Our preacher on Sunday was due to be Rev John Bearpark but unfortunately we had some technical hitches which meant that we had no Sunday morning worship. John very kindly has agreed that I can post his sermon on the blog.
“This is my promise to you, the rainbow overhead: violet. indigo, blue and green, all the colours that lie between, yellow orange and red.”
Some of you will recognise the wonderful children’s musical, “Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo.”
There are rainbows everywhere at the moment (Northfields Crescent etc!)
There’s one overhead on HA church lychgate.
The rainbows are a real sign of hope in these troubled times, and, like our Thursday clapping, they’re applause for folk in the NHS and all others who are caring day and night to make that hope into reality.
Last weekend, we celebrated VE Day - we re-lived our joy when WW2 ended, along with our sorrow for all who died, all who were bereaved, and those who were injured, especially members of our own community and families.
At the same time, we were reminded of the sheer horror of war, but also of the experience of comradeship men never forgot, and their astonishing heroism amidst the slaughter. There were rainbows in those days too.
Tuesday was the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, but Florence is having to wait for her thanksgiving service in Westminster Abbey.
She too was overshadowed by our plight and pain today. What a rainbow she was! Driven by her deep Christian faith, Florence took on the government, the military, and Queen Victoria. She transformed the care of the sick for all time and throughout the world. What a rainbow she was, and is.
In between those two days, Monday was May 11th, the 35th anniversary of the Bradford City fire football club fire.
This year, Dorothy and I were not with the crowd in the city centre, but as we are today,
now, at home in front of a computer screen. But it was, to me, even more moving than usual. People spoke individually, in recordings. The cub chaplain gave a welcome from an empty square, by the memorial to the 56 who died. The Mayors of Bradford and Lincoln spoke about the impact of the day on their communities. The Dean prayed from inside the cathedral, and the Bishop from outside. From the Bradford Royal Infirmary, the head of the Burns Unit spoke about its pioneering work, which has making it now a world’s leader, The city’s chief Fire Officer spoke from the central fire station, and the chief Police Officer from Valley Parade, where he had stood on the Kop with his 12-year old son, on the day of the fire. Each of them told of the effect of the day on their officers, and of the lessons learnt for their emergency planning, and for football ground safety worldwide. A representative of the Muslim community remembered how those living around the ground, nearly all of them Muslims, the ground threw open their doors to everyone on the day. Community relations were transformed. They all spoke from the heart about the good that had come from that dreadful day.
More rainbows!
Rogationtide is said to date from the 5th Century, when in southern France, Bishop Mamertus led his people through the countryside, praying for an end to the earthquakes that were devastating the area. It stuck, and in England became a counterpart to the Harvest Festival, when we pray for God’s blessing upon the earth, and on all who work to provide our needs. Dorothy and I have happy memories of what in Guiseley parish we knew this as the Blessing of the Fields. In a fairly ragged procession, we sang hymns as we followed the choir and clergy through the local countryside, pausing to ask God to bless the crops and animals, the farms and farmers.
Prayer for the earth has become more and more heartfelt in recent years, because of the danger from global warming. Let today’s rainbows speak to us of the beauty and wonder of all God’s creation, and of humankind’s calling to care for planet earth.
May we make full use of the skills and creativity that are God’s gifts to us. May the Easter story, and the events and people we have remembered this past week, speak to us of the capacity for sacrificial love that is God’s greatest gift to humanity, and which we follow Jesus, our Ascended Lord.
May the rainbows around us speak to us of God who is looking to us to work with him to bring healing and hope to the earth.
“This is my promise to you, the rainbow overhead...
“This is my promise to you, the rainbow overhead: violet. indigo, blue and green, all the colours that lie between, yellow orange and red.”
Some of you will recognise the wonderful children’s musical, “Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo.”
There are rainbows everywhere at the moment (Northfields Crescent etc!)
There’s one overhead on HA church lychgate.
The rainbows are a real sign of hope in these troubled times, and, like our Thursday clapping, they’re applause for folk in the NHS and all others who are caring day and night to make that hope into reality.
Last weekend, we celebrated VE Day - we re-lived our joy when WW2 ended, along with our sorrow for all who died, all who were bereaved, and those who were injured, especially members of our own community and families.
At the same time, we were reminded of the sheer horror of war, but also of the experience of comradeship men never forgot, and their astonishing heroism amidst the slaughter. There were rainbows in those days too.
Tuesday was the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, but Florence is having to wait for her thanksgiving service in Westminster Abbey.
She too was overshadowed by our plight and pain today. What a rainbow she was! Driven by her deep Christian faith, Florence took on the government, the military, and Queen Victoria. She transformed the care of the sick for all time and throughout the world. What a rainbow she was, and is.
In between those two days, Monday was May 11th, the 35th anniversary of the Bradford City fire football club fire.
This year, Dorothy and I were not with the crowd in the city centre, but as we are today,
now, at home in front of a computer screen. But it was, to me, even more moving than usual. People spoke individually, in recordings. The cub chaplain gave a welcome from an empty square, by the memorial to the 56 who died. The Mayors of Bradford and Lincoln spoke about the impact of the day on their communities. The Dean prayed from inside the cathedral, and the Bishop from outside. From the Bradford Royal Infirmary, the head of the Burns Unit spoke about its pioneering work, which has making it now a world’s leader, The city’s chief Fire Officer spoke from the central fire station, and the chief Police Officer from Valley Parade, where he had stood on the Kop with his 12-year old son, on the day of the fire. Each of them told of the effect of the day on their officers, and of the lessons learnt for their emergency planning, and for football ground safety worldwide. A representative of the Muslim community remembered how those living around the ground, nearly all of them Muslims, the ground threw open their doors to everyone on the day. Community relations were transformed. They all spoke from the heart about the good that had come from that dreadful day.
More rainbows!
Rogationtide is said to date from the 5th Century, when in southern France, Bishop Mamertus led his people through the countryside, praying for an end to the earthquakes that were devastating the area. It stuck, and in England became a counterpart to the Harvest Festival, when we pray for God’s blessing upon the earth, and on all who work to provide our needs. Dorothy and I have happy memories of what in Guiseley parish we knew this as the Blessing of the Fields. In a fairly ragged procession, we sang hymns as we followed the choir and clergy through the local countryside, pausing to ask God to bless the crops and animals, the farms and farmers.
Prayer for the earth has become more and more heartfelt in recent years, because of the danger from global warming. Let today’s rainbows speak to us of the beauty and wonder of all God’s creation, and of humankind’s calling to care for planet earth.
May we make full use of the skills and creativity that are God’s gifts to us. May the Easter story, and the events and people we have remembered this past week, speak to us of the capacity for sacrificial love that is God’s greatest gift to humanity, and which we follow Jesus, our Ascended Lord.
May the rainbows around us speak to us of God who is looking to us to work with him to bring healing and hope to the earth.
“This is my promise to you, the rainbow overhead...
13I have set my
bow in the clouds,
and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,
15I will remember my covenant that is between
me and you and every living creature of all flesh.
Genesis 9: 13-15
and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,
15I will remember my covenant that is between
me and you and every living creature of all flesh.
Genesis 9: 13-15
Thank you, John. Lovely words to remind us of the rainbow of goodness that our Lord brings to us, through people's response to difficult, even tragic circumstances.
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