Hi all,It’s been quite a week! This week has taught me, even though I felt I knew this before, that Covid is very much still around. After testing positive last Thursday, I am glad to say that today I finally feel like I’ve turned a corner and starting to feel much better. I so appreciate all who were in touch to wish me well, it did mean a lot. I also appreciate your patience as we have had to make last-minute decisions with gatherings and meetings, but we hope and trust you understand the tricky circumstances. As Becky also has covid so please keep her in your prayers.It also feels great to be sitting outside and writing this message, I hope you have also had time to enjoy the lovely sunny and warm weather this week.We continue with our Lenten pilgrimage and as I listened to Lectio 365 (a brilliant prayer app) last Sunday as I couldn’t join you, I was reminded it was just 4 weeks to Easter Sunday. I wonder if it is a good time to take stock and see how you have found this Lent journey?Do you feel eager and ready for Easter Day? Eager to focus on the risen and triumphant Jesus?Or are you still needing the space to focus on the stripped-back nature of Lent?How have you found the Lent groups? As I have met with the Young People it has been amazing to have deeper conversations about decisions and choices and to hear their opinions. I do pray this has been the same for you.If you gave something up for Lent, how is it going? I have found staying off social media whilst I have been ill very hard- I won’t lie!However you are finding Lent, I do pray it has been an opportunity to turn to and lean on God.We continue this week with our worship and Lent pattern. Rev Simon Taylor will be leading a said Eucharist Service at the 8.30 am, I will be presiding at our All- Together Communion at the 10.30 am and I am pleased to say Chris Dursley will be sharing a reflection from Scripture. Please note that I have decided to postpone the 4th at 4 this month, we will meet back in April.During the week there are also other opportunities to gather and connect with each other and God. I am pleased to say that on Monday 28th we are gathering again for Contemplative Community. We have slightly adapted the format in that we havegiven space for a chance to chat and share with each other before we pray. Join us at 7 pm for half an hour of conversation and at 7.30-8.15 pm we will have Contemplative Prayers. Please do feel free just to join at 7.30 pm for prayers if you feel comfortable doing so. This is a space to come and sit in God’s presence, focusing on silence and contemplation as you are led through simple liturgy and prayers. There will also be a creative instillation to look at and focus your prayers if you wish.Lent groups continue this week on Monday evening at Paul and Becky Wearne’s house, Tuesday evening for young people and Wednesday Morning at church. We pray that these have been another space for you during your Lenten journey. Please also check out the Lent booklet on the emails to follow along with the material.Hope to connect with you on Sunday or over the coming week With prayers,Laura
Dearest friendsAs I write this, the sun is beautifully bright and it feels warm ... as I look out on my back garden, the rhyme "Spring is sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where my garden is" feels very appropriate!There are so many signs of spring, hope, light and beauty around us. If you walk along the path next to the church hall, you will see a wonderful Spring garden has been developed, and even in those places that just a couple of weeks ago may have looked a bit forlorn, the determination of the Spring bulbs has resulted in pockets of colour and fragrance.I don't know about you but I need this reminder of hope breaking through. The outpouring of love and generosity towards those seeking safe haven from the Ukraine feels like a sign of God at work through his people, which couldn't contrast more with the violence and destruction reigning over the country of Ukraine. Many people are asking what they can do to help. Various pieces of advice are coming in from the national church, and from our own Bishop Viv, and we will aim to send the latest information out in Monday's email. There is the "heart" response, of course, but this needs to be tempered with the head, "wise" response of what is the best and most appropriate each of us can offer. Our Gospel passage this week reminds us that we are not helpless, so I hope you will join me in continuing to pray about how to respond, as well as the ceaseless praying for Jesus, Prince of Peace, to be known.I also need to be reminded of hope when numbers of those infected with Covid remain high. It is almost more unusual now to hear of people who don't know someone with the virus. I'm thankful that hospital admissions remain low, but that doesn't diminish the impact for those who are experiencing anything from exhaustion and flu like symptoms, to a slight cold, to being symptom free but inconvenienced by having to self isolate. It is not easy.As a church we have not escaped the impact this weekend, which means our 10.30am service is not a Eucharist this week, and instead will be a service of Morning Prayer with hymns led by Chris Dursley and Steve Purnell. I'm so thankful that they have been able to step in at short notice, and I hope that you will support them in what is likely to be a beautiful service. For those who would like to receive communion, we will have our usual 8.30am traditional Eucharist service.So I continue to pray for you all, as well as the 7500 souls that live, work and rest in this wonderful parish. I pray each of us can reflect something of God's light, love, and hope, in the coming days.With every blessing Becky
For anyone who would like Holy Communion, you are all welcome to our 8.30am service, and at 10.30am we will have Morning Prayer with hymns. We look forward to seeing you there.<br>
Dear friendsAs another week draws to a close, and another weekend arrives, with it's promise of gathering together to worship on Sunday morning, I wonder how you are feeling about the circumstances we are living in? Close to home, covid cases continue to rise, and only a short distance away, war continues in the Ukraine. It can feel overwhelming, and I have to confess to limiting my tuning into the news coverage. We might also feel helpless in our ability to respond, either because we don't feel there is anything we can, or because our capacity to respond, alongside all the other things going on in the world, in our country, even in our own lives or those of our friends and family, feels limited.The initial invitation to respond by donating to the DEC humanitarian appeal last week resulted in almost £300 cash donations through church services and other sources, and I know some of you have made your own donations online. Thank you. Our contribution to the fund that is helping those who most need it, on the ground, can make a difference.Our ability to pray is also a mighty weapon, for peace keeping and peace makers, for limitless compassion, for resilience and capacity for those who can help practically. But as we acknowledged in Morning Prayer this morning, sometimes there are no words, and our pray is simply a sigh - please God, be God. And of course, as we pray, prayer changes us. For if we pray that God will reveal to us the world as He sees it, and people as He sees them, even for the revelation of what our prayer should be, we may discover there is something we can do, in the way we live our lives, in the way we speak to and about others, in the way we seek solace or company ... and for us as a Church, as a way to be the Parish church for the 7500 souls that live in our parish. How can we reflect the light and love of Jesus, Prince of Peace?There will be the opportunity to find space to pray on Monday in church, from 4pm until 8.15pm. With different areas in the church with prayer pointers, or even simple activities that may help you engage with prayer, or the solemnity and stillness of praying in the Lady Chapel, there is something for all ages and all preferences available to support you in the way you pray. For those who enjoy praying corporately, or who may have specific prayer needs that they will to talk about, there will be a prayerful conversation between 7 and 7.30pm, before a space to gather for contemplative prayer from 7.30 - 8.15pm. Even if you simply would like to come and light a candle, please come. This is God's church, and your parish church, and it is a sacred space in which people have prayed for many many years. Why not come along and join your prayers with theirs?As we look forward to gathering on Sunday morning, just a reminder that we have a traditional said Holy Communion service at 8.30am, and Cafe Church at 10.30am: the informal space for talking around tables, as Jesus often did. Cafe church includes breakfast pastries, worship and prayer. This really is suitable for all agesand all faith perspectives, and is a space for the 'praying', 'learning' and 'growing' characteristics I have spoken of in recent weeks.Finally, we met as a PCC on Wednesday evening and reviewed our Covid protocols. The PCC have decided that our 8.30am Communion service should remain a space where mask wearing and social distancing remains the expectation, for the time being. At 10.30am, mask wearing is optional for all services, including when singing, and there is an opportunity to use notices on seats either side of you if you would prefer to maintain a social distance.It is hoped that in having one service every week where protocols remain in place, those who are either more vulnerable, immuno-compromised, or have a preference to be in a gathering where everyone will be wearing a mask, will feel their needs are met.I continue to hold you in my daily prayers With every blessingBecky
