The Welland-Fosse Benefice: Prayers and Notices.

 Sunday 10th  January 2021:  Epiphany I

 

• Please remember in your prayers those who are sick: Janette Saunders, Bishop John Holbrook, and Will Beattie.

 

• Today the Zoom Service will be at 11am.
• Zoom Morning Prayer continues on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8.30 am., given that the pandemic still rages around us. Compline will be re-instated on Thursday 14^th at 6pm. If you would like an invitation, contact Sally Smith.
• Next Sunday, 17 January, Morning Worship will be on Zoom at 11am.

MORCOTT: Church will be open every Sunday for private prayer.

SOUTH LUFFENHAM: Church will be open every day from 10-4 for private prayer

 

This Week’s Meditation: Moles.

 

The moles in our region do not respond to lockdown!  They are busy on our lawns, on the green and along the verges.  I marvel at their productivity every time I go out for a walk in the country. So much in the animal kingdom has hibernated, humans have been told to stay at home but the moles are as busy as ever! Deep down in the darkness of the earth a different rhythm is in charge.

This is a welcome surprise to us – and if we knew more about it, that life in the deep darkness would be even more astounding.

A connection is forming in my mind between the hidden life of the depths and the stirring of the Holy Spirit which works among us. We rarely see its presence but we do see its effect.  The scriptures tell us that it is like the wind: we can’t see it but we can experience the work which it does. There is more than a passing link here for the moles build towards the light and the Holy Spirit builds us up in a Godward direction.

 

We are told that church life is not being suffocated by the virus or dampened by the lockdown. It is exploding via Zoom and other social media platforms.  As a previous cheeky Bishop of Durham used to say, ‘You can’t keep a Good God down’! As a church we have learned to utilize these social media platforms for worship which were virtually unknown a year ago. Even in our own benefice, the attendance at Morning Prayer has mushroomed. Life in the company of the Holy Spirit can be so surprising!

 

I have just stumbled across Edward Burne-Jones’ painting of the ‘Adoration of the Magi’. Like the work of Holman Hunt, it is full of symbolism.  Joseph returns to Mary and the baby, having been out collecting a poor bundle of sticks for a fire. In contrast, the Magi face him bearing their expensive gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. No doubt Joseph was pretty fed up with this unplanned birth in winter but the Magi appear to lift his spirits and Burne-Jones adds a carpet of lilies all around the stable to symbolize fertility and new life.

Even in the depths of a new lockdown, signs of new life appear.  Alleluia for that!  There is always something to rejoice about in this life.