General Chat

Good morning :-)


Good morning everyone.......and today, we wish all our Scottish friends a very Happy St. Andrew's Day as they celebrate the feast of that important saint. Or, to put it another way 'Latha fèill Anndrais sona dhuibh' ????


The Church of England is preparing for Advent & Christmas 2020 with a campaign called Comfort and Joy in the hope that it will bring joy and celebration after such a difficult year.

I have prepared an Advent calendar on a similar theme and so, from tomorrow, will post the link each day. Hope you enjoy it. :-) <3

Lord, in a world where worry, not peace, prevails, stir up that good news again. This Advent make it real in our hearts. Never have we needed Your joy and peace more than now.


Cx :-)

Hello all

Really very different not being in church for when the 1st Advent candle is being lighted. Different now

Heavenly Father
As your kingdom dawns,
Turn us from darkness into a light of holiness,
So that we might reach out and meet you
Through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Church is opening again next Sunday. Can't wait!

Sending out ((hugs)) for all who are struggling.

Good morning :-)

Today is Advent Sunday - the lead up to Christmas

The Collect (special prayer) for today:



Almighty God,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life,
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.


Cx :-)

Good morning :-)


Faith is not merely praying
Upon your knees at night
Faith is not merely straying
Through darkness to the light.
Faith is not merely waiting
For glory that may be,
Faith is not merely hating
The sinful ecstasy.
Faith is the brave endeavour
The splendid enterprise,
The strength to serve, whatever
Conditions may arise.


Cx :-)

Good morning :-)


Life is a Journey

Life is but a stopping place,
a pause in what's to be,
A resting place along the road,
to sweet eternity.

We all have different journeys,
different paths along the way,
We all were meant to learn some things,
but never meant to stay.

Our destination is a place,
far greater than we know.
For some the journey's quicker,
for some the journey's slow.

And when the journey finally ends,
we'll claim a great reward,
And find an everlasting peace,
together with the Lord.



Cx :-)

Good morning :-)

A Brand New Start
God sometimes brings us to a place
where answers can't be found...
Where we cannot see tomorrow,
for confusion all around.

Yet deep inside we realize
that all things work for good...
Even times when we've been wounded
and we feel misunderstood.

Don't dwell on the injustice
and stay focused on God's heart...
Find forgiveness and go on,
you can make a brand new start.

by Jill Lemming


Cx :-)

Good morning :-)


Thank you Vera, that was an interesting story and yes, you do have a talent and I think it is having the ability to say the right thing at the right time. You will have more than just that I am sure <3 <3


For today:

Trust in the Lord

The wind's not always at our back,
The sky is not always blue.
Sometimes we crave the things we lack,
And don't know what to do.

Sometimes life's an uphill ride,
With mountains we must climb.
At times the river's deep and wide,
And crossing takes some time.

No one said that life is easy,
There are no guarantees.
So Trust in the Lord continually,
On calm or stormy seas.

The challenges we face today,
Prepares us for tomorrow.
For faith takes our fears away,
And peace replaces sorrow.



Cx :-)

I enjoyed last week’s posts about people’s talents and a couple were very appropriate.

On the day you wrote about Mary Berry I was making one of her recipes and writing a list of ingredients for one of her Christmas cakes.

On the day you wrote about Edward Jenner I had been reading about Albert Schatz, a Jew from a poor farming family. He was born in 1920 in America. Because of anti Jewish discrimination he could only get into a minor university on a soil biology course. While still a student he did a huge amount of research and discovered Streptomycin which attacks a certain type of bacteria that isn’t affected by penicillin. It proved effective against TB. At this point his supervisor took over and pretty much excluded Schatz, getting him to sign his patents over to the university and taking all the credit himself. In 1952 the supervisor received a Nobel prize and it was many years before Schatz’s contribution was recognised. This seemed to me to be an example of someone who overcame great disadvantages to use his talents for the benefit of others. (Information from “The Body” by Bill Bryson)

Sadly, at quite an advanced age, I am still trying to find my talents. Does an ability to muddle through count? :-D

Good morning :-)



The Glory That Is God

It's the kind word softly spoken
And the friendly laughter heard,
It's the smile of proffered friendship
And the heavy burden shared,
It's the gently hand that guides us
As each weary mile we plod,
It's the splendour of His giving
And the glory that is God!
- John McLeod


Cx :-)

Good morning :-D



Before U were thought of or time had begun,
God had stuck U in the name of His Son.
And each time U pray, you'll see it's true,
You can't spell out JesUs and not include U.

You're a pretty big part of His wonderful name,
For U, he was born; that's why He came.
And His great love for U is the reason that he died,
It even takes U to spell crUcified.

Isn't it thrilling and splendidly grand,
He rose from the dead with U in His plan.
The stones split away, the gold trUmpet blew,
and this word resUrrection is spelled with a U.

When Jesus left the earth at His upward ascension,
He felt there was one thing He just had to mention.
"Go into the world and tell them it's true,
That I love them all-Just like I love U.

So many great people are spelled with a U,
Don't they have the right to know JesUs too?
It all depends now on what U will do,
He'd like them to know, but it all starts with U.

Will U pass it on?
JesUs Loves U!!!


Cx :-)

Hello all

An interesting post as always Cynthia. Thank you.

We live in a world full of injustice, with great divides in our societies - for instance people living in complete luxury, whilst others are starving, a sad but true reality.

Heavenly Father
Help us to hear the call of Christ the King, and
to follow in his service.
We pray for the world to be more balanced, and
for compassion and a fairness towards everyone.
Amen.

Good morning :-)


Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King – the final Sunday in the church’s year – the Sunday before Advent. The gospel presents us with the vision of the last judgement, when the Son of Man comes in Glory.

The Collect (special prayer) for today)

Eternal Father,
whose Son Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven
that he might rule over all things as Lord and King:
keep the Church in the unity of the Spirit
and in the bond of peace,
and bring the whole created order to worship at his feet;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.



Matthew 25.31–46

‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.

Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?”

And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.”

Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’


Cx :-)

Hello all

Florence Nightingale was inspirational and so are all of the NHS workers during this pandemic.
Pray for strength for them all as their workload increases and also for opportunities to rest for those who are very tired.

Good morning :-)

Just a short time ago, we celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale. Florence was a Christian and a member of the C. of E. It is said that she prayed heavily for God to give her a life-defining task and that she was absolutely tenacious and determined to fulfil her purpose. She would just not rest until she could seize hold of that for what she had been called, nor would she rest until she had taken hold of that for which Christ had taken hold of her.

When she did finally attain that and took it to heart, she revolutionized nursing.

Lord, may we take our meagre talents and use them for your glory. Amen.


Cx :-)

Good morning :-)


Mary Berry – finding and using her talent

Born in 1935, in Bath, Mary was the middle child with two brothers and grew up to be an ‘outdoors’ child.

At the age of 13, she contracted polio and had to spend three months in the hospital. This resulted in her having a twisted spine, a weaker left hand and thinner left arm. She has said that the period of forced separation from her family while in the hospital "toughened her up" and taught her to make the most of every opportunity she would have.

At High School, Mary says that her academic abilities were "hopeless" until she attended domestic science classes. Encouraged by one of the teachers, Mary found that domestic science was her saviour. ‘I found something I was good at,’ she says.

In 1966 she married her husband Paul and they had 3 children. One of their sons died at the age of 19 in a car crash and Mary is now the Patron of Child Bereavement UK.

She is a member of the Church of England and worships at Holy Trinity Church in Penn, Bucks.

Once Mary had found her talent, she took it to its full potential and has encouraged thousands of people to enjoy preparing food. We thank God for this inspiring woman.

Cx :-)

Good morning :-)

Three questions for you...

Q1. A disease which once killed millions? A. Smallpox
Q2. What has been in the news this week? A. Vaccines for Covid
Q3. Who is known as the Pioneer of Vaccines? A. Edward Jenner

In his personal life, Jenner was a devout Christian and held the Bible in high regard. Amiable, quiet and warm-hearted and ever ready with the appropriate Bible verse, Jenner was anxious that his discovery would be used as widely as possible. He once said….“the whole creation is the work of God’s hands. It cannot manage itself.

Born in Gloucestershire he was the son of the local vicar. At the age of 14, he was apprenticed to a local surgeon and then trained in London. In 1772, he returned home and spent most the rest of his career as a doctor in his native town.

In 1796, he carried out his now famous experiment on eight-year-old James Phipps.
He was testing his theory, drawn from the folklore of the countryside, that milkmaids who suffered the mild disease of cowpox never contracted smallpox.

Jenner subsequently proved that having been inoculated with cowpox Phipps was immune to smallpox. He submitted a paper to the Royal Society in 1797 describing his experiment but was told that his ideas were too revolutionary and that he needed more proof. Undaunted, Jenner experimented on several other children, including his own 11-month-old son. In 1798, the results were finally published and the vaccination treatment was born. Jenner coined the word vaccine from the Latin 'vacca' for cow.

We thank God for Edward Jenner and for others such as he, who use their talents to benefit others in such amazing ways.

Cx :-)

Hello all

I've been blessed with seeing my glass half full most of the time, some days are better than others.

Heavenly Lord
you long for the world's salvation:
stir us from apathy,
refrain us from excess, and
revive in us a new hope
that all creation will one day be healed.
In Jesus Christ our Lord
Amen.

Gentle hugs for all in need today.

Good morning :-)


Our talents and gifts…

Three pelicans were flying to a popular lake. As they travelled, they were each lost in thought.

The first pelican thought to himself, “I love my beak. It’s magnificent. No other bird has a beak quite like mine. When I get to the lake, I’m going to parade along the bank, showing off my beautiful beak and all of the other birds will be jealous.”

The second pelican thought to himself, “I love my beak and I need to protect it. I can’t afford for it to get damaged, so I’m going to only catch small fish in shallow waters. I know that I can do more, but it’s too risky.”

The third pelican thought to himself, “I love my beak. It’s a beauty and I’m going to push the limits and get the most out of it. I’m going to become the best catcher of fish in the lake. I’ve been given this beak for a reason, so I’m going to work hard and catch the biggest fish out there.”

We’ve all been given unique talents and gifts, however small they may be, for a reason.
Not to show off that we have them.
Not to do the bare minimum with them.
But to fully develop them and use them to their maximum capacity.
We are each here to make a positive difference to the world around us and are all equipped for the task one way or another.

Lord, help us to use our gifts to benefit others in any way we can. Amen.

Cx :-)

Good morning :-)


Our talents.....

Quilting seems to be a very popular past-time. I remember reading a poem about an old lady who painstakingly made a quilt for her church funds. Her sight was poor and her fingers arthritic but she persevered and prayed, as she stitched, that the quilt would bring happiness to someone.

Unfortunately, come the day of the bazaar, the beautiful quilt was not sold so it was packed into a box and sent for missionary work in Africa.

When it arrived, a missionary packed it up and took it with him on his travels to remote areas. At one place, the African Chief was so taken by the beauty of the quilt that he wanted to keep it.

To cut a long story short, the quilt made by the prayerful old lady in England, was instrumental in opening the gate for the missionary to teach this African Chief and his people about Jesus.

Lord, help us to use our talents, however small they are, to bring the Good News to others. Amen.


Cx :-)

Good morning :-)

Yesterday’s reading of the parable of the talents is so interesting. It reminds us that Jesus has promised to come again and that we are responsible for using the gifts he has given us to the best of our ability.

Whatever our talent is, Jesus is saying that it is important not to hide our talents from others – not to just keep them to ourselves and never let them grow. Instead, it is by going out into the world, by sharing our talents and using our skills to help others that we serve God.

Generous God, you gave us a voice. Help us shout loud for what is right and fair. You gave us ears. Help us to listen to those in need. You gave us talents. Help us share and multiply them for the good of all your people. Amen


Cx :-)