PARISH OF SOUTHMINSTER MAGAZINE OF THE CHURCH OF ST LEONARD Clothe yourself with Christ. C Open your heart to the Spirit O of God. V Virtual worship is OK. Identify an appropriate plan I for the future. Discipleship means learning D whether together or apart. JULY 2020 Clothe yourselves with Christ Romans 13 : 14 3 Reflection ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... …..The Vicar 5 Bishop Stephen’s Confirmation as Archbishop of York 6 The Hamster Wheel ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. ….Brenda Sheppard 8 A reflection from Bishop Peter 10 Churches may be opening again - latest news 11 Rotas, Flower Arrangements, Prayer for Southminster 12-13 Services in July for St Leonard's and Steeple churches 14 Services for Tillingham, Dengie, Bradwell and St Lawrence Report about IGNITE weekend Details about St Peter - and other Peter s .... ….. .. Kath Dunstan 16 End of a Journey, start of a new one ….. ….. …. ….. Jenny Pratt 17 Another New Journey ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. Harry Payne 18 Course in Christian Studies 19 A notice about our offerings to God 20 Render unto Caesar…. ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. Chris Martin 21 Replenish Charity - prayer update …... …... ….. Rebecca Johnson 22 What would be ‘NORMAL’ for St Leonard’s Church 23 Some local prayer needs: Other parishes; Southminster community; Steeple community; children 24 What's What NOTE FROM THE EDITOR : Articles for the August magazine by Sunday July 12th please, to Kath Dunstan. New contributors will be welcome . 2 Reflection Clothe yourselves with Christ. Romans 13: 14 In these past few weeks and months we have all adopted new ways of living, new routines for our households that have become habits. Living in isolated conditions means that the daily timetable has changed, shopping has a different experience and exercise has become our ‘liberty’ for the day. It is said that it takes three weeks to develop a habit and three days to break a habit: some of the habits will need to be broken in the Vicarage – the biscuit barrel will be staying in the cupboard for a while and Solero ice-lollies won’t be getting into the freezer! All of the precautions have been for our good, to save lives, and to protect the vulnerable and safeguard our NHS. Some of the benefits have been evident all around as people are more considerate, courteous and respectful of other people. These are the habits that need to be maintained as we come out from lockdown and, speaking to some of the villagers in the street, it is something that most people want to continue – a fellowship with their neighbours. These are Godly attributes; in the gospel of Luke chapter 10 Jesus tells his disciples to “Love your neighbour as yourself” and earlier in chapter 6 He tells them to “love your enemies” too! We are being Christ- like when we love in the way that Jesus loved others. 3 One of the new habits that we have all adopted is washing our hands more regularly, not only more often but more thoroughly. I no longer need to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to know that I have spent long enough washing, it has become a new routine that barely needs thought. One drawback is that we have needed to buy moisturiser as our hands dry out with all the washing! This got me thinking about the lotions that we use to ‘love ourselves’. To take care of the body (the temple) that God has given to us; and these thoughts led me further, to consider sun cream. We don’t think about it too much during the winter months, yet when the climate changes it becomes very important; to save us from burning and being uncomfortable, as well as protecting us from something that can be more dangerous. When we are in a foreign country it becomes a habit each day to apply good quality sun cream in the morning after washing and before going out, and re- applying during the day where necessary. We then know that we have protection round and about us without worrying about the consequences. If we are looking after the temple in the physical, how much more we need to look after the temple in the spiritual, what do we need to put on to protect our spiritual life? Paul writes to the Ephesian church to encourage this kind of thinking which is epitomised in the sixth chapter when he is talking of the armour of God. But from chapter four onwards Paul is telling the Christians in Ephesus to clothe themselves with Christ. 4 Chapter 4: 22 onwards You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Putting off the old self is washing, cleansing which is what we do in confession, that is, ridding ourselves of sin; then ‘put on’ Christ is to receive from Him forgiveness and also the grace and strength to live through the day...clothe ourselves ‘in’ Him. As we do this each day we are prepared for anything that might harm us, we have put on Christ to protect us from all the hidden dangers that might come. Putting on Christ means that we are putting on His righteousness, His protection, His Holiness and His goodness for the day, every day... best we don’t ignore it! Peter Confirmation of Election of Bishop Stephen as the 98th Archbishop of York The Church of England have announced that Bishop Stephen will be confirmed as the 98th Archbishop of York on 9th July in a service broadcast by video. Details of how you can watch the service online will be available. 5 The Hamster Wheel Have you ever felt like a hamster on a wheel, going round and round in circles and getting nowhere? We too can feel as if we are like the hamster in this time of lockdown when we sometimes hear conflicting advice and future guidance and it feels like we go round and round and get nowhere fast. I have been reading in the book of Exodus about the time when the Israelites were let go by Pharaoh after living in Egypt. They had come to live in Egypt during a famine due to the fact that Joseph (an Israelite) had become a high official in the court of Pharaoh and his family were welcomed. (Genesis 45). Eventually the Israelites in Egypt became so numerous that Pharaoh feared their presence and feared they would turn against the Egyptians so he gradually forced them to become his slaves. God saw the plight of his people and through many plagues Pharaoh was forced to let them go from Egypt and so they went with Moses to find the promised land of Canaan. We also read in the book of Exodus how the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years. God led them in a roundabout way as he thought they might change their mind and want to return to Egypt if they went through Philistine country and faced war. (Exodus 13:17) 6 In the desert the Israelites grumbled against Moses and his brother Aaron because of lack of food and water, not trusting God to supply these necessities which He always did! They also bemoaned the fact that they were well fed in Egypt and in fact grumbled every time they faced a crisis ((Exodus 16 v2-3) During this lockdown time it has been so hard to be out of routine. We are, at the time of writing this, allowed to have set limits of people numbers and locations to visit family and friends and to go out on day trips safely if necessary. I’m sure if we’re honest there have been times when we have grumbled and long to go back to how life was. We feel at times, enslaved by government orders and medical advice. We, as were the Israelites, have been led into a situation where we feel enslaved by the virus and are in the hands of others, relying on them for advice and for our wellbeing and our lives. During this time, we need to ask ourselves, “What have we learned and are still learning and do we see the world and our lives in a different way?” Let’s get off the hamster wheel and ask God to put us on a new path to run the race set before us, knowing we are in His hands and He will provide our guidance and all our needs in an ever-changing world. Brenda Sheppard 7 We live life forwards but we only understand life backwards In recent days we have seen several public memorials to past local benefactors, whose riches were derived from the slave trade, un- ceremoniously torn down or vandalised. So how are we to respond when a memorial in one of our churches or churchyards has similar connections? We have already identified some within the diocese, and there will no doubt be more. We have ignored this ugly stain for centuries in some cases. No doubt these worthies did much good locally, but at what cost to millions of people far away? A diocesan strategy on this is being formed. Memory is important, and there are some memories, both good and ill, personal and national, we cannot ever get away from. The Danish philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard said, “we live life forwards, but we only understand life backwards.” Perspective and understanding usually only fully comes with time and distance.