I found this on my Facebook page today:
We who were once far off,
who wandered as if
in a wilderness,
searching for water,
desperate for shade,
now rest in your embrace,
feast on your word,
drink from a well
that will never run dry,
and have found the place
we were searching for,
as Christ has brought us home.
During the British National Suicide Prevention week spare a thought and a prayer for those who suffer so badly they would take their own life.
A short Easter service on Christ seeing us from the least.
This is one of the most memorable stories  I have ever heard! It comes in Katheleen O’Sullivan’s superb book Light out of Darkness in a chapter on A listening experience:
When I began to write about ‘listening’ I felt urged in prayer to go out among the people and listen. I went into a fish-and-chip shop. The space was very limited. It was a bitterly cold day. Perhaps the cold made us a pretty soulless group of people. I was trying to listen. There seemed to be little communication between us. I smiled at a little girl who was splashing vinegar on her chips. For a moment, her mother half looked and half smiled at me. We were there seemingly for one purpose only, to get our food, to get home and be comfortable. I felt depressed as I listened.
Suddenly I became aware of a change in the atmosphere. Continue reading
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Luke 19.28-40
Tell me – how many cheers do you give today. And that the answer to that depends on whither you greet this morning with unalloyed joy or with mixed feelings. Certainly Christ greeted the Jerusalem crowd with the latter. As a result, our lesson this morning speak volumes for many of us here – many also who are just out there – many who have mixed feelings about entering. Continue reading
It’s amazing the old computer discs that we all have lying around! Faced with a bitter snowy day, I looked out an rally car simulator from 2000. Now I have to say, I had never got this program to run properly but this time I did.
As a result I spent the afternoon happily rallying up a sun drenched French mountain. Don’t you just love computer simulators for allowing us to do what we cannot afford to do in real life!
Yet real life is no simulation. Continue reading
A prayer for the Church in troubled times
Lord, your Church is like a ship all at sea
It is at once beset with the storms of controversy
yet surrounded by the drowning waters of disinterest.
Be then a light ahead to guide us
a commanding presence walking through the apathy
and an inspiring voice stilling the storm
encouraging your disciples
and taking the helm until we reach again
safer shores.
Amen
What music makes our hearts sing?
What music opens us up inside?
What music enables friendship for us
We do not know
Yet we recognise it when it is there
And when it is here.
Let us pray
Living God,
You are the creator
Indeed you are the very first artist
The first writer and the first composer.
For, Lord you are the craftsman
who shaped each of us wonderfully
Shaped this church beautifully
And you shaped the world around us
magnificently.
Therefore we pray for ourselves, our Church family
And the Christian community across the globe.
May it be a welcoming place for all
So that in word, song and music
We may know your son’s companionship
We may know the joy of worshipping you
And we may know your power and glory and love
In everything we do.
Amen
The Grange Observatory 