St Oswald's Church News Sheet 28 March 2020 - don't forget the clocks go forward one hour tonight!
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
St Oswald’s Church News Sheet
28 March 2020 – don’t forget the clocks go forward one hour tonight!
‘Jesus forever goes before us to prepare a place for us. He is on the road we tread. Wherever life is
leading us, He has gone before. Perhaps we have no clue about what lies ahead; but we know who
is ahead of us, so the future is not quite unknown.’ (David Adam, The Edge of Glory)
Contact List
David – 01845 522030 or 07710 747 841 (rest day Monday)
Simon – 01845 525294 or 07763 004563 (rest day Wednesday)
Rev Pauline - 01347 868048 (rest day Friday)
Pauline Alderson (children and young people) – 0779 204 2941
Closure of Places of Worship
We are sorry that the church building remains closed in accordance with government instructions.
God calls us to go on worshipping and serving Him in our homes and community. Let us continue to
sing praises, to pray for one another and to keep in touch with one another by phone, electronically
or even with a letter or card. PLEASE let us know of anyone who is part of the St Oswald’s church
family, but is not in the Church Directory, and we will do our best to get the newsletter to them.
Also please let us know of anyone who does not have access to a computer, so we can arrange to
get a paper copy to them.
Daily Prayer
As a church, we will continue to pray daily at 12 noon and 7pm. We ask you to pray for other
church members, for the people of God in general, for the appointment of our new vicar, for our
nation, and for those in leadership who are making difficult decisions. Pray for all the staff working
in our hospitals and all emergency service workers. Pray for carers and the people they care for.
Pray for our community and especially those who are working to make sure we have our ‘daily
bread’.
You are the Lord; You are He
who knows me through and through,
You have counted the hairs of my head,
1You are the God who is unchanging,
who is the same throughout all the ages,
past, present and future.
Your love for me remains unchanged,
it enfolds me day by day, moment by moment,
and You will continue to hold me all the days of my life.
In You I can place all my trust.
(Sister Elizabeth Tuttle, Prayers and Meditations for Today)
Live streaming of Morning Service and other online resources
Rev Pauline invites you to join her in Spiritual Communion or Prayer at 10am on Sunday when she
will be celebrating the Eucharist at home and will be praying for all those she cannot see face to
face.
St Mary’s Thirsk is streaming live worship at 10.15am this Sunday 29 March. This is for all who
would like to join in from all around Thirsk and Sowerby.
Follow this link: www.thirskparishes.org/live
There are also national on-line resources that have been published. Please do have a look at:
https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/church-online
which includes weekly streamed and daily audio services. There is also additional worship provision
on the BBC to help us, and more is on its way.
Join the Archbishop of York and the Bishops of Selby, Whitby and Hull via Facebook for prayers
during the day on the 5th Sunday in Lent, Passion Sunday, the 29th March:
Archbishop Sentamu will lead an Act of Worship for the Church of England
(www.facebook.com/thechurchofengland) at 9.00am,
while the Diocese of York (www.facebook.com/DioceseOfYork) will offer moments from Midday
Prayer, Evening Prayer and Night Prayer at 12.00 noon, 4.00pm and 8.00pm.
Our church website and the Facebook page are regularly updated with links to messages from our
Archbishops and to other worship and prayer opportunities.
The Royal School of Church Music has a ‘Hymn of the day’ and also ‘Sunday Self Service’ which you
can find on the following link: https://www.rscm.org.uk/our-resources/hftd/
Little Wonders toddler group now has a Facebook group for the families to keep in touch with each
other.
Readings and Collect for Sunday 29 March (Lent 5)
Ezekiel 37: 1 – 14
Psalm 130
Romans 8: 6 – 11
2John 11: 1 – 45
Collect: Gracious Father,
you gave up your Son
out of love for the world:
lead us to ponder the mysteries of his passion,
that we may know eternal peace
through the shedding of our Saviour’s blood,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
A reflection on John 11 from Rev Pauline:
This Sunday (29th March) is Passion Sunday and the Gospel reading tells the familiar story of
Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead.
Many thoughts and reflections can be made from visualising ourselves as different people in this
account. Read it over again and try and put yourself in the place of another...
Are we like Jesus’ disciples who tried to stop him from going back to Judea? Jesus knew that he
must and he also knew when... but are there times when we want God to act in our own time and
to do what we ask instead of trusting that God answers prayer in the way that is best for us? We
even say ‘Your will be done, on earth as is heaven’ - but do we really mean it? Do we really hand
over our lives, our hopes and fears, to God, trust that God will answer and accept that the reply
may be ‘wait’ or ‘no’?
Or are we like Mary... or Martha..... or the Jews consoling Mary, who asked why Jesus did not save
Lazarus? When have we blamed someone for not acting quickly enough despite knowing that
hindsight is a great thing....
When were we Lazarus? Dead to the world through being prisoner to our own wants, material
desires, fears, sickness (mental, spiritual or physical), wealth, poverty, anxiety, fears? And how
many of us willingly speak of Jesus coming to raise us from the dead, allowing us to ‘have life and
have it in all its fullness’? (John 10:10)
What of those who helped remove the bandages from Lazarus? We all need help to be freed from
the things that bind us and paralyse us - especially in these times – and that need not just be
physical help, which means we can all help each other by prayer or by a simple phone call to
someone who we know is alone.
A song for reflection, introduced to us recently in a service by Diana Wild:
Empty, broken, here I stand. Kyrie eleison.
Touch me with your healing hand. Kyrie eleison.
Take my arrogance and pride. Kyrie eleison.
Wash me in your mercy’s tide. Kyrie eleison.
Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.
When my faith has all but gone. Kyrie eleison.
3Give me strength to carry on. Kyrie eleison.
When my dreams have turned to dust. Kyrie eleison.
In you, O Lord, I put my trust. Kyrie eleison……
When my heart is cold as ice. Kyrie eleison.
Your love speaks of sacrifice. Kyrie eleison.
Love that sets the captive free. Kyrie eleison.
O pour compassion down on me. Kyrie eleison…..
You’re the voice that calms my fears. Kyrie eleison.
You’re the laughter, dries my tears. Kyrie eleison.
You’re my music, my refrain. Kyrie eleison.
Help me sing your song again. Kyrie eleison…..
Humble heart of holiness. Kyrie eleison.
Kiss me with your tenderness. Kyrie eleison.
Jesus, faithful friend and true. Kyrie eleison.
All I am I give to you. Kyrie eleison……
You can listen to this song here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72204B7fgqU
What day is it?
If you are at all like me, I seem to becoming unsure of what day it is. My usual pattern has been
disrupted - only phone calls to school, which has one pupil (the daughter of two key NHS workers),
no midweek Communion and no Sunday services - but bad news to give that people can no longer
marry or be baptised in church, no prayers - even from myself - in church and that funerals are
graveside only or crematorium with only close family and no wake... People are suddenly becoming
very lonely (no visitors of course) and so the phone is a valuable device.
I also miss seeing people in the communities that I serve - St Oswald Sowerby, St Cuthbert Sessay,
St Mary Bagby, St Mary Kilburn, All Saints Thirkleby and Queen Mary’s School where I ensured the
Blessed Sacrament was kept in the chapel of St Cecilia.
4Last week Revd Sandra wrote a reflection on the lack of Eucharist and reminded us all of a prayer
for Spiritual Communion. It is a very painful thought to me that the bread and wine cannot be freely
given (it is part of my personal Rule of Life) yet I am blessed in that, like many other priests, I can
still celebrate the Eucharist at a table at home with my husband whilst I ponder on the reality that
‘every family table is already an altar of God’s love and a place where ‘love has made its home’’.
(Revd Andrew Dotchin 2020)
As I pray the Eucharistic prayer, I remember before God and pray for all those who are not with me
at this time. Maybe you will still be able to join me in spirit at 10am on Sunday as I celebrate the
Eucharist behind closed doors yet not alone but ‘with all the angels and archangels and all the
company of heaven’.
Start by asking God to fill you with the Holy Spirit. Please do sing a favourite hymn, join in reading
the readings, preferably out loud and if possible also listen to someone else read them as well. Then
contemplate whatever stands out for you - a word or a picture may come to mind... maybe use a
reflection on the readings.
Pray for the world and our communities, for those we know who need Gods help, care and
presence at this time. End with the collect for the day (collecting our prayers with those of others)
and the Lord’s prayer as well as the prayer for Spiritual Communion
(https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2020-
03/Guidance%20on%20Spiritual%20Communion%20and%20Coronavirus.pdf
or search for ‘Spiritual Communion Church of England’).
Then act…. we are the Church and God’s hands and feet (and ears...) so I ask you to phone at least
one of those who came to mind in your prayer - and I do hope the line is engaged!!
Revd Pauline
Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
(Isaiah 43: 1)
5You can also read
