Wednesday 14 April 2021

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

David and I enjoyed a very pleasant week away in the mountains after Easter and were very grateful for the break. A big thank you to Elizabeth Bussmann for coming to take the service last Sunday. I look forward to being with you again this coming Sunday as we continue to celebrate the joy of Eastertide. The service will also be available online from Saturday evening. Thank you to all those who make this possible week by week.

AGM
The Annual General Meeting will be held at 11.30am on Sunday 25th April, after the service. This is an important meeting when we look back over this last year and look ahead to the coming year. Churchwardens and council members will be elected. We will have to continue to observe social distancing measures so numbers will be limited. Please ring the office to book a seat for the AGM. You can do this when you book a seat for the service.

HRH Prince Philip
Many of us will want to give thanks for the life of HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, for his long life of dedication and service, his inspiring programmes for young people and his continual support of HM Queen Elizabeth. If you wish to send condolences, you can leave a message at the online book of condolence here
There will be a diocesan service of prayer and reflection at 17.30 on Friday 16th April to give thanks for Prince Philip's life. You can listen to the service through the following YouTube link.

Men's Group
The group will be meeting on Sunday at 11.30am, via zoom. Note the change of time from the last meeting. If you are not on the mailing list for the zoom link, and would like to be, please let me know.

Sunday Coffee Time
Every Sunday at 11.30am. We meet together, via zoom, to share reflections on the readings and sermon. Ask Helen for the zoom link.
Lectio Divina continues on Thursdays, 10.30-11.15am, as we meet, via zoom, to meditate in silence on a short biblical passage and then share our reflections. Come and join us! Let me know if you would like more details.

Everyday Faith
It is good for us to reflect on how our faith affects our lives and to learn from others. We are encouraging members of the congregation to make a short video talking about their faith, life and work. Art Funkhouser and Jorum Kirundi have made videos and you can see them here.
If you would like to make a video yourself, please let me know.

I end with a poem by John Updike, written in 1960, which challenges us to think about what we believe about the resurrection of Jesus.

Seven Stanzas at Easter

Make no mistake, if he rose at all
it was as His body;
If the cell's dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit,
The amino acids rekindle,
The Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the
eleven apostles;
It was as His flesh; ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes
the same valved heart
that - pierced - died, withered, paused and then regathered
out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping, transcendence,
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded
credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow grinding of
time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we have an angel at the tomb
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck's quanta, vivid with hair, opaque in
the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are embarrassed
by the miracle
and crushed by remonstrance.

With my love in Christ,
Helen