THE FRIDAY EMAIL

Friday 15th January 2021

The Friday Thought from our Associate Priest, Revd Debbie

Our lives are full of endless chatter, be that from the TV, radio, our phones, social media, you name it. As a result of the current crisis, I expect that you, like me, are watching more news items and government briefings than ever before. It seems we’re either being bombarded with noise or actively seeking it out; some would say like an addiction, which drowns out our own thoughts and opportunities for meaningful reflection.

I do wonder at times, how much of the babble I really hear? The reading from Samuel underscores the importance of listening. While Samuel is sleeping, he believes he hears someone calling his name. So Samuel wakes up and runs to Eli thinking Eli has called. "Here I am, Lord," he says, running to old Eli who stumbles out of bed and grumbles, "Go back to sleep, you're hearing things." After responding to hearing his name called several times, Eli instructs Samuel to "Go to sleep, and if you are called reply: 'Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel follows Eli's orders, and when called upon again, he responds accordingly. And so Samuel grows up with the Lord accompanying him, giving him insight, wisdom, and strength as one of his prophets.

This was a time in Israel’s history when Israel was out of communication with God. Eli was getting too old to lead (his loss of vision is what happens to the elderly but is also symbolic of the people’s inability to see the things of God), and his sons were wicked. “The word was rare in those days". Because the Lord was quiet? Or because no one was really listening?

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We can probably all tell stories, drawn from everyday life, that illustrate the importance of listening in the process of human communication. Comic strips and comedians regularly portray married couples failing to really hear each other.

We’re reminded that we need to not only listen, but then to be open to what we hear, especially from God. As we open ourselves to the word of God, be comforted by Him accompanying us through good times and bad. Remember though, it all begins with listening. As the American priest and author Barbara Brown Taylor explains so eloquently in ‘When God is Silent’, prayer should be less “Lord, hear our prayer” and more “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening”.

I'm afraid we’re in times like Samuel's. Revelations and visitations from God seem uncommon now. In fact, today if people say that God speaks out loud to them, they’re viewed as crazy by some. People seem to think that God is far away, or at least doesn’t directly and physically interact with people. Someone like Samuel, hearing his name called out loud, might himself suspect insanity instead of a visitation from God. Personally, I believe that God does call to us and does reveal himself and visit. Rarely, perhaps, with an audible voice, but in more subtle ways in our everyday lives. All the time, all around us, there are opportunities to help others physically and spiritually.

So, as we go through our day, upcoming weeks and year, let’s take some time to turn off the chatter – there’s a lot of bad news out there, both nationally and internationally. Tune out the noise and tune in to taking the opportunity for prayer and reflection. Truly listen and allow God's words to guide us towards making a positive difference in the lives of those around us, even the world, in this New Year.

May God bless you and keep you, Rev Debbie

Sunday’s readings

The first book of Samuel, chapter 3, verses 1 to 10 and 19-20: Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.

At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ and he said, ‘Here I am!’ and ran to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call; lie down again.’ So he went and lay down. The Lord called again, ‘Samuel!’ Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call, my son; lie down again.’ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of 2 the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” ’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’

As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord.

St John’s Gospel, chapter 1, verses 43-51: The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’

The Collect – the special prayer - for the Second Sunday after Epiphany Almighty God, in Christ you make all things new: transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace, and in the renewal of our lives make known your heavenly glory; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Details of Sunday’s 9.30am service, streamed on our website and Facebook page  President & Preacher: Fr Simon (Vicar)  Reader: Charlotte Vivian  Intercessor: Di Kitson  Mass setting: Mass of St Thomas (music: David Thorne)

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 Organ voluntary: Andante from Organ Concerto Op. 4 No.1 (G.F. Handel)  Processional hymn: Hail to the Lord’s anointed (tune: Crüger)  Gradual hymn: Will you come and follow me (tune: Kelvingrove)  Offertory hymn: Thou didst leave thy throne (tune: Margaret)  Communion motet: O for a closer walk with God (Stanford)  Recessional hymn: Great is thy faithfulness (tune: Runyan)  Organ voluntary: Pièce d'Orgue in G major - BWV 572 (J.S. Bach)

Intercessions for this week

For the world-wide Church  Bishop Alan, Bishop of  Bishop Michael, Suffragan Bishop of  The Venerable Janet Mackenzie, Archdeacon of Hertford  Archbishop Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury  In the Anglican Cycle of Prayer: for the Anglican Church of Australia  In the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: for the parish of Haynes (Ampthill and Shefford)  In the Deanery Cycle of Prayer: for Ash and Quin Valleys Group Ministry

For the congregation and community of Great St Mary’s

For the world  For those who have died or are suffering in body, mind or spirit  For those who are working to relieve suffering. For key-workers, scientists and leaders, and particularly for the NHS, and all medical and care workers  For just and peaceful governance throughout the world, particularly holding before God this period of presidential transition in the United States of America  For those worried about their livelihood  For those who are being persecuted for their faith  For those who are abused in body, mind or spirit  For those struggling with addiction  For those who are homeless

For the community of Sawbridgeworth  For carers and NHS workers – particularly the staff at the Princess Alexandra in and those at our Central Surgery  For local businesses and commerce in these uncertain times  For the teachers and staff of our local schools including , as they work remotely with their pupils online  For parents and carers called upon to balance work and home lives as their children work remotely from home

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For the people of Sunday: Parkway & Cedar Close Monday: Chalks Avenue & Coney Green Tuesday: Hazel Gardens & Moorlands Reach Wednesday: Cherry Gardens & Marlands Thursday: Church Walk, Church Crescent & Forebury Crescent Friday: Church Street, Blakes Court & Duckling Lane Saturday: West Road, Tudor Court & Fair Green

For the sick and bereaved including Linda Bowler, Una Bard, Pam Brown, Frieda Elfick, Pete Emery, Kathleen Hammond, Elsie Harman, Lenore Hinds, Rosemary Jones, Peter White, June Willis

For the recently departed  Iris Chuchla  Kenneth Hinds

Notices

The Revd Kenneth Hinds It was with sadness that we heard last weekend that the Revd Kenneth Hinds has died.

Born in 1930, Kenneth was a curate here at Great St Mary from 1964 to 1967. In fact, after a short spell living in Forebury Avenue, Kenneth, his wife Lenore, and their five children were the first people to live in the newly-built St Mary’s Lodge where Revd Debbie now lives.

The family left Sawbridgeworth for where Kenneth served his second curacy as priest-in-charge at a church in Berkhamsted where Fr Simon was, until last year, regularly ministering during his curacy. And, in one of those incredible coincidences, Kenneth and the family actually lived in the house in Berkhamsted where Fr Simon and his family have spent the last four years!

After Berkhamsted, Kenneth became vicar in Boreham Wood before moving, in 1975, to Port Elizabeth in Trinidad. They returned in 1979 so that Kenneth could become a vicar in Ilford. He retired in 1995.

Val Bright tells us that Kenneth and Lenore always had very fond memories of their time in Sawbridgeworth. They used to return frequently to catch up with friends, also allowing Kenneth to be an occasional guest preacher. So, at this time, we hold Kenneth’s family and friends in our thoughts and prayers, and send them our love.

May Kenneth rest in peace and rise in glory.

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Suspension of public worship and private prayer at GSM It was with great sadness and after much soul-searching that the leadership team took the decision a couple of weeks ago, to close Great St Mary’s, not only to public worship but also to private prayer, as the nation entered its third national lockdown – a decision which has since been supported unanimously by our PCC. If nothing else, we have, at least, taken some consolation from the fact that our decision was in line with most other churches in our deanery and beyond, and, increasingly, even cathedrals. However, it still remains a sad situation to be in; unable, at this time, to provide a space for prayer and solace in our town. Needless to say, we will continue to review our decision and will seek to open the church building up again as soon as it’s safe to do so.

In the meantime, Revd Debbie and Fr Simon will continue to preside at a 9.30am Sunday mass which may be watched either live from about 9.20am via the church Facebook page or website (www.sawbridgeworthchurch.org.uk) or later, on those two platforms and on our YouTube channel, at a time of your choosing.

Pastoral issues Despite the current national lockdown and closure of our church building, may we assure you that your ministry team – Fr Simon, Revd Debbie, and Di - is still very active. If you would like to talk to them at any stage – because of a particular pastoral issue or because you simply want to have a good chin wag – do please pick up the phone to them or drop them an email. Contact details may be found at the end of this Friday Email.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: Monday 18th – Monday 25th January This Monday marks the beginning of the eight days of ecumenical prayer for Christian Unity when, once again, we’re reminded of Jesus’ prayer for his disciples that “they may be one so that the world may believe”. [John 17.21]

The specific theme this year is inspired by a passage from St John’s gospel chapter 15, verses 1-17 which might be summarised as: Abide in my love and you shall bear much fruit.

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Resources have been produced by a number of organisations including the World Council of Churches (https://tinyurl.com/y4t6dyuh) and Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (https://tinyurl.com/y29c7nsj). Sadly, we won’t be able to come together this year to explore things more deeply. However, from Monday morning, we’ll be posting material on our Facebook page from the second of these resources.

Donations for Harlow Foodbank The church building, where we often leave donations for Harlow Foodbank, may be closed but the needs of the foodbank, and the many people it supports, continues.

If you have donations for the foodbank while the church is closed, you can either take them around to Cathy Battson or Ann Bard, or you can give Cathy a ring (07913 427930) to arrange for donations to be collected directly from you.

Sawbridgeworth Community Pop Up Shop This third national lockdown is going to test the resilience of many people across our country, not least many here in Sawbridgeworth. Our wonderful foodbanks, without which far too many would be living in dire straits, are continuing to do amazing things. However, for the next few weeks, Sawbridgeworth Evangelical Congregational Church is going to be setting up a space to support people too. If you would like to donate to their cause, items may be dropped off at SECC on Saturdays between 9 and 10am and on Wednesdays between 12nn and 1pm.

News from our associated CofE school in Spellbrook Home learning, because of the pandemic restrictions, is in full flight amongst the pupils at Spellbrook, and headteacher Jeremy Fisher is so grateful to his team of wonderful staff and, of course, to parents for continuing to overcome all the challenges – not least the technical ones. “It’s been a real pleasure to see the children on the live lessons, interacting with their teachers and with each other, including the key worker children who’ve joined in from within the school. Well done to everyone, particularly the children for their resilience, and the parents for all of their time and effort.” 7

An easy free new way to fundraise for Great St Mary’s Every time you shop online at a whole heavenly host of retailers, you could be raising a few pence for Great St Mary’s.

Just a handful of the many retailers linked to easyfundraising.org.uk

You, your friends and relatives just need to sign up for free by going to https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/sawbridgeworthpcc/, and then you can shop online as normal. If you happen to make your purchase from one of over 4,000 retailers associated with easyfundraising.org.uk, Great St Mary’s will receive a small donation from that retailer – usually around 0.5% to 1% of the price you’ve paid but occasionally more. Whilst generally that’s a matter of only a few pence, as anybody knows, it soon mounts up and, between us, we could be raising a couple of hundred pounds a year for the church.

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Content for the Newsletter If you have a notice for the Friday Email, please let us know by lunchtime on Thursday.

Thank you for your continued support of Great St Mary's.

Contact us Fr Simon Vivian (Vicar) [email protected] 01279 723713 Revd Debbie Hore (Associate Priest) [email protected] 01279 722948 Di Kitson (Lay Reader) [email protected] 01279 723212 Anthony Heard (Churchwarden) [email protected]

Website: www.sawbridgeworthchurch.org.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com and search for ‘Great St Mary’s, Sawbridgeworth’ YouTube: www.youtube.com and search for ‘Great St Mary’s, Sawbridgeworth’

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