Weekly news for 23.8.20

Dear Friends

Here is the latest news, but do please also check in with the facebook page www.facebook.com/ccpitsmoor/   and website  www.pitsmoor.church/  during the week.

A little word

Get wisdom; get insight: do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever else you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honour you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a fair garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.’                                               Proverbs 4.5–9 (NRSV)

These words are one of the readings to commemorate Bernard (the 12century French monk, not Huw’s puppet!). They always remind me of a lovely man in our last church in Weymouth. John was a teacher, and we chose this reading for his funeral. In the literature of the OT, Wisdom is often personified as a woman, hence the she references. Wisdom is, of course, not measured by academic qualification, but closeness to God. We can all think of some people we would gladly call wise who by the world’s standards are not clever. Equally some of the so-called smartest minds don’t have an ounce of wisdom.

Seek the Lord, seek true wisdom, the mind and heart of God. And pray, particularly for those in leadership, that this might be their guiding light.

New for this week

Services

If you’d like to join us on Sunday morning, here is a reminder of the link. The link is the same every week.

https://zoom.us/j/303159289?pwd=NXdpQkFJQWdLTlpIYTc2alZ6VUhqUT09

Meeting ID: 303 159 289  Password: 597076

Alternatively, for audio only, you can phone in to this number: 0131 460 1196, and follow the instructions.

We start to gather online from 10.00, our service starts properly at 10.30.

This week’s reading is Matthew 16. 13-20

Things to pray for

Give thanks for wise people who have helped guide us

For the family of Mary Spowage, who died this week

For all the people adapting holiday plans and getting caught up in changing regulations

Sunday re-boot

I am pleased to announce we are restarting on a Sunday on 6 Sept at 9am. If you are joining us on Zoom please continue with that. The physical service is for those who can’t do virtual, and due to social distancing numbers are limited. We envisage we will continue with this mixed economy for a little while. You will need to bring a mask to wear, if you have hand gel please bring your own to speed things up. The service will be aiming for 30 mins. We are still not yet able to sing or have refreshments.

Could you please let folk know, especially those who don’t do emails or have smartphones as they won’t see this newsletter.

Bear with us as we start, inevitably we will adapt as we go along.

Thursday meeting re-imagined

Whilst we are waiting for things to get back to some sense of normality we are going to get on with something we can do. This has grown out of our churchyard maintenance and the Creation Care group.

We are planning to meet each Thursday for the time being at 10am in the Churchyard. We will have a short reading and prayer and then do something practical. Small teams can continue with grounds work and also go out litter picking in the surrounding spaces. Hopefully this will create opportunity for conversation as we bless our community. Bring your own gloves and litter-pickers.

Help wanted

Fran Belbin, at the Pitsmoor Adventure Playground is looking for volunteers to help pack and deliver food hampers, especially for Monday afternoons, Tuesday mornings and Tuesday afternoons (9-12 or 12.30-3.30) – There are various things people can do on other days, but they’re the days we are making the hampers up so most essential. More info at: 

https://soarcommunity.org.uk/news/volunteers-needed/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=volunteers-needed

Earlier week’s news

Previous editions of this news update are on the website if you can’t find it in your in-box.