Above all else in this time of social distancing, isolation and world wide pandemic a little prayer to remind us of life in this world.
So long as we enjoy the light of day
May we greet one another with love.
So long as we enjoy the light of the day
May we pray for one another,
Zuni prayer taken from A Child’s Book of Prayer, compiled by Tessa Strickland, Barefoot Books
Rev’d Sue Martin
And all the bells on earth shall ring
On Christmas Day
On Christmas Day
And all the bells on earth shall ring on Christmas Day
In the Morning
Happy Christmas to All
Rev’d Sue Martin
Poppies made by the Girl Guides,Gayton
One hundred years ago the Armistice was signed between the Allies of World War 1 and the German Empire. The cessation of hostilities took effect at 11.00 am on 11th November 1918.
This year marks the centenary and Remembrance Day is commemorated across the UK.
In our Benefice on Norfolk, we held two main services with packed churches and two minutes silence at 11.00am. Even the traffic stopped on the road for us this year. In the evening two large bonfires were held and again huge numbers of people gathered to watch and the church bells rang out at 6.50pm to join in across the UK.
This was followed by singing the old songs and enjoying a glass of wine and some cakes and listening to stores of people from our village who went to war and never returned.
The first verse of the poem by Rupert Brooke, written in 1914, is a reminder of that time and the young men who gave their lives in the trenches in France and Belgium.
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England’s breathing English air,
Washed by rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt if friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
Rev’d Sue Martin
Light up a Life services with the Norfolk Hospice, Tapping House are being held this week.
Over a hundred people joined us on Sunday 4th December, at King’s Lynn Minster and lit candles which were placed on the altar. Carols were sung and people had chance to reflect and join together over a cup of tea and a mince pie.
On Monday December 5th, a service was held at the Sandringham Visitor’s Centre and more than a hundred people listened, prayed and lit candles too. Tea and mince pies again on offer and a well needed chance to meet and chat!
When we lose someone we love.… a chance to read the address
Rev’d Sue Martin
Chaplain to the Norfolk Hospice, Tapping House
On the warm summers evening in Nice, people were out celebrating Bastille Day, enjoying family time, friendship, camaraderie and the beautiful setting of the promenade, the Mediterranean and the city.
The destruction that followed is beyond description and belief, I don’t understand how anyone in their right mind could have driven that lorry and killed so many innocent people.
Was this done in the name of something else, religion…No, organisations on other shores… who knows?
So many questions to which there will never be an answer. On TV news, the father of the driver held up a medical letter stating that his son needed constant psychiatric medications. A plea maybe to give some reasoning behind the action.
What can we do? How can we feel? Where does this leave us and everyone else in Europe?
I would suggest that ‘at a loss’ is most people’s attitude. Apparently the following evening, beyond the Promenade Anglais, the bars and cafe’s were open, people were not afraid and would not be intimidated. But it does leave a sense of fear which will spread beyond Nice and that is exactly what must not happen.
Nick Blaine’s blog makes good reading
Fear is the biggest weapon in the hands of the enemy, it develops hate and prejudice.
In all that is happening in this world of 2016, a seemingly crazy year, let us look to others, for support and friendship, not close our doors, and retreat to an ever narrowing circle of life.
And pray…. for those in Nice, for those close to us and far away and for those who have just a touch of badness in us. I have added a prayer written by a 12 yr old on to the prayers on Faith Goes Walkabout.
Rev’d Sue Martin
Diocese of Norwich
This has been an amazing two weeks in the UK, a referendum that has seen us exiting Europe, unbelievable and now unstoppable. There is so much to say that I am lost for words and maybe this isn’t the place to express what I feel in deep sadness and concern.
And so… recently I was working in London, just off Southwark Bridge and had a couple of spare hours to myself, an experience that seldom happens. In my sermon for July 3rd I express what actually happened to me on that day. My intention was to go for a wander in London and a nice coffee somewhere.
What actually happened was not quite as expected, and I found myself in the chapel at Southwark cathedral.
For way of a change to the usual address style, the sermon was delivered by two people, see Sermons 2016.
It is a reflection of how life can change sometimes and take you into places that help you, if you listen in the first place.
Come, walk with me…
Rev’d Sue Martin
On Sunday November 15th I was delivering a Holy Communion service in the village church. It was an unremarkable day, the same lovely group of people and cheerful organist.
I have come to know and love this church and know that there are always one or two little things that don’t quite work out. This Sunday, it was the microphone system and although we struggled with all the switches and the sound system we couldn’t get it to work.
Looking at the altar in the chancel and where the congregation were sitting, attached to the pews at the back of the church, I didn’t fancy having to shout my way through the Eucharist. I took the brave decision to ask if everyone could move forward to the front!!
If you too are a confirmed Anglican, you know what a big ask that is!
But very willingly everyone moved forward and the benefits were that I didn’t have to shout and they could hear me. Success!!
Being together, finding ways to make things work. Just what living together is really about. God’s love finds us all and we can all share, make changes and love one another as Jesus has asked us to do.
And the kite picture? Well, it is very bright on this autumnal day and also it shows what can happen when we all pull together.
Rev’d Sue Martin – Hospital and Hospice Chaplain Diocese of Norwich
This was the start of our pilgrimage, a day full of wonder and awe, a lake so peaceful and calm, a boat trip to remember for ever, a Eucharist by the shore of the lake, serene and full of the Spirit.
We set out, as many do, into the middle of the Sea of Galilee, peaceful and calm, we had prayers we heard the story of the fishermen and the start of the disciples calling, we saw the geography of that place where Jesus began his work.
After the Bishop had said prayers, there were a few of us who started dancing, to the Jewish dance of Hava Nagila, with music from the crew. – Who would have thought it!! But as always dance was brilliant to express emotions and joy.
We held Eucharist by the shores, and to my amazement,the prayers for that day were for the parish were I now serve and first came to church in Ashwicken.
And towards the end of the day we renewed our baptisms in the River Jordan.
A glimpse into this journey of faith, go to holylandpilgrimage on this site to find out more about the journey.
Rev’d Sue Martin Diocese of Norwich
Getting to grips with the text…anywhere!
World Reader and Cambridge University Press, South Africa (CUP SA) are working in partnership on e-readers and mobile phones.
This means that anyone with a phone (non smart phone), in South Africa, can now access books through the World Reader app, which is hosted on the cloud based mobile application platform BiNu. This enables phones, such as Nokia which are widely used across the continent of Africa, to be used as reading devices.
Wow!!
This is amazing news for literacy and for all who are working to make reading a possibility for everyone across the world.
Niall McNulty, digital publisher at CUP SA, described the development as ‘genius’.
‘A recent report by UNESCO, Reading in the mobile era: A study of mobile reading in developing countries, highlights the importance of using mobile devices to encourage a culture of reading by providing access to books to people who previously had none.’ Â African Branch of Cambridge University Press, 11.8.14
Last year, World Reader had 330,000 monthly active users, reading 650,000 books on mobile phones.
CUP has made 360 e-books available via the app, including titles from the Cambridge African Language Library which is a primary reading series.
SmithMartin Partnership are excited at this development and all that it may mean for future readers. We are working with World Reader in a smaller way, through our Books Go Walkabout project to support e-reading and literacy.
The way ahead for future readers!
Sue Martin
Books Go Walkabout & Dolphin Booksellers, part of SmithMartin Partnership LLP
Across the world, women and girls who are caught up in political battles, in the name of religion.
They are kidnapped, held hostage, taken away from their families and living in impossible situations.
Where is the logic that girls are not allowed to have an education? How does it work for anyone not to allow their daughter to be able to read? Let alone being unable to marry a person of their choice or unable to walk without a chaperone.
In so many ways we value our freedom in the UK and that equality issues are not so basic and so dire as in many places, not saying however, that suffering by girls is not taking place in the UK.
Fear can work in so many ways, faith does not use fear as a justification.
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