Dear Friends,

I am not the greatest lover of either participating in Sport or watching Sport. Nevertheless, I surprised myself at school by being a member of the under 15 hockey team and I was goalkeeper. These last weeks filled with great sporting activity, have impinged on me only to the extent of watching some of the Tennis at Wimbledon on TV, but, and apologies to fans, not one football match.

Sport and the Christian faith have much in common. They are ways of life that demand commitment and faith. Also the ingredient of hope which is drawn to our attention in our reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans. Whether one participates in or watches a game we have hopes, feelings of expectation and desire, and in this season it has translated to the hope that our team or favourite player would eventually win. There will be many that have been exhilarated and others that carry a deep sense of disappointment, others who accept there is bound to be a winner and a loser and look forward to the next opportunity to compete.

So it is in life, we are all involved in making constant choices in a world that is increasingly complex, and within that, our own individual battle with making choices between right and wrong. Scripture gives us many insights to Faith, Hope and Love. In the book of Hebrews chapter 11 illustrates how others have lived by faith. Faith being the assurance of things hoped for, which makes Hope a key-note of the Christian life.

“Father, hear the prayer we offer:
Not for ease that prayer shall be,
But for strength that we may ever
Live our lives courageously.
Be our strength in hours of weakness,
In our wanderings be our guide;
Through endeavour, failure, danger,
Father, be thou at our side.”

In Christ, Daphne

Daphne Cook, LLM

Dear Friends,

This Sunday our gospel reading is the parable of the sower, it is one of my favourite parables told by Jesus and I am looking forward to joining online and hearing Lynn preach on it, if that’s the reading she chooses. I won’t steal Lynn’s thunder but it has again got me thinking about how much space I make in my life for God’s love.

I wonder…
Have I become hard hearted, turning away from the news because I no longer know how to respond?
Has my faith become shallow rather than being part of every aspect of my life?
Am I too busy to make enough time for God each day?

I am the first to admit that I am a long way from perfect, that I am not always focused on God, that life can be too busy, too hard and too sad.

But… today I am reminded, and hope you are reminded too, that if we worry that we are not good enough, we should also remember that Jesus knows the reality of our lives, the challenges we face, the pain we experience and the depth of our love for each other and God.

God never abandons us, never gives up on us, never ignores painful situations and never looks away from our grief. God is always looking out for us and waits patiently for what time we have to be present, even on days when it’s just a few minutes in prayer.

Today I invite you, wherever you are, to join me in making a little more time to sit with God, in thanksgiving for all the blessings in our lives and in request for healing and peace across our world.
Amen

Emma Major, LLM

Dear friends

I am reflecting this week on sowing and investment. Investment of time, prayer, love and I suspect a lot of patience.

The investors or ‘Sowers’ I’m thinking of, and thankful for, are our (my) youth leaders. They became an anchor to us, a group of loud, boisterous teenagers about 40 years ago. A group that I ‘accidentally’ fell into, and which ignited my faith’s journey and that of being a young leader.
The ‘harvest’ of that time, if you will, is that a good number of us it turns out, have gone on to serve the lord in a leadership capacity for most of our adult lives. We have and continue to pass on the story and love of Jesus and endeavor to mentor and serve as we ourselves were mentored and served.
Catching up with a few of the bunch this week, was such a gift. An occasion of deep sorrow that turned into a joyous celebration.

The years melted away and I thought, how on earth did we all get to where we are now. Looking at us as teenagers you would never of guessed. But here we are or rather here has God led us. Our anchors have kept us anchored. We reminisced and marveled at how they coped with us, what we got up to …and yet they stuck with us.

My takeaway is to be reminded that God really does work through people and that gentle, consistent spirit led mentoring is powerful, transformational and long lasting. More perhaps than we notice or realise at the time and I am truly thankful. Its good to pause and notice I think.

I wonder who you have had in your life that has done this for you.
I wonder how you have passed this legacy and goodness on. Are we not all called to do so in some way? Jesus did this for all of us after all.

So dear reader, I’m inspired to say keep sowing, keep loving, keep praying and being patient… you are allowed to roll your eyes occasionally though. I imagine God does! But do so with good humour. Let the spirit work through you. You never know what will come from it. God is pretty good at surprises.

Love, Julia

Julia Jones

Dear Friends,

“It’s Too Darn Hot” sang (and danced) the wonderful Ann Miller in the 1953 film version of Cole Porter’s “Kiss Me Kate”, one my favourite musicals. It’s a song I’ve been humming over the past few days. How are you coping, as the thermometer creeps higher?

While we shouldn’t confuse climate and weather, climate change makes the probability of extreme weather events like the current heatwave more likely.

At St Nicolas, we take the climate crisis very seriously. Our Justice, Peace and Environment Group (JPEG) are looking at our Eco Church status. We were awarded Eco Church Silver, but the criteria have been updated and there is more to do to get us back to silver before we start to think about Gold. Our Net Zero Project has been launched to look at how we can reduce our carbon emissions by making changes to our buildings (the next meeting is on 3 July, contact the office if you’d like to take part). Those of us who took the Carbon Literacy course, now have some choices to make to say what practical steps will we will take to reduce our carbon footprints. I know that many of you are involved in organisations that support the planet and nature.

We take it seriously because we believe that part of our duty as Christians is to take care of our beautiful planet: the Earth is the Lord’s. And we believe we have a duty to communities across the world who are more vulnerable to climate change: love your neighbour.

We need to act, for we can each make a difference. If you haven’t already, you can calculate your carbon footprint online using sites like Climate Hero (https://www.climatehero.org/). And, of course, we need to pray: for those here and around the world suffering from rising temperatures, for resources to help vulnerable communities adapt, for world leaders to acknowledge the climate emergency and to develop fair policies to tackle it.

Yours, trying to keep cool,
Wendy

Wendy Neale

Dear Friends,

The presence of God in grief: it’s an interesting question for (I think) there are two extremes, neither of which seems to me to fully express a Christian reality. On the one hand, there might be the complete erasure of grief (as if it were something to be ignored). I have occasionally come across this and it has seemed oddly inhuman. On the other hand, there is the opposite: allowing grief’s complete victory, and this feels wrong-fitting, too.
Like the two natures of Christ – fully human and divine, we say – a Christian approach to grief must pit a different course – not a ‘balance’, but rather a ‘both-and’.
For my money, the poet PJ Kavanagh finds a truer course, describing a remarkable experience of God he underwent during a period of bereavement. I note his opening description of the way grief ‘stalls’ us, takes the wind out of our sails. And then the shift to prayer, but a certain kind of prayer. And then the final meeting with God which does not take away his grief but, instead, contains it, and thereby somehow changes it…

Beyond Decoration
Stalled, in the middle of a rented room,
The couple who own it quarrelling in the yard
Outside, about which shade of Snowcem
They should use. (From the bed I’d heard
Her say she liked me in my dressing-gown
And heard her husband’s grunt of irritation.
Some ladies like sad men who are alone.)
But I am stalled, and sad is not the word.
Go out I cannot, nor can I stay in.
Becalmed mid-carpet, breathless, on the road
To nowhere and the road has petered out.
This was twenty years ago, and bad as that.
I must have moved at last, for I knelt down,
Which I had not before, nor thought I should.
It would not be exact to say I prayed;
What for? The one I wanted there was dead.
All I could do was kneel and so I did.
At once I entered dark so vast and warm
I wondered it could fit inside the room
When I looked round. The road I had to walk down
Was still there. From that moment it was mean
Beyond my strength to doubt what I had seen:
A heat at the heart of dark, so plainly shown,
A bowl, of two cupped hands, in which a pain
That filled a room could be engulfed and drown
And yet, for truth is in the bowl, remain…
Today I thought it time to write this down
Beyond decoration, humble, in plain rhyme,
As clear as I could, and as truthful, which I have done.
P.J.Kavanagh

Rev Dr Mark Laynesmith
Vicar Earley St Nicolas Church

Dear Friends,

Romans 12 v 4-6. “ For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.”

We give thanks for all the gifts shared last weekend from many in our church and community. As we give thanks so we Celebrate the diversity of those gifts. Celebration is also expressed in every Eucharist; as we meet in fellowship over coffee; and when we gather in groups. This week I have witnessed a great Celebration of the Mothers’ Union in London, as members gathered at St. Paul’s Cathedral to give thanks for their founder Mary Sumner and the ensuing 150 years of life and work of the Mothers’ Union.

In addition, there was much celebration as friends met up after the service and strengthened bonds that had held them together over many years. Then as you read this letter I will be returning from a full day MU conference. I know from past experiences, that I and all who have attended will be fired up with enthusiasm to see the MU walk its path of prayer, faith and service in the coming years.

This Sunday our service will reflect our thanksgiving and celebration of the Mothers’ Union which has played a huge part in the life and witness of St. Nicolas Church over the past years. We will give thanks for all who have led and guided it as branch leader including Pat Dummer our generous donor of our church centre. In my memory Maggie Carter and Ingrid Pooler.

In two weeks time the church celebrates Petertide. A celebration that reminds us that God has called each of us, regardless of our weaknesses, to be part of his work in the world. Like Peter, we are invited to trust God’s guidance, step out in faith, and serve with courage. The day also marks ordinations, so is a time to pray for those stepping into leadership and ministry roles, empowered by the Holy Spirit to shepherd God’s people. Amongst those, please pray for our oldest son Mark who is to be ordained Deacon at Worcester Cathedral.

As we give thanks and celebrate, may we embrace the gifts we have each received for the tasks we are asked to undertake, knowing that Christ equips us and strengthens us to be his hands and feet in the world.

Yours, in Christ,
Daphne

Daphne Cook, LLM

Dear Friends,

I’m sure I’m not the only one who spent most of last week complaining about the hot weather. Perhaps I’m not the only one muttering about the rain this week, especially with the summer fair this Saturday. Sometimes I wonder if it’s possible to be British and be content with the weather. I can’t imagine living anywhere which didn’t have the changing of seasons and all that brings with it, I mean what would we talk to strangers about.

This Saturday, no matter the weather, we are opening wide our garden, church and centre to the local community. Lots of people we have never met will be welcomed warmly and we will have many conversations about the weather (other topics are available). We hope that everyone who comes along has a wonderful time; but more than that, that when they leave at the end of the day, we have become friends.

Jesus repeatedly taught the disciples and crowds to greet strangers, welcome them as friends, share what they had with them and show them love. Welcoming people we don’t know and providing hospitality is a hugely important part of our life as Christians. As we live this out on Saturday I pray that we all feel inspired by Jesus’ call to welcome strangers, and that the people we meet leave as friends knowing that they can come again anytime they like.

Emma

Emma Major, LLM

Ciao amici,

I am on my travels again, in Italy, having similar hot weather to the UK, but with the advantage of gelato. I am so thankful for the experiences we have had, and for encountering so much beauty.

There has been beauty in nature. “For the beauty of the earth” is one of my favourite hymns and one I had at my wedding – natural beauty is where I see God most. Over the past week we’ve seen dolphins playing in blue sea, smelled jasmine everywhere, heard the dawn chorus when I can’t sleep because of the heat. All “God’s handiwork” as American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson puts it.

I’ve seen beauty in art. Exquisite sparse canvasses by Korean/Japanese painter Lee Ufan; beautiful needlework by Palestinian women that made me weep; a herd of 110 ceramic horses, along with the sound of galloping, that made me smile; and some art that, to be honest, I’ve no idea what’s going on. Maybe not to my taste but beautiful to some.

I’ve visited a lot of churches. We attended a service at St Marks in Venice and the singing there, as it echoed around the dome covered in golden mosaics, was truly beautiful. One church, Our Lady of the Roses, was particularly ornate, with gilding and chandeliers and above the statue of Our Lady was the Latin inscription “”, which Google translates as “You are all beautiful”. Yes, the beauty of people. Not physical beauty, but the beauty we possess by being loved by God. St Augustine said, “Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul”. I have encountered kindness, fun and inspiration from lots of beautiful people on my travels. It has been so uplifting.

I pray God shows you beauty this week, maybe in an unexpected place. Let’s also try to reflect the beauty of God’s love to all we meet.

Arrivederci, beautiful people of St Nicolas,
Wendy

Wendy Neale

Dear Friends,

Birthdays are a time of Joy and Celebration. To such an extent that as a family we had to find a day at the beginning of August to celebrate our daughters well loved doll, Rosie, because she was received at Christmas. A birthday is an opportunity celebrate the person as a unique individual person created in the image of God.

This weekend we have a different kind of Birthday; the Birthday of the Church. It occurred, as Jesus Disciples who had returned to Jerusalem and devoted themselves to prayer, waited for the coming of God’s promised gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Joy and Celebration of this first Pentecost has to be read to take in all of the experiences. (Acts ch2) A sound from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind. Tongues of fire distributed and resting on each person. Bewilderment because each one heard them speaking in their own language. Filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues.

The Birth of the Church with the gift that Jesus had promised. This is the gift of the Holy Spirit as one who will give us the power and strength and ability to share the Good News of the LOVE OF GOD. To share God’s love with everyone whom we meet. A Spirit for all believers through whom all receive the gifts needed for each and every task asked of us, in his name, to perform. This is shown in the way that the Disciple Peter who had denied Our Lord spoke with such confidence to the men of Judea. Peter knew and we must never forget that all of us live and walk with a Risen Lord.

So as we give thanks for priests, deacons, lay ministers, those with gifts of teaching, healing, prophecy, organisers and encouragers, may we all be open to God to respond to the use of his Gifts to us within our own lives.

The invitation to celebrate the Birthday of the Church extends to us all. May we truly find it a time of Joy and Celebration.

In Christ, Daphne

Daphne Cook
LLM

Dear Friends,

Blustery wet and chilly weather abounds as I write this …and not just outside… but also on our political landscape. Muck flinging, finger wagging and harsh rhetoric seems to abound as pressure rises and factions vie for advantage and power.

It feels chaotic, overwhelming and to my mind, not behaviour becoming of well educated, well-heeled leaders & those we look up to in positions of trust and authority.

Then I read our gospel reading and the contrast was huge. I was left musing on what a different kind of leader Jesus was, is. I felt my spirit shift and rise.

Jesus’ behaviour when under pressure, really under pressure…like just before he is about to die, is praying this final prayer. Glorifying and submitting to God the father and praying for protection and unity for the disciples as they went out into the world.

So dear reader, my takeaway was to be reminded that we belong to him. He will not abandon us. Hold fast and keep praying. His ways are our ways. We won’t always get it right, but we keep trying with humility and grace the best we can. Unity is strength. Change for the better is born from this. It starts local, it starts small. Look at how small a group Jesus started with and where we are now.
Today I got a haircut. My hairdresser knows I’m a Christian and out of the blue she asked me about faith, Church, attitudes to inclusion, what Jesus’ take would be on the aforementioned and the days political theatre.
She told me that she started praying this week and that she had noticed something inside her had changed. She wasn’t sure what, but she felt better, less stressed…peaceful? We talked and talked, held moments of silence and gave space to wondering.

Building community and unity, cultivating peace and togetherness it seems, can start anywhere at any time. Initially today’s encounter made me feel a bit vulnerable, exposed so to speak, but I left with a profound sense of peace and hope. Jesus’ prayer resonating with me for real.
Now that’s real power and authority. That’s the impact of a real leader.

Love Julia

Julia Jones