Take time to think
It is the source of power.
Take time to Play
It is the secret of perpetual growth
Take time to read
It is the fountain of wisdom.
You know that feeling when you have a great idea but the overload of work just weighs you down?
Before that happens, don’t let the idea get squashed…. Build Something you Love!
Thinking about community…
On March 25th our partnership team spent the day with a wonderful group of people, in Canada Water Library, to do just that… Building Something Special. From ideas and concepts to how setting up an organisation in the right framework will benefit the project immensely.
We were working in connection with Church Urban Fund, Near Neighbours and Rev’d Tim Clapton and the people were all connected with Near Neighbours and working as a faith organisation or in connection with faith groups.
What did we discuss? A huge array of the aspects on setting up an organisation, the ethical stance that community projects have at their core, and the passion for supporting and developing people as paramount.
People had come from different communities in London and their set up organisations included;
World of Faith, Clapton/Hackney Gardening, World Beaters, Future 4 All, Alternatives, iiChild, British Rastafari, Community Organising Malawi, VOTY Project, St Mark’s Dalston Junction.
SmithMartin have created www.enterprisingcommunities.today to provide a continual supply of up to date information.
Pleased to support communities.
The library interior…
Shrove Tuesday and Pancake day, when we all have the chance to eat delicious pancakes with our favourite toppings, maple syrup,lemon and sugar, and even Nutella!
A time to be ready for Lent, the six weeks ahead when we spend time in reflection, time to give something up, time to take on something new… but above all to have time for God to find us and for us to find God.
Jesus went into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights, to think, to pray and to get ready for the difficult time ahead. Tempted by the devil, he resisted.
How hard is it for us to actually give something up for just a few weeks, nobody is saying we have too, there is only ourselves to keep the pressure on, and how easy therefore to give in to temptation.
But in Lent we can find ourselves and the true person that God intends us to be.
When I wrote the sermon for the first week in Lent I was in Hong Kong and some of the sermon is in the Lent section on faithgoeswalkabout.
Rev’d Sue Martin
Jesus was a revolutionary.
He was stirring people into action, making them change, showing them what they should have been doing.
What happens to revolutionaries now? Don’t we all sit back and say things like,
‘I don’t see why I have to change. ‘
‘There’s nothing that I should be doing is there?’
But, “You are the light of the world…” says Jesus
So how can we sit back and do nothing?
We can’t all be revolutionaries but we can speak out when injustice does take place.
Don’t hide your light under a bushel!
See more in sermons on Faithgoeswalkabout.
Readings for 4th Sunday before Lent
Isaiah 58:1-9, 1 Corinth. 2:1-12 and Matthew 5:13 – 20
Rev’d Sue Martin
Follow me. The words of Jesus for the fishermen and for us too.
No excuses, like…well I’ll just take the dog home first and then I’ll be back.
Or…Can I make it next year, I have so much on at the moment..
Or… I will follow but it’s going to have to be later this week,. Can you come back next Sunday?
Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John were one day normal Galilean fishermen and the next, they were disciples and later apostles of Jesus, Son of God. Pretty impressive that!
We can all do it too, if we really want too. Follow Him!
See Epiphany on Faithgoeswalkabout
Rev’d Sue Martin
Norwich Diocese
On the edge of the North Norfolk coast, US Air Force helicopter crashed killing all four people on board.
The HH-60G Pave Hawk, based at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, came down at a nature reserve in Cley next the Sea on Tuesday night.
The aircraft, from the 48th Fighter Wing, was on a low-level training mission and carrying live ammunition.
For many of us, living in Norfolk, the flights overhead of military planes and helicopters is a constant reminder of the work of the armed forces and how the low level flying over the sea is a fundamental part of the training programmes.
It is of enormous sadness that four young men should lose their loves in such a way on the shoreline where there is usually peace and solace.
The Bishop of Lynn, The Right Reverend Jonathan Meyrich said ,
“We have all been shocked and deeply saddened by the loss of the four crew members involved in Tuesday’s crash. Words can be of little help at this time to the families, friends and colleagues of those who lost their lives, but in services across the Diocese we will be remembering them in our prayers this Sunday, as well as those in Cley and Salthouse and members of the emergency services, many of whom have been left shaken by this tragedy.”
“Often when a tragedy like this happens, people want to pray but are not sure how. The best prayers come straight from the heart, but the prayer below can be used by any who wish to remember before God those whose lives have been affected.”
“God of all consolation, we pray for all those whose lives have been affected by Tuesday’s helicopter crash. We ask for comfort for those who have been bereaved, courage for the colleagues of the crew, strength for the emergency services, peace for communities of Salthouse and Cley. Grant to all who have been affected by this tragedy your light and hope, for we pray in the name our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
Rev’d Sue Martin
Diocese of Norwich
Posada
The Advent journey of Mary and Joseph and their donkey is experienced more and more in our churches and homes.
The tradition of Posada, which began in South America is now taking root in the UK.
Crib figures, representing Mary, Joseph and the donkey travel around a village or town stopping(by arrangement!) where there is a place for them to stay with a warm welcome.
Night after night, the figures are taken from one host home to another; hospitality, the lighting of a candle and a very simple act of worship are shared. There is time to wonder on these amazing overnight guests and to reflect on what Advent really means.
Rev’d Sue Martin
image courtesy of spiritualchild.co.uk
First Sunday of Advent December 1st
Advent literally means ‘ to the coming’ or the ‘arrival’.
Just as it’s getting darker and darker with the nights getting longer and longer, we start thinking about the light of the world;
All out of darkness there came light,…
The light of the world has come among us cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light from the collect.
What does that all mean, darkness, the works of darkness, the armour of light?
The world had been in a place where things were not going well, Isaiah refers to a conversation about how God has become very unhappy about what is happening on earth. No one appeared to be listening to him, so he decides to send his Son.
And now, in Advent, getting ready, thinking about Christmas day and for us as Christians seeking the message that comes with the arrival and birth of Jesus. So what do we do! How do we get ready?
Read more in Advent of Faithgoeswalkabout.org
Rev’d Sue Martin
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Journeys and destinations
Where sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,
Doubt Not, Reepicheep,
To find all you seek,
There is the utter East.
(Chapter 2 Voyage of the Dawn Treader ( Tales of Narnia) by C.S Lewis)
Pilgrimages, like in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader are fraught with mystery, testing and transformation. We can have a pilgrimage of our own faith journeys and not even set foot outside the house.
Or we can embark on an adventure with real travel and set out to journey, to find whatever we do along the way.
The destination or the end point may be a goal, when we first set out, but over time it can change, we can find that what it was that we were searching for is not the right thing at all. Or even that we have it all the time, right back in our own hearts and homes.
Read more in sermons on faithgoeswalkabout…
Rev’d Sue Martin
Somebody once said, ” Coincidences happen more often when you believe in God”.
Not sure if it was a coincidence or just my luck, that whilst in Hong Kong this last two weeks, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby was preaching at St John’s Cathedral, whilst on a stop over between London and South Korea.
Warm and sunny day, in the midst of the higher than high finance buildings in Central, Hong Kong Island, the traditional English style cathedral sits amongst surrounding gardens.
The Archbishop preached on allowing God to be in control of our lives and how sometimes that is deeply uncomfortable, but that we should be faithful and true to what God asks us to do.
Notes on the sermon are under Sermons on Faith Goes Walkabout.
Rev’d Sue Martin