Ma Hang Park to Stanley, Hong Kong Island
My favourite walk from Ma Hang Park, site of the original village, into Stanley on Hong Kong Island. Really peaceful and passed a Buddhist monastery on the way. It’s well fenced off as there are wild boars and dangerous snakes in the scrub.
Hong Kong is such a place of contrasts. If I had travelled by bus the other way I would have been in the centre of Hong Kong, with the most enormous skyscrapers.
Rev’d Sue Martin
On Maundy Thursday we have two legs of the Pilgrim Cross who stop for refreshments and rest on their walk to The Shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham(Anglican).
At At St Botolph’s Church in Grimston we had the Northern Leg, and at St Nicholas Church in Gayton the Ely Leg arrived. They had been in a rain storm for the last hour, cold, damp and hungry, but in such good spirits. After a brief stay, sausage rolls and cakes were eaten, prayers said and a welcome warm under the heaters, they set off for a further two hours before stopping overnight at Harpley.
The next day they would all journey on to Walsingham and meet with many other pilgrims at the end of their pilgrimage.
Rev’d Sue Martin
In a tiny and beautfiul corner of West Norfolk lies one of our benefice churches, St Mary’s East Walton. Every year on Palm Sunday we gather at the farm, and walk behind the donkeys Jimmy and Timmy into church.
This year we were joined by some keen young people, parents and friends, from one of our church schools. They led us with the readings and prayers and were a joy to have.
Farmer Bill returned with the donkeys and a small carriage and the children rode back in style.
The next day in our larger church at St Nicholas, Gayton we had two church schools into church for their end of term services. Delighted to see so many parents, 500 people in church that Monday!!
What a great start to Holy Week!
Rev’d Sue Martin
Ten years ago I went to Papua New Guinea on a pilgrimage with the Diocese of Norwich.
Since then I continue to be active in supporting projects to help people in that country. In 2024 we are hoping to raise enough money to supply water tanks for the student accommodation at Newton Theological College. This will bring then freshwater and enable sanitation too.
A great project and to get the appeal started, three of the committee at the Diocese of Norwich PNG Link group, including myself, are presenting a series of talks at Norwich Cathedral Library this Saturday morning.
More info will be posted Saturday afternoon.
Rev’d Sue Martin
I’m going to start with the sunrise! Yesterday morning was absolutely wonderful. I was just getting up about 7.00am and looked outside to see a warm reddish pink glow on the skyline, so I said how lovely it was and continued with my usual ‘getting up’ arrangements.
By 7.30am I was outside looking at the sky, touched by pinkness on the edge of high clouds.
All out of darkness we have light!
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Ephesians 1:15-23
Acts 1:1-11
‘A cloud took him out of their sight’
And so the disciples were left behind, and returned to Jerusalem. Once again they had to say goodbye to Jesus and were even more aware that they needed to be going out into the world to spread the word.
The cloud often appears in the Bible and can be seen as the way that God appears in a veil of cloud. How often do you stand looking at fluffy white clouds and make them into amorphous shapes?
A cloud took him out of their sight…
This is where the distance between heaven and earth comes close. It is hard to visualise and explain this concept, it can be described as like cutting through paper with a knife and finding yourself in another place, at certain points in our world we can feel closer to God and heaven.
We hope that many of our churches are in such places, but it can also be a place in the countryside or a spot in a town, somewhere where you do feel closer to God.
Read more in Sermons 2021
We had a balancing act this year shall we church or shall we Zoom?In the end we did both! We had the Service of Light at 8.00 a.m. in All Saint’s Ashwicken, which is our church in the fields. Set on a hill in Norfolk with primroses, and daffodils throughout the churchyard, it was joy to meet each other( socially distance of course!) and to share greetings.
By 11.00 a.m. we were live on Zoom! At home and people celebrating Easter, even though they can’t go out.
At least we are on the way to meeting with each other. At least we have some sense of getting through this pandemic, even if it will take time.
Alleluia, Christ is Risen! The stone is rolled away, and a new dawn has begun.
Read more on Easter page.
Happy Easter!
Rev’d Sue Martin Diocese of Norwich
We have good news! Jesus came to dwell among us.
We have good news! The vaccine is a great success and we are leaders in the world, ready to roll out worldwide.
So let us not be glum! Let us not be dreary! Where is the goodness in being despondent?
Easier said than done, I know.
But this week, so many of us, including myself have had the vaccine . That is truly remarkable and will lead to us getting back together at some stage. Wave if you have had the vaccine! Send a wave through chat if you can! And for those who haven’t yet, it is really getting through to everyone now. How amazing is that!
That is good news and beautiful too.
So let’s get the bad news out of the way and then I can talk about the good news of Jesus coming to dwell with us.
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Rev’d Sue Martin
Source of the River Jordan Caesarea Philippi
In the beginning …
We start the Year of 2021, The Year of New Beginnings. Our readings today in Genesis 11:1-20 and Mark 1: 1-13 are all about beginnings; the beginning of the world, the beginning of Jesus ministry and his baptism.
Chance for a new start for us all in 2021, what shall we do? Do you know I really think this is time for change, change for the better, let’s move forward to a different way of worshipping and looking after God’s world. It certainly is time we should .
Our planet is in trouble, that’s God creation we heard about in Genesis.
Our church is in trouble, that’s God’s church, not enough money, not reaching enough people.
Our neighbours are in trouble, that’s God’s people, both locally and across the world, they need our support.
So let’s make a change in our lives. As we sit back in our homes whilst we can’t go out. Take the time to think about what changes we would like to see and if we keep trying, they will be possible.
So goodbye 2020 The Year of the Parcel and Welcome 2021 The Year of New Beginnings
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Rev’d Sue Martin
Pentecost, rushing winds, tongues of fire, speaking in different tongues, but how else does the Holy Spirit work? Where is this Holy Spirit?
It can be rather like an invisibility cloak, you know the one that Harry Potter uses to get about and see things when others can’t see him? Through our own invisibility cloak, of the Holy Spirit, we can see a world that is beautiful, full of God’s love and in which we can take a real place. So long as we let the Holy Spirit surround us and come within us we can see a world that is full of richness in spirit and in love.
Without it we see a world full of fear, greed and looking only after our own selves.
How many times in this lockdown have people shown little acts of kindness, not the great big things but the odd word in the street, across the road, a phone call, a card through the post, collecting the shopping for others, and the list goes on. In our own village in Norfolk, a new group helps others who have to stay at home and are vulnerable. Truly a good thing to do.
Pope Francis in his recent address says Vene, Spirito Santo, Come Holy Spirit.
Read more in Sermons 2020…
Rev’d Sue Martin
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