Rector’s Message<div>The comedian and panto star, Julian Clary was asked what he would include as an 8th deadly sin. He replies; ‘Bureaucracy’. I think if I was asked the same question, I would answer, ‘Complacency, -’ taking things for granted.<div></div><div>We the Covid generation recognise together in a new way the preciousness of life. As Christians, we have sometimes perhaps read casually some of the parables of Jesus about the urgency to seek God, live lives of thanksgiving and build our lives on rock not sand. We have to be reawakened to the truth of Jesus’ teaching and the reality of God’s love. At Hatton church in recent weeks the church has been open each Saturday for private prayer between 9.30 and 10.30. It is totally inspiring to me to be alongside others whose thirst for God remains unquenched and whose trust in God is undiminished. Paradoxically the Church today is mirroring something that can be found throughout the pages of Church history A page was turned last Saturday as we marked the 80th anniversary of the destruction of Coventry and its cathedral, which took place on 14th November 1940 .The morning after the devastating bombing raid, the Provost, Canon Howard, chalked on the wall behind the main altar exposed in the shell of the destroyed cathedral the words ‘Father Forgive’. He was Provost from1933 until 1958. He witnessed the transformation from the city’s and cathedrals’s worst nightmare transformed into their finest hour with the building of the new cathedral with its cornerstone being laid by Her Majesty the Queen.</div></div><div>Four opportunities to feed our souls and worship God:</div><div>Each Thursday Karen Walker hosts on Zoom at 11 am an inspiring Bible study rooted in the riches of our Old Testament tradition</div><div>Each Thursday Jude Palmer hosts on Zoom the saying of Compline, an ancient and beautiful monastic service.</div><div>Each Saturday 9.30 - 10.30 Holy Trinity Hatton is open for a prayer vigil hosted by Liz Mc Sporran Bates.</div><div>Sunday 29th November at 10 am Carole Milligan hosts a Parish Communion Service on Zoom. It will be Advent Sunday when God’s Church begins its preparations for the feast of Christmas, celebrating the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ</div><div>Keith Mobberley</div>
Remembrance 2020Following the release of national guidance for this year’s Remembrance, it can now be confirmed that there will be a short wreath laying service at the war memorials of Holy Trinity Hatton and St Laurence, Rowington and in the grounds of St Mary’s Haseley. These will each take place at 10.45. a.m. Due to Covid restrictions and in order to keep people safe, numbers will be limited to those laying wreaths, local officials and church officers. The wearing of face masks is compulsory.Remembrance resources can be found online at <span style="font-size: 1rem;">for those who wish to participate from home.</span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Keith Mobberley </span>https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/topical-prayers/prayers-remembrance
Rector’s MessageThere are moments in the Christian year when we feel keenly both the absence of being able safely to worship together in our churches and particularly the absence of loved ones whose loss we continue to grieve.The coming weekend is All Saints and All Souls tide where we usually offer in prayer the names of the departed. Each life is precious as we offer them by name to God. We may have people written on our hearts who we wish to name before God at this All Souls’ tide. We bring them to Him whether we know them to have been people of faith or whether their faith is known to Him alone. It is an opportunity to pray for those known to us personally as well as to pray for those who have no one to pray for them.I offer below some prayers to help us mark this sacred season of thanksgiving and remembrance.Keith MobberleyThey have become bright stars in the heavensThey have joined the firmament of the living GodThe saints who through our Saviour’s deathTraverse the route beyond death to vibrant lifeThe knowing, the loving, the ever present truthOf life greater than death, here, and beyond the present touchingFor this we praise you our almighty Redeemer. A prayer from New ZealandGod of life and death,The Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.We pray for those who have died, giving thanks for them and all that they meant to us.Confident of Christ’s victory on the cross,We remember in love all who have diedAnd all whose names we bring to you to be commemorated todayMay we come to share in the eternal banquet of your son Jesus Christ.Give us thankful hearts for his redeeming love.Our diocese has also produced an All Saints and All Souls service which will be streamed on its Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/DioceseofCoventry/ and Youtube channel at 10.30 am on Sunday, 1st November. The service contains some very moving elements including an act of remembrance for those who have lost loved ones in the last year or two and also a sermon by Bishop Christopher.
Rector’s MessageI switched on my radio this morning to a conversation between Prince William and David Attenborough. The interviewer was asking abut the legacy they each wanted to leave behind. Unsurprisingly, it was their hearts’ desire that we all wake up to our responsibilities to care for and conserve the natural world. The night before, the news was dire: infection rates for Covid rising, hospital admissions increasing at alarming rates, virus related deaths ominously growing.As always, I turned to the Scriptures, and found these words from St Paul to encourage us:‘I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection’ Philippians 3 verse 10.Finally, I took up my daily Christian ‘Thought for the Day’ which said:Where there are no answers, gratitude gives hope. Seek to cultivate a buoyant, joyous sense of the crowded kindnesses of God in your daily life’.As we celebrate the good gifts of God in the created world and give thanks for the beauty around us even in these difficult times, do join us this Sunday 11 October at St Mary’s Haseley for our Harvest Flower Thanksgiving display. Open between 10 and 4 pm.Keith Mobberley