Dear
all,
Draw
close to God
St.
Ignatius Loyola, who founded the Jesuits, spoke about the two
competing forces within - one which draws us toward God and the other
away. One “causes gnawing anxiety, saddens and sets up obstacles.
In this way it unsettles people by false reasons aimed at preventing
their progress.” The other, flowing from God’s Spirit “stirs up
courage and strength, consolations, inspirations and tranquillity.”
“Do
not be afraid!,” Jesus says many times in the scriptures.
Prayer
& Worship
In
our Gospel for Lent 4 we look at John 9 and Jesus' encounter with the
man born blind. The disciples try to rationalise why this might have
happened to him. We can be tempted to try to rationalise about this
virus. But rather than speculating, analysing and rationalising we
are better praying, consoling others, heeding guidance and
remembering Jesus' answer to those disciples that it is possible,
that even through what is a very testing circumstance, God can be
glorified. We do that in practical ways. We can stay in touch with
phone calls; come together to pray the Daily prayers from the Church
of England and trust in God. You will be joining my household, as we
do this every morning and from Monday March 23rd we will be live
recording Daily Prayer at 9:30 am through facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/AllsaintsEaling/
Many
things have been cancelled because of the virus. Love
and Prayer have not.
Good
neighbours
Loving
your neighbour can happen through very practical means. Taking
necessary precautions so we don't spread the illness, we can still
fulfil our Christian call to help others. We can buy only what we
need as we consider our neighbours and what their needs might be.
Goods can be left on their doorsteps with their arrangement.
Sundays
Sundays
can still be a special day set aside to connect with God. You might
like to choose a book of the Bible to which you feel a special
connection and spend some time with it, listening to God there. It
will take you about an hour to listen to David Suchet read the book
of Romans from which we have been preaching recently. David Suchet
came to faith at the age of 40 through reading Romans in a hotel room
in which he was staying. You may know David better as the great
detective Poirot. You can listen to him read whole books of the Bible
on Youtube; through the Youversion Bible app and through Bible
Gateway.
As
a Parish we will finish our Reframe course next week. We are going
to go on and study the book of Philippians with this free resource
https://ntwrightonline.org/from-the-desk-of-n-t-wright-march-17-2020/.
It is with the popular New Testament Scholar N T Wright who used to
be the Bishop of Durham and now teaches at Oxford. If you do not want
to formally study you could simply
read Philippians, which we
have chosen as our book for this season of isolated life together.
On
Sundays we will upload sermons to the website which will be
recordings of the voices of myself, Curate Julia and preacher Revd
Prof. Steve. We will be glad to keep you pilgrimaging through Lent
and into Easter and beyond, united in God’s Word.
If
you would like to virtually attend church the Archbishop of
Canterbury will be live-streaming a service on Sunday mornings on the
radio and we will signpost you to that through our facebook page when
we hear more.
You
can also be creative. You can gather your family to talk about the
Gospel because as we know Jesus said, “Where two or three are
gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Mt. 18:20). Remember
church is so much bigger than a building - it is you. The readings
for the following Sundays are included in the Prayer booklet which
you can download from our website here: http://www.allsaintsealing.org.uk/images/pdf/PRAYER_when_unable_to_meet.pdf
Connected
Trust
God is with you and your church community are holding you in prayer.
As
we walk the path to Calvary with Christ we do not have a Saviour
unable to sympathise with us in this difficult time. He understands,
not only because he is divine and understands all things but because
he is human and experienced all things. Go to him in prayer. He hears
us.
Though
All Saints Church will be ceasing all Sunday services and groups
until further notice, our communication with God continues in prayer.
As we remember to wash hands for 20 seconds , the Archbishop of
Canterbury has suggested that all Christians practice praying the
Lord’s Prayer as we do so and take the opportunity to offer the
concerns of this nation and the world to God.
Please
stay in touch with your church via the website, social media, email
and telephone.
This
Sunday (March 22nd) is to be a National Day of Prayer with the simple
act of placing a lit candle in a front window at 7 pm. Let's join in.
Let’s make this a commitment for every Sunday during the coming
weeks: ‘The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not
overcome it’ (John 1:5)
Let
us pray that God will guide us to be imaginative and creative in our
worship and prayer as God’s pilgrim people. Let us commit to keep
serving the neediest in our communities, keeping in contact to avoid
loneliness and unhelpful isolation. Let us pray that we will emerge
from this time a different church – one that has learned afresh to
be God’s own people (1 Peter 2:9),
with
love and prayers
Rachel
Marszalek (Vicar)
Charles
Mynors and Mo Perkins (Church wardens)
