General Chat

Good morning all........ :-)


Those who attended the service yesterday morning, were still smiling about the music last night. It really seems to have lifted people's spirits. :-)



Another new week and I have always found the following prayer, a very challenging one:



I God asked for health
that I might do greater things ...
I was given infirmity
that I might do better things.

I asked God for riches
that I might be happy ...
I was given poverty
that I might be wise.

I asked God for power
that I might have the praise of men ...
I was given weakness
that I might feel the need of God.

I asked God for all things
that I might enjoy life ...
I was given life
that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for,
But everything I hoped for.

Almost despite myself,
My unspoken prayers were answered.

I am, among all men,
most richly blessed!

~ Attributed to an Unknown Confederate Soldier ~



Enjoy your day :-)

A day of mixed emotions for you Cynthia and all your church family.
Your vicar has left his gift of humour behind. A blessing indeed.

His sense of humour will live on. As will all those precious memories of his time here. You have all been very lucky to have known such a character, Cynthia. :-) :-)

I'm even smiling to the memory of this much loved vicar
Cynthia :-) :-)

A moving service, beautifully conducted, preceded the burial of ashes of our beloved vicar this morning. Leaving church to the Laurel and Hardy theme tune (The Cuckoos Dance) was brilliant and a very fitting tribute to a man whose sense of humour was second to none. :-)

Cynthia <3 :-)

Great sadness today as "the Vicar" is laid to rest - and at such an early age. But mingled with happines that he has sowed so much love: so many seeds of hope for people. And then we have two new lay readers to welcome to continue that tradition of sowing and nurture.

Churches are not buildings and traditions, important as these are. They are living stones. :-) Real people, all very different.

Nowhere were churches more different than those visited by Paul on his travels. Some had been from the Jewish diaspora, most were local Greeks with their tradition of worshipping many gods. To the church in Corinth, Paul wrote (1 Cor Chapter 12):

Now, concerning what you wrote about the gifts from the Holy Spirit. I want you to know the truth about them, my friends.

You know that while you were still heathen, you were led astray in many ways to the worship of lifeless idols.

I want you to know that no one who is led by God's Spirit can say “A curse on Jesus!” and no one can confess “Jesus is Lord,” without being guided by the Holy Spirit.

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them.

There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served.

There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their particular service.

The Spirit's presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all.

The Spirit gives one person a message full of wisdom, while to another person the same Spirit gives a message full of knowledge.

One and the same Spirit gives faith to one person, while to another person he gives the power to heal.

The Spirit gives one person the power to work miracles; to another, the gift of speaking God's message; and to yet another, the ability to tell the difference between gifts that come from the Spirit and those that do not. To one person he gives the ability to speak in strange tongues, and to another he gives the ability to explain what is said.

But it is one and the same Spirit who does all this; as he wishes, he gives a different gift to each person. (Good News Bible)

Good morning all. You certainly do like 'scratting around' for information John, and thank you for that interesting read.


As many churches of all traditions will be celebrating Harvest Festival during September and October, I thought a Harvest prayer would be good.



God of harvest,
gardener supreme
you place us at the centre
feed us, equip us and
having provided for us
look to a different harvest
a fruitfulness of lives
in service to you
and others.
God of harvest,
feed us
prune us
harvest us
that our lives
might bring glory to you.




In a couple of hours time, we are burying the ashes of our beloved vicar on this, his 59th birthday. This afternoon, two of our congregation are being licensed as Lay Readers by the Bishop in the Cathedral. What a mixed day of emotions.........but, as a church, we must now turn and face the future with confidence.


Have a good day everyone. Cx :-)

Thought I had better check my facts. One reads these excerpts from obscure Jewish histories and the like and memory does play tricks.

Geza Vermes has stated that the terms 'carpenter' and 'son of a carpenter' are used in the Jewish Talmud to signify a very learned man, and he suggests that a description of Joseph as 'naggar' (a carpenter) could indicate that he was considered wise and highly literate in the Torah. Tektor is the Greek word that is tranlated as carpenter, and it describes someone who can work with far more than just wood.

Nazareth at the time of Joseph and Jesus, was not mentioned in any contemporary source. At best it was an obscure village in Galilee, about 65 km from the Holy City of Jerusalem, which is only later mentioned in surviving non-Christian texts and documents.

Archaeology over most of the site is made very difficult by subsequent building, but from what has been excavated and tombs in the area around the village, it is estimated that the population was at most about 400. It was, however, only about 4 miles from the city of Tzippori (ancient "Sepphoris"), which was destroyed by the Romans in 4BC, and thereafter was expensively rebuilt. Jonathan L. Reed states that the analysis of the landscape and other evidence suggest that in Jesus and Joseph's lifetime Nazareth was "oriented towards" the nearby city. (I assume that the villagers "commuted" daily to Sepphoris to work on the magnificent public buildings in that city).

NB All the local women would have spoken Aramaic and that appears to be the language that Jesus normally used. But working with his father in Sepphoris would have given him a good grounding in several other languages probably.

Footnote. I hope others find this sort of detail to be of interest. I love "scratting around" for these sort of tid bits, but I may be in a huge minority :-S

Thanks Cynthia. Very succinct. Some of the points made seem to come from the theology of hymns rather than the Bible or Jewish history.

The family would have been poor at the time when Jesus was born. His father would have recently emerged from an apprenticeship and would have had little money. And mother Mary was incredibly young.

But Joseph was a carpenter, which was far more than someone banging up cupboards. He was a multi-skilled craftsman who could work in stone, wood and other materials. He and his family were working on a huge Roman site near Nazareth for decades and would have been very well paid.

And Jesus became a rabbi at minimum age of 30. Doubtful he would have had that opportunity without a lot of studying and financial support.

The apostle Paul came from an even wealthier family. Yet both Jesus and Paul felt able to divest themselves of any worldly wealth and live day to day like the "birds of the air"

How many of us would be brave enough to give everything away and depend on God for food, drink, shelter?

Thank you Elizabeth for those prayers.

Emma :-)

Good morning everyone...... :-)


I love the words of St. Francis but must, I admit, prefer them spoken rather than sung and I know what John means by the "pard'ning" - it's not the easiest word to sing to a beat!


Thank you Elizabeth, they are two lovely and simple prayers for us. :-)


A thought for today, one which I personally, find very profound.


ONE SOLITARY LIFE

There once was a baby who was born to a poor family.
His father was a carpenter and never made a lot of money.
His mother stayed at home and raised her children.
Just before His birth, His parents had to move to a new town and start all over again.
They knew no one there and didn't even have a place to stay.
He was born in a stable because his parents had no where else they could go.

Before He was two years old, his family had to flee the country because the government believed that He was a threat to national security.

After the old regime fell, His family was finally able to return to their home.
Their home was a small, out of the way, obscure village.
He lived there for about 25 years.
In all His life, he never wrote a book, held a public office, or attended a college. He only helped his father in his work as a carpenter.


At the age of thirty, He decided it was time to begin His own work and He became an itinerant preacher.
He travelled around the countryside on foot.
He never travelled more than 200 miles from the place of His home.
He preached and performed many miracles and had many, many followers.

His teachings had a lot of emphasis on love and forgiveness.
He loved people for whom they were, not for what they could do for Him, or how well they treated Him, or how wealthy they were, or how much they tried to find favour with Him.

He knew and understood all the motivations of their hearts, and He still loved them and always told them the total truth about everything.

After three years as a preacher, public opinion turned against Him.
His close friends deserted Him, leaving Him to suffer the mockery of a trial at the hands of His enemies.

He was sentenced to death and was nailed to a cross between two thieves.
As He was suffering and dying, His executioners gambled for His robe ... the only possession He had on earth.

Twenty centuries have passed since His death, and today He is still the central figure of the human race and the leader of the column of progress.

Time is measured from His birth.

All the armies that have ever marched, all the navies that have ever sailed, all the kings that have ever reigned and all of governments that have ever ruled, have not influenced the life of one man upon this earth nearly as much as that
One Solitary Life.

~ Author Unknown ~



Enjoy your day Cx :-)

Elizabeth, Simple prayers but very meaningful. Just the way I like them. Thank you.

Thankyou Elizabeth.

What lovely juxtaposition of prayers. :-)

Dear All

Hello

Hope you are okay.


Two small prayers that can be used by people of all ages:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"LETTING GO"

"Dear God,
I sometimes feel so ill, I am afraid
I will let go of life.


Dear God,
please will you never let go of me"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


"TREATED BADLY"


Dear God,
I know I am being treated badly by people
who should be takaing care of me.


Dear God, please make it easy for me to tell someone.
May they listen and help me,
so I never have to suffer any more".

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Take gentle care
Sincere wishes
Elizabeth, EOS
xx

"Make me a channel of your peace
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned"

It needs to be sung quietly and quite slowly, and I can guarantee that if 8 people are singing the above together, all 8 people make mistakes, are out of time with one another. Do you stress the "don" in pardoning or the "Par" or the "ing"> I usually sing it as two syllables - "pard" and "ning" :-)

Cynthia one of my favourites, love singing it.
Also new to me John.
Thank you both.

Emma :-)

Cynthia, Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace I think is the hymn and I confess although the words are very wonderful and true that this is not one of my favourite hymns to sing. I always groan inwardly each time this hymn is sung and I don't really know why.

John, Interesting information today and verses which were new to me.

Thank you both for a happy thread.

Also a very popular hymn, Cynthia. Just love those words.

So many of the songs or hymns from our hymn books have their origins centuries ago. It is wonderful that we worship the same way as people did in Britain, Africa and Europe very many centuries ago.

When we sing "The Lord's my Shepherd", we are singing a Scottish psalter from 1650 - even before the first (what I call) popular hymn was written by the Independent Southampton cleric Rev Isaac Watts. Hymns were apparently thought frivolous in those days.

Just seen this one resurrected in my Methodist hymn book written by Synesius of Cyrene (5th Century):

Lord Jesus, think on me,
And purge away my sin;
From earthborn passions set me free,
And make me pure within.

Lord Jesus, think on me,
That, when the flood is past,
I may the eternal brightness see,
And share thy joy at last. :-)

Good morning everyone :-)

I didn't know that one either Emma, and it's interesting how many new prayers I am discovering as I look for a prayer to put on here each day.


However, I'm pretty certain you will know this one. Words from so long ago and yet, as relevant today as they were then.



Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred ...
let me sow LOVE;

Where there is injury ...
PARDON;

Where there is doubt ...
FAITH;

Where there is despair ...
HOPE;

Where there is darkness ...
LIGHT;

And where there is sadness ...
JOY.

Divine Master,

Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled ...
As to console;

To be understood
as to understand;

To be loved
as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.



- St. Francis of Assisi




Have a good day everyone.... Cx :-)