Wednesday 7 July 2021

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I hope to see many of you on Sunday. There are several seats left, so if you would like to come, please, if possible, contact the office before 11am tomorrow. After that you can call me on 077 495 7419. If you book a seat and then are unable to come please let me know, so I can offer the seat to someone else. I am delighted that Archana will be preaching on Sunday; she cannot be there in person but we will listen to a recording of the sermon.

As usual, you can also follow the Sunday service online We are all very thankful to Hector, Martin and Art for making this possible.

Numbers and Chairs in Church
The new Covid rules allow churches to be filled to 2/3 capacity of the building, but state that people of different households should still keep 1.5 metres apart. 2/3 of the capacity of St Ursula's would be around 80 people but we cannot fit in 80 people while keeping the distancing rule. However, our current distancing between households is 2 metres, so reducing it to 1.5 metres will allow us to fit a number more people in church, probably between 60-70. (Currently we have around 45 people attending church each week.)

Unfortunately, because we still have to work out the distance between households and be aware of the total numbers coming each week, we continue to request that you book your seat. If you generally come every Sunday, you might find it easier to ask Maria to reserve a seat for you on an ongoing basis, rather than having to remember to ring the office every week. However, please then make sure that you remember to let her know when you are going to be away so the seat can be given to someone else.

I'm aware that some people find the plastic chairs very uncomfortable and I know that many people would love to have our 'old' chairs back in church. The council is considering this. First we have to make sure that the layout would be workable, and that we can fit in enough people with the distancing. (The 'old' chairs are quite a bit bigger than the small plastic ones so take up more space.)

I know that everyone is getting fed up with the Covid situation and the restrictions we have to live with. But I hope we can all be patient with this. We hope that things will continue to improve and life will get easier, however we still have to be cautious. The Delta variant may become much more prevalent in the Autumn and there are still people who are not fully vaccinated.

Bible Study: Growing Old; Reflections from the New Testament
This coming Tuesday, 13th July, 7-8.15pm, (via Zoom) we will hold the second of our two sessions on Christian reflections on growing old. As a basis for our reflections, we are considering a short article (ask Helen if you haven't got it). If you can, please read the article before Tuesday. We will especially be looking at the last two sections, plus the conclusion. I will also summarise the main points on Tuesday, so if you do not have time to read it, please still come along! (It does not matter if you didn't attend the first session.)

Trash Heroes
One of the recommendations that came up at our recent Eco-group meeting was for a group of us from St Ursula's to join with others in cleaning up the city. Trash Heroes organise this kind of cleaning up regularly throughout the year. The next such event is on Saturday 24th July, 11am. Those who have been on such cleaning up days say that it is very worthwhile, suitable for families, and it is also fun! We hope that an inter-generational group from St Ursula's will attend this activity. Gloves and bags will be provided, and all we need to do is turn up. I will let you know an exact time and meeting place in my next email message. If you want to find out more about Trash Heroes you can look at https://trashhero.org/de/network/trash-hero-bern/

On Prayer

The Lord Jesus Himself will teach you
how you should pray.

You have been promised His Spirit
who will bear your poor little efforts
before the throne of grace
and into the intimacy of the living God.

Your prayer is therefore not so much a duty
as a privilege;
a gift rather than a problem
or the result of your own efforts.

So don't tire yourself out
looking for beautiful thoughts or words,
but stay attentive before God
in humility and expectation,
in desire and purity of heart,
full of joy and hope.
Your prayer will take countless forms
because it is the echo of your life,
and a reflection of the inexhaustible light
in which God dwells.

Sometimes you will taste and see how good the Lord is.
Be glad then, and give Him all honour,
because His goodness to you has no measure.
Sometimes you will be dry and joyless
like parched land or an empty well.
But your thirst and helplessess
will be your best prayer
if you accept them with patience
and embrace them lovingly.

Sometimes your prayer will be an experience
of the infinite distance that separates you from God;
sometimes your being and His fullness
will flow into each other.

Sometimes you will be able to pray
only with your body and hands and eyes;
sometimes your prayer will move beyond
words and images;
sometimes you will be able to leave
everything behind you
to concentrate on God and His Word.
Sometimes you will be able to do nothing else
but take your whole life and everything in you
and bring them before God.
Every hour has its own possibilities
of genuine prayer.

(Rule for a New Brother)

With best wishes,
Helen