I’m sorry that I won’t be able to sort out a service for tonight to remember the Last Supper. There are plenty of services around which I hope you feel able to make use of.
However, Linda has put together a meditation (download here) which you could use tomorrow either on a walk or in your home, to help us think about the love of God which took Jesus to the cross. It would be great if you could join us in this.
The cross will be up on Cherhill Down between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Please use it to help you reflect, but it is not intended as a gathering point. If it is on or near a walk you would normally make, please do pause and think, but only briefly and by yourselves. Please do not make a special trip to visit it – it does not count as an essential trip. I hope that many of you can see it from near where you are, and that it helps you to know it is there.
A reminder that services are now available via the “Online Services” page. However, if you prefer to download the video to watch offline, please use the links on this page.
This week there is just one service, but there is a pause partway through, so if you don’t want to stay for communion, please feel free to stop there.
If you would like the full service of Holy Communion, please click here. There is also an order of service to download and print available here, but everything you need is also on the screen.
If you struggle to hear my sermon, you can find a similar text here.
THESE ARE THE DAYS OF ELIJAH As I was sat social distancing, on the top of a hill recently, (my dog was much more than 2 metres away from me!!) there was a sense of warmth, beauty and calmness in this crazy time that we are living…….yet there were no sounds except the song of the birds; no aeroplanes in the sky; no sound of traffic, no people passing by. A quiet eeriness, and a feeling that although the world was at a standstill, God was still here.
Because the world was at a standstill, I could hear God more clearly. God was still God. He was still here even though nobody else was …….we are being stripped bare but God was still here and he was showing himself through his creation
And then the words came into my head: “Here on this earth these are the days of Corona” then straightaway, ‘These are the days of Elijah’ I took out my phone, the only link with human kind I had for an hour and a half, (my children say I should always carry it!) and found the song:
These are the days of Elijah Declaring the word of the Lord, And these are the days of Your servant, Moses Righteousness being restored
These are the days of great trials Of famine and darkness and sword Still we are the voice in the desert crying Prepare ye the way of the Lord !
Behold He comes, riding on the clouds Shining like the sun, at the trumpet’s call Lift your voice, (it’s) the year of Jubilee Out of Zion’s hill, salvation comes
And these are the days of Ezekiel The dry bones becoming as flesh; And these are the days of Your servant David Rebuilding a temple of praise
And these are the days of the harvest Oh, the fields are as white in Your world And we are the labourers in Your vineyard Declaring the word of the Lord!
This time now, more evidently than ever for me, is for Righteousness to be restored; for us as Christians to be those voices in the desert bringing a cry of hope and salvation and rebuilding a Temple of praise, not particularly in our churches, for we cannot do that at the moment but in peoples’ lives, in our communities and ultimately in the world. Linda Dytham March 2020
Usually on Palm Sunday as you enter the church you would be given a palm cross to wave. That’s not really possible this year, so instead, I’m going to ask you to be creative. If you want to join in, please follow the instructions on this page. You will need a suitably-coloured sheet of paper or card. I’ll also go through the instructions for you on Sunday in case anyone cannot work out what to do.
Services are now available via the “Online Services” page. However, if you prefer to download the video to watch offline, please use the links on this page.
This week I have two service options for you.
If you would like the full service of Holy Communion, please click here. There is also an order of service to download and print available here, but everything you need is also on the screen.
If you would like a shorter service with more modern songs, please click here.
If you struggle to hear my sermon, you can find a similar text here.
