Doreen will be brought into St Bartholomew’s Church on Thursday 9th July. The church will be open from 2:30pm – 6pm for private prayer and quiet music. This will be an opportunity for anyone wishing to go and pay their respects and say goodbye to Doreen. Social distancing must be observed.
A pre-recorded Virtual Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of Doreen led by Rev’d John Dracup will be made available on the Parish Website (www.melthamparish.co.uk) from 4pm on Friday 10th July (available for 14 days). You can take an order of service for this from church on the Thursday afternoon.
Due to the current Covid-19 restrictions, the committal will be family only and they ask that this is respected. Please pray for them.
Matt 8:23 -27 tells of the disciples’ angst and fear whilst, out in their boat in a storm, Jesus was sleeping.
Whatever noise and distractions there are around us, whatever worries and concerns are vying for our attention, when we begin to pray we need to find that centre of stillness within, settling into a moment of peace, asking for the peace only God can give.
Jesus was surprised that his disciples didn’t feel safe with Him in the boat.
The sea and the storm around them were symbols of the chaos from which God created the world. If we seek Him, Jesus has the same power to create and bring order to our lives.
This story is well known but you may wish to open the bible as you consider the following questions.
How do you react to crises that come into your life? Do you panic like the disciples? Put up your defences? Resign yourself to the inevitable? Or do you put all your trust in the Lord?
Remember Jesus rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.
Let us focus our prayers this week on :-
Leicester after 100 days lockdown to be the first to be put back into local Lockdown.
For our government as they run a programme of relaxation of the lockdown rules. Pray for peoples response.
For Social and financial implications already showing signs of the damage the pandemic has caused,
For all the peoples of the world whatever faith they have that, together we can openly recognise and see that we are all in the same boat, so let us seek Gods order for our world
Open Doors is an organization that works in over 60 countries providing support and emergency relief and supporting Christians who suffer for their faith. Across the world, the spread of coronavirus is having a devastating effect. Open Doors is reaching some of those affected and they are highlighting that:.
Christians are facing discrimination in the distribution of aid in countries which include Nigeria, India and Bangladesh.
Christian nurses are given COVID-19 patients to care for and denied PPE in the Gulf region – “because it is dangerous… We are dispensable.”
In Somalia, Religious minorities are blamed for the pandemic. Somalia is a very dangerous place for Christians.
Extremists are exploiting vulnerable Christians in lockdown. In Nigeria, 32 Christians were killed in one opportunistic attack.
For many the situation is overwhelming: “People have become so desperate that they are forced to trade their religion in exchange for food.”
My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be: I walked among the crowds of worshipers, leading a great procession to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration! Psalm 42:4 (NLT)
Psalm 42 will be familiar to many as it is the basis of the song As the deer pants for water. Perhaps this verse resonates with you at the moment as you think about how long it has been since you were able to worship God in Church alongside your Christian brothers and sisters.
The good news is that we can now begin to reopen our Churches. However this will not happen with the celebration and fanfare that some may have hoped. The pandemic may be under control, but it is not yet over.
Our reopening will need to be controlled and restrained, carefully thought through, cautious, and above all else safe. The first opening times will be:
Sunday July 5th 9:30 St Bartholomew’s – Meltham 10:30 St James’ – Meltham Mills
Sunday July 12th 9:30 St Bartholomew’s – Meltham 10:30 St James – Meltham Mills
These will be prayer services and will last about 30 minutes and will not include Communion or hymns. We will have to stay within a safe capacity of around 30 people in each service and if this capacity is reached we will sadly have no choice but to turn people away.
The doors will be opened around 10 minutes before the service and we need to encourage people not to arrive too early to avoid queuing.
There will not be any refreshments after the service and we must ask you not to gather for too long outside.
I understand that this is not the way that any of us would like our fellowship and worship to be but it is a beginning and in time things will improve.
No one should feel under any pressure to come to any of our buildings until they feel ready to do so. In truth, under the current circumstances, it would be difficult if everyone returned at the same time.
Our online services will continue. God bless, Reverend John (Vicar)
Online Parish Communion Services Our weekly Parish Communion will continue to be posted on our website www.melthamparish.co.uk and should be available for 10:30am. Please join in if you are able.
Zoom Services There is a weekly service available at 11:15 via Zoom. The link is available on our website. Help can be given if you haven’t used Zoom before.
Welcome to the July/August jam packed double edition of the #Meltham Parish Magazine. Hopefully this will be the final non-printed edition. We use Kirklees College to print and due to Covid-19 they are not able to do so yet. However, we hope you enjoy this double issue online. It’s brimming with updates from the Crossroads centre and each of the areas it supports. There are also thoughts from a Church Warden, the latest from Rev John’s youngest, Jack and the latest trials and tribulations of doing online services!
You can view the magazine online by using the link below:
The National Health Service came into being on 5 July 1948. 72 years ago this coming Saturday. During post-war reconstruction, improving the healthcare of the nation was seen as crucial to the nation’s recovery. Beveridge, the architect of the NHS, identified “five giants” that had to be slain: want, disease, squalor, ignorance and idleness. The cataclysm of war provided the stimulus for radical reform.
The NHS was based on principles unlike anything that had gone before. It was financed almost entirely from central taxation. That the rich paid more than the poor for comparable benefits was regarded as a crucial part of the scheme. Everyone was eligible for care, even people temporarily resident or visiting the country. People could be referred to any hospital, local or more distant. Care was free at the point of use, although prescription and dental charges were subsequently introduced.
During the current pandemic, there has been immense national and local support for the NHS and its front- line workers. The emergence of the Thursday ‘Clap for Carers’ was a significant experience in the lockdown. Thanksgiving binds communities together, turning ‘I’ into ‘we’. The contribution of carers and key workers who have given of themselves sacrificially needs to be honoured. Sharing stories of people and events during the crisis is likely to form the kernel of any community celebration. Unsung heroes need to be applauded.
Everlasting God, at this time we lift to you those from all nations and backgrounds who work on the front line in healthcare. Give them skill and wisdom in their work. Be their strength and their shield as they give of themselves in the care of others. Amen.
Prayers in relation to Covid-19
Keep us, good Lord, under the shadow of your mercy in this time of uncertainty and distress. Sustain and support the anxious and fearful, and lift up all who are brought low; that we may rejoice in your comfort knowing that nothing can separate us from your love in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Lord Jesus Christ, you taught us to love our neighbour, and to care for those in need as if we were caring for you. In this time of anxiety, give us strength to comfort the fearful, to tend the sick, and to assure the isolated of our love, and your love, for your name’s sake. Amen.
Collect for St Luke
Almighty God, you called Luke the physician, whose praise is in the gospel, to be an evangelist and physician of the soul: by the grace of the Spirit and through the wholesome medicine of the gospel, give your Church the same love and power to heal; 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.
Personal Prayer
How generous is your goodness, O God, how great is your salvation, how faithful is your love; help us to trust you in trial and praise you in deliverance; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Join us for a live broadcast of our Parish Communion for the Third Sunday after Trinity – 28th June from #Meltham Parish. The service will start at 10:30am though you can join a few minutes prior to check your feed is working and prepare for worship. As always, you can watch the service at any convenient time.
We are led to believe that Meltham is still currently experiencing issues with mobile phone service which is a key part of the infrastructure required for a live broadcast. This means we may have to experiment with locations before we go live. The link will therefore be posted to the website, once we have a stable connection (to hopefully avoid the issues last week where an updated link had to be issued).
Over a number of years, Meltham Churches Together Prayer Group
met in each other’s buildings on Wednesdays at 10 – 10-30am following a Rota.
It was good to pray in our places of worship. More recently, for a number
of reasons, it was decided that it made more sense to meet at St Bartholomew’s,
due its centrality, especially in the winter months. Leadership of each session
being shared following the Rota from the different churches and including our
Quaker Friend.
I remember well a prayer meeting where one of our Baptist members, was
in charge. George Mellor opened his Bible and shared the prayer
below, a prayer which he had glued to the inside cover of his Bible. You will
recognize it as a confessional prayer. In most worship services we have a
prayer of Confession and Absolution (Forgiveness) early on to re-establish our
relationship with God and to set us free to worship, praise, adore and thank
Him.
Gracious God, forgive me for those things I should have done but have
left undone: the acts of kindness I never found time for, the thoughtful word
never spoken, the message of encouragement or concern never sent, the helpful
deed never attempted. Forgive me for all the opportunities I have missed: the
plans I never made, the dreams I never brought to reality, the possibilities I never
even imagined, the gifts I never used. Forgive me for my failure to serve you
as I promised: the prayers I never offered, the sacrifices I never made, the
faith I never had, the commitment I never gave. Forgive me for so often having
time only for self: for being self-centered, self -important, self- righteous,
self-interested., self-indulgent, self-opinionated. Forgive me for forgetting
my friends, my neighbours, and, above all you. Gracious God save me from being
a person of unfulfilled intentions. Help me to translate my thoughts into
actions, to put my preaching into practice and so to turn my good intentions
into good deeds, to the Glory of your
Name.
Amen
I trust that through the Holy Spirit you might find this prayer
helpful. It is a prayer worth meditating on. Where do you see yourself in
the words of this prayer?
As a confessional prayer it is written by someone who desperately wants
to love and serve Jesus. Someone who understands repentance as openness to the
will of God and the way to forgiveness.
If you have other prayers that work for you, I would love to receive a
copy to share on these pages of prayer.
With UK’s Covid 19 Alert level being reduced, the virus is now in
– ‘General Circulation’ which gives us a gradual relaxation where possible. The
general populous might well ask how this is to be managed?
Newsflashes appear several times a day informing us of things
where we have ‘No Power’ to change but to heed and follow the advice we are
given by our Leaders, experts. and scientists. What we do have, when we are
open to God through his forgiveness of us, is the Power to intercede for those
who are struggling to get through the chaos of our times and for those who are
giving of themselves to help others. We also have an opportunity to pray for
the whole world and its needs. In our prayers let us open ourselves to the Holy
Spirit that we might pray according to God’s Will listening in silence and
using our imagination to express what we hear from God who has the answers to
all our needs.
When there seems no end in sight to the problems caused by the crisis.
When the clouds are heavy, Lord, and the storm seems to last forever;
when the night is dark, and the morning proves long in coming;
though rain is constant, and sunshine feels a distant memory;.
though the winter continues despite spring having also begun;
teach us to trust, to keep faith, to believe that day will dawn again
that the clouds will lift, and life will blossom once more;
that after tears will come laughter, after despair, joy,
after chaos, order, after sickness health, and after death, life.
Amen
