Good News from St Hildeburgh's

We pray for the coming of God’s kingdom. You sent your Son to bring good news to the poor, sight to the blind, freedom to captives and salvation to your people: anoint us with your Spirit; rouse us to work in his name. Father, by your Spirit bring in your kingdom. Send us to bring help to the poor and freedom to the oppressed. Father, by your Spirit bring in your kingdom. Send us to tell the world the good news of your healing love. Father, by your Spirit bring in your kingdom. Send us to those who mourn, to bring joy and gladness instead of grief. Father, by your Spirit bring in your kingdom. Send us to proclaim that the time is here for you to save your people. Father, by your Spirit bring in your kingdom. Lord of the Church, hear our prayer, and make us one in mind and heart to serve you in Christ our Lord. Amen. (Source: The Church of England: Seasonal Material from "Common Worship")

There are still loads of brightly colour leaves and flowers around for you to collect and squish as shown in our first "Messy Church at Home Post". There are many things you can make with them to show Gods beautiful creation; pictures, fridge magnets and calendars. A favourite of Messy Church has been bookmarks. The bits and pieces you need are pictured below: 1. Simply cut out some coloured thin card into long strips (natural colours are good) and place your pressed leaves or flowers onto the card.  2. Use a tiny dab of PVA glue to hold them in place once you’ve designed your bookmark.  3. Write or print out a bible verse from the photo attached here and place it at one end of your bookmark. Glue in place. If someone you know has a laminator .... 4. Insert the whole thing carefully into a laminating pouch and pass it through a laminator. Make sure the leaves or flowers are very flat and pressed thinly. If you don’t have a laminator.... 5. Use some good old sticky backed plas

 

As promised, this week, a quick guide to making your Messy Church bird feeder, as part of our focus on Gods beautiful creation in Autumn.​ Picture 1 (below) shows all you need; some bird seed, a pack of lard at room temperature, some yoghurt pots and some string: 1    First make a hole in the base of the yoghurt pot (soak the label off), using something pointy. Be careful and get Mum or Dad to help you. Thread the string through the hole and tie it in a loop. 2    Here’s the messy bit! Mix a couple of handfuls of seed with quarter of a block of lard using your hands!!! Yuck! Then squeeze as much of the mix into the pot as you can. 3     Put the pot into the fridge for a couple of hours to harden the fat. 4     Hang up your feeder on a tree branch near a window (see picture 2 below).  5   Watch and enjoy and send us your photos to put on our web site. 6     MOST IMPORTANT: Say a prayer of thanks to God for his amazing and awesome world, and do all you can to protect it. A great bible p

 ‘For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come… will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ (Romans 8:38-39) God of heaven and earth,  in these times of isolation,  apart from loved ones  distant from friends  away from neighbours  thank you that there is nothing  in all of creation,  not even coronavirus,  that is able to separate us from your love.    And may your love that never fails  continue to be shared  through the kindness of strangers  looking out for each other,  for neighbours near and far  all recognising our shared vulnerability,  each of us grateful for every breath,  and willing everyone to know the gift  of a full and healthy life.  Keep us all in your care.   Amen.   (Prayer Source: Christian Aid) 

We are missing Messy Church enormously but.....It’s a great time to be out and about to look at God’s creation. There are lots of Messy Church activities that we would be doing at Autumn time based on the natural world. Over the next few weeks we will share some classic Messy Church ideas including Bug hunting, making bird feeders and sowing seeds and bulbs ready for the Spring. If YOU have any MESSY CHURCH ideas, let us know. Even send a picture to the Beacon or the website so we can all see - you can send messages and pictures to the following email address: parishofhoylake@gmail.com We can start by collecting brightly coloured Autumn leaves and flowers (see the pictures below for ideas) and drying them off. Smaller leaves work well! Then carefully place them between sheets of paper kitchen roll (to protect your books from colours leaking onto the pages) and under a pile of heavy books. Leave them for a couple of weeks. In the meantime look up some Bible verses about creation, and we

  You can also view all our  services regularly on our main website, at: https://www.sthildeburgh.net/onlineservices.html or on the St Hildeburgh Facebook page, at: https://www.facebook.com/sthildeburgh

How often do you hear someone say ‘Don’t worry’?  When I look at our world there are a lot of reasons why we might be worried.  September is normally considered to be a month of new beginnings, fruitfulness and excitement.  This year, we are faced with a lot of change and uncertainties.  We do not know how the next 3 months will pan out, let alone the next year.  Fear and anxiety is becoming as pandemic as Covid-19.   Our concerns include what is happening in our schools and universities, whether we can take a holiday or not, approaching cold weather and flu season, climate change, antagonism between nations, Brexit, family issues and even the elections in the United States.  We are uneasy and unsettled. Some use the expression - ‘I’m feeling hammered’.  A hammer can be used to build or to break things up.  What a hammer does is dependent on the person using it.  It is similar when we face problems and difficulties.  The key is in how we face and deal with them.  We can let situations 

Keep us, good Lord,  under the shadow of your mercy.  Sustain and support the anxious,  be with those who care for the sick,  and lift up all who are brought low;  that we may find comfort  knowing that nothing can separate us from your love  in Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.