General Chat

The Celtic Prayer is lovely Cynthia <3

I did manage to include that lovely Celtic prayer today.

Had about 25 today, ranging from 7 to 99. Think I have written about this 99 year old in this particular chapel before. She is quite fantastic. Walks very well and totally unaided, looks like she is 80 at most and seems to have all her faculties (sight and hearing going a bit).

She lives in Bargoed/Ystrad Mynach area. It will be her 100th on 22nd (next Saturday). If any readers of thread have access to local papers next week, probably there will be pictures of her.

Why does she think she has lived so long? She says it is because she has never taken tablets of any sort (not even an aspirin) and she trusts in the Lord for everything and He has always been good to her :-) :-) :-)

She sounds like an inspirational woman John.


Today has been a very long day indeed........will return tomorrow.........zzzzzzzzzzzz :-)

Good morning.........

As you may have guessed, I was slightly ....er......tired......last night. Sundays are always an early start for me and we had family over last night as well so, the mums amongst us will know what it's like..... :-D


We have a men's group at church - only small in number and mostly the more senior men but, they have a good time and, each year on this Sunday, they have their annual dedication service.

We also welcomed about eight recently baptised babies and their families. This is a monthly event where they come to the front of church, a special welcome prayer is said and they are given their baptism certificates. They are then greeted with a warm round of applause.

On top of this yesterday, we also congratulated two members of our congregation who have been 'licensed' to serve as offical Lay Readers within the Church of England.

A little hectic shall we say...... :-) :-)


As I passed by the vicar, who had been unnecessarily 'harrassed' by someone when he was busy and trying to get ready, he said to me with a twinkle in his eye and , out of the corner of his mouth......"I'm getting ready to slap somebody in a minute"........I went off laughing.....:-D


Anyway...........our morning prayer


Take Time

Take time to think...
It is the source of power.
Take time to play...
It is the secret of perpetual youth.
Take time to laugh...
It is the music of the soul.
Take time to pray...
It is the greatest power on Earth.

(Anon., inscribed on the walls of the "Missionaries of Charity" children's home in Calcutta, India)

Cynthia. The 100 year old is inspirational. Plenty of others inspire me. And that prayer from Calcutta has certainly inspired me this morning - many thanks as ever :-) :-)

Two lay readers accredited in one day!!! Just a different world to mine, but lovely to hear of such a thing. We have not even had one person under training in over 5 years of being down in Valleys. We now have three "on note" - the first stage of training that takes 6 months to a year. Hopefully they will soon proceed to second stage which is called "on trial" and lasts 2-5 years approx. And that is on the whole mission of 14 chapels and about 300 members. And three "on note" that is mega for us and everyone talks about it as I go round.

I sometimes swap sermon notes with cousin who is a lay reader in Dover in Kent. I thought I was a pretty fierce preacher and a real traditional Methodist ranter - but his sermons were both more creative and cleverer than mine (which is not hard to believe). But also even fiercer if anything. I could happily sit under his ministry :-) I would be shaken - and stirred.

I got hold of a book by an Anglican, Rev Cleverley, some years ago - "Five Minute Sermons". They were short, very doctrinal and full of humour. Cleverley by name, cleverly by nature. Has anyone heard of him or his fantastic (and brief) sermons?

Pray that everyone has a lovely day today and an inspiring and fulfilling week :-) :-)

Morning Cynthia, your vicar sounds lovely and am now looking
to see if he has said anything amusing to you which you pass
on to us :-D
Thank you as always for your morning prayer.

Emma :-)

I will do my best to remember Emma......... :-D



Another prayer from Helen Steiner Rice to start the day


If You Meet God In The Morning,
He'll Go With You Through The Day




"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" --
It speaks of His greatness,
it sings of His love,
And each day at dawning
I lift my heart high
And raise up my eyes
to the infinite sky.


I watch the night vanish
as a new day is born,
And I hear the birds sing
on the wings of the morn,
I see the dew glisten
in crystal-like splendor -


While God, with a touch
that is gentle and tender,
Wraps up the night
and softly tucks it away
And hangs out the sun
to herald a new day...


And so I give thanks
and my heart kneels to pray --
"God keep me and guide me
and go with me today."


- Helen Steiner Rice

Cx :-)

Cynthia

Looks like you remembered it twice :-D

Sorted! Thank you Renes........it's the dread error message strikes again!!

I read it and enjoyed it twice. Thanks very much Cynthia, as ever :-) :-)

Cynthis

he he he he .......



I read it twice too ....

Thank goodness for that, thought it was only me
who did that sort of thing :-D
As always thank you Cynthia :-)

Emma

Good morning................................friends..... :-)



Life is like a garden
And friendship like a flower,
That blooms and grows in beauty
With the sunshine and the shower.

And lovely are the blossoms
That are tended with great care,
By those who work unselfishly
To make the place more fair.

And, like the garden blossoms,
Friendship's flower grows more sweet
When watched and tended carefully
By those we know and meet.

And, if the seed of friendship
Is planted deep and true
And watched with understanding,
Friendship's flower will bloom for you.


Have a good day.....friends.... :-)

:-) :-) :-)

And a friend we have above all others :-)

A lovely poem, Cynthia, thankyou :-)

A lovely poem, Cynthia <3

Thanks Cynthia :-)

When he (Jesus) lived on earth abased
Friend of sinners was his name
Now above all glory raised
He rejoices in the same
Still he calls them brethren, friends
And to all their wants attends

O, for grace our hearts to soften
Teach us, Lord, at length to love
We alas forget too often
What a friend we have above
But when home our souls are brought
We shall love thee as we ought

(John Newton 1725-1807 - one of my favourite Christians of any age). How important it is to remember that Jesus loved sinners, his worst enemies. And we are taught to love our enemies as our dearest friends - however hard that might be in the heat of conflict sometimes.

Good morning.......

There are so many different types of prayer to be found - apart from those we pray ourselves.

It's a vast area to cover - from those which are very long - to those which are short and sweet.

There are prayers for specific occasions and prayers for global events.

There are those which are written in verse and those which are written in prose.

Prayers by famous people and prayers by children.

I'll do my best to give a good selection.



Meawhile.......I think this one is very apt for most of us at some time or other.



Lord,

Help me to remember
that nothing is going to happen
to me today that you and I
together can't handle.

Amen.


:-)

Thankyou so much, Cynthia. I clearly remember the very first time I tried to pray in a public meeting. I was in my early 40's and had never really prayed except at side of bed when I was a child.

Everyone else in prayer meeting was so professional and I felt so inadequate. In the end, I blurted out, "thank you God for the lovely weather today.......errrrrr.......Amen"

And the others said afterwards it was a lovely prayer and thanked me :-) :-)

I am not sure I have shared this story, but in my old chapel in Northamptonshire, a lady sat behind me called Georgina. She had a soft Northern Irish accent and was in her 80's. Her grandma had told her about Sunday School in 1870's and how wonderful her Sunday School teacher was - the wife of the Rector, Mrs Alexander.

Mrs Alexander loved to explain the Creeds to her children. And parts of the Creeds are difficult for us adults, let alone children. So Mrs Alexander wrote a series of hymns for her students, including "All Things Bright and Beautiful".

Here is a verse she wrote for the children from "Once in Royal David's City":

And our eyes at last shall see him
Through his own redeeming love
For that child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heaven above.
And he leads his children on
To the place where he has gone.