Mid-week Joy
Welcome again to our mid-week celebration of all the great things happening in Leesfield Parish and beyond.
Our Sunday service details will be here at the weekend, but there's so much more we would love to share with you in the meantime.
Today is the first day of a brand new month, and we're really pleased to share a calendar from Action for Happiness - "Jump Back July". It's packed with inspirational activities for all the family to enjoy during this month.
In this Thursday's Worship for all Generations we celebrate St Thomas, the Patron Saint of our Parish Church. Everyone is warmly invited to join us at 6.30 pm on our facebook page - Leesfield Parish
Thomas is commonly known as "Doubting Thomas" because he doubted Jesus' resurrection when first told of it (as related in the St John's Gospel) ; later, he confessed his faith, "My Lord and my God," on seeing Jesus' crucifixion wounds.
You may have seen various videos of "The Blessing" from around the world. This week's musical item is the Celtic blessing sung in English, and Scottish Gaelic, accompanied by traditional (and some non-traditional) instruments. Hope you enjoy it!
As we were discussing at the online PCC meeting how to make sure that people could maintain safe distancing in church, it reminded me of this brilliant idea from a Parisian café. Has anybody got any spare huge teddys we can borrow?
On a more serious note, here's a brief message from Edith about our churches opening for public worship -
The government has now issued further guidance on the opening of church buildings for public worship, and we are waiting for instructions from the Church of England and the Diocese before planning to re-open. It is already clear that services will not be what we are used to – strict physical distancing and hygiene rules, no singing, and no after-service coffee and chat. Government guidelines for those in vulnerable groups are still that they should stay at home as much as possible, and limit their contact with others, so worshipping from home remains the safest option. Everything we do now, electronically and in paper form, to keep in touch will continue for as long as you need it - small church services and opening church for private prayer are "extras" for the time being.
Edith
Our Sunday school families have been really busy learning about their favourite Bible stories, and this week’s favourite was Noah and the Ark. Annie drew a lovely picture of a VERY cute giraffe with Noah’s rainbow.
We all miss seeing the children coming up to the front in church every week and showing us what they’ve been doing in Sunday school, so thanks very much Karen for sharing these great pictures with us.
You’ll be pleased to know that toilet roll craft is back! Joseph and Sean made two of each animal as they said that’s what the bible story says. They enjoyed watching the video and making these and are now re acting the story out using Joseph’s Noah boat.
The Sunday school Race for Life (at home) in aid of Cancer Research UK has raised £595 plus gift-aid so far. It’s brilliant that our children, families and friends are still thinking of how they can help others during these difficult times.
In last week's Mid-week joy, Edith shared a lovely photo of geese and their goslings. The wild goose is an ancient Celtic symbol of the Holy Spirit, originating on the island of Iona. The Celtic Christians chose the wild goose instead of the more traditional dove because of its untamed spirit, communal sense of direction, and support for weaker members of the flock. This week's nature feature is a video about how the geese work together in their migration, and how we can learn from them.
