General Chat

When he (Jesus) lived on earth abased
Friend of sinners was his name
Now above all glory raised
He rejoices in the same
Still he calls them brethren, friends
And to all their wants attends

O, for grace our hearts to soften
Teach us, Lord, at length to love
We alas forget too often
What a friend we have above
But when home our souls are brought
We shall love thee as we ought

(John Newton 1725-1807 - one of my favourite Christians of any age). How important it is to remember that Jesus loved sinners, his worst enemies. And we are taught to love our enemies as our dearest friends - however hard that might be in the heat of conflict sometimes.

Thanks Cynthia :-)

A lovely poem, Cynthia <3

A lovely poem, Cynthia, thankyou :-)

:-) :-) :-)

And a friend we have above all others :-)

Good morning................................friends..... :-)



Life is like a garden
And friendship like a flower,
That blooms and grows in beauty
With the sunshine and the shower.

And lovely are the blossoms
That are tended with great care,
By those who work unselfishly
To make the place more fair.

And, like the garden blossoms,
Friendship's flower grows more sweet
When watched and tended carefully
By those we know and meet.

And, if the seed of friendship
Is planted deep and true
And watched with understanding,
Friendship's flower will bloom for you.


Have a good day.....friends.... :-)

Thank goodness for that, thought it was only me
who did that sort of thing :-D
As always thank you Cynthia :-)

Emma

Cynthis

he he he he .......



I read it twice too ....

I read it and enjoyed it twice. Thanks very much Cynthia, as ever :-) :-)

Sorted! Thank you Renes........it's the dread error message strikes again!!

Cynthia

Looks like you remembered it twice :-D

I will do my best to remember Emma......... :-D



Another prayer from Helen Steiner Rice to start the day


If You Meet God In The Morning,
He'll Go With You Through The Day




"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" --
It speaks of His greatness,
it sings of His love,
And each day at dawning
I lift my heart high
And raise up my eyes
to the infinite sky.


I watch the night vanish
as a new day is born,
And I hear the birds sing
on the wings of the morn,
I see the dew glisten
in crystal-like splendor -


While God, with a touch
that is gentle and tender,
Wraps up the night
and softly tucks it away
And hangs out the sun
to herald a new day...


And so I give thanks
and my heart kneels to pray --
"God keep me and guide me
and go with me today."


- Helen Steiner Rice

Cx :-)

Morning Cynthia, your vicar sounds lovely and am now looking
to see if he has said anything amusing to you which you pass
on to us :-D
Thank you as always for your morning prayer.

Emma :-)

Cynthia. The 100 year old is inspirational. Plenty of others inspire me. And that prayer from Calcutta has certainly inspired me this morning - many thanks as ever :-) :-)

Two lay readers accredited in one day!!! Just a different world to mine, but lovely to hear of such a thing. We have not even had one person under training in over 5 years of being down in Valleys. We now have three "on note" - the first stage of training that takes 6 months to a year. Hopefully they will soon proceed to second stage which is called "on trial" and lasts 2-5 years approx. And that is on the whole mission of 14 chapels and about 300 members. And three "on note" that is mega for us and everyone talks about it as I go round.

I sometimes swap sermon notes with cousin who is a lay reader in Dover in Kent. I thought I was a pretty fierce preacher and a real traditional Methodist ranter - but his sermons were both more creative and cleverer than mine (which is not hard to believe). But also even fiercer if anything. I could happily sit under his ministry :-) I would be shaken - and stirred.

I got hold of a book by an Anglican, Rev Cleverley, some years ago - "Five Minute Sermons". They were short, very doctrinal and full of humour. Cleverley by name, cleverly by nature. Has anyone heard of him or his fantastic (and brief) sermons?

Pray that everyone has a lovely day today and an inspiring and fulfilling week :-) :-)

Good morning.........

As you may have guessed, I was slightly ....er......tired......last night. Sundays are always an early start for me and we had family over last night as well so, the mums amongst us will know what it's like..... :-D


We have a men's group at church - only small in number and mostly the more senior men but, they have a good time and, each year on this Sunday, they have their annual dedication service.

We also welcomed about eight recently baptised babies and their families. This is a monthly event where they come to the front of church, a special welcome prayer is said and they are given their baptism certificates. They are then greeted with a warm round of applause.

On top of this yesterday, we also congratulated two members of our congregation who have been 'licensed' to serve as offical Lay Readers within the Church of England.

A little hectic shall we say...... :-) :-)


As I passed by the vicar, who had been unnecessarily 'harrassed' by someone when he was busy and trying to get ready, he said to me with a twinkle in his eye and , out of the corner of his mouth......"I'm getting ready to slap somebody in a minute"........I went off laughing.....:-D


Anyway...........our morning prayer


Take Time

Take time to think...
It is the source of power.
Take time to play...
It is the secret of perpetual youth.
Take time to laugh...
It is the music of the soul.
Take time to pray...
It is the greatest power on Earth.

(Anon., inscribed on the walls of the "Missionaries of Charity" children's home in Calcutta, India)

She sounds like an inspirational woman John.


Today has been a very long day indeed........will return tomorrow.........zzzzzzzzzzzz :-)

I did manage to include that lovely Celtic prayer today.

Had about 25 today, ranging from 7 to 99. Think I have written about this 99 year old in this particular chapel before. She is quite fantastic. Walks very well and totally unaided, looks like she is 80 at most and seems to have all her faculties (sight and hearing going a bit).

She lives in Bargoed/Ystrad Mynach area. It will be her 100th on 22nd (next Saturday). If any readers of thread have access to local papers next week, probably there will be pictures of her.

Why does she think she has lived so long? She says it is because she has never taken tablets of any sort (not even an aspirin) and she trusts in the Lord for everything and He has always been good to her :-) :-) :-)

The Celtic Prayer is lovely Cynthia <3

Cynthia. My congregation won't be getting anything about Fathers day today (see my grumpy comments on Fathers Day thread). But I think I might try and slip in your Celtic prayer from yesterday somewhere - I just love the simplicity and commonsense of that.

A very good Christian friend is currently following a course about Celtic worship and I am keeping an eye on it. It is something I would very much like to study myself in near future. So lovely and so inclusive. And so very simple. :-D :-D

It was a new one to me too Emma...... :-)



Today is a very special day for fathers.......


The Church of England has published a new prayer for children to pray in church, or on their own, on Fathers' Day

Loving God,

We thank you for the gift of good dads,

and everything that they do for us.

Help them to have

patience when we're difficult,

wisdom when we can't see the way,

strength when we need comforting,

and love at all times,

so that, through them,

we get a little glimpse of how you feel about us,

our heavenly Father

Amen.


A second prayer has been published for everyone to use


Heavenly Father,

you entrusted your Son Jesus,

the child of Mary,

to the care of Joseph, an earthly father.

Bless all fathers

as they care for their families.

Give them strength and wisdom,

tenderness and patience;

support them in the work they have to do,

protecting those who look to them,

as we look to you for love and salvation,

through Jesus Christ our rock and defender.

Amen.



Cx :-)