General Chat

As one of the popper-inners I'd just like to say thank you to the regular posters who keep the thread going.

Vera

One of my favourites, too, Cynthia :-D :-D

I know you have left a message on Paula's thread - but possibly some of those who watch and contribute to this thread will not have noticed that thread.

Paula's brother in law (and indeed the whole family) is very much in need of all our prayers.

We also hold in our prayers all our friends on Genes who need prayers today. :-) <3

Good morning to everyone who pops in here now and then and what about a hymn for today......an old favourite which I can remember hearing more as a child than I hear it now :-)



On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
the emblem of suffering and shame;
and I love that old cross where the dearest and best
for a world of lost sinners was slain.

Refrain:

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
and exchange it some day for a crown.

2. O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
has a wondrous attraction for me;
for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above
to bear it to dark Calvary.
(Refrain)

3. In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
a wondrous beauty I see,
for 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
to pardon and sanctify me.
(Refrain)

4. To that old rugged cross I will ever be true,
its shame and reproach gladly bear;
then he'll call me some day to my home far away,
where his glory forever I'll share.
(Refrain)


.youtube.com/watch?v=CltrLsjsQl0?


I hope you are all well. Cx :-)

Amen indeed Cynthia.

Thank you John and I follow what you are saying. I've often heard it said that, prayer is not supposed to be a 'shopping list' of our wants, there is so much more to it than that.


As a summary, I rather like the word ACTS as a guideline to how we pray...


A = Adoration (praising God)

C = Confession (saying sorry for anything we have done/said wrong)

T = Thanksgiving (thanking God for all the good things in life)

S = Supplication (our specific prayer requests)



As I have often used a Celtic Blessing, I thought that, this morning, I would use the blessing which is said by priests throughout the world on a daily basis.

When a layman has conducted a service, the word 'you' is transposed to 'us'.



The LORD bless you
and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.

And the people respond Amen.


Hoping everyone has a good day. Cx :-)

Cynthia. It is indeed a very useful and interesting read. I like Mother Teresa very much. And Cardinal Newman. Should I say that as an arch Protestant? :-)

Someone drew my attention to the order of the Lord's Prayer. It is a list of petitions but the least selfish (God-centred) petitions are placed first and the most selfish (person-centred) ones last.

Hallowed be thy name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done, in earth as in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
Forgive us our sins/debts/trespasses - but only in the same way we forgive people who upset us.
Lead us not into temptation
Deliver us from the evil one

Prayer lists are almost always about sickness, lack of money, personal relationships. That is what WE want to pray about. I have yet to hear anyone shout out "I would like us to pray for the holiness and sovereignty of God".

Yet Jesus tells his followers that we should commence prayers by praying that God's name is above all others in our thoughts, words and deeds.

That we should pray for the souls of those we know, so that the fullness of the Kingdom is drawn in to the heavenly Kingdom of God.

That we listen to God's will, not our will. And it is the will of God that we should follow. It is not what we want, it is what God wants.

Hope that does not sound too preachy, but I do find every word of the Lord's Sermon on the Mount (Matthew Chapters 5-7) to be challenging. Especially when he tells them (and, by implication, us) how to pray. :-)

A friend on here has just sent me this link......it's an interesting read. :-)


http://feastofsaints.com/whypray.htm


Cx :-)

I think there IS a chilling truth in the humour of that poem John and I think it's something that most of us are guilty of at sometime - forgetting about God until things go wrong :-(

There are no 'right' ways to pray as we have said before. We just need to let prayer - however we do it - develop into a relationship with Him. :-)

Morning all and many thanks again :-)

Emma :-)

kandj :-D :-D

Cynthia :-D To be honest, you have stirred me and worried me this morning. Many Christians (me included) do not pray like our ancestors prayed. And there may be a chilling truth in the humour.

I am fond of saying "we were entered in the Lamb's book of life before the beginning of time" and that is one of my sure and certain foundations.

But we also need to earn that place. We need to talk to God frequently and trust in Him. We can never assume, we can never rest on our laurels.

I said to lady Minister yesterday that I was concerned about the situation in Syria. She said Christianity was all to do with praying and doing things. What are you personally going to do to help Syrians? Hmmmmm :-0

John....... very many thanks, much appreciated, all so beautiful to hear.

Cynthia, thanks also for your explanation. You make things sound very simple and easy to understand.

Loving the No Time to Pray....... made me smile and that is a good start for today.

Thank you Cynthia ....

I have saved that ........ <3 <3

Good morning all........a beautiful day here today :-D


kandj, you have a very valid point there. It's a fact that many of the extra people in church at baptisms are guests of the families involved. They come.......they go.


We try to encourage the young parents to join in the church family by presenting them with their child's baptism card at the monthly 'lively' service. Again some of them come.......and go. We do have those who come back at regular intervals though....which is great.


The Church of England keeps a keen eye on statistics and, each Sunday, numbers of attendance have to be recorded by the Church Wardens. The number you have attending, affects what is called the Parish Share - an amount paid by all churches to their local diocesan office.


Our average Sunday attendances are between 160-200 people per week. Our annual Parish Share is c£50,000. This is on top of all general expenses such as heating and lighting etc. We are fortunate that we manage to pay our way but many churches fall behind with their payments and struggle to keep going. :-(


Anyway......must move on to our thought for today......


No Time To Pray


I knelt to pray but not for long,
I had too much to do.
I had to hurry and get to work
For bills would soon be due.

So I knelt and said a hurried prayer,
And jumped up off my knees.
My Christian duty was now done
My soul could rest at ease.

All day long I had no time
To spread a word of cheer.
No time to speak of Christ to friends,
They'd laugh at me I'd fear.

No time, no time, too much to do,
That was my constant cry,
No time to give to souls in need
But at last the time, the time to die.

I went before the Lord,
I came, I stood with downcast eyes.
For in his hands God held a book;
It was the book of life.

God looked into his book and said
"Your name I cannot find.
I once was going to write it down...
But never found the time"


- Kathryn Neff Perry.



Have a good day all......Cx :-)

Emma

Loved that ... Thank you ... :-)

kandj :-D :-D

O am aros = oh to stay
yn ei gariad - in his love
Ddyddiau f'oes - the days of my life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5NOVcefEYU

Cynthia how amazing to have so many people in your church.

This morning I counted only 20 folk present and felt this was a blessing indeed

I am just wondering how many of the baptism families actually continue to worship regularly at your church after the actual christening of baby is over?

John, we have just watched today's Songs of Praise from Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff and sang loudly the hymn Guide Me O Thy Great Jehova
one of the hymns sung at our wedding. The last verse chorus was

O am aros
O am aros
Yn ei garied ddyddiau f'oes
Yn ei garied ddyddieau f'oes

Could you translate this into English so we can join in and sing with gusto and it makes sense to us please..??!!
.

What a coincidence, Cynthia. To sing that hymn that I thought about first thing this morning :-D :-D Coincidences like that never really surprise me. But it is wonderful.

How I long for churches to be as full as yours down here in South Wales. We seldom use the chapel now, and usually meet in the schoolroom. One or two weeks we have sat round in a circle, there have been so few. Thank goodness it is not all about numbers - "where the two or three gather in my name, there I am, in the midst, and that to bless".

Visiting Trivandrum in India a couple of years ago opened my eyes. 800 seats in Anglican Church, 5 services - all full. RC Church across road was similarly bursting at seams. And everyone afterwards talking enthusiastically about the sermon, the singing, the prayers. It must have been exactly the same in South Wales during the 1904 Revival - and I truthfully think we will see something similar in UK soon. :-) :-)

Thanks LK....that's a new one to me..... :-)



Nice one Emma ... :-)


John, a strange thing happened to me too.......we actually sang This is the Day this morning and I thought of you!


We were absolutely packed because of the baptisms. Despite the numbers - over 300 - there was no chaos and it was a good service. We used most of the chairs from our meeting room - just left enough for the creche mums to sit on.

They normally come into church partway through, but there simply wasn't enough room for them. They came in and went for Communion or a Blessing and then went back to the meeting room... :-D


It's quite novel to have a 'normal' service these days........ :-D

Not many at church today (mainly holidays). Probably about 16 of us. Gorgeous day, so I walked (about 2 miles each way). Lady Minister presided and she was very good indeed.

Two very strange things. The first reading was from Isaiah Chapter 5 (the vineyard shall bring forth wild grapes). It was exactly the same reading as previous week from our own Minister and I thought - "sermon will be on same text as last week". But other readings were different and in the end she preached from Matthew:

“Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law” Matthew 10:34-35 ( I muttered good luck under my breath as she announced her text)

But then the final hymn was one of Sydney Carter's - "One more step along the world I go". I could not remember, but one of the ladies said at end of service we had sung that hymn/song previous week. What are the chances of two coincidences like that :-) :-)

All other four hymns/songs were written by people younger than me. I noted one was 1952-1996 :-( :-( :-( Sydney Carter was 1915-2004, and two fellow local preachers who used to live in South London knew Sydney very well :-D

:-D :-D @ Emma

All I can offer is Solomon's Song Chapter 6 verse 11 ;-)