Thought for the week 25th March Passion Sunday

Human death
Enfolded darkness
Resting calm
Spark of life
Fresh hope
Lifted up
Glory blazes
JCH

A reading from the book of the prophet Jeremiah                (31.31–34)

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt – a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Thought for the Week Mothering Sunday

A Song of Christ's Goodness
Gather your little ones to you, O God
as a hen gathers her brood to protect them.
Jesus, as a mother you gather your people to you;
you are gentle with us as a mother with her children.
Often you weep over our sins and our pride,
tenderly you draw us from hatred and judgement.
You comfort us in sorrow and bind up our our wounds,
in sickness you nurse us and with pure milk you feed us.
Jesus, by your dying, we are born to new life,
by your anguish and labour we come forth in joy.
Despair turns to hope through your sweet goodness;
through your gentleness, we find comfort in fear.
Your warmth gives life to the dead,
your touch makes sinners righteous.
Lord Jesus, in your mercy, heal us;
in your love and tenderness, remake us.
In your compassion, bring grace and forgiveness,
for the beauty of heaven, may your love prepare us.
Anselm of Canterbury

A reading from the book of Exodus. (Exodus 2.1–10)

A man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him for three months.

When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.

The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him, ‘ This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,’ she said.

Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Yes.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘ Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed it.

When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, ‘because,’ she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’

Lent Group Week 2 Transforming Life 2012

Transforming Call

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.’ Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.’

 God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.

We talked about the promises made. The difference between the covenant between God and Abraham and the blessing on Sarah. We talked about other faiths and communities and our common roots. We talked about names and what they meant.

God calls you by name Walk before God and be blameless.

Thought for the Week 3rd Week of Lent

None Other Lamb

None other Lamb, none by Name,
None other Hope in heaven or earth or sea,
None other Hiding-place from guilt or shame,
None beside thee.

My faith burns low, my hope burns low,
Only my heart's desire cries out in me
By the deep thunder of its want and woe
Cries out to thee.

Lord, thou art Life tho' I be dead,
Love's Fire thou art, however cold I be:
Nor heaven have I, nor place to lay my head,
Nor home, but thee.
Christina Rossetti

Lenten Reflection

My faith looks up to thee,
thou Lamb of Calvary,
Saviour divine!
Now hear me while I pray,
take all my guilt away;
O let me from this day
be wholly thine.

May thy rich grace impart
strength to my fainting heart,
my zeal inspire;
as thou hast died for me,
O may my love to thee
pure, warm and changeless be,
a living fire.

While life's dark maze I tread,
and griefs around me spread,
be thou my guide;
bid darkness turn to day;
wipe sorrow's tears away,
nor let me ever stray
from thee aside.

When ends life's transient dream,
when death's cold sullen stream
shall o'er me roll;
blest Saviour, then in love
fear and distrust remove;
O bear me safe above,
a ransomed soul  Ray Palmer 1808-1887

This well known hymn becomes a prayer without the Music. Rev Palmer was asked to write what he believed in and one evening he wrote down these words. These words are here so others many understand.

Funeral SAC Ryan Tomlin

On Monday 5th March 2012 we said goodbye to SAC Ryan Tomlin. Over 600 Mourners came to pay their respects and final farewells to this young member of the RAF Regiment.

As his coffin was put onto the shoulders of six airmen an RAF Tornado flew over the church in a mark of respect.

So many came to the funeral that with the church absolutely full some mourners had to stand outside to listen to the funeral.

As the mourners left many took with them sunflower seeds to plant in their gardens as a reminder of life after death. In the summer there will bloom across Hemel Hempstead hundreds of Sunflowers to Ryan's memory.

Lent Group Week 1 Transforming Life 2012

A Lent course by Rev Sue Allen
Transforming Promise

Genesis 9:8-17

 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ‘As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.’ God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.’

Five of us gathered together late on Thursday night to start this years Lent Group (Late because of me) We discussed Covenants and what they are. Not used so much in language today, but widely used in earlier times.  A covenant: A sacred agreement between God and human beings. After exploring covenants including other stories of Jonah and Jeremiah we moved on the the discussion questions.

As with many of these groups are discussions were wide ranging and not always on topic. We talked about where we might be able to do helpful things in the town. We looked at the helpful things we did for others and the environment.

An interesting first meeting to be continued.

Thought for the Week 4th March Second Week of Lent

Lent is not for the faint-hearted. It demands that we, like Thomas, put our hand into the side of the crucified Christ. Lent is a journey towards the cross, a journey of enlightenment: from wilderness to feast, from desert to oasis. It's an attempt to identify with the powerless and the suffering in the world. Lent is not tidy. The days grow longer, the ground thaws, there's mud and dirt everywhere and the windows need cleaning. Lent is a journey. So at the end of Lent we should expect to find ourselves somewhere different from where we started. Lent can be an opportunity to explore what is the nature of the promised Kingdom of God on earth that we long for; a time to discern how we are called to work for it. No, Lent is not for the faint-hearted.
Kate McIlhagga

A reading from the book of Genesis. (17.1–7, 15–16)

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.’
Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.

I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.’ God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’