General Chat

Good morning :-)

Thank you Vera, and I am glad that all went as well as could be expected for your family funeral. It sounds just the right sort of farewell for a much-loved person.

Yesterday’s reading about Jesus being taken to the Temple gives us that beautiful prayer uttered by Simeon and used in the church throughout the world for centuries – known as the Nunc Dimittis

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace :
according to thy word.
For mine eyes have seen :
thy salvation;
Which thou hast prepared :
before the face of all people;
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles :
and to be the glory of thy people Israel
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son :
and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be :
world without end. Amen.

Simply glorious……………………Thanks be to God.

Cx :-)

Good afternoon

Another thought provoking, and heart wrenching, week with stories of the Holocaust. It is so hard to comprehend how it could have happened. There was so much bravery shown by those who saved lives and we must be thankful for them. Thank you Cynthia for the posts.

It has been a sad week for us as we have all said our goodbyes to our daughter’s dear partner. As he was not a person of faith she arranged a secular service but asked the celebrant to include the Lord’s Prayer for anyone who would like to join in. The service was followed by a peaceful and moving woodland burial. He had enjoyed being outdoors in nature and loved trees so it seemed fitting.

Hello all

Candlemas service in church this morning which marks the last feast day of the Christmas cycle, and recognises the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.

Lots of candles were blessed and placed all around our church, they symbolise Christ as the Light of the World.

Candlemas is also known for the rhyme about the weather, which says:

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight,
If Canflemas Day be wind and rain,
Winter has gone and will not come again.

Today has been "fair and bright", hmmm????

Sunday blessings to all who are struggling today.

Good morning :-)

The Collect (special prayer for today)
Almighty and ever-living God,
clothed in majesty,
whose beloved Son was this day presented in the Temple,
in substance of our flesh:
grant that we may be presented to you
with pure and clean hearts,
by your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen


Today, we hear how Mary and Joseph took the infant Jesus to the Temple.

Cx :-)

Good morning :-)


Never again

Eternal God,
we come before You
to remember the victims of the Holocaust.
We lament the loss of six million Jews
who were killed in the Holocaust,
the millions of other victims of Nazi persecution,
and victims of all genocides.
As we remember and lament
all those whose lives have been lost,
help us to work for a better future today.
We pray for a day when all shall be free
to live in peace, unity and love.
Amen.

Cx :-)

Hello all

Cynthia, what harrowing stories you have shared in this week's postings.

I remember seeing the Schindler's List film very many years ago and I can still recall the horror of what had been shown on the cinema screen.

Please God may it never ever happen again.

Good morning :-)

The Windermere Children

As Jewish persecution intensified, Leonard Montefiore founded the Central British Fund for Jewish Relief (CBF) and initiated the Kindertransport, which aimed to transport Jewish orphans to safety. After World War II, Montefiore sought funding to bring 300 surviving orphans to Windermere, Cumbria.

A temporary reception centre was established, repurposing barracks with the aim of providing a welcoming environment for the children, who had survived the horrors of concentration camps like Theresienstadt. To the staff's surprise, when the planes arrived, the children were mostly teenagers rather than the young ones they had anticipated. The first groups that landed looked healthier than expected due to two months of recovery, but some still bore physical signs of malnutrition. Despite strict immigration policies elsewhere, the CBF successfully appealed to the British government, bringing an additional 432 child survivors to the UK.

For these children, their story of survival will always be rooted in one corner of northwest England. “I was part of a group of children that I belonged to,” says Joanna. “I think Windermere was an important part of that. I think it was really the first time I was free.”

By January 1946, all the Windermere children had left to build new lives, forming lasting friendships along the way. Montefiore emphasized the importance of independence, urging them to adapt to society. Their stories serve as a vital reminder of the Holocaust and offer hope for future generations, emphasizing the importance of remembrance and resilience.

Cx :-)

Good morning :-)


Never again


The Man who revealed the Auschwitz atrocities to the world.

On 27 January 1945, Auschwitz prisoners were liberated by soldiers of the First Ukrainian Front. Among those who sought to reveal the camp's atrocities was Witold Pilecki, prisoner number 4859 and a member of the underground resistance group TAP.

In 1940, he intentionally got arrested to infiltrate Auschwitz and spent two and a half years gathering evidence of the horrors within, smuggling reports out detailing the conditions and deaths of prisoners.

Despite his efforts, the Allied Forces largely ignored his findings as Poland was not a military priority. Although Pilecki's testimonies did not lead to immediate liberation, he provided crucial early information about the camp's brutal realities.

After the war, under Soviet rule, Pilecki continued to fight for Polish independence but was arrested and executed in 1948, with his actions largely forgotten for decades. His children, initially told he was a traitor, discovered his true legacy as a hero only in the 1990s. Pilecki's daughter, Zofia, remembers him as a principled man who instilled important values in her.

Cx :-)

Good morning :-)

Never again.

Auschwitz is primarily recognized as a death camp where over 1.1 million people were murdered. However, the story of Stanislawa Leszczynska, a Polish midwife, reveals its more complex legacy. While interned at the camp, she delivered 3,000 babies under horrific conditions.

Born in Lodz in 1896, Leszczynska initially led a peaceful life but was drawn into resistance work during the Nazi occupation of Poland, helping those in the Jewish ghetto. After her family's efforts were discovered, she was sent to Auschwitz with her daughter.

Assigned to the camp's so-called “maternity ward,” Leszczynska refused to participate in the murder of newborns, which was the norm as many pregnant women faced execution. Instead, she cared for mothers and delivered their babies, often under dire conditions. Leszczynska bravely stood against orders from camp authorities, including the notorious Dr. Josef Mengele.

While some babies were taken for the Nazi Lebensborn program, Leszczynska and her team tried to mark those infants in hopes of reuniting them with their mothers. Though most children did not survive, Leszczynska's actions highlighted her courage and compassion amidst the brutality of Auschwitz.

We thank God for this woman's bravery.

Cx :-)

Good morning :-)

Never again.

Mindu Hornick, 13, peered through a crack in the door of her stopped cattle car and read a name: Auschwitz.
“I spelt it out for my mother,” Hornick recalled recently. “She says, ‘I don't know where it is, I've never heard of the place.’ And then suddenly all this clatter of the doors opening, and when the doors opened I mean there was, just, all hell let loose.”

They had travelled for days in the dark, 70 women and children packed shoulder to shoulder in a cattle car, with little food and a single sanitation bucket to share. Now they saw piles of rotting bodies, barking dogs, Nazis shouting in German, thick grey ash clotting the air. An official scrambled into their car.

“I think that a kapo must have known that this train of mothers and children—that were no use to them for work—would end up in the gas chambers,” said Hornick. “And that's why he must have looked in that coach and thought to himself, ‘well perhaps I'll try and save a couple.’”

He advised Hornick’s mother to let her two older girls go ahead, while she stayed behind with her younger two sons. You’ll see them soon, he assured her in Yiddish. He told Mindu and her sister to lie about their age and skills. “You are a seamstress,” he told them.

“You better do as this man says,” her mother said. “We looked back and we saw our mother with her spotted scarf, and we waved to her and we went ahead,” Mindu said. She never saw her mother or little brothers again.

Father, forgive.

Cx :-)

Good morning :-)

There is no apology for the items on this page this week because today commemorates the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz. The history behind these stories must never be forgotten. It does not make for pleasant reading but the truth cannot be avoided.

"Nothing will be easy about returning to Auschwitz, 80 years after I was liberated. This commemoration will be the last of its kind. We will be there. Will you stand with us?" - Michael Bornstein, Auschwitz Survivor

For the world today, Auschwitz is a symbol of the Holocaust and the atrocities of World War II. In 2005 the United Nations declared 27 January as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The Nazis established Auschwitz in 1940 in the Polish suburbs of Oswiecim, building a complex of camps that became central to Hitler’s pursuit of a “Final Solution to the Jewish question.” Nazis murdered between 1.1 million and 1.5 million people at Auschwitz, including more than one million Jews, but also Roma, homosexuals, political dissidents and more.

As prisoners arrived, young children, the elderly and infirm were separated and immediately sent to take “showers,” which pumped deadly Zyklon-B poison gas into the chambers. Daily mass executions, starvation, disease and torture transformed Auschwitz into one of the most lethal and terrifying concentration camps and extermination centres of World War II.

Children, especially twins, could be selected at any time for barbaric medical experiments conducted without anaesthesia by Nazi Josef Mengele. These included injecting serum directly into children’s eyeballs to study eye colour and injecting chloroform into the hearts of twins to determine if the siblings would die at the same time and in the same way.

In January 1945, Soviet soldiers liberated the camp to find 7,600 emaciated prisoners left behind, heaps of corpses and seven tons of human hair that had been shaved off the prisoners.

Estimates suggest that Nazis murdered 85 per cent of the people sent to Auschwitz.


The Fragility of Freedom
Eternal God, we come before you, conscious of the fragility of freedom, to remember the victims of the Holocaust.
We lament the loss of the six million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust, the millions of other victims of Nazi persecution, and victims of all genocides.
Remembering the past, help us today to use what freedom we have to stand up for those whose freedom is denied.
We pray for a day when all shall be free to live in peace, unity and love. Amen.

Cx :-)

Good morning :-)

Collect (special prayer) for today:
Almighty God,
whose Son revealed in signs and miracles
the wonder of your saving presence:
renew your people with your heavenly grace,
and in all our weakness
sustain us by your mighty power;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen

Today, we hear Jesus reading in the temple.

Cx :-)

Good morning :-)


Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

"God has no limits, He is infinite in His ways of expressing love, and humans also have their own ways of expressing love toward Him and others. This is what we need to focus on: differences are not a bad thing, they are a richness!" Br Rami Asakhrie, Latin priest of Bethlehem


Almighty God,
accept our praise and thanksgiving for what already unites Christians
in the confession of and witness to Jesus the Lord.
Strengthen our hearts in expectation and hope
as we work for unity and together seek the harmony of all creation.
Hasten the hour when all churches will recognise each other
in the one communion you willed
and for which your Son prayed to you in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Hear us, you who live and reign now and forever.
Amen.

Cx :-)

Good morning :-)

Will soon be off to my fourth funeral in two weeks!

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Almighty God,
accept our praise and thanksgiving for what already unites Christians
in the confession of and witness to Jesus the Lord.
Strengthen our hearts in expectation and hope
as we work for unity and together seek the harmony of all creation.
Hasten the hour when all churches will recognise each other
in the one communion you willed
and for which your Son prayed to you in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Hear us, you who live and reign now and forever.
Amen.

Cx :-)

Good morning :-)


Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

A young man’s story.

Dan, a young man from Sheffield, attended a 24-7 Prayer conference in Rotterdam which gathered people and Christian leaders from across Europe and the world.
He explains:

“ As someone from a charismatic non-denominational church background, it was great to experience some more traditional parts of the Church. I attended a seminar held by Catholics during which I learned about different aspects of their faith and worship.
I also went along to a service with the Order of The Mustard Seed (OMS) which is an ecumenical, lay-led, dispersed community.

One thing that the 24-7 prayer movement has done well has been to embrace grief as a part of the Christian life. Many charismatic movements that I have been a part of in the past have focused more on the joy of being a Christian and the new life we have, which is great! But as I see the state of the world and struggles in my own life, I’m often left feeling conflicted because there are parts of my life where that is harder to believe.

The conference taught how that is okay and that loss is a part of maturing in faith – learning to live in the space of celebration and grief at the same time just like Jesus did during his ministry. For me this was really freeing, realising that I’m not somehow failing but rather actually maturing in my ability to understand God’s heart for his people.

For me, the conference has given me a fresh understanding of how the church is called to be a family. It felt like a church weekend away because there was such a sense of joy, community and family."


Cx :-)

Good morning :-)

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

One body in Christ, united by grace,
Joined by His love, with one heart and one face.
Though different our gifts, and diverse we may be,
Together we're strong, as His love sets us free.

Bound by His Spirit, we're one in His name,
His love is the tie that no power can tame.
For we are His children, He's called us His own,
And in unity, His light will be shown.

Through trials we'll stand, hand in hand we'll endure,
Our faith will remain, and His truth will secure.
For as one body in Christ, we're stronger than ever,
United in love, we'll face storms together.

Cx :-)

Hello all

What an uplifting spiritual experience Tracy Collis has had and one that she will remember forever.

The Bishop officiated at yesterday's service, a very special time of worship in our small village church.

It's another chilly day, take care and stay safe.

Good morning :-)

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

This is a bit of a long read, but worth it. Grab a coffee!! :-D

Divisional Ecumenical Officer Captain Tracy Collis (Lancashire) reflects on a visit to a Romanian Orthodox church.

It was with a sense of the unknown that I drew up to a building that looked nothing like I expected a church to look. I had been invited with my fellow ecumenical representatives to share in the annual Advent Paraklesis service at a Romanian Orthodox church.

The plain exterior hid a beautifully decorated interior, with portraits of Jesus, Mary, disciples and saints. There were gold stands and ornate Bibles, which the worshippers bowed to and kissed as they entered. A gated entrance hid the entrance to the Holy of Holies and to the side was a four-sided lectern used for leading the service.

We were warmly welcomed by congregants preparing food and drink with smiles and hugs, which replaced a common language. Many women reverently had their heads covered and children in national dress were practising singing for the celebration of Great Union Day (1 December), the national day of Romania.
It was a privilege to share such a sacred time and space.

People were chatting and busying themselves getting ready for worship, but the laid-out chairs were mostly empty. We were called to worship with a swinging silver incense receptacle. There were no announcements, songbooks or PowerPoint slides, but a seamless hour of fast-paced sung liturgy by the two fathers and male attendants.

A few people sat in the chairs; most stood or knelt the entire time. Children played comfortably and worshippers sang purposefully, and the sign of the cross was used frequently, including touching the floor. The sense of spirituality was almost hypnotic. The barrier of language did not detract from the presence of God, as I was drawn into the worship.

These were Christian disciples worshipping with all their hearts and it was a privilege to share such a sacred time and space.

As part of the celebrations, we were treated to the children singing some Romanian songs, before being invited to the traditional ‘fasting’ feast of Advent. As we were greeted with plates of fish, rice, polenta, garlicky and herby potato fishcakes, hummus and bread, one might wonder what a non-fasting feast consists of. This was my first delicious taste of Romanian cuisine – I passed, though, on the wine!

Each differing expression of worship can give us a unique glimpse into the many differing facets of God’s character.
It was a truly memorable experience of Christian hospitality, where Jesus was evident in both actions and words. It was so far away from any Christian worship I had previously been part of, it left me with so many questions, yet it was truly time spent with Christian brothers and sisters.

I greatly admired the devotion and stamina of these Christians, who perhaps truly take to heart God’s command to ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength’ (Mark 12:30), having either stood or knelt for the entire service. This was closely followed with ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ (Mark 12:31) in their generous hospitality. There was a genuine desire to engender ecumenical understanding.

The universal Church may have many theological differences in its expression and interpretation of worship, yet at the heart of this – and all Christian worship – is our love towards God. Each differing expression of worship can give us a unique glimpse into the many differing facets of God’s character. A sung liturgical worship must surely delight God as much as communion, Quaker silence or Charismatic hand-lifting.

Worship is a kaleidoscope of human expressions as individual as people, but each serves equally to draw us closer as disciples to our Creator.

Cx :-)

Good morning :-)

This week, many churches will be taking part in events to mark the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Most of us have friends who are Christian but who worship in a slightly different way from us. There are various denominations underneath the umbrella of Christianity and each one is to be respected.

Two of the most famous characters within living memory were Bishop David Sheppard and Archbishop Derek Worlock – both of Liverpool. David Sheppard was also a famous cricketer, and this earned him a certain amount of respect within the sporting community of this great city.

These two men, one Anglican and the other a Roman Catholic, worked tirelessly in the 1970’s and 80’s to bring calm to a city torn apart with deep religious divisions. They became icons of hope and were affectionately known as ‘fish and chips’ as they were always together and rarely out of the paper!!

In 2005 a statue (comprising of two doors) was commissioned by the Liverpool Echo and paid for by the people of Liverpool. This statue commemorates the work done by these men during dark days. They were truly Brothers in Christ and a great example of Christian unity.

Cx :-)

Good morning :-)



The Collect (special prayer for today)
Almighty God,
in Christ you make all things new:
transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace,
and in the renewal of our lives
make known your heavenly glory;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Today we hear the story of how Jesus changed water into wine.

Cx :-)