As we enter the season of Lent, take some time to be quiet, pause and reflect on your relationship with God. Join Rev’d John for the #Meltham Parish online Ash Wednesday service as we start the journey through Lent. The service is available from 10am but can be watched at any convenient time you might have. The service can be viewed via YouTube using this link: https://youtu.be/lPXcZOc-Wb8
This week heralds the beginning of the Season of Lent. Over the past forty-eight weeks we have journeyed together praying for the world-wide pandemic Corona virus and its effects on us all, deepening our relationship with God through many different avenues of prayer and we have prayed and meditated on Gods Word through the Scriptures and the thoughts of others.
Today Our opening Prayer starts with “Lent is a time to learn to travel”
Christine and I are going to follow “Lenten Reflections on Thirteen Lesser Reported Followers of Jesus’ Passion” By Rosemary Power – A Wild Goose publication. We invite you to join with us for seven of the Reflections as we lead up to Easter Day. www.ionabooks.com
Lent is a time to learn to travel
Light, to clear the clutter
From our crowded lives and
Find a space, a desert.
Deserts are bleak; no creature
Comforts, only a vast expanse of
Stillness, sharpening awareness of
Ourselves and God
Uncomfortable places, deserts.
Most of the time we’re tempted to
Avoid them, finding good reason to
Live lives of ease; cushioned by
Noise from self-discovery.
Clutching at world’s success
To stave off fear.
But if we dare to trust the silence
To strip away our false security,
God can begin to grow his wholeness in us,
Fill up our emptiness, destroy our fears,
Give us new vision, courage for the journey,
And make our desert blossom like a rose.
From – ‘Waiting for the Kingfisher’ – Ann Lewin
WEEK ONE: Joseph the carpenter
I come in at the start.
I didn’t hear the end.
Or say a word.
Many a man rears another’s child.
My bride told me. After the pain, the strain,
of living the best I should, and loving more than I could dream.
Called like Ruth to leave the land, my people and my home
to work in tears among the alien corn
that filled my barns with joy.
When the years turned
and we returned to milk and honey
we followed the path through the scrolls
together, in synagogue and home
in dim evenings or the hot night
under the rooftop stars. I taught him.
I told then how we’d fled
for our lives, under the dark; the stark fear and loss of leaving,
saying nothing, fearing all
on the long road to Gaza, chariots kicking dust in the face,
and us parched, but afraid of the proffered lifts and drinks
and hidden costs,
me powerless to protect: he’d seen with toddler eyes.
We reached the sea and the coast ahead – but no waves parted,
though the full boat foundered on the further shore. We lived.
Storytelling’s in the family. I taught him.
In the workshop I taught those hands
to carve and turn, bind and loosen
and work the best, for neighbour, traveller and friend,
soldier and sinner, stranger, leper, child;
then lost him to the vineyards and the hills
and that other father, and to prayer
too silent for a labouring, dreaming man.
He saw me carrying the soldier’s pack in the heat, I sensed
the quick tense anger for his dad, then
his voice soft, curious,
asking the man’s story, listening to wandering years
till the stilled thug found his mile complete.
‘Your lad’ll go far,’ he told me.
I found him talking in the temple, once,
among the men.
I saw the smiles of passing rich, the priestly youth
tolerant of a bright boy and tradesman’s accent.
Was there one
who’d listen in the years he’d come to teach?
It was clear from then
there’d be no compromise,
but love, consideration and firm purpose
that would cross the world in its strength
and cross the powerful in their pride.
He’d join and try the heart and the grain
of the wood for its place
in the workshop of the world.
My time was over and the work passed on,
so, called to other work, I said:
‘Just mind your mum’ to a strong smile, the shine of eyes
wide enough for a region.
We give thanks …
For those who hold families together, who labour that we may eat.
For those who tell stories, where God dwells in the depths.
For the gift of reading the scriptures, and for teachers.
We pray …
For children seeking an education, that their desire might be fulfilled.
For parents seeking to protect their children, through hunger, war or lack of
opportunities.
For children who head families, holding in their loss and putting their hopes
aside.
For refugees on the road and on the sea; for those who have lost loved ones on
the journey, for those prey to people-traffickers, that they may find freedom.
Join us for an online service of Holy Communion from 10:30am this morning led by Rev’d John Dracup – Vicar of the Parish of #Meltham. ALL WELCOME 🙂 https://youtu.be/7TTW2ghqpFE
Next Tuesday 16th Feb 8pm-9pm, we have a visitor from Umbrella Yoga who is giving a half hour FREE chair yoga session for us.
All you need to do is complete the health survey below to
cover their insurance. I have already done the health survey and it is very
simple. All you tell them is your name, age & any illnesses.
This year the Church Hall is one of the Community Causes being supported by the Co-Op and you can support this by logging on to: coop.co.uk/membership and when asked which cause you wish to support, opting for Meltham Parish Church Hall. In case you cannot do this online, you can call 0800 068 6727 and option 1 lets you sign up for membership and option 2 lets you speak to someone to choose your cause. Please help this important Community building recover from its closure due to the pandemic. This is in addition to the co-op dividend paid to you.
Christine and I were Listening to the ‘Bible in a Year‘ being read to us by David Suchet. The daily readings on one particular day started with a reading from the 3rd chapter of Proverbs verses 1-10. Each day the readings start with a Psalm or Proverb followed by a New Testament reading ending with one from the Old Testament. Christine and I look forward to listening to David, he reads so well. The tonal changes and empathise in his voice help us to take in what has been read to us. It was a reading from the book of Proverbs which struck a chord with both of us.
P.R.A.Y
Pause as you pray this Prayer of Approach.
Loving Father, I still my soul now and remember that You are here with me, you are here in me, you are here for me. Lord Jesus, I worship You. Holy Spirit, I welcome You.
Wisdom Bestows Well-Being Proverbs 3 v 1–10
Do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart,
for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.
Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favour and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil, this will bring nourishment to your bones.
Honour the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
Since the second wave of the COVID-19, wellbeing has been high in people’s minds. Daily bulletins of new thoughts and measures, facts and figures have not been encouraging – reaching one hundred thousand deaths, and more critically ill in overrun hospitals, and more and more new cases daily.
Wellbeing comes in many distinctive guises. Not many people rush to get hold of a bible to make them feel good. The passage of scripture above, dwells on our relationship with God and the whole of His Creation from which our wellbeing springs.
The Theme of this year’s Winter Watch with Chris Packham and Team was ‘Natural Well Being’. The team displayed and shared their knowledge of the outdoors through the medium of our television sets, in our homes. There was real energy, joy and euphoria in following the wildlife, and appreciating the flora and fauna, around the UK.
Chris Packham says ‘connecting with nature is important to us, and there are so many of us who enjoy the natural wellbeing of being outdoors or simply watching the birds in the garden from our patio doors or windows and we can now be mindful of the changes that are starting to occur heralding spring.
There is more interest in Mindfulness in these days of lockdown. Winter Watch paused for 90 seconds in each of its eight episodes to give time for some of our five senses to kick in. (Touch, sight, smell, hearing and taste).
Ruth Esther Vawter – Pray Blog Author – gives us her contribution on senses and wellbeing
I believe in God because I see Him around me.
I believe in God because I Feel the presence of God.
I believe in God because I can smell His fragrance.
I believe in God because I can hear Him speak to me in various ways.
I believe in God because I can taste and know that He is God.
I believe in God because I believe the living word of God is true.
Our two Archbishops Invited us to set aside time every evening to pray, particularly at 6pm each day. More than ever, this is a time when we need to love each other and prayer is an expression of love.”
So let us take up this invitation to pray each day
Let us remember the work in the NHS, the sick and all those bereaved.
Let us pray for the safety of all front-line workers.
Let us pray for our government. the economy, the nation and the world as we battle with this pandemic. Let us pray for the rolling out of the vaccination programme.
In the Order of Compline –Last corporate Prayer of the day takes its form from psalm 17.
Compare Psalm 17 v 6-8 with the Compline Prayer.
6 I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer. 7Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes.
8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.
Compline Prayer
Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit;
For you have redeemed us, O Lord, O God of truth.
Keep us, O Lord, as the apple of your eye;
Hide us under the shadow of your wings.
KEEP US AS THE APPLE OF YOUR EYE & HELP US TO FIND OUR SAFETY UNDER THE SHADOW OF YOUR WINGS
Our church buildings are still closed, but we’re still worshipping together online. You can join us for ‘Church’ at 10:30am this morning via YouTube – Rev’d John Dracup leads a service of Holy Communion for the Parish of #Meltham and beyond……..ALL WELCOME 🙂 https://youtu.be/bk2AUeidvTY
Please can you email me any examples of kindness or love in action that you have seen or experienced during Lockdown. We would like to include them in the March magazine. They don’t have to be big, just anything that has brightened someone’s day.
Hello and welcome to February’s edition of the #Meltham Parish magazine. In this edition you will find updates from the Crossroads and details of their new initiative to brighten up the shop window. There is interesting information about postal slogans along with the new daily prayers for Lent. The Churches may be closed but God still listens!
As always a thank you to those who have contributed but we still need more content for next month, so send in how you’ve been creative or those jokes or stories you’ve heard or the poems you’ve written to help keep this magazine going and bring a smile to readers faces. The next deadline will be Friday 19th February.
We have managed to get copies printed for you this month so if you need a copy for your friends please do collect from the usual distribution points or contact your church warden.