A word from Canon Sue
A prayer from Canon Sue
Lord of infinite greatness, you have ordered and adorned in equal perfection all that you have made; you have set in glorious array the eternal heavens, and yet paint the flower that only lasts a day. Give us courage to accept what we cannot change in your name and grace to do what we can in this time. to the honour of your name.
Lord of infinite greatness, you have ordered and adorned in equal perfection all that you have made; you have set in glorious array the eternal heavens, and yet paint the flower that only lasts a day. Give us courage to accept what we cannot change in your name and grace to do what we can in this time. to the honour of your name.
I write this in Holy Week, one unlike any in my memory. We are “locked in”, save for clearly defined exceptions.
Like in many crises, this Covid-19 has made huge changes. All Churches are locked and no-one may enter them, not me, churchwardens,
cleaners nor any other key holders until notified. And I pray that by the time you read this we have been advised that the restrictions are lifted.
But I, as I am sure you are doing, am listening to a variety of news sources and I shall not be at all surprised if we are still in the grip of this Emergency, when you get to read this.
I shared with a few of you something sent in the week I am writing this, to me from the Convent with which I am associated, in Wantage. Here it is.......
Some words of Thomas Merton: ‘You do not need to know precisely what is happening or exactly where it is going. What you need is to recognise the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.’
We all of us have different degrees of courage and understand it in different ways. I have had to face up to my limitations in this time with courage, speaking out about my inability to do worship technologically. Bishop John has echoed to me on this, the words
of the Archbishop of Canterbury that no one should feel forced to do new, innovative and technological worship at this time. There is plenty out there…on the web, the Cathedral Facebook Page, the television.
I do though have an opportunity as you do, to deepen my faith, to read and pray more, to talk to the vulnerable. Some will find, as any tragedy wrought upon the undeserving does, that their faith is wobbling. There never have been any knock down answers
about why bad things happen to good people. It can knock faith. And it is easy to get out of the habit of going to church.
But logging in to online worship as I have, I am astounded at the numbers doing so, far greater numbers than generally would be in church are joining in. For faith, which is not reliant on proof, but is faith, grounded in the eternal love of God, is a great comfort, a
support and an assurance of not being alone, if isolated.
Hope is the final thing that Thomas Merton says we need in the present moment, whenever that present moment is. Hope is grounded in the love of God who will transform the bleakest of times and places in ways we cannot imagine. And has a plan
for us that does not always appear to match our plans.
Following this is an apocryphal story I pulled out of some training materials from when I did my ministerial training at Queens.
Just imagine yourself in the position of both the Pope of the story and the Rabbi. The Jews were in Rome before St Paul went there,
before even Jesus was born. Their fate always depended, once Christianity was strongly established in the Roman Empire and subsequently, on the attitude of the Popes. I learned of this when I was in Rome last autumn. Some popes were tolerant of
the Jews; others forced them into the original ghetto. In this story, the Pope seems not to be eager to kick the Jews out of Rome. He is willing to debate. But silently. Then reflect on how very easy it is to misunderstand one another when the usual way of meeting and communication is denied you.
In the story it ends well for the Jews….
But in these times when we cannot meet as we did, when we email and talk on the phone, there is far more scope for misunderstanding. We must hope that the time will come when life will be more normal, we can meet and praise our Lord, give thanks for his saving death and his example of life lived fully and work with him to build the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
Prayers and Blessings
Sue.
Like in many crises, this Covid-19 has made huge changes. All Churches are locked and no-one may enter them, not me, churchwardens,
cleaners nor any other key holders until notified. And I pray that by the time you read this we have been advised that the restrictions are lifted.
But I, as I am sure you are doing, am listening to a variety of news sources and I shall not be at all surprised if we are still in the grip of this Emergency, when you get to read this.
I shared with a few of you something sent in the week I am writing this, to me from the Convent with which I am associated, in Wantage. Here it is.......
Some words of Thomas Merton: ‘You do not need to know precisely what is happening or exactly where it is going. What you need is to recognise the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.’
We all of us have different degrees of courage and understand it in different ways. I have had to face up to my limitations in this time with courage, speaking out about my inability to do worship technologically. Bishop John has echoed to me on this, the words
of the Archbishop of Canterbury that no one should feel forced to do new, innovative and technological worship at this time. There is plenty out there…on the web, the Cathedral Facebook Page, the television.
I do though have an opportunity as you do, to deepen my faith, to read and pray more, to talk to the vulnerable. Some will find, as any tragedy wrought upon the undeserving does, that their faith is wobbling. There never have been any knock down answers
about why bad things happen to good people. It can knock faith. And it is easy to get out of the habit of going to church.
But logging in to online worship as I have, I am astounded at the numbers doing so, far greater numbers than generally would be in church are joining in. For faith, which is not reliant on proof, but is faith, grounded in the eternal love of God, is a great comfort, a
support and an assurance of not being alone, if isolated.
Hope is the final thing that Thomas Merton says we need in the present moment, whenever that present moment is. Hope is grounded in the love of God who will transform the bleakest of times and places in ways we cannot imagine. And has a plan
for us that does not always appear to match our plans.
Following this is an apocryphal story I pulled out of some training materials from when I did my ministerial training at Queens.
Just imagine yourself in the position of both the Pope of the story and the Rabbi. The Jews were in Rome before St Paul went there,
before even Jesus was born. Their fate always depended, once Christianity was strongly established in the Roman Empire and subsequently, on the attitude of the Popes. I learned of this when I was in Rome last autumn. Some popes were tolerant of
the Jews; others forced them into the original ghetto. In this story, the Pope seems not to be eager to kick the Jews out of Rome. He is willing to debate. But silently. Then reflect on how very easy it is to misunderstand one another when the usual way of meeting and communication is denied you.
In the story it ends well for the Jews….
But in these times when we cannot meet as we did, when we email and talk on the phone, there is far more scope for misunderstanding. We must hope that the time will come when life will be more normal, we can meet and praise our Lord, give thanks for his saving death and his example of life lived fully and work with him to build the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
Prayers and Blessings
Sue.
This Sunday's online Service, starts at 10 am
