Reflections and Poems

 A Reflection by Catrin Hubbard 

 

 

 

 

Sheila Morris Lay Reader -  The Bolero

Sometimes all we need is a singing teddy ðŸ˜Šâ¤ï¸ thanks Sheila Morris (Lay Reader BTP)  

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Philippians 4:6-7 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Fm5xhwL6nPZ7kQzkuZBbjexM7uA2qtcT

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The church is different now

The church I knew vanished

The church I trained for

Offered my life for

Offered my all for

Different, hidden, house-bound

Absent, frightened, anxious

Needy, vulnerable, waiting

The capable, intelligent flock

Who offered skills and love

Now gone, behind closed doors

No longer there to care

But needing care

 

The church is different now

The buildings I know so well, closed

The liturgy, so familiar, unread

The elements of Eucharist lifeless

The hymn books gathering dust

The collection plate empty

The people have all gone home

As I prepare mentally for some 'going home'

I'm the carer of their souls

I am told I may have to bury them sooner than I thought

 

The church is different now

I am starting from scratch 

A new approach, one I hadn't trained for

New liturgy, new technology, online, virtual

Foreign, strange, changing every day

New advice from Bishops 

Who like us are having to imagine and create

 

As I recognise my exhaustion and anxiety

As I acknowledge my fear, 

my responsibility for my family and friends

My aching tired body that may be carrying symptoms

I turn to Christ, the head of the Church

And I see

 

My God is the same now

The God I know present

The God I trained for

Offered my life to

Offered my all to

Is calling me to be me

Only me

As I step into the unknown with God by my side

Blessings on you as you are church in a different way

How do we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? Psalm 137

Liz

Reverend Liz England

Team Rector-in-charge of Buxton, with Burbage and King Sterndale

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Jesus when I grow discouraged, and the clouds alone I see
Strengthen thou my feeble spirit, give me grace to live in Thee.
Bear with me in my impatience, bid my restlessness to cease
And when storms around me gather fill my eager heart with peace.
Not deserving of Thy caring in this erring life of mine
But I know that Thou will guard me since I am a child of Thine.
Father bless me and forgive me, to the end my trust will be
In the mercy powerful ever to direct my soul to Thee.
Pam Hollamby, St. John's 

(Taken from a a prayer card) 

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This pause...

Is allowing a focus

On the purely Spiritual.

Forget the meandering shop,

The commute, the bicker,

Step back from the Material,

Hear the birdsong, the wind,

Notice the buds,

Revel in the Natural.

Most of all...

Hear God’s voice within –

The ‘Internal Beautiful’ –

The Hope, the Companionship

Within His heart-held Community,

The Ever Bountiful.

Gilly Thompson, St. Johns' 

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Beatitudes for a global pandemic written by Jayne Manfredi

Blessed are those who stay indoors for they have protected others.

Blessed are the unemployed and the self-employed, for their need of God is great.

 Blessed are the corner shopkeepers, for they are the purveyors of scarce things.

 Blessed are the delivery drivers and the postal workers, for they are the bringers of essential things.

Blessed are the hospital workers; the ambulance crews, the doctors, the nurses, the care assistants, and the cleaners, for they stand between us and the grave, and the Kingdom of Heaven is surely theirs.

Blessed are the checkout workers, for they have patience and fortitude in the face of overwork and frustration.

Blessed are the refuse collectors, for they will see God despite the mountains of waste.

Blessed are the teachers, for they remain steadfast and constant in disturbing times.

Blessed are the church workers; the deacons, priests and bishops, for they are a comforting presence in a hurting world as they continue to signpost towards God.

Blessed are the single parents, for they are coping alone with their responsibilities and there is no respite.

Blessed are those who are alone, for they are children of God and with Him they will never be lonely.

Blessed are the bereaved, for whom the worst has already happened. They shall be comforted.

Blessed are those who are isolated with their abusers, for one day – we pray - they will know safety.

Blessed are all during this time who have pure hearts; all who still hunger and thirst for justice; all who work for peace and who model mercy. May you know comfort. May you know calm. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all. Amen.

Shared with permission 

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This is a photo that I took on 18th January 2014, on the Derby Diocese Curates’ Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, just after a Eucharist service in the Crusader church which is attached to a Benedictine monastery at Abu Gosh.  It is one of 4 sites with a claim to being Emmaus (the only one with a spring), and the figures on the chalice (which we were allowed to use in our service) are of Jesus flanked by the 2 disciples whom he met on the Emmaus road.  

Revd John Overton 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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From someone from the Parish

  On Friday evening my son came home with a surpise - a box with 27 of the tiniest chicks you’d ever seen, all chirping happily. I can't describe the joy I felt to see them. iI was so appropriate at Easter, and even more so this year - an Easter full of sadness but also of hope! I found myself thinking "Yes, this is Easter; sadness and hope." 

The chicks are now out of their box and in their next temporary home, which is warm, dry, airy and big enough for them to look at a larger world. Amazing - a time to say goodbye and to be ready for the new beginnings, which the chicks from their eggs give to us.

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