From Rev Charles Dale, Local Self-Supporting Minister. Well it’s July already! Where is the time going! It is a strange time we are in and life seems to be evermore complex by the continual changes in government strategies for coping with Covid 19 and more than a little unsettling. Time doesn’t stand still and in these days of semi lockdown I am left wondering what the next move will be. We are moving to open our churches gradually, but it seems things aren’t going to be as they were for some time to come. Some things may never be the same again and that can be even more unsettling…So what has kept me going?I think I’m really blessed to be living where I do, with open fields and woods and quiet lanes to wander around and get the exercise I need - Oh how I miss my swimming time at the leisure centre though! It’s been a good to be able to spend important quality time with Janet and together we’ve enjoyed our daily walks out.Since lockdown we’ve seen the daffodils, wood anemones, bluebells and a host of wildflowers come and go; all have been a great joy and the birdsong too, how delightful! We’ve been watching the robins in one of our nesting boxes rearing their young, and really proud of the mum and dad robins who raised at least three young ones and to see the youngsters clinging on to the nesting box opening before taking that first tentative flight …parents watching seemingly saying ‘come on you can do it’! The robins have been a fine example of patience, perseverance and loving care. They have bought much joy and pleasure, a God send you might say in these difficult times.We’ve also been gardening and our labours have already and will continue to bear fruit as the season goes on. However, we need to make sure we tend to the plants and vegetables in order for them to grow and produce good fruit for us. And then there’s the hoeing and weeding!!…keeping the plants and vegetables clear of competing weeds…it’s a continuous task if we are to benefit from our labours and the God given rain and sunshine which gives the growth. We need, like the robins, to persevere, never to give in, but to go on caring even when we don’t feel like it. It’s also been a joy and delight to be able to keep in contact with a number of people… via telephone, email and ZOOM! Who knew about that 12months ago? Friends and family are so important and through the technologies we have we are able to keep in touch, even at a distance!All this puts me in mind of how important my faith and trust in God our heavenly Father is to me, especially in these times and of the need to persevere in giving thanks and to worship this great God of ours. Just like the continuous task of tending and caring for the plants and vegetables in order to get good fruits you only get out what you put in effort by clearing the weeds and tilling the soil. My faith has been a God send and a great anchor point for me in this time of semi isolation. Persevering in prayer and praise each day has brought peace and contentment and helped me to reflect on who and what I am and my calling to priestly ministry. A little like weeding and tilling! Having said that I do miss being at church with God’s people, worshipping and singing His praises together in community. For that is what we were meant for and I long for us to be together again. The signs are good, but all in God’s time and keeping.‘and lo, already on the hills the flags of dawn appear; gird up your loins, ye prophet souls, proclaim the day is near.’Blessings and peaceCharles
Easter DayEach day we will take a look at a sentence from the Lord’s Prayer.For thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her ‘Mary!’ John 20:16The egg, rabbit and branch are all symbols of Easter Day. The rabbit is based on the hare, which was a symbol of new life; a budding branch, a sign of spring after winter and the chocolate egg reminds us of the stone that rolled away.The women and disciples who went that day were amazed, frightened, confused. But very soon they were transformed by hope as they realised that Jesus was not dead but alive!Urgently called by Mary, Peter and a second disciple rush to the tomb. Something about the grave clothes makes them pause. John says the beloved disciple “saw and believed”, but immediately makes it clear that he didn't understand what he believed in because he hadn't yet learnt about the resurrection. Knowing in their hearts the presence of God's hand, they went home. “But Mary stood weeping...” Like Jesus' tears at the tomb of Lazarus, her tears gather up all the grief the world has ever known and all the sadness any of us feel. Angels, then Jesus, ask her, “Woman, why are you weeping, who are you seeking?”. It's obvious why someone would be weeping at a tomb, and doubly so when the tomb had been disturbed. So the question is a challenge rather than an enquiry. Who does Mary think Jesus is? Who did she ever think Jesus was? If he was a mere human being, she would be right to weep at his demise. Is this who she's looking for – a good man who ran out of options? Or does she seek the Son of God?Mary answers on the surface, but Jesus' question has begun to open her spirit. When he calls her by name, there is instant recognition. “Mary” “Teacher!” He has just taught her all over again. The message of Easter is like the rising of dawn in our hearts. Of course our world and our lives are still full of tears. At this very strange time for our world, country and us as families and individuals many are tearful and fearful. Some of us are struggling in our work situations; others are struggling at home or in our families; some have companions in the struggle, others bear the burden alone, and for others still it takes all their energy just to survive. Yet the resurrection of Jesus heralds the first day of a new creation and so it urges us to look beyond our struggles; to look with faith and to name them as temporary. To do this doesn't make our struggles any less: Jesus came to us because without him our struggles will never be diminished. Yet the reality of our struggles shows even more brightly the power of this new dawn which is displacing them. Have you seen a chrysalis? It looks and feels hard like a stone, dead even. But inside it is something amazing: from it will come a butterfly, flying to freedom.We look into the empty tomb and find that the terrible events of Good Friday have changed – it’s Good News. It’s the greatest mystery, the greatest miracle and the greatest Good News ever heard. As we hunt for and eat our eggs, see the signs of spring and watch butterflies emerge, let’s rejoice. This Easter, let's actively rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus. Our world needs to hear this Good News afresh this Easter 2020. And it is God, his Son, his power and his salvation we are seeking. A projectCelebrate – if you have given something up for Lent enjoy taking it up again – if that is possible in your current circumstances. Enjoy some chocolate eggs or a boiled egg to be reminded of the stone being rolled away. Look at a branch with new buds on to remind you of new life. Take a piece of a branch with buds on and place it with the Palm Cross, photo/names, battery, keys, bread, candle and glass of water to remind you of the new life you have in the risen Christ.Take some time over this next week of Easter to revisit the items collected and continue to use them if they are helpful in your prayers.PrayHalleluiah! Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed. Halleluiah! Thank you God for your creation and for each new day. Show me how I can help someone today.
Good FridayEach day we will take a look at a sentence from the Lord’s Prayer.Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son… Luke 15:18-19In Charles Dickens David Copperfield, there is a moving description of love for the lost. Emily has run away and Mr Peggotty announces that he is going ‘through all the wureld’ to search for her. But: ‘Every night as reg’lar as the night comes, the candle must be stood in its old pane of glass, that if ever she should see it, it may seem to say, ‘Come back, my child, come back.’The lost son in Jesus’ story did come back. He came back rehearsing his speech. But his speech did not begin with ‘Forgive’, it began with ‘Father’. The son knew that he had forfeited his right to the privilege of home and sonship. The father knew that he had every right to punish the son who had abused his love. But the father chose not to exercise his right. Instead, he stepped out of the realm of rights and into the realm of grace. Grace is a generous, free gift which the giver need not give but which often melts the heart of the receiver. This gesture proved that the father had already let go of any bitterness or hurt, anger or hatred he may have once felt. Even before his son could stammer out his confession, the father had already forgiven him. For ‘to forgive’ means ‘to let go’, ‘to drop’, ‘to release.’ In describing a father who expressed such forgiveness tangibly: ‘His father…embraced him and kissed him’ (Luke 15:20), Jesus seems to have been anxious to persuade us that God is not a God who extracts from his people remorse for their misdeeds. God is a God whose love is the candle in the window, who longs to let us off the hook, to release us from our past as hostages are set free from their captors, to liberate us from ourselves as prisoners are set free from prison, to pour into us the same kind of energy which adrenalin gives to athletes when they hear the starting pistol at the beginning of a race: the energy to come home.A projectThink about this claim: the only way we can come to God is just as we are. We must learn to accept who we are, because God accepts us as we are and loves us as we are. Place a candle with the Palm Cross, photo/names, battery, keys and bread, to remind you of God’s love.PrayAsk forgiveness for the things you have done wrong and pray for those who have hurt you.Just as I am… O Lamb of God I come.
Maundy Thursday Each day we will take a look at a sentence from the Lord’s Prayer.Give us this day our daily bread. Give us today our daily bread.While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, ’Take, eat; this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’ Matthew 26:26-28 When friends know that they are about to part, they often share a meal and give meaningful farewell gifts to one another. The Passover meal that Jesus was celebrating with his friends was a solemn occasion which every family in Jerusalem would also have been enjoying. It began with a prayer praising God for his deliverance, his guidance and his goodness. Because bread had become the silent symbol of God’s faithfulness to Israel, the father of the family would then take the crisp Passover loaf in his hands and break it. Jesus followed this tradition closely. He, too, took the pitta-like loaf in his hands, blessed it and broke it, but as he handed it to his friends, he added onto the traditional prayer one of his own: ‘Take, eat; this is my body’. Later, again taking the tradition, he took a cup of wine and haven thanks for it and gave it to them, and then he added, ‘Drink from it all of you; for this is my blood……poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’.I’m sure those first disciples felt moved and amazed if not confused by these events. For by breaking open the loaf, Jesus was implying that he himself was open to them, offering the whole of himself voluntarily. They would realise that Jesus’ offer to ‘take’ demanded a response: it was an invitation to them to commit themselves to him and his mission. For us when we come to celebrate the Eucharist, the Holy Communion, Jesus is saying – I am offering you the gift of myself. Will you in return, give yourself to me? A projectHold a lump of bread. Feel its texture. Smell it. Break it. Then eat it – slowly. Be aware that it is becoming a part of you. Think of Jesus’ invitation to ‘take and eat’. Think, too, of the wider implications of that invitation. Place a lump of bread with the Palm Cross, Photo/names, battery ad keys, to remind you that Jesus is our daily bread.PrayerMake your own response to the invitation.Bring your needs to God and thank Him that He meets those needs. Pray for those who are in need, especially those in need of food and friendship.
