Dear Brothers and Sisters
I’m writing this on Thursday afternoon and so far there have been no new instructions since Monday about what we should do in church. This is a first and I firmly expect that as soon as I press send a whole raft of new information will appear. So let’s see…
I think those of us at church last week all struggled a bit with wearing masks. This was partly due to it all being new, some of us having masks that didn’t quite fit (this is a real problem for me and I’m investing in a variety to try to get the right one) and it just seeming so strange and alien to what church should feel like. But I think that wearing of masks is here to stay for some time. Not just in church, shops and transport but I think we will become used to wearing them in lots of situations. I don’t think we will like wearing them, but we will get used to it. If we remember that wearing a mask is about protecting others rather than ourselves then that puts a much noblier focus on something that I certainly found uncomfortable.
Thinking about others should be a central feature of our lives as Christians. I have written before about our financial difficulties due to the pandemic. But these pale into insignificance compared with the problems facing others in the world. Communities all over the world are not just struggling. They are dying in droves from lack of sanitation, medical care and food. Our Diocese is linked to the Diocese of Sudan and Bishop Nick has written to us this week highlighting the desperate situation that our brothers and sisters in Christ are living with in that country. Please read his letter, and if you can please help. It is really easy to donate using the link in the letter or you can send a cheque. Remember the people of Sudan in your prayers but help financially if you can.
Lockdown has been a difficult time for us all but many of us have been able to see our enforced down time to develop new patterns of prayer, new rhythms of life, new ways of looking at our life and our journey through it. To help us capitalise on this the Diocese will be starting a new scheme called Rhythms of Life later on this year. The idea is for us to be able, if we want to, to take stock of our life; to decide on one or more areas that we would like to develop, to make a concrete plan for this and to regularly review this plan. I will be attending a start up session on Rhythms of Life in early September and we will have more information available for you by them. I plan to use this scheme to get more balance in my life and I hope that it will be of help to many of you as well.
Sunday’s Readings
A Reading from the Prophecy of Isaiah
Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. (55:1-5)
The Gospel according to Matthew
Now when Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. (14:13-21)
Services this Sunday (2nd August):
- Fewston 9.30am
- Weston 11am
- Leathley 2.30pm
Services next Sunday (9th August)
- Denton 9.30am
- Blubberhouses 11am
- Farnley 2.30pm
Farming Community Network Sponsorship Money
A long time ago, when the world was a much less complicated place I fasted to raise funds for the Farming Community Network. Many of you very kindly sponsored me. In the usual course of things I would have collected this money just after Easter, but nothing is usual any more. Now that some of us are back in church face to face I hope I’m hoping to get all my sponsorship money to FCN for the end of August. Thanks.
Please remember in your prayers: Our friends and neighbours, especially those who are finding the exit from ‘lockdown’ difficult. The people of the Sudan and all those other parts of the world where poverty and violence has compounded the effect of the pandemic. The people of Leathley as they celebrate their Patronal feast day this Sunday. For those returning to work, especially those who are fearful, those who are struggling to find work, or make ends meet. For the sick and ill and all who care for them. For the dying and the dead and for their families and all who mourn them.
God bless you all.
Stephen