Tag: reflections

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Rule of Life in Lockdown starts tomorrow at 7.30pm

*NEW* Tomorrow night (Wednesday 6th May) at 7.30pm why not join us for a new study session led by Howard – ‘Rule of life in Lockdown’ – looking at 1 Thessalonians.

To join in you need to download Chrome onto your computer. Download Google Chrome here: https://www.google.com/chrome/ and then visit Howard’s Life Size room https://call.lifesizecloud.com/2179772 at 7.30 on Wednesday.

To further prepare, if you find time, please read 1 Thessalonians in advance and there are more resources available – just get in touch.

Hope to see some of you tomorrow.

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Rule of Life for Lockdown

A message from Howard:-

Call for People who want to Create A Rule of Life for Lockdown 

If anyone in New Creation Churches and further afield is interested in exploring how to create a Rule of Life amidst the restrictions of Lockdown, please join me in weekly conversation over the period of weeks before restrictions are lifted.

Matt and I (and the PCCs) wish to offer a virtual home group online that starts with Bible Study (looking at  1 Thessalonians when the early Church worked out how to live in a time of lock down and persecution), goes on to consider our daily living and then works towards establishing a Communal Rule of Life.

If this takes off, we will look at the insights of the Celtic saints and begin to build a Communal Rule (The Rule of St Congar?) that considers how we build habits of worship, service and mission. Who knows, we might emerge from lockdown with greater balance than before.

If this sounds something that you’d like to be a part of, it will mean prioritising an hour each week from 7.30-8.30pm. You will need a computer to get on line (for Zoom or LifeSize), a Bible and a desire to change.

The next question is the evening (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday). Please e-mail me on hjworsley4@gmail.com and I’ll gather interest and identify the best date. Ideally we’d start the week beginning 11 May (if this has wider traction).

Howard Worsley (07528 565 600) 28 April

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A Poem by Howard Worsley

One Vast Cough of Strange Design 

The wake-up call is not welcome to the sleeper 

But it is salvation as the house is set on fire. 

A lowly virus creeping from the pangolin 

Might yet hide blessing in its wake. 

The earth is slowly bringing healing to herself, 

Hardly daring to breath large breaths of air, 

But gaining confidence as she senses, 

That the lower atmosphere is cleaner than before. 

The land is gently sending out green shoots, 

Aware that fossil fuels are less polluting, 

And as Covid 19 starts touching human policy, 

It seems that human fear is Gaia’s hope. 

Upon the surface of the globe,  

The world is slowing down, 

The schools are shutting, 

The transport dwindling, 

People sleeping, 

Trade abating,  

Families talking, 

Phones aglow, 

In touch again. 

Extinction Rebellion could not stop the heavy traffic 

But Corona Virus felled the global movement 

In one vast cough 

Of strange design.

Pax et Bonum

Howard

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Reflections on Today’s Readings

Hello everyone

As it’s not possible for us to be worshipping together at any of our usual services this Sunday morning, or even to hear the bells ringing, I have put together a few thoughts on today’s Principal Service readings which you can reflect on if you are using them as part of your daily prayer routine.  Those of you on Facebook will probably have noticed a whole range of links to services taking place where you can listen and join in the hymns and prayers.  Matthew is intending to put something online at 10.30 which I think will be available for the rest of the day.

Today is Passion Sunday, with readings that are themselves heralds of the Easter stories to come. The Old Testament reading is Ezekiel ch 37, verses 1 – 14 and is the story of the valley of dry bones. It foretells the dawning of God’s new creation at a moment of utter desolation.

Psalm 130 is called “A Song of Ascents” and is also incredibly significant in our current situation. It begins with “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord, Lord hear my voice” and goes on to those beautiful words “my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning”.  An encouragement to hang on because a new dawn will come.

The New Testament reading is from Romans ch 8, verses 6 – 11. This is Paul’s reminder to his readers in Rome that the Spirit of God dwells in them.  At the end of Chapter 8 is one of my favourite passages in the whole of Scripture. I encourage you to read from verse 31 to the end, where we are reminded by Paul “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

And finally the Gospel passage, which is from John ch 11, verses 1 – 45, the story of the raising of Lazarus.  It is a foreshadowing of the story of the resurrection, and the dawning reality of the Kingdom. Obviously Lazarus will eventually die again but the story reminds us that for him and for all of us that is not the end. If we read on to the end of the chapter we become aware that this miracle was bringing many people to believe in Jesus, which leads to Caiaphas and the chief priests and Pharisees meeting together to plot his death.  And so the Easter story begins.

Take care and keep safe,

God bless,

Jenny