Today, at The Crematorium and then by a graveside, we'll say 'farewell' to two members of AFC. Both played their part amongst us with considerable grace.
Keith Pulford loved nothing better than filling our church with music. Catherine Dolman loved attending worship and sharing in fellowship, and played her part well in a numbers of clubs and societies connected with AFC.
We pray that Pam and John, who have lost such faithful partners, will continue to be surrounded by the love and prayers of our church community.
Today I'm delighted that we are able to publish another of Heather's helpful and touching Reflections.
The audio service for Sunday is being assembled today from various recordings that have been made at different times, places and by different people throughout the week. Our Regional Minister, The Revd Geoff Colmer, is the preacher this week and I'm grateful to him for being willing to take part.
Finally, our thanks to the editors of Family News for a splendid May edition which has now been sent through to us all in a variety of ways. It's a full magazine, reflecting love and thanksgiving for those who have recently passed away and a celebration of all the optimisim and hope to be found among us during the strangest of days.
May God's blessing and joy be with you today, and this weekend, in all you do.
Ian
Thursday, 30 April 2020
Thursday 30th April 2020
The second is a poem from Olga:
SMILING IS INFECTIOUS
Smiling is infectious
You catch it like the flu
When someone smiled at me today
I started smiling to.
I passed around the corner
and someone saw my grin
When he smiled I realised
I'd passed it on to him.
I thought about that smile
then I realised its worth.
A single smile, just like mine
could travel round the earth.
So, if you feel a smile begin,
don't leave it undetected.
Let's start an epidemic quick
and get the world infected.
Thursday 30th April 2020
Today the Minister's letter is published and sent out; this week it's written by Erna. This coincides with the publication of our church magazine, the May edition of Family News. I'm very grateful to the editors for the hard work they have put in to this edition. It's one that carries a number of moving tributes to friends who have recently passed away, alongside some lovely personal reflections of the good things folk are experiencing during the Lock Down.
Yesterday I shared with you a bible names quiz passed on to me by the Renshaws - well done to those of you who scored top marks!
Tomorrow we hold Pam in our prayers as she prepares for Keith's funeral and John, along with his daughters, who will be gathering at the cemetery in the afternoon for Catherine's. May Keith and Catherine rest in peace and rise in glory.
Yesterday's Zoom Church Officers' meeting went well - we must be getting better at it because it lasted for well over an hour! Today I 'Zoom' again! This time with the committee of The Baptist Union Retreat Group. Incredible to think most of us had never heard of this video conferencing platform until six weeks ago!
May God's blessing and joy be yours in all you do today.
Ian
Yesterday I shared with you a bible names quiz passed on to me by the Renshaws - well done to those of you who scored top marks!
Tomorrow we hold Pam in our prayers as she prepares for Keith's funeral and John, along with his daughters, who will be gathering at the cemetery in the afternoon for Catherine's. May Keith and Catherine rest in peace and rise in glory.
Yesterday's Zoom Church Officers' meeting went well - we must be getting better at it because it lasted for well over an hour! Today I 'Zoom' again! This time with the committee of The Baptist Union Retreat Group. Incredible to think most of us had never heard of this video conferencing platform until six weeks ago!
May God's blessing and joy be yours in all you do today.
Ian
Wednesday, 29 April 2020
Wednesday 29th April 2020
I'm delighted that Sue Wale has written this week's Thought. We are so grateful to everyone who is writing for the site at the moment.
Last week I received a super quiz from the Renshaws. The task is to find 30 books from the Bible 'hidden' in the text. Here it is - happy hunting! So far I've located 19, but Sylvia and Peter tell me they have got up to an impressive 27!
In a few minutes we are due to hold our weekly Church Officers' Meeting by Zoom and tomorrow you'll be receiving the Minister's Letter written, this week, by Erna.
May you know God's blessing and joy in all you do today.
Find the names of 30 books in the Bible from this writeup:
This is a most remarkable puzzle. It was found by a gentleman, in an airplane seat pocket, on a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, keeping him occupied for hours. He enjoyed it so much, he passed it on to some friends. One friend from Illinois worked on this while fishing from his john-boat. Another friend studied it while playing his banjo. Elaine Taylor, a columnist, was so intrigued by it, she mentioned it in her newspaper column.
Another friend judges the job of solving this puzzle so involving; she brews a cup of tea to help her nerves. There will be some names that are easy to spot. That's a fact. Some people, however, will soon find themselves in a jam; especially since the books names are not necessarily capitalized.
Truthfully, from answers we get, we are forced to admit it usually takes a minister or scholar to see some of them at the worst. Research has shown that something in our genes is responsible for the difficulty we have in seeing the books in this paragraph. During a recent fund raising event, which features this puzzle, the Alpha-Delta-Phi lemonade booth set a new sales record.
The local paper, The Chronicle, surveyed over 200 patrons who reported that this puzzle was one of the most difficult they had ever seen. As Daniel Humana humbly puts it, The books are all right here, in plain view, hidden from sight.
Those able to find all of them will hear great lamentations from those who have to be shown. One revelation that may help is that books like Timothy and Samuel may occur without their numbers. Also keep in mind, that punctuation & spaces in the middle are normal.
A chipper attitude will help you compete really well against those who claim to know the answers. Remember, there is no need for a mad exodus. There really are 30 books of the Bible, lurking somewhere in this paragraph, just waiting to be found.
This is a most remarkable puzzle. It was found by a gentleman, in an airplane seat pocket, on a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, keeping him occupied for hours. He enjoyed it so much, he passed it on to some friends. One friend from Illinois worked on this while fishing from his john-boat. Another friend studied it while playing his banjo. Elaine Taylor, a columnist, was so intrigued by it, she mentioned it in her newspaper column.
Another friend judges the job of solving this puzzle so involving; she brews a cup of tea to help her nerves. There will be some names that are easy to spot. That's a fact. Some people, however, will soon find themselves in a jam; especially since the books names are not necessarily capitalized.
Truthfully, from answers we get, we are forced to admit it usually takes a minister or scholar to see some of them at the worst. Research has shown that something in our genes is responsible for the difficulty we have in seeing the books in this paragraph. During a recent fund raising event, which features this puzzle, the Alpha-Delta-Phi lemonade booth set a new sales record.
The local paper, The Chronicle, surveyed over 200 patrons who reported that this puzzle was one of the most difficult they had ever seen. As Daniel Humana humbly puts it, The books are all right here, in plain view, hidden from sight.
Those able to find all of them will hear great lamentations from those who have to be shown. One revelation that may help is that books like Timothy and Samuel may occur without their numbers. Also keep in mind, that punctuation & spaces in the middle are normal.
A chipper attitude will help you compete really well against those who claim to know the answers. Remember, there is no need for a mad exodus. There really are 30 books of the Bible, lurking somewhere in this paragraph, just waiting to be found.
Tuesday, 28 April 2020
A sense of 'Belonging'
 |
| I love this photo of my great grandfather - one recently discovered and the only one we have! A snowy day at Chorleywood - with no teeth in I think!! |
Over recent weeks Rachel has given a bit of time to
researching the Green Family Tree and she has taken it all the way back to 1624
– which I think is quite amazing!
She has turned up some interesting facts (at least for us!) about my Great Grandfather, Alfred. He was born in the Watford Union Workhouse in 1881, before living in Sarratt (one of the six local parishes that funded the Workhouse) and marrying the girl next door! They tied the knot at Sarratt Parish Church on Christmas Day 1899, and he told a bit of an untruth to the Vicar! He said he was 21 years old – at least that’s what it says on the marriage certificate. Our research indicates he was merely 18, and as such he would have had to obtain parental consent, which I don’t think he could achieve. So, love won through! Alfred and Annie settled at Gate Cottages on Chorleywood Common, and that’s where my own grandfather was born in 1912. I pass those cottages nearly everyday as I take our dog for a walk – smiling as I pass my great grandparents’ home En route! It actually gives me a profound sense of ‘belonging’, a sort of historical attachment.
Such a sense of belonging is not just about yesterday but today.
Even, perhaps especially, in these days of Lock Down, our family has kept in more regular contact that usual via daily WhatsApp messages to my brothers, and weekly Zoom family calls (nine households on at once!) to Rachel’s folks. And here at The Manse, with five of us living together in a sort of ‘Bubble Community’, we punctuate the week with a Film Night, Quiz Night and Games Night. One of our sons yesterday, exclaimed he’s never been so busy!
And for those who are self-isolating I sense there has been a welcomed, and much appreciated, increase in emails and phone calls.
On top of all that there is prayer. We are praying for each other. Someone said to me last week that they are stopping regularly at noon to remember friends at AFC, and she told me: ‘I pray regularly for you and your family’. It meant the world to me.
All of this creates a sense
of belonging. It is an expression of
deep friendship and fellowship that makes our hearts glad during these strange
times.She has turned up some interesting facts (at least for us!) about my Great Grandfather, Alfred. He was born in the Watford Union Workhouse in 1881, before living in Sarratt (one of the six local parishes that funded the Workhouse) and marrying the girl next door! They tied the knot at Sarratt Parish Church on Christmas Day 1899, and he told a bit of an untruth to the Vicar! He said he was 21 years old – at least that’s what it says on the marriage certificate. Our research indicates he was merely 18, and as such he would have had to obtain parental consent, which I don’t think he could achieve. So, love won through! Alfred and Annie settled at Gate Cottages on Chorleywood Common, and that’s where my own grandfather was born in 1912. I pass those cottages nearly everyday as I take our dog for a walk – smiling as I pass my great grandparents’ home En route! It actually gives me a profound sense of ‘belonging’, a sort of historical attachment.
Such a sense of belonging is not just about yesterday but today.
Even, perhaps especially, in these days of Lock Down, our family has kept in more regular contact that usual via daily WhatsApp messages to my brothers, and weekly Zoom family calls (nine households on at once!) to Rachel’s folks. And here at The Manse, with five of us living together in a sort of ‘Bubble Community’, we punctuate the week with a Film Night, Quiz Night and Games Night. One of our sons yesterday, exclaimed he’s never been so busy!
And for those who are self-isolating I sense there has been a welcomed, and much appreciated, increase in emails and phone calls.
On top of all that there is prayer. We are praying for each other. Someone said to me last week that they are stopping regularly at noon to remember friends at AFC, and she told me: ‘I pray regularly for you and your family’. It meant the world to me.
We may be dispersed, but in so many ways we are still ‘together’.
May God’s blessing and joy be yours in all you do today.
Ian
Monday, 27 April 2020
Monday 27th April 2020
Technology is helping us through these unusual days. Our prayers and hopes are with scientists as they strive to come up with vaccines and medicines that will help the world at this challenging time.
Tecnology is helping our church community 'stay together' too. We are very grateful to Michael and Matthew for the work they do on the audio-service week by week. Matthew writes, and arranges, a lot of music for these and he's produced a video explaining the technology he uses - you'll find it at this address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn2fYS1NZtI&feature=youtu.be
Liz, our Junior Church co-ordinator, is also using technology to stay in touch with the AFC young people. Yesterday she posted a wonderful video for them to watch, based on the Easter story. I think it deserves a wider audience, so here's its address:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ozgKxpgYh0&feature=youtu.be
Technology - at times it exasperates us, yet we thank God for it!
May you know God's joy and blessing in all you do today.
Ian
Tecnology is helping our church community 'stay together' too. We are very grateful to Michael and Matthew for the work they do on the audio-service week by week. Matthew writes, and arranges, a lot of music for these and he's produced a video explaining the technology he uses - you'll find it at this address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn2fYS1NZtI&feature=youtu.be
Liz, our Junior Church co-ordinator, is also using technology to stay in touch with the AFC young people. Yesterday she posted a wonderful video for them to watch, based on the Easter story. I think it deserves a wider audience, so here's its address:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ozgKxpgYh0&feature=youtu.be
Technology - at times it exasperates us, yet we thank God for it!
May you know God's joy and blessing in all you do today.
Ian
Friday, 24 April 2020
Friday 24th April 2020
I've been very conscious, talking to members of the church community over the telephone recently, that many of you have relatives and friends who are 'front line' workers. Even as we 'isolate' in relative safety I know that, on a daily basis, you are very much aware of the risks that come with their jobs, both in hospitals and out in the community.
This weekend we would have been commissioning our Elders for another year of Christian service and, indeed, on Tuesday of this week we would have meet together for one of our monthly meetings. At the moment much of the 'business' of church life is being overseen by The Church Officers' Meeting every Wednesday, with descions then ratified by email later that day. Such 'emergency' arrangements won't last for ever and we do look forward to meeting in committee once this is over. (Things really have changed if I'm hearing myself saying I'm actually looking forward to committee meetings!!)
May you, this weekend, know God's joy and blessing in all you do.
Ian
This weekend we would have been commissioning our Elders for another year of Christian service and, indeed, on Tuesday of this week we would have meet together for one of our monthly meetings. At the moment much of the 'business' of church life is being overseen by The Church Officers' Meeting every Wednesday, with descions then ratified by email later that day. Such 'emergency' arrangements won't last for ever and we do look forward to meeting in committee once this is over. (Things really have changed if I'm hearing myself saying I'm actually looking forward to committee meetings!!)
May you, this weekend, know God's joy and blessing in all you do.
Ian
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