A Summer Blessing

May you walk with God
This summer
In whatever you do
Wherever you go

Walking with God means...
Walking with honesty
And with courage,
Walking with love
And respect
And concern for the feelings of others

May you talk to God
This summer
And every day and
In every situation

Talking with God means...
Praying words of praise
For the beauty of creation
Saying prayers of thanks
For friends and good times,
Asking God's help
In all your decisions
Expressing sorrow
When you have failed

May you talk with God
Every day. Amen.

- Author unknown

 

Summer Prayer

Creator God
who breathed this world into being,
who is discernible within
the harmony of nature,
the perfection of a butterfly's wing,
the grandeur of a mountain range,
the soaring eagle and humming bird,
thank you for this world
which you have created.
Thank you for summer sun,
which reminds us
that your creative breath
is still alive and active.
Thank you for the warmth of your love,
sustaining this world,
your garden

John Birch faithandworship.com

Virtual Church?

It was so good to share in worship on Sunday with so many of our church members. One couldn’t help wondering who would attend, but how wonderful to have a large proportion of our church members present. For a while we will continue to hold both the live 10.00am services and provide an internet service also. They will not usually be quite the same ceremony. However, in due course we hope to be able to video the actual service and relay it rapidly.

 

One thing which we have tried to achieve with the video service is to provide details which you might not normally notice. The main eucharistic prayer was filmed in a manner which gives a close-up experience of the consecration, as the bread and wine are taken and blessed. You have a “priest’s-eye” view. We have focused on the reredos of the Lord’s Supper, the All Saints window and many other areas of the church to bring out the richness of imagery which is there but not necessarily easy to see.

 

We also have videos recorded by the Dean, used this weekend, plus others by Bishop Alan and Bishop Michael. And we are saving a video each by myself and Doug for the end of August. We have both found it very interesting to prepare and present sermons in a more media-friendly way. However for worship in general there can be no real substitute for being present among the faithful, in our familiar church building. Christian worship is a participatory event, not a form of entertaining viewing. And yet, in some way I hope that – as with many matters in this changed situation – we can focus on positive gains and continue to grow in faith as people through the ages have held on to God through all that the world throws at them.

Tell me what you want!

Doug and Jo write: 

Yesterday the Gospel and the Sermon were about finding the ultimate Treasure, the Kingdom of God. I mentioned that I had checked out the internet sermon for our video service, by the Dean of St Albans, the Venerable Jeffrey John. Jeffrey had begun his sermon by mentioning the Spice Girls and their big hit single “Wannabe” which contains the phrase “I’ll tell you what you want, what you really really want”. It gets us rapidly to the heart of the matter, doesn’t it? There’s nothing quite like a contemporary illustration. It reminds me of a song I used to like by 10cc, “The Dean and I”.

 

Going further back than the Dean, on Saturday there was the news that the great blues guitarist and singer Peter Green has died. Who can forget classics like Black Magic Woman, Oh Well and Albatross. He had reached a career high when he left the band, Fleetwood Mac. They went on to yet greater success with a very different style of music. Peter Green is said to have had some mental health issues but he continued to produce music. Like some others, he found the pressures of fame hard to deal with. He not only left his band but gave up the money he had acquired.

 

One of his contemporaries was Cat Stevens, who had his own spiritual search. On his first album he asks fundamental questions on “I Wish I Knew”, following later with Peace Train and his version of Morning has Broken. He left showbiz for many years, and found faith in the Muslim religion. He says of Green that “When I heard he left Fleetwood Mac in 1970 to get a real life and donate his wealth to charity, he became something of a role model for me”. And the truth is that to find the true treasure we will need to be more single-minded, seeing the things of this world including fortune and fame, as ephemeral. For Christians that treasure is found in the Kingdom of God, brought to us by Jesus. He invites us to seek and find not so much what we want but what we really – really – need.

Treasure

The hidden treasure and the pearl of great price

 

The pearl of great price, the hidden treasure,

where should I seek them Lord?

Do I seek them in the depths of my soul

where you pour out your Spirit?

Or in scripture

where your word speaks to me?

 

Do I seek them in prayer and hymns

where you unite us with the angels?

In the bread and the wine

where you gather us to yourself?

In your church

where you teach your wisdom?

 

I have found you in all these places.

But the pearl and the treasure

for which I would give all I have

is love, reciprocal and without end:

it enlightens my soul,

grants me understanding of scripture,

and makes my heart sing,

it gathers us in unity

it offers us true wisdom,

And this love has a name, your name, Jesus.

(Rev. Martin Hoegger,  originally written to celebrate 70 years of the World Council of Churches 2018)

                             

Who are You?

Yesterday we were looking at the insurance document for our car as we wanted to add another driver from our family. The online form gave a list of occupations which started with Abattoir assistant, going next to Abbott or Abbess and a huge variety of wonderful and seemingly obscure professions until it got to tea taster and then finally the one we needed; teacher!

It was amazing to think about the sheer variety of individuals and their possible occupations: too late now to take a up a career in tea tasting(!), (and I had a suspicion that the occupation of stunt actor may imply a heftier premium on the insurance), but also realised in that great diversity we are all children of God, beloved and all equally valued. 

Bravery

This week our prayer course ended. We looked at the final part of the Lord’s Prayer: “deliver us from evil”. And noticing that the Armour of God is with us, we noticed that it is a defensive armour for our souls in the face of the evil things in the world. However, the armour inevitably suggests military bravery – and of course that is needed in places of conflict – but what about ordinary bravery?

 

One of us mentioned a relative who prevented a domestic abuse situation which he witnessed. Other situations may be less overtly dramatic yet still require bravery: the person who fears to drive their car after an accident; the child who fears going to school because of bullying; the person concerned about using public transport due to the infection risk; someone who endures intimidation or abuse in their home; a care worker without access to PPE or information; those who stand up to racial discrimination and oppression.

 

It can also be a person who is fearful of falling over; another who wrestles with an addiction such as drugs or gambling; someone who finds it difficult to stand in front of a group to address them; another who enters a room and feels afraid to approach those present; those who worry about their health, their finances, their loved ones; those coping with mental health disorders. The person who is afraid to speak to distressed or bereaved people.

 

Bravery is needed in so many areas of life. Perhaps we all have areas of life which need a brave response. For life has many challenges – some of them come to us, others come from within us. Prayer and maintaining faith is about centring our lives on the love of God, turning from the sins of the world and knowing that the true power behind the universe is all-loving. We can channel that through prayer, not in the sense of constant talking but in quiet receptiveness to God’s presence, through reflecting on suitable pieces of scripture, and through using the Lord’s Prayer which comes straight from the heart of Jesus.

 

“The peace of God, which (sur)passes all our understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God”

 

Seeing the Invisible?

 It’s interesting how the news spotlight moves round the world. Currently there is a big focus on Belarus where the President is imprisoning people who are protesting against his government’s policies, not least on democratic voting. It is a bad scene, but sadly it isn’t the only country where people do not have the right to vote or protest. Human rights is a matter which affects all countries, of course, and none of us can be complacent that all is well for everyone in our part of the world.

I was intrigued, and somewhat shocked – though not particularly surprised – to hear that the President of Belarus has stated that there is no virus. “I can’t see any virus”. So no, or few, preventative measures are being taken, in common with certain other nations. I find this incredible, that he can presumably see the results of the virus which is still spreading around the world yet still deny that it does not exist. Presumably he would be very happy with 5G since you can’t see that either.

 

There are many things which we cannot see. Hope is one of them, and we need to hold on to it despite human folly and sin. Love is another invisible aspect of life, and we can’t prove it but hopefully we can feel it’s joy. Which brings me to faith, which means that we can trust others and for the spiritually alert among us we can relate to and trust the Divine. So much of our human perception depends on insights which cannot be proven or isolated clinically. Our faith could be said to be illusory or delusional, and people such as Richard Dawkins claim that is true (and sometimes it might be!), but to suggest that we cannot relate at all to things which we cannot see seems very dangerous. We might not do what is best for our own lives or for others if we have no empathy or love.

Now these three things last forever; faith, hope and love.

And the greatest of them all is love.

A Vaccine: a Miracle?

In our Team meeting prayers, one colleague suddenly surprised us all by saying, ‘let’s pray for a miracle, let’s pray for a vaccine to overcome Covid 19 very soon’. It took us by surprise as it has been a long time since we had prayed for a miracle in such a manner. Perhaps we have all become so used to praying in a more open way for situations and people, but we hold back from praying for miracles.

 

And now it seems as though this miracle may be becoming a reality. The vaccine research is going very well. Scientists, barely able to suppress their joy, were interviewed on the News programmes yesterday explaining how tests show that vaccine in development has produced antibodies to counteract the virus. The government released a statement yesterday to say that they have secured early access to 90 million doses of promising coronavirus vaccine treatments. So our newspapers today proclaim ‘a Vaccine by Christmas’.

Then there’s also good news on the discovery that inhaling the drug Beta interferon can invigorate our natural defences once one has the virus and can enable a patient to avoid going into intensive care. I hope and pray that we will have the amazing miracle of a vaccine very soon so that we can stay safe but also that we can live life more fully.

 

Heavenly Father, we thank you that your work of healing continues in our world and in our lives. And we praise you for the hope offered by the treatments currently being developed and tested. Prosper, we pray, the work of those seeking a vaccine which will counteract this dangerous virus.

Lord, we do not always know how to pray aright, our perceptions are so limited and our faith can be fragile. We do not feel it is right to try to tell you what to do as you have a far wider vision, but we know that you hear the cries of your people and that your will for us is good, stemming from eternal love. Teach us to bring our needs to you and lay them at your feet that your will may be done, in Jesus’ name.

“Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 4.6-7

Common Sense

Doug writes:  I have been very interested in recent appeals to “common sense”. Does it exist?

“Use your common sense” is a phrase used by parents, teachers, politicians – and possibly sometimes by clergy – to suggest that a particular way of living is embraced by everyone. The illegal rave near Bath on Saturday night, like other similar instances, suggests that some people lack that shared concern for responsibility which many of us would hope for. The people on our beaches flocking in massive numbers as soon as the sun comes out, with little chance of maintaining social distance, likewise challenges the notion of mutual care. For politicians, of whichever party, the fact that people have voted for candidates other than themselves should indicate that we do not all have common sense, i.e. opinions which correspond to other people’s perceptions.

There would have been a time in our nation when Common Sense would have derived from the acceptance of the Christian faith as truth for all but a small number of irksome individuals. Times have changed, and of course it is only right that people have the ability to make their own decisions. And sometimes Christianity got it wrong, with people asserting their prejudice against others citing religion as their authority, but often we got it right with the establishment of hospitals and schools, for example.

Religion is now challenged by humanism and secularism, which is fair enough although I am not at all sure that we are currently rising to that challenge. However, those approaches to life are accepted by many people yet there seems to be no form of agreed commitment in lifestyle within these groups apart from a reaction against the inadequacies of religion. Sometimes I would be very much with them in that perception.

The Christian faith does have many concepts which suggest that we can have a common sense of what is right. “Do unto others as you would have them do to you” is a good start, “Do no murder”, “Forgive your brother (and sister)”, “The greatest of all is love”. Alas, even these tenets are not always adhered to. And losing allegiance to God means that “Love God and love your neighbour as yourself” has a big question mark against it’s central meaning and impetus.

Standing up for our faith is not easy in today’s world. And religion has a chequered history, since we remain human whatever we profess. But the values of the Christian faith are vital, and although there will always be differences of opinion we have a belief in God’s love and salvation, and we have good news of hope and healing which Jesus first announced and now offers to us all in these fractured, painful and uncertain times.

The Good Seed

As we continue to think about the Good Seed, I found a prayer of lament posted on Soul Surmise last week:

God

We live in vulnerable times

Fragile times

We have been broken by the Coronavirus Pandemic

We have grieved

We have been anxious about family

We have worried about our jobs

We have been found confinement harrowing

We have been under pressure mentally

Lord, the opening back up is testing us too

We are anxious about second spikes

We are wary of mixing in public

And we are almost angry at those who are not wary

We are fearful that a return of the virus will have more devastating economic effect than the first

We are concerned at the speed of the opening.

 

Lord we are in vulnerable times

We are thankful Lord that the vulnerability

Has made us more open to you

We have prayed more Lord

We have sought to trust more

We have read your Bible more in keeping with its context

Lord you have made us ponder our world

You have forced us to rethink our lives

You have given us an unexpected space

To reflect on how we are living

You have scattered the word of your wisdom across our souls to teach us, 

rebuke us, correct us and training us in righteousness.

 

Lord we offer the soil of our souls

May it not be hard

May it not be shallow

May it not choke the light with worry and wealth

May we work its fertility.

 

Lord we offer ourselves

By your spirit search us in these opening up days

That we might ask with total honesty

In what we rush and clamour  for immediately

Where our treasure is

Because there you tell us 

Is our heart.

So Lord, we ask that you would collide and caress

Your word and these pandemic days

That the seed of your word

Would overcome the thorns of our world

To germinate

And grow

And harvest

In our lives 

And therefore in the lives of those around us

In Jesus name we pray

Amen   Steve Stockman

 

Opening for Worship

Looking at all that empty sacred space has been difficult. I wasn’t called to sit in front of a screen or to become a televangelist. Moving worship services to online only for the past months has been a steep learning curve, though Martin and our team have done a phenomenal job in making those services as accessible and engaging as possible and this will continue until the end of August at least

I just can’t wait to worship again with others in church and I believe that’s true for every priest I know. We were called to minister with people. We love the interaction that happens in the service and experience God in the midst of us as we pray. We look forward to the moments when we lift the bread and cup of Holy Communion, when we dip our hands into the baptismal font to draw a young child or a new believer into the Christian faith, and when we greet people at the door.

But we need to tread carefully. “Fools rush in…”. We have followed the guidelines as we have opened for private prayer and now move tentatively forward as we have a short, said service of Evening Prayer tomorrow at 3.30pm. 

 

The lovely clean but empty building of All Saints awaits us and I look forward to the day when we can all meet again but in the meantime, while the building may be mainly closed, the life of the church is not. The Holy Spirit is still at work among our scattered church as much as when we are gathered. Let us continue to pray together for relief from the pandemic, but let’s also pray that God would use this time and use us to grow deeper in our love for him, in our love for one another, and in love for our neighbours.

Encircling Compassion

Encircling prayer involves simply drawing a circle around yourself or another person physically or in your imagination. It is grounded in our awareness of the constant companionship and protection of the divine. It reminds us that God is in this place.

Often, as they embarked on journeys or felt at risk, Celtic pilgrims would inscribe a circle around themselves as a reminder of God’s ever-present companionship and protection.

 

 

 Practicing the encircling prayer is simple. By pausing and taking a moment, draw a holy circle around yourself or, imaginatively, around the person or situation that you are concerned about.

One traditional prayer of encompassing invokes our awareness of our ever-present Companion with these words:

The God of the Elements’ guarding,
The loving Christ’s guarding,
The Holy Spirit’s guarding,
Be cherishing me, be aiding me.

The more well-known circling prayer involves repeating sections of the prayer attributed to St. Patrick:

Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me,
Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, 
Christ to comfort me and restore me, Christ beneath me, 
Christ above me, Christ in the hearts of all that love me,
Christ in the mouth of friend and stranger.

A contemporary prayer of encompassing proclaims the loving nearness of God in every situation:

Circle of love,
Open my heart.
Circle of wisdom, 
Enlighten my mind.
Circle of trust,
Protect my path.
Circle of healing, 
Grant me new life.

An important element in the spiritual journey is our blessing of others. To bless another is simply to place them in our hearts with the intention that they be surrounded, enlightened, and inspired in body, mind, and spirit by the Encompassing Love of God.

Circle of love
Encompass ……...
May your love well up within them.
May your passion enlighten them.
Circle of healing
Encompass…………..
May your healing touch rest upon them.

Circle of protection
Encompass………………

Surround ……………… with your eternal safety
Protect them from all temptations and ills
Give them courage and strength
To live always from Your safe and powerful centre.

This Celtic prayer gives us a sense of divine presence and nurtures us on our way as we are guided by the encircling companionship of God.

Masks?

Doug  writes 

I went out wearing a mask for the first time today. It felt very odd. I have always associated them with bank robbers or cowboys. But we must do all we can to avoid spreading the virus. So from next Friday week if we want to shop we must wear a mask.

I decided to wear the mask as I walked past the church and through the town, not only in the shops. The idea was to get used to it, so I wore it for over an hour. I am not yet used to it. But it’s a start, and I hope that everyone will find ways of acting responsibly in a situation which is improving but by no means over.

Jesus observed that the spiritual leaders of his time were putting on a front, doing all they could to appear good to everyone around yet, within, their souls were not in the right place. They obscured what was really going on in their lives by putting on a front. He describes them as white-washed sepulchres, a really critical comment implying that they were death-dealing while only appearing to be clean and wholesome.

The human soul is very prone to self-aggrandisement, our egos wanting to push us to fulfil our own preferences and be jolly well appreciated for it. Our desire to appear good to others and our capacity for self-deception is strong. And of course it is only civilised to keep some of our less worthy thoughts to ourselves. Yet no wonder there are so many mental health problems when we cannot fulfil our needs or they lead us astray. We find it hard to be our true selves and so disguise ourselves when we engage with others.

It is as if we already wear a mask. Am I seeing the true you? Do you see the real me? If we cannot live in society, families, communities as ourselves then we effectively don a mask and obscure our true identity. Even the faithful can feel that they cannot, or must not, bring their true selves to God. Will I be punished and rejected for being part of sinful humanity? No, God loves us and sent his Son to save us from our sins. He really does love us. And we are called to Live God’s Love.

All Saints will open for public worship very soon. Masks will not be obligatory (unless the rules change again!) but they are a very good idea even though we will remain at an appropriate distance from one another in our large, lovely building. If you don’t have your own mask, we have a good stock along with the sanitiser. But they are physical masks. Be ready to remove the personal, spiritual mask of the soul which seeks to obscure and disguise who we truly are. For God does not want pretence but authentic, lively human beings who know their failings but are open to accept God’s forgiveness, love and salvation.

 

Swithun Forecast

I

t's St Swithun’s Day and some us may be looking upwards! Swithun was Bishop of Winchester in the ninth century. Little is known about his life but he appears to have been the trusted adviser of Egbert, king in Wessex. He had asked to be buried 'humbly' and not in a great shrine and, when he died on 2 July 862, his request was fulfilled. However, when a new cathedral was being built, Ethelwold, the new bishop, decided to move Swithun's remains into a shrine in the cathedral, despite dire warnings that to move the bones would bring about terrible storms. He was duly translated on this day in t

he year 971 and, though many cures were claimed and other miracles observed, it apparently rained for forty days, as forecast. So the feast-day of Swithun became synonymous with long, summer storms, rather than as an occasion for celebrating Christian simplicity and holiness!

Almighty God,

by whose grace we celebrate

the feast of your servant Swithun:

grant that, as he governed with gentleness

the people committed to his care,

so we, rejoicing in our Christian inheritance,

may always seek to build up your Church

in unity and love;

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 forever.

Amen.