Glossop Parish Church of All Saints Newsletter: Wednesday, 27Th
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Glossop Parish Church of All Saints Newsletter: Wednesday, 27th May Message from Our Priest-in-Charge During my curacy in the benefice of Bakewell I was introduced to well blessing services: three every year – Ashford-in-the-Water, Bakewell, and Rowsley – in May and June. Well blessing services are an opportunity to give thanks to God for the gift of water without which we cannot live, to celebrate the creativity of communities in the design and construction of the well dressings, and to commit to be good stewards of creation. Each year the different communities choose a theme for the well dressings, and, as each well is blessed, a reflection on that well’s ‘dressing’ is offered. This year the well blessing services have been cancelled. However, my colleague, the Revd Carollyn McDonald, Priest-in-Charge of five parishes north of Ashbourne, has recorded a ‘virtual’ walk and blessing of the wells in Tissington. Please be assured of my prayers. The Revd Dr David Mundy Licensing Service On Thursday, 28th May at 2pm the Revd Claire Mitchell will be licensed by the Bishop of Derby, the Rt Revd Libby Lane, as Assistant Curate at Glossop Parish Church of All Saints. The service will be conducted ‘virtually’ with Bishop Libby in Duffield, the Archdeacon of Chesterfield, the Ven. Carol Coslett, in Chesterfield, the Diocesan Registrar, Mrs Nadine Waldron, in Derby, Claire in New Mills, and our Priest-in-Charge, the Revd Dr David Mundy, in Glossop! Claire’s work contact details are e-mail address: [email protected] mobile ‘phone number: 07312 975477 Over the coming days and weeks Claire will be introducing herself – initially ‘virtually’! – to the parish of All Saints, Glossop. Looking after Ourselves During the COVID-19 pandemic we’re all seeing aspects of our lives disrupted, and these disruptions can threaten our physical, mental, spiritual, vocational, relational, and material wellbeing. The Church of England suggests that to maintain spiritual, physical, mental and relational wellbeing we need to develop life-giving rhythms of work, rest, prayer, exercise and nutrition. These rhythms have different frequencies – daily, weekly, monthly, yearly – and are likely to include routines and activities which can continue despite the pandemic. If it is hard enough to find healthy rhythms during normal times, in the midst of a national emergency we will likely see even the structures we do have dissolve before our eyes. Activities we usually take for granted, as basic as shopping for food, suddenly become deeply challenging. Closed buildings and restrictions on movement remove our accustomed travel routines and keep us at home. Relational rhythms – family conversations, time with friends, attending services and meetings – are all curtailed in their physical forms. Amidst the almost total disruption to every part of our lives, we need somehow to establish new rhythms that will sustain us and give us life. A good place to start is by looking at our lives as they are now and identifying patterns that are already there, some of which will be determined by other people, especially close family. Whether that’s the order in which we get ready in the morning or the time we eat meals, what do we already do regularly, even if it’s not every day? Recognise that, even when life seems chaotic, we do have some structure to build on. The way we approach rhythms of life is different for different people. Some of us may be feeling overwhelmed with new demands over which we have little control, while for others life may suddenly have become emptier. Each of these poses both challenges and opportunities for discovering and establishing healthy rhythms. Do you find it helpful to plan the day and week ahead in as much detail as possible, or do you thrive in spontaneity? How much sleep works for you? Above all, be kind to yourself. Wellbeing itself becomes a burden if we feel pressure to be well. Routines intended to be life-giving can quickly become oppressive if forced, and healthy rhythms can emerge naturally as well as through design. Human beings are incredibly adaptive, so allow yourself to settle, avoid planning more than a few days ahead, try out different things and be flexible. To quote wisdom from flower-arranging: build in structure but always leave room for the butterflies. Prayers Loving God, open our hearts so that we may feel the breath and play of your Spirit. Unclench our hands so that we may reach out to one another, and touch and be healed. Open our lips that we may drink in the delight and wonder of life. Unclog our ears to hear your agony in our inhumanity. Open our eyes so that we may see Christ in friend and stranger. Breathe your Spirit into us, and touch us with the life of Christ. Holy Spirit, networking in the church, forming our loose ends into a fishing net, where the strands hold hands around the holes, making our daily work a sign of God’s work in the world, sign of our connectedness, sign of our calling: help us to hold together and to draw others into your kingdom – Use us. Jan Sutch Pickard in ‘Vice Versa’ A View from the ‘Two-Thirds World’ Across the globe, each one of us has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This crisis is a global humanitarian challenge. The Fairtrade Foundation continues to work to advocate and support small-scale farmers and workers in developing countries. The farmers and workers the Fairtrade Foundation serves are some of the most vulnerable and the least prepared for a pandemic. The pictures on the left show workers on a flower farm sewing face masks. In Malawi, Fairtrade sugar farmers face a serious challenge as it is uncertain when cane harvesting will start. Cane harvesting needs a huge workforce that may not be available due to government restrictions. A mill which processes the cane grown by Fairtrade farmers was due to be serviced by a South African contractor, but with the lockdown, this has not happened. This means cane harvesting will be delayed posing a serious risk to the farmers. Delayed harvesting will lead to cash flow and income problems for both the management companies and the farmer associations. ‘easyfundraising’ Although the shops are closed we still need to buy things, not only food but also other important ‘stuff’. And even when the shops re-open in the middle of June, we may not want to travel to larger towns and cities to shop. Many of us were using internet shopping before the ‘lockdown’; during the ‘lockdown’ it and home delivery have become a lifeline But did you know that shopping online can also raise funds for Glossop Parish Church at no extra cost to you? By using easyfundraising.org.uk you can turn your everyday online shopping into free donations. How? Just start your online shopping first at easyfundraising.org.uk, then shop as normal. Retailers will then make a small donation to Glossop Parish Church to say “thank you”. Keeping in Contact From next week, the weekly newsletter and the weekly service ‘update’ will be merged into a single communication, distributed by e-mail on Friday. To receive by e-mail the weekly newsletter and service ‘update’ and the weekly Sunday service, please send your e-mail address to our Priest-in-Charge, Revd Dr David Mundy. And to keep up-to-date with what’s happening in the life of Glossop Parish Church of All Saints you may want to visit Glossop Parish Church of All Saints; if you use Facebook, you may want to visit @glossopparishchurch. .