So we reach the mid-point of May. The weather is not too sure whether it is warm or cold, but the trees and the plants are sure it is time to grow and flourish.
As a Church family and as a Parish we wish we too could grow and flourish but we must endure the restrictions and we must manage the uncertainties.
Some have commented how the normal marker points in the week have disappeared – but others are working flat-out every day. We know that different people are affected in very different ways by the current crisis, but we probably all share common feelings of anxiety, uncertainty, fear and loss.
If you have time please do look at the resources on the Church website – there are pictures, reflections, prayers – it is so easy to become too busy and rushed. Do use the resources there to refresh your spirit.
If you have some resources or ideas please share them; please comment and keep in touch. When we have been isolated for so long it is good to see comments from each other. We would love your photos and pictures of things you have made to go in our weekly services which are shared across the Team. Please send them to Peter or to Nikki
If you are wanting a guide to praying over the coming week you may like to use this outline. And end your prayers with the Lord’s Prayer
Please remember in your prayers our youngsters who are not getting the school experience they should, whose learning, despite heroic efforts from our teachers is disrupted. Pray for peace of heart in our homes.
Please remember those whose livelihoods are ever more at risk, those with money worries already and those who are anxious for their futures. Pray for peace of mind across our communities.
Please remember those whose work puts them at risk, those who care and help the sick and needy, those who provide our much-needed public services, deliveries, and who keep us in food and medicine etc. Pray for peace and safety.
Please remember and pray for all who are sick- in body, mind or spirit.
Please remember all who grieve, and who cannot grieve well at this time; those who cannot get to funerals, those who could not say good-bye to the dying, all who miss loved ones. As a church family, we commend to God Eileen Lamb who died on May 11th.
Please remember the poor and vulnerable across the world, who depend on charities, and whose lives are even harder because of all that has happened.
Our prayers should shape our actions and our responses as we seek to help and encourage and support. And our actions will feed our prayers as we are grateful for the good things and concerned for the needs we come across.
There will be special prayers and resources for the period from Ascension Day (next Thursday) to Pentecost (May 31st).
The bishops’ have given permission for the clergy to go to the churches to pray and to stream services. We hope this is the first step in their further opening, but for now the churches are unfortunately closed.
We are “unsettled” but God is with his people in the wilderness and in exile as surely as he is with them in the Temple or in gatherings.
