The Welland-Fosse Benefice: Prayers and Notices.
Sunday 11th October 2020: Trinity XVIII

• Please remember in your prayers those who are sick: Janette Saunders, Ann Hensby,
Belinda Forbes and Derek Barker.
• Zoom services continue throughout the week, including today, 11am direct from South
Luffenham Church (via wellandfossebenefice@gmail.com). Please bring a symbol of your
own harvest with you, either to the church or to the Zoom screen.
• Next week, the service will be at Tixover Church, 9.30am and then Zoom at 11am.
• From 16 October, Zoom Morning Prayer will be limited to Mondays and Wednesdays at
8.30am. From the same date, Compline will be suspended until Advent when it will be held
on Sundays at 6pm starting 29th November.
• Stop Press! The Rev’d Dr. Carys Walsh is coming to Barrowden Church at 2pm on 12
November to talk about the poet R.S.Thomas – the subject of her new book which is also a
literary guide through Advent. Copies of the book will be on sale on the day, priced £12.99.

SOUTH LUFFENHAM: Our flowers arrangers have been busy decorating the Church for harvest (I have
included a picture of just one to whet your appetite!) Why not pop in during the week to

 

                                                                          

 

 

This Week’s Meditation. Waiting

As individuals, we spend a decent part of our lives waiting. We wait for entry into shops, news of the
latest grandchild, our test results. But this weekend, the whole nation is waiting – waiting to find out
if the lockdown will affect us all. We don’t find ourselves in this position very often and this waiting,
longing comes upon us whether we are rich or poor, young or old; whether we live in the north, the
south or the midlands. We’re in it together,
Waiting is all about ‘not having’. We wait for the new garment to arrive in the post, the salary to
register in the bank statement or the opportunity for a hair-cut. We are waiting for something or
someone which will bring us closer to fulfilment but this weekend, in Rutland, we have freedom to
do almost what we like. We are waiting to see if we are about to lose that freedom!
This threat of lockdown will help us realize what we still have. There is currently much reflection in
the nation upon the precious things that we still have and faith is one of those elements essential to
life. Yet, we still wait. As Christians, we do not ‘possess’ God. If we think we do, it makes us look
very silly and unattractive. What we do wait for is a greater understanding of God and further
opportunities to put the teaching of Christ into action.
This weekend, we celebrate the hard-won harvest. (Don’t forget to bring your harvest symbol to the
11am Zoom Service!). It’s an opportunity to reflect upon God’s generosity to us. In this part of
Rutland, life is teeming with examples of the glory of God! Just outside my study window is a
clematis with a delicate light-purple flower still surviving the cooling climate. It’s God’s badge,
forged through the activities of clever horticulturalists no doubt. It reminds me of the presence of
God but God masked in nature. I long to see more evidence of His presence but that clematis – and
the church just beyond the wall – allows me to celebrate His presence in the here and now, with
waiting still in my heart.