Some of you might remember The Rev'd. Mike Rayson, a Methodist Minister from the United States, singing, preaching and taking part in the communion service at Frodsham Methodist Church last year. We also heard the song Captured, also written and performed by Mike, in our live streaming service a week or two back. In his book, One-Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World, Tullian Tchividjian describes Grace in this way: Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you. Grace is being loved when you are unlovable. Grace is “unconditional love.” In one of his recent reflections, Mike also says: The faith of Jesus keeps a hold of me even when I can’t hold on myself. Hope springs within – not without. And each time I try and take back control, I suppress the presence of Christ within me and hold on to my own hope – which fails me every time. It is not me who needs faith in order to find hope. It is the presence of Jesus within that holds me in the faith he shares with the Creator, witnessed to and celebrated by the glorious presence of the Spirit. Many of you will know that Mike’s testimony includes the death of his oldest son, Sam, in 2007 at the age of 11. He wrote the song Just Grace around that time, which we heard at the end of our worship on Sunday: When we usually gather together in our church building we often say this prayer.
Let us stop, take a moment from the distractions of this world, and say it again not just for ourselves, but for each other. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Evermore Amen. Naomi Emison
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O though who are at home deep in our hearts. Enable us to join in, deep in our hearts. The best held in all action is to pray. That is true genius. Then one Never goes wrong. Beauty in Simplicity. God bless all. Elizabeth Hearn
Both the prayer and the stitching are contributed by Elizabeth. At this point in lockdown, we’re currently scrapping the bottom of the conversation barrel. Today’s topic in the Carter household is, ‘what is our favourite mirror in the house?’ None of us prefer the bathroom mirror, family consensus is that that mirror is mean! I agree, it shows everything: age lines I didn’t know I had, tired eyes and each strand of hair that needs dying. So I try not to use it because I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life, and when I say negativity, I erm, mean the truth. I’m not alone in wanting to see myself only in a certain light. I think most of us have an idea of what we’d like to be like and then feel a bit miffed about the gap between that person and the actual one. So we airbrush our photos hoping we will look 5 years younger or 5lbs lighter. We share moralist memes that we wish we lived up to, shouting ‘this is me, this is me: I’m an environmentalist, I’m kind, I’m funny, I’m brave!’ Or maybe in our conversations we feel the need to mention our job at every opportunity because we want to prove how clever, decent or important we are. If only we could consistently live up to these ideals. The disciple Peter, seemed to struggle with some discrepancy between his aspirations and reality. He was the disciple that bravely jumped out of the boat to walk on water with Jesus, but then he became frightened and ended up sinking. He promised Jesus that he wasn’t like the other disciples and would never let him down or deny him. He claimed that he would even die for Jesus. Oh how he wanted to be faithful and courageous but he didn’t always quite manage it. After the resurrection we learn about a moment of shame for Peter when he is confronted with his failings. I was 16 when I first read the Bible stories about the resurrected Jesus and I can still remember being shocked by them. Until then I think my understanding of the resurrection must have come from artwork and I pictured a shiny, post resurrection Jesus hovering above people, saying ‘look at me’. Instead, the writer of John 21 tells us that Jesus returns to the disciples while they are out fishing, he prepares a charcoal fire, calls his friends back to shore and they eat a breakfast of bread and grilled fish. Then they hang out for a bit in Jesus’ 1st Century equivalent of Nandos: eating, connecting and talking. During this time Jesus addresses Peter. One week earlier Peter had been gathered around a different charcoal fire, the detail is always important in the book of John, we’re meant to make the connection. Around that fire, Peter had denied Jesus three time. Now, Jesus asks him, in a similar setting, three times, ‘do you love me?’ One question for each denial. The third time, Peter is ‘greatly grieved’ as he exclaims ‘you know all things’. Within the story, Jesus is metaphorically holding up a mirror to Peter, one of those awful ones that show reality. Peter is greatly grieved. It turned out that there was a big gap between all those things he wanted to be and who he actually was. I hate being confronted with my own failings and I imagine Peter felt pretty wretched. A moment of shame, but only a moment because God isn’t in the business of shame. Jesus chooses this time to reinstate Peter and what we actually see is an experience of grace. Jesus takes who Peter is in that moment, his deeply faithful and deeply flawed self and says ‘now Peter, you’re still my disciple and I’ve got a job for you, take care of my people.’ Some people are using this time in isolation for self improvement, which is great, but I think quite a few of us are also feeling a bit inadequate. We know lockdown could be an opportunity to better ourselves but in reality we have been catapulted into a new world with new challenges and sometimes a new sense of inadequacy. My husband has gone from singing in a church band to recording his voice for the Live Stream church service, he tells me that playing this back is ‘brutal’. There’s also a lot of people right now feeling a bit useless, if your biggest skill is human interaction, you’ve just become considerably less valuable to your employer and that of course is if you still have an employer. Some people are missing grandchildren and feeling helpless, unable to aid family members. Others are still working but under new challenging circumstances. For many of us, our ideal self is out the window, like, it’s not even in isolation with us, instead she or he has been replaced with our most stressy self and we don’t need a bathroom mirror to tell us it’s not pretty! God sees our inconsistencies, that gap between who we think we should be and the actual truth and God fills that gap with his love for us, this is grace. God’s goodness given to each of us, not based on anything we do but based on God’s own nature. God is good, God is love and God’s grace is sufficient even for our most stressy, frustrating, failing selves. Grace doesn’t mean that we are to stop dreaming and striving but it does release us from thinking our worth is dependant on these things. Peter did actually go on to do all the things he promised he would do, but it was God’s grace that enabled him to move out of the mess he had made for himself. This is being a disciple, it isn’t about perfection and always reaching the ideals we or others set, it’s about knowing that we are on a journey that inevitably involves success and failure but we are loved sufficiently in it all. 2 Corinthians 12:9: But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Bev Carter These past few weeks have caused us all to adjust our lifestyles a great deal. Perhaps, also, to slow down a little and consider the important things of life.
For many years, one of my hobbies has been walking and, during the fine April weather, I’ve taken my daily exercise roaming the many and varied footpaths around our town. Some of these were familiar, like old friends, whilst some I’d not walked for many years yet still, they seemed to welcome me. There were even a few which, surprisingly, I’d never walked at all. Now, I’ve lived in Frodsham all my life and like to think that I know the area reasonably well. I even lead walks for the local health walking group: Frodsham Walks. But, during this difficult period, my mind has been reawakened, fine-tuned, to the beauty of the English country side which surrounds us particularly at this season of Spring, of resurrection, of hope and new beginnings. I’ve seen things in a different light, with a new clarity and sharpness never perceived before, noticed things I’d never previously accepted and given grateful thanks. Be it the wild flowers or the call of the lapwing, the quiet glades or the hillside paths, the countryside is there to enrich, reward and to truly restore the soul. I would like to share this prayer which comes from the Carmelite Sisters at Wood Hall Monastery, North Yorkshire, and is one of my favourite prayers: Help us, Heavenly Father always to see and find you in the beauty of our English Countryside on hills, woodlands, streams, and wild places of the moor, villages, lanes, the ploughed fields with their varied crops, sheep on the green slopes, kine in the hollows, churches that have called your people to prayer, through the centuries – all the work of human hands and minds inspired by your spirit of Wisdom and Love – and make us always grateful. Amen Alan Gerrard Morning Worship for Sunday 10th May, will be streamed online and lead by our Minister, the Reverend Andrew Emison.
The service will start at 10am. It can be accessed here: https://tinyurl.com/t95wj9n Our wilderness is an inner isolation. It's a sense of being alone―boringly alone, or saddeningly alone, or terrifyingly alone...
Harry Williams, who died it 2006, was an Anglican priest and, later, monk who served as Fellow and Dean of Chapel at Trinity College, Cambridge. He wrote the above in his book The True Wilderness published in 1965. In the 60s and 70s he was described as somewhat of a cult figure for his very personal accounts of his Christian faith. In his obituary in the Telegraph, it is described why he was able to write so intimately: Following a breakdown, not long after his appointment to Trinity, he underwent long-term psychoanalysis. The combination of anguish, insights received through analysis, and an acute theological mind produced a deeply personal interpretation of the Christian message which many found illuminating and helpful, though others regarded him as a menace.[1] These current days of COVID-19 may be relatively comfortable for some, those with sufficient support networks around them. But for many others this is a very difficult time. BBC Radio 4 Thought for the Day a few weeks back was a sharing by Hannah Malcolm, a trainee priest, who shared about the real difficulties she is facing during this lockdown. These are not easy times. These words, written by Harry Williams many years ago, seem so particularly apt for this difficult time: The sense of being isolated and therefore unequipped is a necessary part, or a necessary stage, of our experience as human beings. It therefore found a place in the life of Jesus, he too did time in the wilderness. And what happened to him there shows us what is happening to ourselves. Here, as always, we see in his life the meaning of our own.[2] A Prayer of S. Augustine: Watch, dear Lord, with those who cannot sleep and those who weep this night. Tend the sick, give rest to the weary, and bless the dying. Relieve those who are suffering, have pity on those in great distress, and shield those who are happy. Amen. Matthew [1] 'Father Harry Willams', Telegraph (03 February 2006) [2] H. A. Williams quoted in 'Fish, chips, mushy peas and two slices of bread and butter (Sue Brecknell) in Son of God, Son of Man (2000) Today is the 75th Anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. The Methodist Church has a podcast episode available which features a chat to Methodists from the island of Jersey who were liberated from occupation (as well as interviews with a mental health chaplain and a mission for the homeless during Coronavirus). A Civic VE Day service from The Lord Mayor of Chester, The Chairman of Cheshire West and Chester Council and Chester Cathedral has also been put online: As we remember the incredible sacrifice of so many and the relief this day seventy-five years ago must have brought, we continue to pray for the end to violence. Below is a poem and prayer written for Remembrance Sunday by the current President of the Methodist Conference, the Rev'd. Dr. Barbara Glasson.
What do we remember today? The child with the gun The shell of the house The crumble of dreams The breaking of bodies and peace? The ringing of ears The screaming of shot The shrapnel of brick The breaking of cover and trust? The bearing of arms The bearing of grief The bearing of news The breaking of treaties and pacts? The braving of stares The shaking of heads The silence of days The breaking of promise and hearts? The living for peace The longing to change The disarming of hate The breaking of patterns of war? The piercing of death The weeping of friends The anguish of grief The rising and breaking of bread? A Prayer God of peace and gentleness we remember with deep sorrow the fault, fear, and failure that repeatedly leads to the forming of enemies, the escalation of hatred and to war. We repent of our complicity in cycles of violence for colluding with anger or defaulting to patterns of hostility We pray, as we remember those who have suffered as a result of our forgetfulness or our inhumanity one to another, that we may also disarm our desire to overpower, capture or vanquish. Help us to resist peacefully every form of violence so that we can follow you in ways of gentleness and justice, continually resolving to form life-giving relationships, strengthened by the forgiveness of Jesus the fearlessness of the Spirit the transforming love of the Creator. Amen This evening, Thursday 7th May, will see the North Cheshire Circuit's streamed weeknight worship service.
Please come and join us from 7pm at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVWjwZIruIE2Xe8IUUrtfag Simon Kelly In 1971, John and I went out to Kenya to work, John for a firm of consulting engineers designing water and sewerage treatment plants, myself to teach in a state primary school. We fell in love with Kenya from the very beginning: the wide open rolling plains teeming with wildlife; the forests and hills of the Aberdares and Mount Kenya; the salt lakes with their vast flocks of flamingos; the fine white sandy beaches and coral reefs of the coast – and the people, especially the children! This was just eight years after independence, and there was a sense of freedom and optimism for the future. Sadly not all those hopes and dreams have been fulfilled. Development has been patchy and there are still huge problems, not all of their own making. Indebtedness to Western governments and organisations has hampered growth. The rush to the cities in search of the ‘streets paved with gold’ has spawned the slums of the shanty towns. The effects of climate change have resulted in degradation of the coral reef and prolonged and serious periods of drought inland over several years (they are currently in the midst of the longest and most severe drought in living memory). The north of the country has been overrun with refugees from neighbouring Somalia, and there have been terrorist attacks both there and even in the capital, Nairobi, itself, which has hit the main foreign currency earner, the travel industry. And now, Coronavirus. Imagine trying to self-isolate if you live cheek by jowl with hundreds of others in a slum, or on a village compound with several generations of your extended family. Imagine trying to wash your hands several times a day when your only source of water is the village stand-pipe, or a river bed a couple of miles away. I was pleased, therefore, to see that Christian Aid is focussing on Kenya this year for Christian Aid Week, which runs from May 10th – 16th. They want to support the country as best they can, through their local partners on the ground, to mitigate some of the effects of the pandemic, to provide clean water to help halt the spread of infection. It will, of course, be a very different fund-raising appeal this year. In normal times, many of us would now be steeling ourselves to set off door-to-door with our envelopes, a task which we often dread but which is much more pleasant when it happens. And there would be fund-raising events, like the Big Breakfast, or sponsored walks, to boost the funds. In a normal year Christian Aid raises about £8 million in this week alone. As a church, we are unable to make a collective response because of the lockdown. However, if you would like to give something, however small, as an individual, you can do so via Christian Aid’s ‘Just Giving’ page. Also, all profits from the sale of the music CD ‘Michael Gough … in the Gallery’ are being donated to this cause. Michael is a member of Norley Methodist Church and is training to be a local preacher. He is also an excellent guitarist and composes much of his own material. Please donate on-line, or buy the CD (via PayPal). Elizabeth Holmes A prayer from The Methodist Prayer Handbook Responding to the Gospel: Heavenly Father, when days are dark and full of pain, give us the strength to live through what we don’t understand, the courage to face it, and your comfort and peace in our hearts, for we are held safe in your loving arms. Amen We plough the fields and scatter The good seed on the land, But it is fed and watered By God’s almighty hand. You may be thinking that I am in the wrong season. In recent weeks we have been fortunate to do some beautiful walks from home in the lovely Cheshire countryside. During the first week the paths were muddy and the fields were waterlogged. It occurred to me that it would be weeks before the soil would be ready for planting (farmers and gardeners would have known better). However we have seen fields ploughed, soil tilled, seeds sown and even tiny shoot appearing. The brown fields are turning green. We can be sure that there will be a Harvest and, while life will be different for many people by then, may the changing seasons be a sign of hope. Whatever Harvest time may bring it will be a sign that we are all held in God’s hands. All my hope on God is founded; He doth still my trust renew. Me through change and chance he guideth, only good and only true. God unknown, he alone calls my heart to be his own. Robert Bridges, based on Joachim Neander (Singing the Faith 455) Ros Caldwell **The below reflection is published by kind permission of Professor Clive Marsh, Vice President of the Methodist Conference 2019-20. It was first published yesterday in Theology Everywhere, where a reflection on an issue or topic is posted each Monday. All are welcome to subscribe.** We are using a whole new language. (‘Are you on mute?’, ‘Send me a link’, ‘Are you the host?’) Digital natives (those who’ve lived with computers since birth) are simply saying ‘welcome to our world!’ (the new real world?). Those not au fait, or even wanting to be au fait, with such technology are saying ‘but I’m now not part of the “we”’ you’ve just referred to. So when this is all over, I won’t be within what you’re calling “the new normal”.’ And I won’t even mention the question of ‘Zoom Communion’. I’ll just say it’s at times like this I’m glad I’m not a presbyter. No one can buttonhole me (even virtually) and ask why on earth we can’t ‘do Communion’ across the WWW and expect me to be able to do anything about it.
‘Zoom Communion’ is, though, just the tip of a very large iceberg of issues raised by the digital world for the ways in which the church conducts itself, undertakes its mission, and in which theology takes shape. I can quite see why those who actively explore ‘digital theology’ become exasperated with a church which seems to go at a snail’s pace when, from their perspective, ‘things have to change (and quickly)’. I can also sense (and sometimes share) the alarm of what might happen if too many changes happened too rapidly, and too substantially. There can be little doubt that when our lockdown ends, or as its strictures are gradually relaxed, when social distancing is eased, and when we take stock of what has been happening in recent weeks, digital theology will have more allies, or sympathizers: ‘you know, that Zoom thing really is good. It’s got me thinking about the different ways our theology of conferring could happen.’ ‘Pastoral care could be thought of differently, you know, than we’ve been doing it for years.’ ‘More people might be willing to join in with meetings, so we could have a more diverse group.’ ‘Class meetings could make a comeback.’ That’s only the positive stuff, of course. There are counter-arguments too. Lots of people I know are ‘Zoomed out’ already through all meetings and one-to-ones going online. Plenty are missing seeing others (really seeing), not to mention the extroverts who need their hugs. I’ve been wondering myself whether I’ll get things wrong ‘after lockdown’ – or at least behave awkwardly – by hugging people I’ve never hugged in my life before (and can’t honestly remember whether I have) simply because I’ll be so pleased to see them. It will take a while to adjust after the initial re-assessment of social relations (actual and virtual). But we will, I hope, start to ask harder questions, and in fresh ways, such as: when do we need to meet in person? What is best done online, not just for money-saving reasons, but also for the sake of resisting climate change, and to save time? And these practical questions are caught up within a bigger range of issues of direct theological import, not least about creation, Sabbath, and what ‘church’ is anyway. Behind those hidden, theological framework kinds of questions other, even more basic, stuff is buzzing around too. What is ‘really real’ anyway? The terms ‘virtual’ and ‘real’ have become fuzzy, but have helpfully pressed us to say what is ‘real’. ‘Fake’ has also intervened as an overused, but still important, term. ‘Virtual’ is not the same as ‘fake’. But the realm of the ‘fictional’, the ‘made-up’ is tangled up in there too. This has always been the case in the worlds of faith, belief and theology. We do make things up (even some of our God stories) but that’s only because it’s sometimes hard to get at what’s true and real (really real), as what’s real and true has never simply been about ‘what happens’ or what we can prove (scientifically). I recall that one of the first pieces I ever wrote which had to do with the Internet (20 years ago? I can’t even remember) was prompted by claims that it would give us a whole new understanding of the Holy Spirit. I’ve seen some of the thoughts I put on paper back then re-emerging in articles and blogposts which have appeared in recent weeks. The Holy Spirit is really real, even whilst not visible, and yet seems very active as people connect ‘virtually’. A new insight brought to my attention in the lockdown is how inclusive some new more informal forms of church are proving for those on the autism spectrum. People can be involved (e.g. doing a craft or art activity at home amongst family members) in a ‘bigger congregation’ without necessarily having to look at the camera, and without the stress (for them or for other family-members) of ‘going to church’. All I hope, in the post-lockdown phase of the church’s life, is that we don’t get polarized, and that we do really reflect carefully and appropriately critically on the experiences that we’ve been having. For some, it will be about ‘getting back to normal’ (for which read ‘proper worship’). But what if the online worship has sometimes felt more ‘real’ than some of our past Sunday activity? What if we find that online life has added a new depth to what we go back to experiencing on Sunday (or Monday, or Wednesday, or whenever our face-to-face worship happens)? There will, in other words, need to be fresh considerations about what is real, and what helps us connect with the Really Real (I’m sure someone must have used that term for God before) in all our post-lockdown theological debate – whether or not the word ‘theology’ itself is used. Professor Clive Marsh Vice President of the Methodist Conference 2019-20 While I have had time to sort through some papers, I found a copy of this Christmas card that was sent to ‘Frodsham Fighting Forces’ in 1943. Although most of the businesses mentioned no longer exist (yes, we did used to have a jam factory, a cinema, a blacksmith and a shoemaker in Frodsham), the sentiments in the poem may be relevant today. Do you remember? The winding street, with regimented lime The sentry church aloft, the hills to climb, The scene of carnival, with pompous band, The cinema to which you went, how grand. The blacksmith’s forge, by the shoemaker’s shop, The scent of jam at the Sandfield top, The Cholmondeley Arms and the Golden Lion, The roll of the train o'er the bridge of iron, This was your village; you’ll see it again, From out the window of memory’s train.
Patricia Barnard Morning Worship for Sunday 3rd May, will be streamed online and lead by our Minister, the Reverend Andrew Emison.
The service will start at 10am. It can be accessed here: https://tinyurl.com/t95wj9n It was with some intrepidation that I accepted the offer to write a few words of reflection. I am more comfortable with gathering articles for the church magazine than with writing them myself! But as we face the challenges of the current situation, I find myself remembering that my grandfather succumbed to an earlier world-wide disaster - that of the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918. He left behind his wife and two young daughters - my mother aged just one, and her sister, aged four. My grandfather hadn't gone away to war because he was in a reserved occupation as a GPO engineer in Liverpool. There must have been so many bereaved families whose lives were torn apart by this pandemic, just as life was returning to some degree of normality after the horrors of WW1. Today, as we all have to continue with this strange lock-down due to the present-day virus, I find myself spending more and more time in the garden. I am of the age where all I can do is to stay home and keep safe. But it does feel very strange not to be out and about, other than for our hour's exercise. However, we have been blessed with wonderful weather so far, and I can't help thinking that God has sent us this weather to cheer us up a bit - and it has worked! God is good! In our house and the surrounding roads everywhere seems quiet and peaceful. We are fortunate to live in such a beautiful area with good walks from our own front doors. And our community is coming together to help in so many ways with acts of neighbourly kindness. The reality of the virus and its devastating effects continually reaches us via the news and social media. I pray for those working on the front-line, and also for those whose lives are really difficult. Those living in cramped conditions with no outside space, strained relationships, money worries, stroppy teenagers forced to spend time at home with their families, health worries, the strain of not being able to see our loved ones living far away from us. Here is a song which I find quite comforting when I am feeling a bit low. Josh Grogan singing 'You raise me up': Marg Jacks The Epistle of St. James is not an easy book to find. Tucked away in the middle of the New Testament over-shadowed by the great epistles of St. Paul and St. John, it is easily overlooked and neglected. James, the brother of Our Lord (Galatians 1:19) must have responded to Jesus’ ministry when the rest of the family were somewhat sceptical (Mark 3:31). Martin Luther, the great Protestant reformer (1483-1546), was also sceptical about the Epistle because Jesus’ name is only fleetingly mentioned (James 1:1 and 2:1) and salvation seems to depend on works rather than faith. However, to me the writer of this book comes across as a man full of the Spirit of Jesus, and the book itself is full of the Spirit and teaching of Jesus. Here is a summary of the Epistle in a book given to me 70 years ago (be careful never to throw a book away!): “This epistle is remarkable for its eminently practical character, the homeliness of its illustrations and its bold plain speaking rebuke of the wealthy oppression of the poor.” The writer is not expounding deep theological and philosophical themes that only the scholar can grasp, he is writing a practical guide to Christ-like living for the members of the early Christian Church. He is helping them to be constantly aware of the way Christ wanted them to live in a lost and wandering world. He speaks about: 1) The importance of sincerity and patience in difficult times (1:2; 1:12) 2) Beware of exultation of the rich and contempt for the poor (1:9; 2:5) 3) Bridle the unruly tongue, and seek to embrace peace and harmonious living (3:16) 4) Christianity is doing, not just listening (1:14; 2:14; 4:17) 5) Beware of the corrupting influence of “the world” and any attempt to serve both God and mammon 6) The importance of seeking wisdom from above (3:13) and cultivating the life of prayer (5:13) So I commend the Epistle of James to you as a book that is meant to help you “reach for the skies” yet keeping your feet “firmly planted on Earth”. F. Bernard Dodd |
ReflectionsThe reflections here are written by members of our congregation.
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