’s is compliant with diocesan procedures.