Hello everyone. 2 April 2020
Hope you're all keeping safe and well. How
are you finding doing a weekly timetable.Thank you for joining me doing the
Lord's Prayer every Wednesday at 11am and also praying for one another and the
community from 11am until 12 noon on Thursdays.
What new things are you learning and how is
it going? Did anyone sign up to the Tom Wright course - how are you finding it?
Let me encourage you with part of my
readings.
"Learning to tune in to God can only
ever be beneficial. This is what Jesus describes as seeking first God's kingdom
(Matthew 6: 33). The challenge is to move away from allowing the pressures of
life to dictate both mood and behaviour. It is choosing to seize the initiative
and determining how I will show up in my world and imposing God's rule within my
time/space experience". Prayer. I want to turn to you, Lord, and feed off
your love and grace before stepping into my day. Help me find a routine to
become God-aware from my first thought. Amen.
I want to try and find you different things
to do and think about also. Did you know that there are five human love
languages as proposed by a christian, Dr Gary Chapman. Each of us has a primary
love language, but we all need them all maybe at different times - the primary
one is always there. They are
1 Words of affirmation. This love
language expresses love with words that build up. Verbal compliment don't have
to be complicated - the simplest and shortest praises can be the most
effective.
2 Acts of service. The motto for this
one can be "action speaks louder than words". This love language
expresses itself by doing things that you know the person would like.
3 Receiving gifts. This love language
isn't necessarily materialistic; it just means that a meaningful and thoughtful
gift makes the person feel loved and appreciated. This is different than acts
of service where you show affection by performing acts to help the person.
4 Quality time. This is all about
undivided attention. No television, no smartphone or any other distraction. It
doesn't mean you can't curl up on the settee to watch Netflix!
5. Physical touch. To people with this
love language, nothing is more impactful - a touch on the shoulder, a hug.
Each one is important and expresses love in
its own way.
Do you know what your primary love language
is and do you know what are the ones of each member of your household. You have
time to discover the primary love language of each member of your household.
Some may be a bit more difficult to carry out at this time, but I know you are
all really creative. Have some fun with it. Sit down together and try and guess
or work out what they are, if you know, practice it and be kind to each other
and others you are in contact with too.
I love the Psalms and particularly those of
David that exhorts us to encourage ourselves and trust God. Read Psalm 46 and
as aPsalm of praise read 47 too. If you're bored of using Happy Birthday tune
when washing hands, you can use
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
praise him all creatures here below, praise him above you heavenly host, praise
Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Praises to God really lifts the spirit too.
Hope the young one are doing well too.
I shall be putting the Sunday readings on the
website again and did you know that Sunday will be Palm Sunday and we will then
be in Holy Week.
Attached is something the whole family can
get involved with. Got it from the Baptist website. Enjoy and let me know how
it goes. You know the saying every cloud has a silver lining. Well, as a result
of not so many cars on the road, the air pollution level has dropped.
Thank you for continuing to care for and love
one another.
God bless you all
PS Please pray for Kate and her family at
this time as her brother, Eric, died yesterday due to Covid 19. May the Lord
comfort, support and strengthen them all at this difficult time. keep safe
TEN THINGS TO DO
Ten easy things to do … to help us talk to each other … listen … be calm and relax … be quiet and still … and, perhaps, be silent … Go outside and listen to the birds. I wonder how many different songs you can hear.
Go to the same place every day, stand still just for a minute or so … and look. Ask yourself each day, ‘I wonder how it is different from yesterday?’
Make a ‘person’ to look after. You could cut a stick-person out of some cardboard packaging that comes through the door; wet some kitchen paper or loo roll and make a tube person round your finger, dry it on the window sill and then give it a face; turn a sock into a person on your hand. Each day take your person for a little walk and talk to them. Tell them what you see. What do they say back to you?
Look out of the window and watch for people walking past. There may not be very many. When you see someone, say, ‘God bless you.’ They won’t hear you, but you will share in God’s blessing of every person in the world.
If you can go out and find a flower, count how many petals it has. You could find a different kind of flower each day. Could you keep a list of what you have found?
Look out of the window and watch the clouds. I wonder what shapes you can see. I wonder how many different colours you can see in the sky at once.
Once a day, before you eat something, think where it might have come from. Imagine its journey to your plate. Say thank you.
Find a nearby tree. Visit it every day, just for a minute or two. Watch how it changes.
Lie on your back. Close your eyes and listen for one minute. I wonder what you can hear. Do this in a different place every day.
Learn the Lord’s Prayer together and say it every day. Choose a
bit each day to think about more
Stella
SUNDAY 29 MARCH 2020
Good morning everyone
Hope you remembered that clocks have now sprung forward an hour!
Just wanted to share a few thoughts with you.
In my readings I read this
Life experience can either result in greater wisdom, or simply add frustration. Wisdom is not guaranteed with age. With confidence, I affirm St Paul's declaration that God comforts us in all our troubles. This is not to say that our troubles go away. Certainly we may begin our prayers in this manner. Yet, if troubles endure, we face the challenge of discovering God's comfort in those troubles. Each of us will experience disappointment and heartache. Yet, the great news is that God is present throughout and can be found wherever we find ourselves. As we find God's comfort for ourselves, so we have the authority to comfort others. We empathise, pray and praise God together.
We are being encouraged to be nurture our mental well being in simple ways by
1. maintain contact by phone and/ social media with family and friends
2. keep regular routine. - do get dressed etc
3. focus on a hobby and/or learn a new one
Pass it on to those you are in contact with.
I want to encourage us all to also nurture our spiritual well being.
Read the Scriptures, memorise verses. Has anyone memorised last year's church verse? Do you know what our verse for 2020 is?
Have you had time yet to read the lessons for today (posted on website). The Psalm for today is rather poignant. It is a Psalm of lament. We need to do that too. We can then move on to hope and that leads to healing and witness. It was great to see so many applauding the NHS workers on Wednesday. Are you willing to share the good news in the same way with people when you know you might be ignored or even ridiculed. I was blessed when I heard that the manager in John Lewis called staff together and they prayed about this situation. (John Lewis is continuing to support the vulnerable and NHS staff.)
We are facing a complex, demanding and difficult situation but with God, all things are possible and we will get through this together. Our church building may be closed, but the church of God is fully open, praying, working together and looking after one another and those in need.
Remember to put the candle in your windows at 7pm and pray for our nation.
I'm just going to start my prayer for you all. God give you peace, joy, hope and blessing now and always.
Stella
25th MARCH 2020
URGENT FROM STELLA
Hello everyone.
We are being offered an online course for free (normally costs £149-99) by one of the leading Christian theologians of our time in this country. In fact I was due to go on a conference to hear him in May, N T Wright. There is only a short window of opportunity to enrol - you have until 5pm this Friday. It is a resource for our spiritual growth at home during this unprecedented and challenging time. Tom Wright explains things in the way that we can understand and apply it to our daily lives. The link you need to apply is, Simply Jesus-TKC gift. Please do it as soon as possible and pass on to others that you think might be interested. We need to nourish and grow spiritually especially during this time knowing that The Lord is with us and understands all we're going through.
Stay blessed and keep safe.
Stella
