tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45207795062143509322024-03-19T12:46:11.615+00:00Sutton Circuit NorthThis blog was devised during the first COVID-19 lockdown to enable Methodist churches in the north of the Sutton Circuit to share a weekly meditation and encourage comments and discussion.until their churches reopened for worship. P and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-60312051329586938592020-07-16T20:30:00.001+01:002020-07-16T20:30:41.840+01:0017 July 2020 | 800 years since lockdown
It’s been over 800 years since churches in England and Wales were last closed and church services suspended. That time it wasn’t because of government regulations, but because King John had fallen out spectacularly with the Pope. It had nothing to do with pandemic or plague, but was, instead, due to King John’s opposition to the Pope’s appointment of Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury. P and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-17644994410383250052020-07-10T07:52:00.002+01:002020-07-10T07:52:26.757+01:0010 July 2020 | Money...money...money!I’ve been carrying the same £2 coin in my back pocket every day of lockdown. It’s not that I haven’t spent any money. It’s simply that, very unusually, I haven’t spent any cash. Most of my expenditure has been online and I’ve tried to avoid shops as much as I could. Even shops have been preferring, or even insisting on, payment by card. Helpfully, the upper limit for contactless card payments hasP and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-62795525516799298222020-07-03T08:13:00.001+01:002020-07-04T09:36:22.494+01:003 July 2020 | The whole picture
Before we moved here, I used to have the spare room in our previous manse as what I called ‘the jigsaw room’, to enable me always to have a jigsaw out. In our present manse, both Philip and I needed a study, so there was no natural ‘jigsaw room’. I hadn’t done a puzzle for ages... until lockdown. I got out a Gopak table, and set about doing a jigsaw. I have now completed six, some of them P and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-81763540227001819882020-06-26T07:52:00.000+01:002020-07-04T09:10:45.378+01:0026 June 2020 | Vital Statistics
It’s claimed that there are three kinds of falsehoods: lies, damned lies and statistics (Charles Dilke 1843–1911). That’s a bit hard on statisticians, but it is true that people often need help in properly interpreting statistics. For instance, Poole Harbour is the largest natural harbour in the world and its average depth is just 48cm (19in). If you didn’t understand statistics, you might try P and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-41499394703171237712020-06-19T07:47:00.001+01:002020-07-04T09:13:23.237+01:0021 June 2020 | Fathers' Day
Mother’s Day, we were in lockdown. I only had my daughter’s hand-painted Mother’s Day card at the beginning of June, when we were able to meet outside. She forgot to put it at the end of the drive on the day, and didn’t want it to get creased in the post. It had different flowers painted on illustrating the ‘virtues of motherhood’. The flowers included lady’s mantle (comfort), angelica (P and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-88193039966619936282020-06-12T07:52:00.000+01:002020-07-04T09:14:53.053+01:0012 June 2020 | All the colours of the rainbow
The rainbow has become a key symbol of our resolve, gratitude and hope during the pandemic. Ironically, you won’t have seen many real rainbows since lockdown until maybe quite recently. You can’t have rainbows without rain! We certainly had the necessary sun, but barely any rainfall. But, instead, children have drawn colourful rainbows to put in their windows or have chalked them on paths. You P and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-78817366079768226502020-06-05T07:43:00.000+01:002020-07-04T09:16:36.390+01:005 June 2020 | Breathe!
We are struggling with a natural disaster – a virus ravaging the world, a happening beyond our control, which we are responding to as best we can. We have seen the effects – we have watched footage of people unable to breathe, and medical staff heroically trying to ventilate them and assist their breathing. And amongst the medical staff and carers we have seen on the front line, many have beenP and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-83211142862254742062020-05-29T07:58:00.002+01:002020-07-04T09:17:40.621+01:0029 May 2020 | Your nine a day...
Time may have been dragging a bit for you during lockdown, but we're already at Pentecost, this Sunday. It's time to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. Unlike deadly viruses, the Holy Spirit brings life and joy and health... and waits to be invited into our hearts and lives. Its 'R' number (reproduction rate) is staggeringly high, as the good news of Jesus Christ is enthusiastically sharedP and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-87854253667926414512020-05-22T08:30:00.000+01:002020-05-22T08:30:17.132+01:0022 May 2020 | To infinity and beyond
We were out for our daily walk the other day and Philip pointed out the vapour trail of a plane – something we hadn’t seen for ages. Having had quiet skies during lockdown, (with some blessings over carbon emissions) seeing the evidence of a plane was unusual, whereas it once had been commonplace. With children, seeing a plane or helicopter in the sky has always been a cause for excitement. P and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-26400970565979853092020-05-15T08:09:00.000+01:002020-05-15T08:09:46.956+01:0015 May 2020 | Going global
We are nearing the end of a very unusual Christian Aid Week. This year there could be no door to door collecting. Hopefully, online donations will have soared instead. Many of the people helped by Christian Aid across the world will have been severely impacted by the pandemic. Nowhere is immune from this global crisis.
Before this all kicked off, we had got used to globalisation and the sense P and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-25744913329294626322020-05-08T07:57:00.003+01:002020-05-08T07:57:35.679+01:008 May 2020 | Celebrating VE Day
When this blog is published on 8 May, it will be the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Though we are in peace time now, the coronavirus has brought about similar experiences to the war-time experience – worry about disease, food shortages and separation. We could do with that old poster ‘coughs and sneezes spread diseases’! We have experienced food shortages – I still haven’t been able to get dried P and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-43713636310593459782020-05-01T07:53:00.001+01:002020-05-01T15:06:54.009+01:001 May 2020 | A different lens?
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P and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-85929916326356665732020-04-24T07:43:00.000+01:002020-04-24T07:48:10.104+01:0024 April 2020 | Barbecuing on the beach<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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P and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-90697464468943353922020-04-17T08:18:00.001+01:002020-04-18T15:12:59.913+01:0017 April 2020 | Home encounters<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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P and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-8822846298853993072020-04-10T08:03:00.001+01:002020-04-17T10:07:28.895+01:0010 April 2020 | Lockdown<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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P and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-2841063953419765312020-04-03T08:47:00.001+01:002020-04-04T13:27:11.411+01:003 April 2020 | Out of control?<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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P and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-53009723023340272282020-03-27T08:41:00.000+00:002020-03-27T08:41:58.801+00:0027 March 2020 | Keeping a Distance?<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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P and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4520779506214350932.post-48013790736104109162020-03-19T10:30:00.000+00:002020-03-19T12:34:24.292+00:0020 March 2020 | Stilling the Storm
Welcome to the first of a series of weekly reflections that Revs Rosemary and Philip will be publishing whilst we are unable to gather for public worship. Some of the reflections will be about the current pandemic, others will be more general. Look out here for new reflections each Friday. We actively invite you to comment on these reflections and open up discussion. All of us are living in P and Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01045631288351901861noreply@blogger.com0