General Chat

Guess it depends on how 'modern' you are Dermot. :-D

Good morning..... :-)


Listening to the news this morning, I was shocked by the storm which has ravaged part of the Philippines. I am sure we will be remembering those suffering people in our prayers. We have some folk from the Philippines in our congregation so I am hoping all is well with them, but they must be very concerned about their families.


A thought for this morning:

My God Is No Stranger

I've never seen God,
But I know how I feel ...
It's people like you
Who make Him so real.

It seems that I pass Him
So often each day,
In the faces of people
I meet on my way.

He's the stars in the heaven,
A smile on some face,
A leaf on a tree,
Or a rose in a vase.

He's winter and autumn
And summer and spring,
In short, God is every
"Real," and wonderful thing.

I wish I might meet Him
Much more than I do ...
I would, if there were more
People like you!

~ Helen Steiner Rice ~


Have a peaceful day Cx :-)

This storm in Philippines is their 24th this year. This one is particularly fierce with winds approaching 200mph and gusts of 235mph. And it had hit Bohal, only two months after the earthquake that led to many temporary tent dwellers.

I will write to my friend who is the Bishop of the Angican communion there for northern Europe. His parish is very extensive, and he has a lot of his "flock" in Lancashire and North Wales. And these disasters have occurred very frequently in the time I have known him and his wife (nearly 10 years now). Most villages are very poor and very isolated, and it must be very difficult to gain access and help the relief effort.

Let us pray together:

Heavenly Father, we remember our Filipino friends in our own communities who are worrying about their families back in the Philipines. Our prayers reach out to them and to all those affected by this storm. To President Manola and the Government, and to all faith leaders. Keep everyone safe, we pray. In their adversity, reach out to them and assure them of your love.

And if you can show me any practical ways that I can help, I pray you come to me today, dear Father in heaven.

Through Jesus Christ our beloved Saviour, we pray. Amen.

Amen.

Good morning and amen indeed John.

As we approach Remembrance weekend, I thought it appropriate to post the hymn which will be sung at countless memorials around the world tomorrow.

The words are taken from Psalm 90 as follows:


Psalm 90: HEBREW TITLE: A prayer by Moses, the man of God.

1 O Lord, you have always been our home.

2 Before you created the hills
or brought the world into being,
you were eternally God,
and will be God forever.

3 You tell us to return to what we were;
you change us back to dust.

4 A thousand years to you are like one day;
they are like yesterday, already gone,
like a short hour in the night.

5 You carry us away like a flood;
we last no longer than a dream.
We are like weeds that sprout in the morning,

6 that grow and burst into bloom,
then dry up and die in the evening.

7 We are destroyed by your anger;
we are terrified by your fury.

8 You place our sins before you,
our secret sins where you can see them.

9 Our life is cut short by your anger;
it fades away like a whisper.

10 Seventy years is all we have—
eighty years, if we are strong;
yet all they bring us is trouble and sorrow;
life is soon over, and we are gone.

11 Who has felt the full power of your anger?
Who knows what fear your fury can bring?

12 Teach us how short our life is,
so that we may become wise.

13 How much longer will your anger last?
Have pity, O Lord, on your servants!

14 Fill us each morning with your constant love,
so that we may sing and be glad all our life.

15 Give us now as much happiness as the sadness you gave us
during all our years of misery.

16 Let us, your servants, see your mighty deeds;
let our descendants see your glorious might.

17 Lord our God, may your blessings be with us.
Give us success in all we do!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTqDuOvayKw


Cx.

Oh God our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne, Thy saints have dwelt secure
Sufficient is Thine arm alone, and our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood, or earth received her frame
From everlasting Thou art God, To endless years the same.

Thy word commands our flesh to dust,"Return ye sons of man"
All nations rose from earth at first, and turn to earth again.

A thousand ages in Thy sight are like an evening gone
Short as the watch that ends the night, before the rising sun.

The busy tribes of flesh and blood, with all their lives and cares
Are carried downwards by the flood, and lost in following years.

Time, like an ever rolling stream, bears all it's sons away
They fly, forgotten as a dream, dies at the opening day.

Like flowery fields the nations stand, pleased with the mornings light
The flowers beneath the mower's hand, lie withering ere tis night.

O God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come
Be Thou our guard while troubles last, and our eternal home.

How blessed to believe that God is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Good morning everyone on this special day of remembrance. I hope to be joining hundreds of others at our cenotaph which is in the church grounds and to then join with them for a civic memorial service inside.

Thousands upon thousands of people will be doing exactly the same both here and across the world as we unite to remember those who have died in warfare, those whose lives were torn apart and those who suffer still.


A Prayer of Remembrance

Almighty and eternal God,
from whose love in Christ we cannot be parted,
either by death or life:
hear our prayers and thanksgivings
for all whom we remember this day;
fulfil in them the purpose of your love;
and bring us all, with them, to your eternal joy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


O God of truth and justice,

we hold before you those men and women

who have died in active service:

in Iraq, in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

As we honour their courage and cherish their memory,

may we put our faith in your future;

for you are the source of life and hope,

now and for ever. Amen.



Cx

morning Cynthia and everyone else - I have managed to get up early enough this morning for church :-D and will be attending our local cenotaph in front of the library - I shall be planting a cross for my Dad's brother who was killed in WW1 aged 19 - he was born just down the road from the cenotaph and his name is on it for all to see. I never met him and my Dad was only a baby when he died, but he was the spitting image of Dad

It's a lovely day here in Cardiff so there should be a good attendance with the local silver band to provide the music

Good day all on this special day of remembrance.

Emma :-)

I attended the village Remembrance Sunday service in a packed-out church (rare occasion) and went along to the lychgate memorial reading out names of the men and women who had died in WW1/WW2 and the laying of poppy wreaths from many local organizations.

The occasion was sombre and reflective and I felt privileged to be there. The brass band (ex colliery band) played in church and processed through the village streets which made me think back to my younger childhood days. The weather was dry but quite chilly. There were many village folk, young and young at heart which made this an extra special Sunday..

sounds very much like our ceremony - the band played as it progressed from the church through the village to the cenotaph - wreaths were laid by many local organisations, the army, navy and air force, scouts, girl guides, boys brigade, nurses from local hospitals A service by our vicar at the cenotaph and two minutes silence at 11:00 am, then procession back to the church for a service of remembrance and then representatives from the various organisations laid poppy wreaths on all the military graves in the churchyard

Good morning. My experience was just the same and it would have been the same in many places all over the world. I always find it moving to see how many people come to stand in the cold to pay their respects so silently and with respect. The crowd where I was, seemed to get bigger and bigger as time went on and the traffic was kept well away.


A few thoughts for Armistice Day:


When you go home tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow we gave our today.

++++++++

I believe in the sun,
even when it does not shine.
I believe in love,
even when I cannot feel it.
I believe in God,
even when he is silent.

Prayer scratched on the wall of a prison cell in Cologne during the Second World War

++++++++

Went the day well?
We died and never knew.
But, well or ill,
Freedom, we died for you.

++++++++

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


Cx

beautiful verses Cynthia - thank you <3

Thank you Cynthia <3

Such moving words Cynthia..... thank you.

Good morning........ :-)



Some words for today and, bearing in mind the tragedy in the Philippines, the horrific loss of life and the great need for food and water, I think these words are quite apt.



Count your gains - not your losses

As we travel down life’s busy road
Complaining of our heavy load,
We often think God’s been unfair
And gave us much more than our share
Of little daily irritations
And disappointing tribulations.
We’re discontented with our lot
And all the “bad breaks” that we got;
We count our losses ... not our gain,
And remember only tears and pain.
The good things we forget completely
When God looked down and blessed us sweetly.

Our troubles fill our every thought,
We dwell upon the goals we sought;
And wrapped up in our own despair,
We have no time to see or share
Another’s load that far outweighs
Our little problems and dismays.

And so we walk with heads held low,
And little do we guess or know
That someone near us on life’s street
Is burdened deeply with defeat.

And if we’d but forget our care
And stop in sympathy to share,
The burden that our brother carried,
Our minds and hearts would be less harried;
And we would feel our load was small,
In fact, we carried no load at all.

~ Helen Steiner Rice ~


Cx :-)

We are really very fortunate Cynthia,
thank you for Helen S Rice words. <3

Counting blessings every day.

There seems an increasing interest in remembering those who fell in WW1 and WW2 in particular. It was an important part of my childhood. Yet I thought these heroes would be remembered the same as our own families. Hardly anyone visits graves now of those who died before 1950, yet these men (and some women) are remembered more and more , it seems.

Both my grandfathers lost a brother in action. My grandfathers went to their graves in 1946 and 1953 and, now their widows and children have all joined them, few if any flowers are put on their graves now. We all do our best to keep their memories alive through family history. But with my two great uncles who fell in WW1 it is different. They were part of history, they lie in beautifully maintained foreign burial grounds with their comrades. We now have the wills they wrote, their details when they enlisted, where they fought, how and where they died.

We can cry for 18 year olds who hardly had any life, yet lived what they had to the full. And how lovely to see our children and our grandchildren wanting to understand, wanting to cry with us, wanting to visit the battlegrounds and war cemeteries, wanting to give money to fund the Haig poppy charity which does so much good.

Laurence Binyon wrote:

"Age shall not weary them"

and concludes:

"They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam"

Good morning :-)

There are so many different ways of praying and each way is a personal way.

There are many different translations/versions of the bible and each has it's own personal appeal.

There are many different ways of explaining the faith and each has it's own personal attraction.

So many 'differences' but all, hopefully, leading to the same truths.

I found the following. It is unusual but interesting and, possibly, the shortest explanation of the faith that I have ever seen!! :-)


The Bible In Fifty Words.

God made
Adam bit
Noah arked
Abraham split
Joseph ruled
Jacob fooled
Bush talked
Moses balked
Pharaoh plagued
People walked
Sea divided
Tablets guided
Promise landed
Saul freaked
David peeked
Prophets warned
Jesus born
God walked
Love talked
Anger crucified
Hope died
Love rose
Spirit flamed
Word spread
God remained.

- Unknown



Have a happy day. Cx :-)