heart eatheart eat holy ascension church and community magazine may 2020 holy ascension’s rainbow...
TRANSCRIPT
Heart eat
Holy Ascension Church and Community Magazine May 2020
Holy Ascension’s Rainbow of Hope
‘There is a rainbow in every cloud.’
Maya Angelou
Welcome to Heartbeat …
The Church’s logo was designed for
the 160th anniversary of the Church in
2014. It illustrates the church’s
commitment to be at the heart of the
whole community of Upton by
Chester. The name for the magazine,
Heartbeat, reflects that commitment.
Copy for the magazine is always welcome. Contributions for the June issue should be received by 12 May via the Parish Office or email
The magazine can be viewed online at www.holyascension.org.uk/HeartBeat
Or if you prefer we can email you a copy each month-just let us know at the above email address.
Editorial Team
Sharon Forsdyke - Editor Graham Barley Sue Burgess Dave O’Brien
‘We are the World, we are the children…’ words from the Charity single created in March 1985 which raised money for African Famine Relief.
As individuals we may feel there is little we can do in this current crisis, but ‘We are the World’ and we can do three things; we can pray, we can live in hope and we can share our faith through the Word.
The disciples were also charged with sharing the Word when they were blessed with the Holy Spirit. These were ordinary men, given strength to do an extraordinary thing - to share the message of hope across the world, often in the face of persecution and death.
Over the last few weeks there have been acts of selflessness from NHS workers and key workers who have put themselves on the front line to help care for, and save lives, so it is fitting we remember the work of Florence Nightingale this month.
And as we approach Ascension and Pentecost, let us give thanks for all who are working to keep us safe and let us continue to live in hope that these anxious times will pass.
Holy Ascension Mission Statement
'To be the people of God in this place, committed to Christ, to one
another and to Service in the community; together, we worship God
with joy and love and with openness to renewal by the Holy Spirit.’
Online Communion Service
As you are aware, in light of the Government’s guidance around non-essential contact, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have issued advice that public worship is suspended until further notice.
Prayers are being offered by clergy and ministers on behalf of everyone. If you need to self-isolate (or are in need of prayer and support) please let us know.
Contact: Reverend Paul Newman on 743325
Paul is currently sharing a Holy Communion Service every Sunday at 10.00am through the internet on a site called ‘Zoom.’ If you would like to join him please email [email protected] and we will send you the link.
The parish office is also currently closed but if you need to contact us please email [email protected].
Holy Ascension’s 166th Birthday falls on 25th May this year. There would
normally be an evening service in church on this date so perhaps on this
day you could pray for our Vicar Paul and his wife Tara, their sons, Tom,
Mark and Josh, Curate Dave, his wife Jean, Barbara Capstick and all in
our nationwide Churches and parish communities who are keeping us
connected through online services, Bible Study notes and Pastoral Care.
Letter from Bishop
Keith
Dear Friends
We are now post Easter. Whatever our focus has been until now, as we look ahead to another three weeks of lockdown which is very likely to become more, how are we doing?
I continue to hear stories of encouragement and surprise. I think my favourite this week is of an older lady accessing an online service from her parish and holding a telephone up to her computer so another friend on her own, could hear the sermon! I have written to funeral directors and staff at our crematoria assuring them of our prayer and support; I believe the letter has been gratefully received.
But with encouragement and thanksgiving there is challenge and testing. For some, perhaps the novelty of online worship has begun to pale as we crave actual company (even if we can take part in this way.) We may be wondering what our lives are going to be like when whatever ‘normal’ looks like returning, if it ever does. We may be crying out to God for some sense of what this all means.
As we give thanks that the present strategy of our government here appears at least to be helping the NHS to cope, what might be the possible impact of this pandemic globally, especially in our link dioceses in Congo and Melanesia, who have none of our health infrastructure and capacity for self-isolation?
As an African friend in a country neighbouring Congo expressed to me in a recent email:
‘Please pray for special protection from Jesus who conquered death as we do not have means and facilities to handle this pandemic disease.’
As the members of Church House were gathering for online prayers recently, the words from the Colossians reading really struck a chord in the prayer of St Paul:
‘May you be prepared to endure everything with patience’ (Col 1:11) whilst echoing everything else that St Paul includes in this wonderful prayer.
I wonder if now in this Easter season we could really give ourselves to prayer in a new and deeper way.
I know some have found the use of other verses from Colossians (3:12) helpful with our hands; kindness, compassion, humility, meekness, patience (on one hand), and praying for our communities, the NHS, the government, those on the front lines, ourselves (on the other hand).
God is present with us.
The resurrection scriptures have been speaking powerfully of the Lord Jesus meeting us and calling us by name. I have found these assurances of the risen Lord with us enormously sustaining, even with and especially with those who are going through bereavement and the nearness of death. We pray for those, who are working in the hospital and ICU’s and in care homes. I thank God for the way the diocese has stepped up to the new challenges of worship and pastoral care and found themselves perhaps unexpectedly, connecting with those way beyond the ‘normal’ Sunday congregation.
But with this prayer of intercession and thanksgiving, I wonder if in this time before Ascension Day and Pentecost, we might also give ourselves to silent prayer.
I have often found Romans 8:26 an enormous relief in prayer:
‘Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.’
Sometimes when we will allow ourselves to be silent before the Lord, we allow the Spirit to pray in us and through us in this way ‘with sighs too deep for words,’ and this is the beginning of our discovering how it is that we ought to pray.
I know some have been going back to the book of Job, one of the wisdom books of the Bible, which out of the terrible narrative of one man’s unimaginable suffering, there is both a great crying out to God and an extraordinary discovery of the presence and word of God right in the middle of his awful experience. One of the most telling verses in Job is Job 2:13, about his friends, who were appalled at what he was going through, the verse says:
‘They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.’
There is a kind of prayer that is like this sitting on the ground, and while they were silent all was well. When they began to speak it all started to go wrong; they thought they knew what God was doing, they started telling Job what he needed to do or not do; a huge part of the book is taken up with ‘explanations’ which meant well, but which didn’t help, and in the end receive God’s censure (42:7).
I am sure I have been like Job’s friends at times, and we need to be very careful we are not like them now!
But if we give ourselves to silent prayer, and the experience of Romans 8, it may be that we will in time receive words which are true and can be spoken.
And even if we do not, we will still be praying after the heart of God who himself speaks to Job, and to us, about our creation and the world we inhabit, still given by him and still under his sovereignty and grace.
The risen Jesus brings us that same word. His suffering exceeded that of Job; his own life was taken on the cross, even as he laid it down for us.
If silent prayer, given you have a
house full of preschool or primary
school children, sounds remote,
know that there are others in the
diocese who are praying for you.
If you are at your wits end with
loved ones in hospital, or you have
financial and job uncertainties and
all the praying you can do is more
in panic, praying “Help!”, know
there are others in the diocese
praying for you too.
And if we are praying in this way
and learning to sense the Spirit
interceding within us, don’t be
surprised if in that moment you
find God giving you a person to
call, a word to speak, a website to
recommend, or an online service
to access.
We do not know what is to come.
We do not know how to pray as we
ought, but the Spirit helps us in
our weakness. And when the Spirit
does, then the Spirit (as the rest of
Romans 8 reveals) will open to us
even more the heart of God for
our lives, our country and our
world.
With love in Christ
+Keith
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This is a cake from Lincolnshire to celebrate Whitsun. The flavour is akin to Eccles or Bunbury cakes but with an enriched dough taking the place of the pastry.
There is no indication what exactly this cake was meant to symbolise or celebrate other than Peace and Good Neighbourhood to all. Susan Campbell
Heartbeat has found a recipe for this cake:
Ingredients
375g (13 oz) strong white flour pinch salt 75g (6 oz) butter 7g (¼ oz) instant dried yeast (or 15g/½ oz fresh yeast) 150ml (2 fl. oz) warm milk 115g (4½ oz) butter, melted 225g (8 oz) raisins 225g (8 oz) sugar pinch grated nutmeg pinch ground cinnamon 1 egg, separated
Method
Make a soft dough with the flour, salt, butter, yeast, milk, and three-quarters of the melted
Cover it and leave it to rise for 45 minutes in a warm place.
Meanwhile, mix the raisins, sugar, spices, and remaining butter in a saucepan and simmer them together gently for 10 minutes.
Cool and stir in the egg yolk.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Grease a 20cm (8-inch) round cake tin.
Divide the dough into four pieces and roll each one out into a disc that will fit the cake tin.
Layer them with the raisin mixture, finishing with the fourth round of dough, and sealing the sides neatly with a brush of egg white.
Bake the cake for 45 minutes.
Brush the top with the egg white and bake for a further 10 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack and store in a tin for two days.
Enjoy!
Lincolnshire Whitsun
Cake
Hello,
Welcome to the month of May.
I wonder if you have been true to your word obeying the rules of the lockdown.
I have only been out walking once since my last article because I have not been too good lately and I have had a bug of some sort. So I have never been at home so much.
I love my little bungalow and am very happy there. I feel safe and secure. I feel loved and wanted.
Jean, my wife, has looked after me and we spend a lot of time doing the garden and jigsaws together. We talk about all sorts.
Last week we were talking about our home. We love where we live and have good neighbours. We are in our fourteenth home.
Some say ‘Home is where your heart is.’
We have lived around the country; some homes for a season and others for a longer time.
Some we thought we would be there forever, but the Lord had other ideas.
Jesus lived in a few homes. He stayed in many homes with all sorts of people. I wonder what type of welcome he received at them?
Since the lockdown I’ve tried to spend time in the garden reading and doing a bit. Can’t believe it’s been five years since we moved here on 30th April 2015. Here is a picture of the wisteria we have in our garden.
Enjoy your home. Stay safe and stay home.
Till the next time. Every Blessing, Dave O’Brien (Curate)
Out and About...
Why is there a football in the parking lot? I wondered. But as I got closer, I realized the greyish lump wasn’t a football: it was a goose—the saddest Canada goose I’d ever seen.
Geese often congregate on the lawn near my workplace in the spring and fall. But today there was only one, its neck arced back and its head tucked beneath a wing. Where are your buddies? I thought.
Poor thing was all alone. It looked so lonely, I wanted to give it a hug. (Note: don’t try this.)
I’ve rarely seen a goose completely alone like my lone feathered friend. Geese are notably communal, flying in a V-formation to deflect the wind. They’re made to be together.
As human beings, we were created for community too (Genesis 2:18). And in Ecclesiastes 4:10, Solomon describes how vulnerable we are when we’re alone: ‘Pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.’ There’s strength in numbers, for ‘though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.’ (v. 12).
This is just as true for us spiritually as it is physically.
God never intended for us to ‘fly’ alone, vulnerably isolated. We need relationships with each other for encouragement, refreshment, and growth (see also 1 Corinthians 12:21).
During these extraordinary days, due to the Covid-19 virus, many of us have needed to practice physical distancing to help contain the disease. But how we look forward to the time we can meet face-to-face with our local church families again!
Together, we can stand firm when life’s headwinds gust our way. Together.
Adam Holz (From Our Daily Bread 23rd April 2020)
The Saddest Goose
ACROSS
1. Tunes accompanied by graces? (4)
3. Closing words of Poe drafted with guile
(8)
8. Choose ground-breaking tool (4)
9. Tear off, certain to cherish (8)
11. Rarest moon somehow seen by this
observer? (10)
14. Pieces of eight for Long John? (6)
15. Troubled lad’s in Anglesey, for
example (6)
17. House plant Iris adapts (10)
20. One who works with a will? (8)
21. Cheese eaten by Berliner regularly
(4)
22. Pilgrims on the Mayflower convert
Rasputin (8)
23. Check rising tide (4)
DOWN
1. Paul’s ape got
confused, clapping (8)
2. Articles about musical
performances (8)
4. 14’s Captain Flint (6)
5. Badly phrased lies of
management (10)
6. Nothing in belly
causes painful toe (4)
7. First woman’s north-
ern flat (4)
10. Surprisingly, a loser
must go head over heels
(10)
12. Crated up, perhaps, having
been caught (8)
13. Positioned next to Jade - can’t
move (8)
16. Wash one’s hands of Sid now,
sadly (6)
18. Chester’s river, soft but not
shallow (4)
19. Support Paddington? (4)
Crossword
Answers to April Crossword
ACROSS: 1. Deuteronomy 9. Student
10. Malta 11. Hoe 13. Odes 16. Acts
17. Attain 18. Lady 20. Sign 21. Trance
22. Kent 23. Wept 25. Ass 28. Inuit
29. Pensive 30. Terminating
DOWN: 2. Elude 3. Tees 4. Ruth
5. Name 6. Malachi 7. As you like it
8. Maisonettes 12. Orient 14. Say
15. Storks 19. Denture 20. Sew
24. Evian 25. Atom 26. Span 27. Knot
Answers in June issue.
Crossword compiled by Graham Barley.
VE & VJ DAY As the UK is still likely to be in lockdown at the beginning of May,
we are being encouraged to mark VE Day in a different way on
this anniversary…
Heartbeat would love to know how you have marked this occasion and any memories you may have of the original VE Day and VJ day events
which took place in 1945. Please email us at [email protected]
As lockdown continues, children at Upton Heath have been making the most of the outdoors during a Wildlife in the Garden Week.
The whole school have been involved in the project which has seen the children exploring the wildlife on their doorsteps and considering ways to encourage more wildlife into their gardens.
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Key Stage 1 (KS1) children have been making their own mini nature reserve in their gardens, using readily available materials like a container, compost/mud, rocks and a yoghurt pot.
They have also been investigating the wildlife that exists in their own gardens, by undertaking a mini beast hunt and a bird survey, also encouraging new wildlife by creating a mini beast house, a bird feeder and planting some bee friendly seeds.
Update from Upton
Heath
Creating a nature reserve
Bug Hotels
Maths has been involved in the project for EYFS and KS1 as they took part in caterpillar counting and drew bar charts; whilst art for the week had a wildlife theme, with children creating art using natural materials from the garden.
The project was the idea of Sarah Pearson, leader of Upton Heath’s forest school provision Branching Out, who also offer forest school and outdoor learning training for schools, nurseries and pre-schools through Branching Out Training.
“The 20th April was going to be our Bug Week in school. This is a week devoted to the outdoors and watching spring arrive in our mini woods. Like children all over the UK, most of our pupils are at home at the moment, so we wanted to put that time to good use.
One of the positives that has come out of the pandemic is that we are all taking more time to notice and appreciate the natural world all around us, the natural world that is on our doorsteps, rather than automatically jumping in the car and going somewhere else.
We’re also seeing wildlife itself taking advantage of the break in normal human activity; this makes it an ideal time to encourage our children’s interest in the natural world.
Last year I decided to try and ‘re-wild’ my own back garden and make it a safe place for our native wildlife.
Gathering Items in the garden
Key Stage 2 were tasked with creating their own game, designing a wildlife garden for Upton Heath Primary School, undertaking research on a British wild plant, animal or insect, thinking about some of the dangers that British wildlife face at the moment and writing a persuasive letter about the issue.
I created habitats for mini beasts, planted bee friendly plants as well as wildflowers, fed the birds and let nature take back over some areas of the garden.
It is amazing what a difference a little change can make, and I am already seeing more wildlife, plants and animals moving in. Hopefully, through our Wildlife in the Garden Week more children and families will learn more about the problems that wildlife faces today, as well as discovering ways in which they can support wildlife in their own gardens.”
Head Teacher of Upton Heath Conrad North commented: “The children were all really looking forward to Bug Week and we were pleased to be able to offer Wildlife in the Garden Week as an alternative.
Because we have Branching Out at Upton Heath, and our children receive forest school sessions from EYFS through to Year 6, they are well versed in looking after the natural world. Yet, they still managed to surprise me with the inventiveness of their bug hotels, nature games, bird feeders and nature reserves.”
When the school opened its new building in 2019 the mini woods area remained untouched, leaving a natural habitat for wildlife and a base for Branching Out.
One parent commented: “The boys have both really loved building a bug house and mini nature reserve and they think some bugs might have moved in already!
They are in different year groups so don't often get to work together but they both really enjoyed the challenge.”
Pupils too have greatly enjoyed the experience of Wildlife in the Garden Week, with one pupil writing in the school newsletter:
"This week I have done lots of work about bugs. I made a bug house with pieces of wood, nails, toilet roll tubes, leaves, straw, pine cones and sticks.
I had to use a saw to saw the wood to the right size and a hammer to bang the nails in. I had to be very careful and safe using the tools. I hope lots of bugs come into my bug house."
Upton Heath Marketing Team
Further Recollections
of Jill Edmonds
Ten years ago I was a regular contributor to HeartBeat's predecessor under Graham Barley's editorship.
When I saw from the April edition that Jill Edmonds had passed away, a vivid memory was stirred of a wonderful Poetry and Music Evening held in Holy Ascension in March 2010 (exact date unknown.)
My original article appeared in the May 2010 edition of the church magazine. Ian Travers
(Many of these names (some of whom have also sadly passed away since the article first appeared) will be familiar to our church family. Sharon Forsdyke Editor Heartbeat
The nave was well-filled for the event, appropriate reward for all the imagination, knowledge, ability and rehearsal that lay behind this production, masterminded by Jill Edmonds.
An enormous debt of gratitude is owed to Jill for the months of patient work she devoted to her task.
Our Director of Music Chris Wilkinson performed all of the musical items, accompanied in some of them by his wife Gill with the familiar, entrancing clarity of her soprano voice or surprisingly for those of us who weren't in the know, on clarinet! How fortunate we are that we have Chris and Gill amongst our musical fraternity at Holy Ascension.
The literary items were read with exemplary delivery by a number of well-rehearsed speakers. In order of appearance they were: Francis and Katy Coxhead, Margaret Brizell, Laura Green, Robert Evans, Mervyn and Barbara Bowley, Norma Jones, Michael Green, Sheila Clayton and Graeme White.
After the musical opening - Spring from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi - and a welcome and introduction from Vicar David and Jill Edmonds, we switched to poetry - Echo and Narcissus by Ted Hughes from The Tales of Ovid, and The Beginning by Stephen Warbeck.
The following programme was arranged in four parts, with poems from Devon first, then The Lake District and Wales, and finally from the West Midlands. Jill expertly guided us through them all.
Poems from Devon: To Daffodils by Robert Herrick, Among the Narcissi by Sylvia Plath and Daffodils by Ted Hughes from Birthday Letters.
Poems (and prose) from the Lake District, introduced with Waltz of the Flowers by Tchaikovsky from The Nutcracker Suite, and closed with John Rutter's arrangement of All Things Bright and Beautiful.
Reflections and Memories of the Lake District by Mervyn Bowley.
An extract from the Journal by Dorothy Wordsworth.
Letters from William Wordsworth to Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Daffodils by William Wordsworth.
Poems from Wales, introduced with the first and second movements from Paul Reade's Victorian Kitchen Garden Suite and concluded with its fifth movement, were: Lent Lily by Isaac Hooson, translated by Eira Davies and St David's Daffodil, written specially by Norma Jones.
Poems from the West Midlands, introduced with The Flower Duet from Lakme by Leo Delibes and concluded with Morning from Peer Gynt by Edward Grieg, were: The West Wind by John Masefield, Sudden Spring by Gerald Bullett,
an extract from The Daffodil Fields by John Masefield, Ryton Firs by Lascelles Abercrombie and The Lent Lily by A E Housman from A Shropshire Lad.
Before the interval Vicar David 'interviewed' Michelle from Marie Curie Cancer Care, whose emblem is the daffodil, as encouragement for us all to participate in the raffle in support of this worthy charity during the break.
A superb evening and a great credit to all who were involved in its production. Ian Travers
My Memory of Jill
I met Jill in 1995; she taught an option on Victorian Theatre that I took when I was studying for a part time MA in Victorian Studies. If I remember rightly we had a trip to cold Blackpool to look at the Victorian theatre there which was quite useful for me as my course work was about women in the Music Hall - Vesta Tilley, cross- dressing and all that!
After completing my MA I did not see Jill for several years, not until I started going to church on a regular basis again. Carol Green
Last month’s front cover featured images created by members of our church and community. This month we are featuring images of creative projects from our church family encircling the Easter cross at Upton URC.
Creativity in Lockdown
Cross outside URC in Heath
Road
Joseph’s depiction of The Easter Story
Mary Adderley’s Easter cake
Jean Saxby’s baby owls
Margaret Adams’ giraffe Albero’s Easter Garden
As all of our thoughts are on the Covid-19 situation, Heartbeat wanted to share an update on Christian Aid’s response. We value our volunteers enormously and want to ensure you all keep safe when fundraising for Christian Aid Week. The health and safety of our community, including all the loyal supporters who collect in our parish and community is of the utmost importance to us and to Christian Aid.
Advice for Christian Aid Week Like many churches, we had been planning events and house-to-house collections. As advised by Christian Aid, under the current circumstances, sadly, house-to-house collections and delivery-only collections will not go ahead.
Christian Aid Week is moving online so you can take part with the online community. We would love you to join in to show love for our neighbours near and far, as a global family.
It’s more important than ever that we come together as a community to worship and to share fun and fellowship.
During Christian Aid Week there will be live-streaming worship each day, and a fun daily quiz to join and raise funds. Heartbeat would like to encourage you to sign up using the links below.
christianaid.org.uk/christian-aid-week/daily-live-streaming christianaid.org.uk/christian-aid-week/daily-quiz
There are also plenty of other resources available on the christianaid.org.uk website to help you pray, raise funds and connect with family and friends during this challenging time.
Christian Aid is used to dealing with other crises such as Ebola, and will continue their work on the front line helping all those living in poverty to limit the impact of the virus.
Please pray for the work of Christian Aid and their partners during these challenging and anxious times.
‘Hope is the word which God has written on the brow of every man.’
Victor Hugo
Christian Aid Update
Christian Aid Week
10th to 16th May 2020
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Hall The hall is
available to hire for children’s parties, public and private
meetings, workshops etc.
There is availability for regular
activities to take place.
For more information and to make a booking
please contact the Parish Office
Tel 01244 383518 Email :
office@
holyascension.org.uk
Cancellation of CTU
Trip
Due to take place on
14th May 2020
The new date for this
is under review and
will possibly take
place in 2021.
‘Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the
darkness.’
Desmond Tutu
Mine would be Peterborough, one of that fine string of cathedrals gracing the east of England from Ely to Durham.
Architecturally it is magnificent. A guide book of 1898 suggests that ‘nowhere in the Kingdom is there to be found a finer and more complete Norman church.’
The original Saxon building was followed by this fine structure whose Norman nave was later sandwiched by a 12th/13th Century three-arched west front and at the east end by a 15th/16th Century ambulatory, boasting fan-vaulting rivalling that at King’s College Cambridge.
A Benedictine monastery until its transformation into a cathedral by Henry VIII, it is the burial place of Catherine of Aragon who died at
Kimbolton in 1536. Her tomb remains there and her death is still remembered annually.
Another Royal burial was that of Mary Queen of Scots who lost her head at Fotheringay in 1587.
Mary’s remains were relocated to Westminster Cathedral and reinterred in a Chapel opposite Queen Elizabeth 1, on an order from her son James I/VI in 1612.
A figure of some local fame was ‘Old Scarlett’ the sexton who died at the age of 98 in 1594 having buried both of those queens.
Peterborough Cathedral is well out of the way but well worth a visit for both historical and architectural reasons. David Savage
If you would still like to share your favourite cathedral memories, please email Heartbeat at
Favourite Cathedrals
(continued…)
The decision by the World Health Organisation to make 2020 the Year of the Nurse and Midwife was based on the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth on 12th May 1820.
But with the arrival of the current coronavirus, it is a remarkably apt year to celebrate all that nurses do for us.
As the International Council of Nurses says: ‘All around the world, nurses are working tirelessly to provide the care and attention people need, whenever and wherever they need it. Nurses are central to the delivery of health care; nurses are making an invaluable contribution to the health of people globally.’
Nursing as a vocation goes back to the Early Church. When plague struck the Roman world in the third century, it was Christians who tended the sick and dying, often at great personal cost. Their self-sacrifice made a huge impression on Roman society. Centuries later, in medieval Europe, it was the monastic orders that provided health care.
Still centuries later, during the Crimean War (1853-56) Florence Nightingale saved thousands of lives when she transformed the field hospitals, hugely improving the standards of care for wounded and dying soldiers.
In fact, Florence Nightingale deserves credit for establishing the modern profession of nursing and its structures of training. Although of course medical science has advanced since her time, the basic ethos of nursing care still remains today close to Nightingale’s vision.
Nursing is often described as a vocation, to which many Christians are called. Nightingale wrote of being called by God, after having had a vivid religious conversion as a teenager. Writing in February 1837, she stated:
‘God has spoken to me and called me to His Service.’
Four years before going to Crimea, she studied at a Lutheran religious community in Germany which trained deaconesses in medical skills, nursing and in theology. Many of the ideas she adopted for her nurses came from that religious community. Thus her training programme was not solely devoted to secular medical sciences.
A Light of Hope in a Time
of Darkness...
Every Thursday evening at 8pm, the UK are joining together to clap for NHS staff and keyworkers who are on the front line.
Here are a few words from some of the patients and family whose loved ones have been given care..
‘I wouldn’t be where I am today without the help of the nurses/doctors/consultants/ambulatory care, everyone on the ward and the medical supplies. Thank you.’
‘Thanks NHS you saved my mum’s life as well as my dad’s can’t thank QE Kings Lynn hospital enough.’
‘Thank you to my nearly daughter in law, who is a cleaner at Taunton hospital. Massive clap for you.’
‘Hi World, let me be the youngest (at one hour old) to say thank you to the NHS).’
Her student nurses were required to attend chapel, and her nurses read prayers on the wards.
Nightingale wrote many letters of spiritual encouragement to her students. To one, she wrote Christ considered it an ‘honour to serve the poorest and the meanest…He will not give His crown except to those who have borne His cross… Enduring hardship is what He encourages and rewards.’
The Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally trained and worked as a nurse before being appointed to senior positions in the Health Service. She was Chief Nursing Officer for England between 1999 to 2004.
She says: “I became a Christian as a teenager and wanted to follow Christ with my whole life. Rather than having two careers, I have had one vocation: to follow Jesus Christ, to know Him, and to make Him known.”
Certainly, of all the professions, nursing has one of the strongest claims to being rooted in the Gospel. Christian nurses implicitly witness to Christ in caring for others.
(Adapted from an article by Ted Harrison shared on Parish Pump)
‘We must accept finite
disappointment, but never lose
infinite hope.’
(Martin Luther King JNR)
Thank you!
Many readers will have appreciated the acts of worship conducted online during the current lockdown. The Church’s ministry has continued even while church buildings have been shut.
The last time there was prolonged closure of churches in this country was - bizarrely - by order of the Pope over 800 years ago. King John refused the Pope’s nominee as Archbishop of Canterbury, so when diplomacy failed Pope Innocent III pronounced an Interdict forbidding church services until the monarch gave way.
This lasted over six years, from March 1208 to July 1214, with the King eventually accepting the Archbishop.
At the outset, no services were allowed except infant baptisms and deathbed confessions. However - rather like our government with its daily Covid-19 briefings - the Pope kept modifying his instructions, so from 1209 monasteries could celebrate mass behind closed doors and from 1212 priests could give communion to the dying.
Inevitably, there was local variation, so, as has happened this time, many clergy did their best to keep services going. Laity were sometimes let into church to pray or hear a sermon, as happened on patronal festivals.
On Good Friday, some priests set up a cross which could be venerated outside their churches. Pilgrims were still allowed to visit shrines within monasteries, provided they entered by a side door.
Marriages could go ahead because religious ceremonies were not essential.
What seems to have been missed most were attendance at mass and the burial of loved ones in consecrated ground. But the church authorities realised that denying people the sacraments meant that ‘the indevotion of the populace grows’ as a later medieval Pope put it.
It was a relief to everyone when church bells started ringing again to mark the end of the Interdict. Graeme White
We look forward to the day when we will be able to visit and attend services in our places of worship.
The Last Time the
Churches were Closed
Vicar Paul Newman 743325
Curate Dave O’Brien 375782
Church Wardens Mike Curtis 313152
Colin Foden 381094
Reader Emeritus/ Churches Together in Upton Barbara Capstick 380299
PCC Secretary [email protected]
PCC Treasurer Sue Burgess 380340
Electoral Roll Secretary Jean May 381429
Family Worker/Sunshine Tots Margaret Adams 07707 030020
Church Fellowship Leaders
Barbara Capstick 380299
Margaret Brizell 381404
Director of The Samara Trust Graeme White 312758
Parish Safeguarding Coordinator
Angela Blundell :
Views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Editorial Team, the Clergy, the
Parochial Church Council, or of any authoritative body of
the Church of England.
Thank you for your continued support of the food bank which provides 3 days of emergency food for local people in crisis.
At the current time there is no
collection box in church but most of the major supermarkets
have collection points.
Urgently needed items: UHT Fruit juice
UHT Milk Instant coffee
Instant mash
Instant custard
Tinned potatoes
