General Chat

Good morning everyone.......


I've found these words to be so true......



Anywhere is a place of prayer


I have prayed on my knees in the morning,
I have prayed as I walked along,
I have prayed in the silence and darkness
And I've prayed to the tune of a song.

I have prayed in the midst of triumph
And I've prayed when I suffered defeat,
I have prayed on the sands of the seashore
Where the waves of the ocean beat.

I have prayed in a velvet-hushed forest
Where the quietness calmed my fears,
I have prayed through suffering and heartache
When my eyes were blinded with tears.

I have prayed in churches and chapels,
Cathedrals and synagogues, too,
But often I've had the feeling
That my prayers were not getting through.

And I realized then that our Father
Is not really concerned where we pray
Or impressed by our manner of worship,
Or the eloquent words that we say.

He is only concerned with our feelings,
And he looks deep into our heart
And hear the "cry of our soul's deep need"
That words could ever impart.

So it isn't the prayer that's expressive
Or offered in some special spot,
It's the sincere plea of a sinner
And God can tell whether or not -

We honestly seek his forgiveness
And earnestly mean what we say,
And then and then only He answers
The Prayer that we fervently pray.

- Helen Steiner Rice



Cx :-)

:-) :-) @ Cynthia. How often I pray in very strange places. My commute into London used to be just over an hour down M40 about 20 years ago. I would put a service led by Dr Lloyd Jones or similar on cassette deck and by the time I got to Uxbridge I would be on top of the world and singing the chorus of last hymn and praying.

What must the person sitting next to me at traffic lights have thought?

Your comment about care homes/nursing homes struck a chord. I used to regularly lead a service in a home when we lived in Northants. It was only 25-30 minutes long, and "sermon" was always about 5 minutes. And it was well attended and, yes, they always remembered the words (even long Bible passages if they were from the Authorised Version). It was one of highlights of their week and, to be honest, it was one of the highlights of our week also. Often children or grandchildren visit on a Sunday and they would also join in.

Used to pick very simple texts for sermon - love thine enemies as you would like Jesus to love you, for example. Often a few red faces :-) ;-)

As far as I am aware, there are few services like that where I now live in South Wales. Will ask now you have prompted me.

Happy to be of service John. :-D


Good morning to those who will pop in today......

We seem to have a mixture on here of varying denominations which is good.


I found this lovely prayer by Mother Theresa whilst I was looking for inspiration for today's thoughts.



Mother Teresa's Nazareth Prayer for the Family

Heavenly Father,
you have given us the model of life
in the Holy Family of Nazareth.
Help us, O Loving Father,
to make our family another Nazareth
where love, peace and joy reign.
May it be deeply contemplative,
intensely eucharistic,
revived with joy.

Help us to stay together in joy
and sorrow in family prayer.
Teach us to see Jesus in the members of our families,
especially in their distressing disguise.
May the eucharistic heart of Jesus
make our hearts humble like his
and help us to carry out our family duties
in a holy way.
May we love one another
as God loves each one of us,
more and more each day,
and forgive each other's faults
as you forgive our sins.
Help us, O Loving Father,
to take whatever you give
and give whatever you take with a big smile.

Immaculate Heart of Mary,
cause of our joy, pray for us.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

Holy Guardian Angels,
be always with us,
guide and protect us.

Amen.




Cx :-)

I like that prayer :-)

Me too. Thank you Cynthia for each one. They are all a blessing and a joy to read.

It' a pleasure ladies.....you're most welcome.


With the beautiful weather we are experiencing at the moment, I thought it would be good to remember this hymn.

Many of us will remember it with the traditional tune but, I have to admit to rather liking the John Rutter setting too....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaMkj4_H8WM



For The Beauty Of The Earth Hymn

For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon and stars of light,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above,
Pleasures pure and undefiled,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For each perfect gift of thine,
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and divine,
Flowers of earth and buds of heaven,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For thy Church which evermore
Lifteth holy hands above,
Offering up on every shore
Her pure sacrifice of love,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.


- Folliott S. Pierpoint


Have a lovely day everyone Cx :-)

<3 <3 <3

For Cyns

:-) <3 Thank you again Cynthia.

A beautiful hymn I loved singing.

Emma :-)

edit...John Rutter's version is lovely, first time I've heard it

A real old fashioned lady me....... happiest singing to familiar tunes from childhood days BUT a different tune I feel, makes the words more meaningful, so many thanks Cynthia. Enjoy today!

I love John Rutters arrangements.

Thank you Cynthia. :-D

You're very welcome - all of you.


I love John Rutter's arrangements too LK.


Another of my favourites is his version of the blessing - The Lord bless you and keep you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO17DIeI7Ec



Phew......Isn't it HOT today?????

Thanks Cynthia, I enjoyed that and hadn't come across that arrangement before. A plus for me was that it led me to listen and watch O Perfect love which was one of our wedding hymns. I wasn't keen on the singer but love the hymn.

Although it is not Christmas I spotted this, It is beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMKYbSCXh8c

It is indeed LK, and so very peaceful. I may suggest this to our choirmaster/organist to use with the choir at Christmas. Thanks....


Another hot day looms............so some thoughts to encourage us....


We cannot all be famous
Or be listed in "Who's Who,"
But every person, great or small,
Has important work to do.

For seldom do we realize
The importance of small deeds,
Or to what degree of greatness
Unnoticed kindness leads.

For it's not the big celebrity
In a world of fame and praise,
But it's doing unpretentiously
In an undistinguished way.

The work that God assigned to us,
Unimportant as it seems,
That makes our task outstanding,
And brings reality to dreams.

So do not sit and idly wish
For wider, new dimensions
where you can put into practice,
Your many good intentions.

But at the spot God placed you
Begin at once to do,
Little things to brighten up
The lives surrounding you.

If everybody brightened up
The spot where their standing,
By being more considerate,
And a little less demanding.

This dark old world would very soon
Eclipse the evening star,
If everybody brightened up
The corner where they are!


Cx :-)

Cynthia

<3

Love it,

I found myself nodding my head in agreement with each verse ha ha.

Thank you Cynthia, as always you have already brightened my day.

I'm so glad kandj............thank you.



Another prayer from the Celtic tradition


You are the light that shines in dark
You are the heart's eternal spark
You are the door that's open wide
You are the guest who waits inside
You are the stranger at the door
You are the calling of the poor
You are my Lord and with me still
You are my love, keep me from ill
You are the light, the truth, the way
You are my Saviour this very day.



Cx :-)

I am just listening to that lovely arrangement provided by LadyKira as I write. So beautiful. It is a tradition to sing Christmas hymns at Christmas and Easter hymns at Easter. But I love these ones about the birth of the Messiah all year round. And Sunday is the first day of the week simply because there was an empty tomb and Christ had defeated our last great enemy, death. So we can look at the Easter story every week of the year and be very traditional indeed :-D

And I am going to cut and paste some of these prayers as they are so lovely.

My prayer for today is from the heart and I hope you like it. As I start I am not at all sure what I wlll write.

Our dear Father in heaven, we worship you. You are the one certainty in a very changing world. One true light, with no shadow of turning. One true God from before the beginning till after the end of this world.

You have created all the magnificent splendour of this world. All the scenery, the wonders of nature, the animals, the plants, the people. And you love all the billions of people who live on this world. You try to help each and every one of them to live their lives in a righteous and loving way.

You have sent your Son into our midst. Of the same substance as You. Begotten, not created as we have been. Begotten in our sinful flesh, yet without any sin.

He is our way, our truth, our life. Believing and trusting in the Lord Jesus is the only WAY to get to heaven; the only TRUTH to guide us in a difficult and often untruthful world; and the only LIFE for us to follow during our short and uncertain life here in your beautiful earthly kingdom.

And you have sent your Holy Spirit into our midst. To dwell within our souls and help us to see what you would like us to do, to think and to say and write to our friends (those we like a lot and those we may not be quite so keen about).

And we know you love the enemies of God so much. You loved each of us when we were enemies. You loved us unreservedly, despite all the horrible things we may have done.

And we pray that you will help each of us to lead others to the foot of the Cross of Calvary. So that all our friends and our family can say "It was for ME he died and suffered there"

Warm the hearts this week of all who are experiencing human loss. Comfort those who are in physical and mental pain. Give patience and extraordinary love to those who care for others.

Listen to our prayers, please, O most gracious Father in heaven.

We ask in and through the precious and worthy name of our beloved, our Redeemer, our precious Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen

Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Thank you John. I've never been very good at extempore prayer because I just tend to 'chat' or generally witter on. :-)


This morning was the third Sunday in the month - where the organisations take it in turns to lead the worship.

Today was the turn of the bellringers....... :-D

We are fortunate enough to have real bells and ringers, not pre-recorded ones!

The head bellringer - who is all of about 40, told us about the history of bells in worship and when bells were first introduced to churches etc. They have such a long history behind them.

He then got some of his young team to the front and they gave a short display of hand bell ringing - it would have been a bit difficult to demonstrate the church bells because they would all have disappeared to the belfry :-D

They did the readings, the prayers and took the bread and wine up to the altar.

We also had the church youth music group in............boy, were those guitars and drums loud.......but the tinies were bopping away to the music.

At the end of the service the vicar, when he came to the back of church to shake hands with people, he rolled his eyes and muttered "I've had enough now"....... :-D :-D


A lovely morning. Cx :-)

Thank you Cynthia and John :-)

Vicar on top form I see Cynthia :-D :-D

Emma :-)