General Chat

Your vicar does make me smile Cynthia
and what better way to start the day.

Emma :-)

Edit......And he told them a parable to the
effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
Luke 18:1

Many thanks for the Summer blessing prayer, Cynthia.

Your Vicar is brilliant. What a good relationship you must have for him to write like he does. And so funny. :-D

My little offering for this morning is another verse from a hymn by Mrs Alexander (1818-1893):

Jesus calls us! Over the tumult
Of our life's wild restless sea.
Day by day his clear voice soundeth,
Saying: "Christian, follow me".

Have just opened an email from said Vicar.

In tiny, weeny print it says.....

Good morning. Feeling much better today and eyesight is improving. Do you need to borrow glasses to read this?



Doh! :-D

Good morning........... :-)

My vicar has just had a cataract operation done. The following day, I sent him an email asking how he was doing.

The reply I got?

ROUGH - in large letters!!! He is feeling much better now...... :-D


Today is the first day of Summer.......and so,


A Summer Blessing
(by Author Unknown)

May you walk with God
This summer
In whatever you do
Wherever you go


Walking with God means...
Walking with honesty
And with courage,
Walking with love
And respect
And concern for the feelings of others.


May you talk to God
This summer
And every day and
In every situation


Talking with God means...
Praying words of praise
For the beauty of creation
Saying prayers of thanks
For friends and good times,
Asking God's help
In all your decisions
Expressing sorrow
When you have failed.

May you talk with God
Every day Amen.



Cx :-)

Thankyou so much, Cynthia. I clearly remember the very first time I tried to pray in a public meeting. I was in my early 40's and had never really prayed except at side of bed when I was a child.

Everyone else in prayer meeting was so professional and I felt so inadequate. In the end, I blurted out, "thank you God for the lovely weather today.......errrrrr.......Amen"

And the others said afterwards it was a lovely prayer and thanked me :-) :-)

I am not sure I have shared this story, but in my old chapel in Northamptonshire, a lady sat behind me called Georgina. She had a soft Northern Irish accent and was in her 80's. Her grandma had told her about Sunday School in 1870's and how wonderful her Sunday School teacher was - the wife of the Rector, Mrs Alexander.

Mrs Alexander loved to explain the Creeds to her children. And parts of the Creeds are difficult for us adults, let alone children. So Mrs Alexander wrote a series of hymns for her students, including "All Things Bright and Beautiful".

Here is a verse she wrote for the children from "Once in Royal David's City":

And our eyes at last shall see him
Through his own redeeming love
For that child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heaven above.
And he leads his children on
To the place where he has gone.

Good morning.......

There are so many different types of prayer to be found - apart from those we pray ourselves.

It's a vast area to cover - from those which are very long - to those which are short and sweet.

There are prayers for specific occasions and prayers for global events.

There are those which are written in verse and those which are written in prose.

Prayers by famous people and prayers by children.

I'll do my best to give a good selection.



Meawhile.......I think this one is very apt for most of us at some time or other.



Lord,

Help me to remember
that nothing is going to happen
to me today that you and I
together can't handle.

Amen.


:-)

When he (Jesus) lived on earth abased
Friend of sinners was his name
Now above all glory raised
He rejoices in the same
Still he calls them brethren, friends
And to all their wants attends

O, for grace our hearts to soften
Teach us, Lord, at length to love
We alas forget too often
What a friend we have above
But when home our souls are brought
We shall love thee as we ought

(John Newton 1725-1807 - one of my favourite Christians of any age). How important it is to remember that Jesus loved sinners, his worst enemies. And we are taught to love our enemies as our dearest friends - however hard that might be in the heat of conflict sometimes.

Thanks Cynthia :-)

A lovely poem, Cynthia <3

A lovely poem, Cynthia, thankyou :-)

:-) :-) :-)

And a friend we have above all others :-)

Good morning................................friends..... :-)



Life is like a garden
And friendship like a flower,
That blooms and grows in beauty
With the sunshine and the shower.

And lovely are the blossoms
That are tended with great care,
By those who work unselfishly
To make the place more fair.

And, like the garden blossoms,
Friendship's flower grows more sweet
When watched and tended carefully
By those we know and meet.

And, if the seed of friendship
Is planted deep and true
And watched with understanding,
Friendship's flower will bloom for you.


Have a good day.....friends.... :-)

Thank goodness for that, thought it was only me
who did that sort of thing :-D
As always thank you Cynthia :-)

Emma

Cynthis

he he he he .......



I read it twice too ....

I read it and enjoyed it twice. Thanks very much Cynthia, as ever :-) :-)

Sorted! Thank you Renes........it's the dread error message strikes again!!

Cynthia

Looks like you remembered it twice :-D

I will do my best to remember Emma......... :-D



Another prayer from Helen Steiner Rice to start the day


If You Meet God In The Morning,
He'll Go With You Through The Day




"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" --
It speaks of His greatness,
it sings of His love,
And each day at dawning
I lift my heart high
And raise up my eyes
to the infinite sky.


I watch the night vanish
as a new day is born,
And I hear the birds sing
on the wings of the morn,
I see the dew glisten
in crystal-like splendor -


While God, with a touch
that is gentle and tender,
Wraps up the night
and softly tucks it away
And hangs out the sun
to herald a new day...


And so I give thanks
and my heart kneels to pray --
"God keep me and guide me
and go with me today."


- Helen Steiner Rice

Cx :-)

Morning Cynthia, your vicar sounds lovely and am now looking
to see if he has said anything amusing to you which you pass
on to us :-D
Thank you as always for your morning prayer.

Emma :-)

Cynthia. The 100 year old is inspirational. Plenty of others inspire me. And that prayer from Calcutta has certainly inspired me this morning - many thanks as ever :-) :-)

Two lay readers accredited in one day!!! Just a different world to mine, but lovely to hear of such a thing. We have not even had one person under training in over 5 years of being down in Valleys. We now have three "on note" - the first stage of training that takes 6 months to a year. Hopefully they will soon proceed to second stage which is called "on trial" and lasts 2-5 years approx. And that is on the whole mission of 14 chapels and about 300 members. And three "on note" that is mega for us and everyone talks about it as I go round.

I sometimes swap sermon notes with cousin who is a lay reader in Dover in Kent. I thought I was a pretty fierce preacher and a real traditional Methodist ranter - but his sermons were both more creative and cleverer than mine (which is not hard to believe). But also even fiercer if anything. I could happily sit under his ministry :-) I would be shaken - and stirred.

I got hold of a book by an Anglican, Rev Cleverley, some years ago - "Five Minute Sermons". They were short, very doctrinal and full of humour. Cleverley by name, cleverly by nature. Has anyone heard of him or his fantastic (and brief) sermons?

Pray that everyone has a lovely day today and an inspiring and fulfilling week :-) :-)