The Church is Not Just a Building

Today, the altar would have worn its red dress, the flower arrangers would have celebrated in their beautiful way, and we would have filled the sacred space with music. The Coronavirus Pandemic changed all of that, the Church Building was left to itself, alone and empty but the Church Members were still together in Spirit. Revd. John Bridge led us in a thoughtful reflection and prayer by online video.

The Church is the Body of Christ

Pentecost reminds us of this,

The festival of Shavu’ot (Pentecost) arrived, and the believers all gathered together in one place. Suddenly there came a sound like the roar of a violent, rushing wind, filling the whole house where they sat. Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire which separated and came to rest on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in different languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

Acts 2;1-4

Wherever that house was, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter did not come to bless the house, but the people and believers gathered there. It was the people who went out into the street and began to praise God and proclaim Jesus as Lord and Saviour. About 3000 other people became believers that day, they came as “living stones’ and as “living stones” with hands and feet; hands to reach out and take the hands of others, feet to walk and run and dance; mouths and tongues to tell, hearts, and mouths to sing.

The building in which they gathered on that Pentecost morning has long gone. The people, the believers, have gone – from strength to strength. The flesh and blood remains, the Living Body of Christ. The people are the Church.

The people missed the Cake and Pentecost Lunch/Party that would have followed over in the Church Hall, especially we missed the cake; wherever Rowley’s people are having fellowship together there must be cake. Today the Hall also stood alone, empty, yet the Church still met together as we held one another in our hearts and thoughts we were met in Christ… He was with us… the Church is more than just a Building. The Church is the People.

To the People in its infant days, Saint Paul sent these words in a letter.

“Now You together make up the body of Christ and individually you are parts of it; and God has placed in the body, (church) .. first, Apostles, second, prophets, third, teachers; then those who work miracles; those with gifts of healing; those with ability to help, those skilled in administration, and those who speak in various tongues.

I Corinthians 12. 27-28

Carole Annetts
P..C..C secretary/Girl Friday

And here are two of St Giles gifted people. Carole keeps the P.C.C. Minutes in good order, her tools of trade include notebook and pencil, shorthand, Carole organises Fund Raising Events, Flower Festivals, Social Events and the, oh so welcome, Parish Outing. Girl Friday is just about right in our modern day equivalent of the 1 Corinthians 12 passage. Where would churches and organisations be without people like Carole?

And this is Yvonne Owen, Church Wardens are there for everyone, got a problem, call in the Wardens. If they can’t fix it, they will find someone who can. Think something is a little bit on the unfair side, balancing things up, weighing things up, Wardens can be relied on to get the mix right, just as easily as Yvonne produces cake… cake to celebrate, cake to share, all with kindness and firmness, cake making and Church wardening require skills of judgement, to gauge the right ingredients, the right quantities. So here’s to Yvonne..

Yvonne Owen
Church Warden/Cake Maker Extraordinaire f

Dear Lord,

Good Father of us all,

Watch over us in these times of pandemic,

And dis-ease. And watch between us,

Especially, Father we pray for those of us with

No internet, no smart phone, those who are truly alone,

Bless their days and their nights: enfolding them in

Your loving protective arm, until we can hold them,

And give them the hug they so long for.

Your church is not the building but the people, and

Whatever skills or talents, position or place we may have;

We have all learnt from your grace that the best of your

Gifts at Pentecost is Love.

Therefore give us love, Holy, Heavenly Love, and

Let us pursue love!

And let us all say Amen!

Prayer: Tides and Tidings

Next time, perhaps some of our menfolk will say hello!

Everyday Bread

Everyday Bread

I am a plain, ordinary everyday woman, who loves bread, and life. Sometimes I am a bit crusty, sometimes a little soft, it all depends how I get out of bed in the morning.

That is not how Jesus is.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”

Hebrews 13: 8

Long time, church member Nellie Bird used this verse a lot, life had its ups and downs for Nellie, as it does for us all, yet she was always confident that her Lord and Saviour was with her through it all, that troubles taken to the Lord in prayer were troubles He made His own, and in time her prayers were answered as it was best for her and those she prayed for. Nellie had made a choice as a young woman which she never regretted. She had chosen Christ as the one to follow, whatever delicacies were laid out on life’s table, she always chose the Bread of Life.

Everyday bread takes time to make, dough needs much work, takes time to prove and time to bake. It also needs that mysterious substance, yeast

Goddisgoode

Written like God’s E-mail address,

In years gone by

It was the name for yeast,

Mysterious, powerful,

Whose origin, like Manna’s

No one knew. And so

They called it goddisgoode

Because, they said,

It come through of the grace of Godde.

That is the heart of all.

Ann Lewin

Just as the scriptures sometimes teach that yeast (leaven) can be a bad thing, as St Paul writes concerning the the old yeast of malice and evil (1 Corinthians 5: 6-8) .. if you have ever had “yeast go off” at home, you will know just what he means ~ they also teach us about the good, new yeast of the Kingdom of Heaven;

Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until it was all leavened

Matthew 13:33

Lord,

Teach us to choose, well

You have given us so much, we all have

Received, bountifully from your hand all that is needful

To sustain us on our Life’s journey, help us to choose

The fresh, and wholesome teaching of the Kingdom,

That we may be good, bread, and wholesome,

Broken and blessed in Jesus,

Shared and tasted with pleasure at Your Holy Table.

Prayer from Tides and Tidings.

All scriptures taken from NRSV

Sunshine, And Victory

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Out in the sunshine

Friday, 8th May 2020, a Sunny Day, and despite Coronavirus, a day to remember and give thanks for that, day, 75 years ago when Victory in Europe was finally ensured after 5 years of fighting and anguish.

This year’s special planned events and celebrations were quietly sabotaged by the global Pandemic, which although not reducing cities to rubble, nations crushed under tanks, has caused devastation nonetheless and like actual warfare, tragic consequences for people in 187 countries, with recorded deaths of 300,000 globally..

A silent enemy wreaking havoc.

An indiscriminate enemy taking away the rich as well as the poor. Victory over this wicked Virus still remains to be won. In the U.K. as during WWII ordinary people are all doggedly committed to do their part.

As Friday 8th May neared… tea parties in homes, back gardens, front gardens were planned and achieved…bunting and flags came out with tea and cakes, songs were sung, memories were recalled as they were around the world… … many nations remembering, giving thanks. Many nations together will also defeat this disease with the Lord as our helper the battle will be won. May God grant that when that victory is ours, we will not forget the hungry, homeless, and oppressed peoples in the world but march and work together to rebuild a fairer world, and a world where the ogres of greed are defeated and the earth which out which comes our daily bread is allowed to breathe and heal, in the same way as Coronavirus patients.

Out in the Sunshine on Friday with tea and cake, were our beloved Dennis and Barbara Callow, Dennis is fighting his own personal battle with illness and giving the enemy many a well aimed blow, Barbara is his beloved wife and personal coach. We posted this photo just for you Dennis and Barbara, thank you for your wonderful love, support and encouragement through the years, and the many cups of tea, coffee and cake provided after Sunday Morning Services.

The Peony waved as the Victory Flag in the Garden for Reverend Barrie Roberts and his beloved Wife Katie. Both are looking eagerly to seeing the Coronavirus battle won.

Father, we pray for peace on earth and goodwill among all people. We ask your blessing on the work of all who strive for both justice and peace, for all who work for the healing of the Nations and for all the ills of the world, and especially those who seek a vaccine in the battle against Coronavirus, on those who care for the sick and ease the sufferings of others. We pray for all who seek to bring unity and friendship between nations and for all who give themselves to be salt and light in the world in union with Christ Jesus, our Lord.

If our love were but more simple,

We should take Him at His word;

And our lives would be all sunshine

In the sweetness of our Lord.

F.W.Faber

The Peace of Wild Things and Coronavirus

Blue Tit: Trish Cornford

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come to the still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free

Wendell Berry

As I watered the plants on the window sill, I heard the sound of childish giggles and watched as children found delight in discovering grass, buttercups and daisies they could play in under Mom’s watchful eye.

As the weeks of Lockdown roll by, more and more family groups are coming to explore the wide grass verge and bombard Moms and Dads with queries, “What’s this one called?” And, “What’s that tree?” Sometimes Mom or Dad will know the answer and sometimes not. Many today have lost touch with the wild things. Today’s children do not enjoy the freedom to roam many of us older people had when growing up, freedom to search out wild flower specimens to take home and press flat, with the help of a stack of books piled on top. And yet more and more want to be sure that the flowers, butterflies, bees, birds and trees are going to be there when their own children and grandchildren are grown up.

It is such a shame that not all have a garden of their own to take refuge in during Lockdown days. To live in an apartment or high rise flat with no Balcony must be no fun at all. To have the responsibility of family, especially children to feed and take care of must be a dreadful worry for many.

I think Jesus understood that, when He spoke about the birds of the air

Look at the birds flying about! They neither plant nor harvest,nor do they gather food into barns: yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they are?”

Matthew 6:26 (CJB)

Well, yes. We are worth more than many sparrows to our Heavenly Father and we can trust Him to take care of us and we can like Wendell Berry find the “peace of the Wild things” and “rest in the grace of the world” – freedom from our worries. Even the simplest pot plant on a window sill, buttercups and daisies in a jar, and the briefest flash of a butterfly wing can lift our spirits. Imagine yourself as the smallest bird and let your heart and mind settle in God our rest and nest.

Robin Photo by Trish Cornford

Father, we pray for all those who are worried about what tomorrow may bring, all who are shut in with no garden, all who live alone and rely on Carers to help them with the ordinary things of life, like getting up in the morning and getting in bed at night. Those who need someone to remind them to take their medication: those who worry about them. Those who stand by to come to our aid at the drop of a hat, paramedics, ambulance crew, firefighters and police. We pray for those who cannot rest for fear someone needs them. Lord we pray for all these, for all who are sick, for all who are dying that they may hear your beloved and gentle voice calling them to come home to the nest the Lord Jesus has carefully made for them. How could your love do otherwise? In The Name of Jesus we ask it.