Mid-week Joy 8th July 2020

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.

The theme for this week's Worship for all Generations is "Hope" - something which we all need in these difficult times. You'll find the service on our facebook page at 6.30 pm on Thursday, just follow this link - Leesfield Parish 

Whilst we're thinking about hope, as the lockdown restrictions begin to ease we're getting ready to open up St Thomas' Church for public worship. Please do watch this page for more information.

One of the great things to come out of this crisis is the way in which musicians from around the world have come together from their own homes to bring us wonderfully inspiring music. This week's Musical item features a virtual choir from the Merseyside area singing "You Raise Me Up"  

From one of our neighbouring parishes, Rev'd Liz Devall from St John Hurst has been doing a virtual pilgrimage from her church to Lindisfarne, and will walk all of the miles locally, visiting the areas around her parish. Liz has been taking photos and tweeting as she passes by other churches - and here are her tweets as she walked through Leesfield Parish a couple of weeks ago. Thank you so much Rev'd Liz for your prayers.    

Our Sunday schools have continued to look at their favourite Bible stories, and this week's was Jonah and the Whale. The poem is by Eva, and the pictures by Sean and Harrison. To see more about our Sunday schools please visit their facebook page - StThomas Leesfield Sunday School

We're all quite familiar with seeing birds frolicking in birdbaths during the day, but have you ever wondered what happens at night when we're all tucked up in bed? This week's nature feature shows some baby owls - with the pool to themselves!

Sunday 5th July 2020

Sunday Worship 5th July

You can find all of our latest information, Edith's reflection for this Sunday, our Thursday "Worship for all Generations" and much more by clicking on the following link to our facebook page - Leesfield Parish

Today we should have been holding our parish Confirmation service. I was looking forward to that, particularly as it would have been my last as vicar. Several candidates had already come forward, including several adults. We have been told that Confirmation services will be rearranged, though I think this time next year is most likely. 
We have been ‘doing church’ in a different way over the last 3 months or so. It has been interesting to be involved in the virtual church, through all the online resources. We do need to think more about these different ways of being part of church. I do think that Sunday morning services in church are the core of our worship, but increasingly over the years it has become clear we need to cater for people whose lives don’t fit easily with that pattern- and I think the last few weeks have made this even clearer. This will surely be a discussion it is important to have once we are able to be together again. 
Edith

Our first hymn today is "Come Down O Love Divine" -

Today's Bible reading -

Today’s gospel reading is two separate short passages put together. The first part shows people who are not easily pleased. They didn’t like John the Baptist, his way of living with its self-denial made them uncomfortable – some even suspected he had   a demon. Then came Jesus with his quite different lifestyle. He celebrated with all, enjoyed food and drink, threw parties which spoke of God’s lavish, generous love and forgiveness – and they didn’t like that either. It’s a bit like a spoilt, tantrum-throwing child, not satisfied whatever happens. 
The second part of the passage shows an entirely different sort of child. Jesus talks very movingly of his relationship with his father, with God. Jesus had come to know his father the way a son does, not by studying books about him but by living in his presence, listening for his voice and by learning from him as an apprentice does from a master, by watching and imitating. Jesus has known the love, support and delight of his father and can now care for others.  Jewish culture stressed the importance of wisdom, wisdom was gained by studying the law and teasing out its finest points. For the average Jew of Jesus’ day this was way out of reach. You had to be a scholar, trained in languages and literature, with the free time to be able to ponder and debate weighty and complicated matters. Jesus discovered that the wise and learned were not the ones who really knew God. It was rather the ‘little people’ -  the poor, the sinners, the tax collectors, ordinary folk  - were discovering more of God simply by following Jesus than the learned specialists who declared that what he was doing didn’t fit with their complicated theories. 
So Jesus came to see that he was himself acting as a window on to the living God. Where Jesus was, through his words and action, people were coming to see who the Father really was. So with Jesus, things were, are, different. People are no longer to be burdened by the Jewish law with all its commandments. Jesus offers a different ‘yoke’ – coming from his mercy and love. 
Jesus did say people had to be prepared to leave behind family, possessions, even their own life. But the ease and the joy, the rest and refreshment which he offers all spring from his own inner character, his gentleness and warmth to all who turn to him, weighed down by burdens, moral, physical, emotional, financial or whatever. He declares that he is ‘gentle and humble of heart’ and that isn’t boasting. He is encouraging us to believe that he isn’t going to stand over us like a policeman. The welcome he offers, for all who abandon themselves to his mercy, is the welcome God offers through him. This is the invitation that pulls back the curtain and lets us see who ‘the Father’ really is, and encourages us to come into his loving and welcoming presence. 
Looking back at the beginning of today’s gospel passage, to that picture we have of the spoilt child, we can see that Jesus offers them rest, rest from their discontent and frustration. Just as he offers us rest when we are weary, refreshment when we are parched and hungry.
Edith

Today's second hymn is an invitation to all of us - "Will You Come And Follow Me"  

Our prayers for today - 

And our final hymn this morning is -  "God Is Working His Purpose Out" -

Mid-week Joy 1st July 2020

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.