Good News from St Hildeburgh's

  Autumn Months A Prayer O God of Creation, you have blessed us with the changing of the seasons. As we welcome the autumn months, may the earlier setting of the sun remind us to take time to rest. May the brilliant colors of the leaves remind us of the wonder of your creation. May the steam of our breath in the cool air remind us that it is you who give us the breath of life. May the harvest from the fields remind us of the abundance we have been given and bounty we are to share with others. May the dying of summer's spirit remind us of your great promise that death is temporary and life is eternal. We praise you for your goodness forever and ever.    (Anonymous)

"The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and - the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word." -  Hebrews, chapter 1 I’d like to try and paint three pictures in your mind, without PowerPoint, if possible! Please do bear with me.  The first starts with a question!  Have you ever seen a partial eclipse of the sun? You know, when the moon moves across the sun and it looks like someone’s taken a bite out of the sun itself. It’s usually a big thing, predicted for weeks ahead with lots of publicity and TV coverage. If the weather is good and it’s a clear day, you can see the passage of the moon really well. I remember looking at several over my life, one in Cornwall in mid-summer, which was quite amazing, one in the back garden here on the Wirral, six or seven years ago, and one when I was at school.  The thing I recall most about that one was that the teachers distributed black plastic photographic film. We had to hold the film up against the sun

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  45 years ago my husband and I were working at a mission hospital in Nigeria. We came home during that winter as our daughter was getting married. For me it was a very special occasion as it was my stepdaughter’s wedding and I had never thought I would be able to be ‘Mother of the Bride’ at a wedding. it was a wonderful experience going to the wedding in central London and to the reception in Knightsbridge. It was a highlight in my life. A month later we found ourselves in a very different situation. We were returning to Nigeria but this time not by air but over land. A Land Rover ambulance had been donated to the mission and needed to be taken to Nigeria. We drove through France, took a long ferry across the Mediterranean to Algeria, and then across the Sahara desert. We reached the Nigerian border only to discover that there had been a coup and the border was closed. For 18 days we had to camp in the sand in no man’s land between Niger and Nigeria. From being at the mountaintop expe

 

 

 

Mark Twain famously said, ‘Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.’ I have been trying to get out into the garden in the last few days, just to see what the worst of the Winter has done and to see that the early signs of Spring are beginning to show through. The birds seem to be singing louder and the first of the daffodils are just starting to poke through the soil. For five minutes, the sky cleared and a little bit of the sunshine we are blessed with her on the Wirral danced across the garden. The sky was blue, the clouds cleared, and all was right with God in His heaven. Which in a round about way lead me to think about today’s sermon and that quote from Twain. For so many people, the existence of God is a concept that they struggle with. The idea of a Creator who loves us all equally is a proposal that they find very difficult to comprehend. How could God love each of us equally, with all our myriad faults and differences? There mu

 

Lord God, you are the source of everlasting light. Your son, our beloved Lord Jesus was presented in the temple 40 days after his birth. He was recognised by Simeon and Anna, and welcomed as the promised Messiah. May we like them, behold the glory of the Lord Jesus. Grant that we may stand before you with hearts cleansed by your forgiving love. May we serve you all our days and make your name known as we worship you as our Lord. So may we come by your grace to eternal life. Amen.   

 

 

 

  God of all righteousness, we need the life and grace that you alone can give.  Open the heavens to us  and pour out your Holy Spirit  so that we may live as your beloved children. God of all wilderness wanderers,  you sent John to prepare the way for Jesus Christ, your beloved son.  Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us  so that, like John, we may proclaim  the time to turn from sinfulness  and the good news of your grace. Gracious God, in Jesus Christ,  baptized by John in the Jordan,  you came to share our life  and deliver us from sin and death.  As we are baptized with water  pour out your Holy Spirit upon us  to make us your beloved children;  through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN