29th May 2020

Dear All,

As I write this, we are in between Ascension Day and Pentecost and also in the middle of ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ when we are encouraged to pray for 5 people to come to faith in Jesus. I have the names of the people I’m praying for by the kettle in the kitchen, written on a cut out of a person, so that every time I make a cup of tea or coffee, I am reminded to pray for them. I hope you have managed to find a way of praying for the people that God has put on your heart at this time, which works for you.

You may remember I said two weeks ago that we raised between £500 and £600 for Christian Aid this year but, having spoken with several people since, who may have sent cheques or donated by phone, I think, as a Benefice, we must have raised well over £600, so thank you very much, to those who contributed.  I have also been greatly moved by people’s generosity in providing food for the foodbank over the past few weeks. I sometimes return home to find a pile of tins, teas bags and cereal boxes on the doorstep or I see someone I don’t know  pulling up outside in a car and emptying bags of food into our box. And I know that Jane and Kelly have been similarly moved by people’s generosity in Bulphan and Horndon. Needs for the foodbank , this week, include, sponge puddings, tinned rice pudding, cordial (squash), cereal (not porridge or muesli please), jelly and kitchen roll.

Thank you, also, to those of you who have been keeping a check on the churches, mowing the grass and phoning round parishioners; I know your help is greatly appreciated by many.

With the lockdown having been relaxed somewhat I am still awaiting news of exactly how and when we might return to meeting again for church services and I will keep you informed, as soon as I know anything.  The proposal from the Government has always been that church services may begin from  4^th July, if everything goes to plan, but we are unsure exactly what form these services might take. In the meantime, please do join our Facebook Morning and Evening Prayer services at 9am and 7.30pm respectively: @HOBNOBChurches. You can find these services by going to the Facebook page directly or by going to the website, hobnob.org.uk/watch and then clicking on the link to our daily morning and evening prayer services. And do remember our weekly Sunday morning service at 10am at hobnob.org.uk/watch. If you are unable to access these services electronically, you may like to join us by praying at home at the same  times with the prayer booklets you have received or your own prayer books. The readings for this Sunday are: Acts 2: 1-21 and John 7: 37-37.

And, for those of you who are saying Morning and Evening Prayer,  which I really recommend, these are the Lectionary Readings for the coming week:

DAY	Morning Prayer	Evening Prayer
Monday 1st June Visit of the Mary to Elizabeth	1 Samuel 2: 1-10 Mark 3: 31-end	Zachariah 2: 10-end John 3: 25-30
Tuesday 2nd June	Joshua 2 Luke 9: 28-36	Job 2 Romans 1: 18-end
Wednesday 3rd June	Joshua 3 Luke 9: 37-50	Job 3 Romans 2: 1-16
Thursday 4th June	Joshua 4: 1 – 5.1 Luke 9: 51-end	Job 4 Romans 2: 17-end
Friday 5th June	Joshua 5: 2-end Luke 10: 1-16	Job 5 Romans 3: 1-20
Saturday 6th June	Joshua 6: 1-20 Luke 10: 17-24	Exodus 34: 1-10 Mark 1: 1-13

Please continue to pray for include the homeless; the Grays Friday Soup Kitchen is making plans to be up and running again from 12^th June.  Please also continue to pray for those affected by the cyclone in India and Bangladesh, the families of those killed or injured as a result of the Pakistan Airline plane crash, an easing of the tensions between Hong Kong and China, those affected by the attack on the Afghan Maternity Unit and refugees in camps where the Coronavirus is sweeping through.

More local needs for prayer include Joyce, (O), Hazel, (H), Dave )H), Anita, (B), Steve, (H), Steve, (H), and Steve, (O), as well as the many people who have recently been bereaved.

To finish with, I would like to share a reflection from a Society of Missionary Oblates, for Pentecost:

If ever there was a line of poetry that captures the energy and power of Pentecost Sunday, it is this line from Gerard Manley Hopkins poem, ‘God’s Grandeur,’ ‘the world is charged with the splendour of God’. The Resurrection of Jesus reaches its powerful climax with an out pouring of life, light and energy for his followers. After Jesus’ crucifixion this small group of men and women were hiding. They were afraid and had lost all heart and hope. But through the gift of the Holy Spirit they are filled with courage, enthusiasm and determination. Given new life and hope, they went out into the streets and market places and loudly without our fear, proclaimed the good news of the Resurrection; the missionary church is born as they were charged with the splendour of God.

It would be a mistake to think of ourselves today as being any different from these men and women.  As Christians, each of us has been filled with the life and power of the same Holy Spirit. Today in our homes, parishes and communities, schools and places of work, we too are called to be living witnesses of Christ in and for the world. We need not be worried or afraid of this great responsibility, for God has filled each of us with his own Spirit, ,’You are my servant, whom I strengthen, in with whom I am well pleased, I have filled you with my spirit.’ (Is. 42.1)

So on this great feast of Pentecost, let us open our hearts and lives to the power of the Holy Spirit, as each of us are charged with the splendour of God.

As ever, please do keep in touch and continue to let me know of any other prayer and pastoral needs.

Take care and God bless,

Sue

Sue

Dear All,

I hope you are well. I have seen a few more of you since the lockdown restrictions have been slightly relaxed.

Although Ascension Day was on Thursday 21^st May, we are celebrating it on Sunday 24^th May. Do remember that Ascension Day marked the beginning of the global prayer initiative, Thy Kingdom Come, which takes place between 21^st and 31^st May,  during which period we are encouraged to pray for  people we know, to come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Now we are out of the Easter Season, we will return to Morning Prayer for Ordinary Time. Those of you who receive this letter by post will have received Morning and Evening Prayer for Ordinary Time when the lockdown began and, for those of you who receive this letter by email, you should have also got the new version of Morning Prayer attached to your email.

The Lectionary Readings for the coming week are:

Day	Morning Prayer	Evening Prayer
Monday 25th May The Venerable Bede	Numbers 22 1-35 Luke  7 36-end	Deuteronomy 31 1-13 1 John  2 18-end
Tuesday 26th May Augustine Archbishop	Numbers 22 36- 23 -12 Luke 8 1-15	Deuteronomy  31n14-29 1John 3 1-10
Wednesday 27th May	Numbers 23 13-end Luke 8 16-25	Deuteronomy 31 30 – 32- 14 1 John 3 11-end
Thursday 28th  May Lanfranc Monk Archbishop	Numbers 24 Luke 8 26-39	Deuteronomy 32 15-47 1 John 4 1-6
Friday 29th May	Numbers 27 12-end Luke 8 40-end	Deuteronomy 33 1 John 4 7-end
Saturday 30th May Josephine Butler Social Reformer	Numbers 32 1-27 Luke  9 1-17	Deuteronomy 16 9-15 John 15 26- 16-5

Thank you for your continued support of the foodbank. This week they need tinned peas, packet mashed potato, tinned carrots, tea bags, tinned potatoes, cordial (squash), custard and rice pudding. The foodbank are thankful for the blessings  they have received in donations of food and money and they request prayers for their volunteers and their continued good health and, of course, prayers for their clients and their situations, each of them known to God.

Please also continue to pray for Roy and Lyn (H), Dave (H), Steve (O), Steve, (H),  and also the Anderson Family, and the family of Jazz, following their recent bereavements, as well as the many others that have lost loved family members and friends over the past few weeks.

Prayer needs, further afield, include the homeless, following the Government’s recent decision to  cut the additional funding they  provided at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak. Please also continue to pray for those affected by the cyclone in India and Bangladesh and the families of those killed or injured as a result of the Pakistan Airline plane crash and, of course, an easing of the tensions between Hong Kong and China.

Following Boris Johnson’s talk a couple of weeks ago, there has been a lot of speculation regarding churches and when we might return to worship in our buildings. Although it has been said this may take place at the beginning of July, and that small weddings may even be allowed from the beginning of June, there has been no official guidance from the Church of England yet, as they are reliant upon Government advice. All I do know is that Sarah Mullally, the Bishop of London, who is part of the working committee to discuss this, has stated that church worship is unlikely to return to normal  for some time. However, I will wait  to receive specific guidance from the Church of England, before I impart any information!

Don’t forget our online Sunday service at 10am at hobnob.org.uk/watch

Please do let me know of any other prayer and pastoral needs and I look forward to hearing from you or maybe seeing you, albeit at a distance, soon.

Take care and God bless,

Sue

Dear All,

Yesterday, it was the 6^th Sunday of Easter. Those weeks seem to have passed by quickly, with so much happening.

Our focus for yesterday’s service was John 14: 15-21 and Max led a game of Simon Says and spoke about God’s love for us and  the need to follow Jesus’ commandments. This is Max’s summary of his talk:

‘As Christians there are lots of religious things we don’t have to do, like following the rules of Shabbat, or the Jewish food restrictions. But when Jesus says do something, we should do it. This is because as his people we should love him, and if we love him we will do what he asks. 

If Simon says stand on one leg and rub you belly in an anti-clockwise circle while patting your head, that would be very hard. Try it for yourselves! Likewise, Jesus wants us to do some very hard things, like forgiving people and loving people we may not even like. But because we love him, we have to try. This is how we get to know Jesus better.’

One way of showing our love for God and for others is in our giving, and it is great news that, after setting up our Christian Aid online giving envelope last week, where our target was £300, this Benefice has raised between £550 and £600 for the Christian Aid Coronavirus Appeal to help Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and Africa by providing clean water, good sanitation and medical supplies. Thank you, so much, for all your contributions; I recognise that some of you may have also sent a cheque or donated by phone.

Thank you, also, for your contributions to the Foodbank; this Benefice is doing a great job! This week they need tinned potatoes, sponge puddings, snack meat, eg. ravioli, sausages in beans, spaghetti bolognaise, cooking sauces (korma, sweet ‘n’ sour, mushroom, hunter’s chicken, chilli con carne, honey and mustard etc,) hot chocolate, tinned carrots, mashed potato and tinned spaghetti.  They also need some large sized nappies.

You may have heard that priests are now able to go into churches to pray if they live close by and are able to stream services from their churches. However, congregations are not able to worship in churches at the moment and for this and a number of other, largely practical, reasons, I have decided to continue recording our services from The Rectory and will lead services from church at such a time when we are able to worship together.

Just a reminder that it is Betty’s funeral service in Horndon, this Friday at 1pm. The same restrictions as before apply, but I am sure that if anyone feels able to stand in the road to offer their support,  Eddie, Lin and the family would appreciate it. Please do hold them all in your prayers

at this difficult time. And please do continue to pray for Roy and Lyn (H), Dave (H), Steve (O)  and the Anderson Family, following their recent bereavement.

On the subject of prayer, Ascension Day, this Thursday, (which we will actually be celebrating at our online 10am Sunday Morning Service on Sunday 24^th May), marks the beginning of the Church of England’s Thy Kingdom Come initiative. Thy Kingdom Come is a global prayer movement that invites Christians around the world to pray between Ascension Day (21st May) and Pentecost (31st May) for more people to come to know Jesus. I invite you to join with me in doing that. If you would like some resources to help you with this, you can find information by clicking on this link: https://www.churchofengland.org/more/church-resources/thy-kingdom-come

Also, the Lectionary Bible readings for this week are:

Day	Morning Prayer	Evening Prayer
Monday 18th May	Numbers 16 1-35 Luke 6 27-38	Deuteronomy 26 1 Peter 4 1-11
Tuesday 19th Day	Numbers 16 36-end Luke 6 39-end	Deuteronomy 28 1-14 1 Peter 4 12-end
Wednesday 20th May	Numbers 17 1-11 Luke 5  7 1-10	2 Samuel 23 1-5 Colossians 2 20- 3 -4
Thursday 21st  May   Ascension Day	Isaiah  52 7-end Hebrews 7 26-end	2 Kings 2 1-15 Mark 16 14-end
Friday 22nd May	Numbers 20 1-13 Luke 7 11-17	Deuteronomy  29 2-15 1 John 1 1- 2 -6
Saturday 23rd May	Numbers 21 4-9 Luke  7 18 -35	Deuteronomy 30 1 John 2 7 -17

And if you have been using the Morning and Evening Prayer booklets,  Ascension Day would be the time  to revert back to the original Morning and Evening Prayer booklets which I delivered when the lockdown begun.

Take care, do let me know  of any prayer needs,  or practical needs, particularly relating to gardening, as  one couple have kindly offered their help, and I look forward to seeing you in the not-too-distant future.

With love and prayers,

Sue

Dear All,

I hope this letter finds you well.

Last night we were all eagerly anticipating Boris’ speech and the full details of the plans are yet to be revealed. But what we do know is that, whilst a few restrictions will be lifted, we are still in a time of uncertainty with significant social limitations in place.

If you have been joining in with Morning Prayer either on Facebook or on your own, you will know that the Lectionary Bible readings over the past two months have been from the book of Exodus when the Israelites were faced with the ten plagues and today we moved to the book of Numbers when the Israelites were travelling in the Sinai Desert. The instructions for the Israelites in the Desert were that when the cloud covered the camp, they were not allowed to travel, whether the cloud cover be for a day, a month or more. So they were, in effect, in lockdown for some of the time. The good news for the Israelites was that the plagues did pass and they did travel through the Desert and eventually reach the promised land but it required incredible patience and trust. And I think this offers some reassurance to us. Sometimes it is incredibly hard to trust when we are hurting and when some of us have lost loved ones along the way, isn’t it, but I do believe that, albeit bruised and hurting, with God’s help, we will come through this, together.

This week is Christian Aid Week. Yesterday, the Bible reading was about God preparing a place for each of his followers; a passage which we would normally associate with heaven as an after-life.  But, in my talk, I spoke about our world here on earth being God’s home and our need to care for our brothers and sisters across the globe.  ‘Love Unites all’ is the name for this year’s Christian Aid appeal, which is raising money to support countries in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, in their fight against the Coronavirus, by providing them with clean water supplies and sanitation facilities.  I have created a Christian Aid e-envelope in order for us to raise some money in this Benefice and have set a challenge for us to raise £300. Thank you to those who have already donated. So far, we have raised £210, although not all of this has been recorded on the e-envelope. I have spoken with Christian Aid about this and they have experienced some technical problems, so if you have contributed and your donation hasn’t registered on out Benefice total, if you would like to let me know, I can add your donation to the total amount and let people know at the end of the week how much as a Benefice we have really raised, although I appreciate that you may  wish to keep your contribution confidential. They have asked us to let them know if we experience any other problems so please let me know if you have any difficulty. If you would like to locate the e-envelope, it is at:

https://envelope.christianaid.org.uk/envelope/eyJlbnZlbG9wZSI6NDI3MSwgImNoYW5uZWwiOiJjb3B5In0=

If, however, you don’t have the facility to make a donation on-line, Christian Aid are happy for you to call them on 020 7523 2269.

Thank you for your continued donations to the foodbank; it is great to see how all the three villages are working together in this way.  I know the foodbank are very grateful for all the contributions. The things they currently need are, rice pudding, packet mashed potato, tinned spaghetti, jam, tinned carrots, biscuits, hot dogs, cooking sauces, squash (cordial) and tinned potatoes.  They have also asked for prayer for the physical health and well-being of all their volunteers in the warehouse and at the distribution centres. 

Please do keep the family of the Betty Tinworth, in your prayers. Betty’s graveside funeral, for close family members only, will be on Friday 22^nd May at Horndon Cemetery at 1pm. Please also keep the Anderson family in your prayers, following Lisa’s dad’s sad passing away, and also Steve, (H) Steve, (O) and Lyn and Roy (H), and do let me know of any other prayer needs.

Take care and God bless you all.

With love and prayers,

Sue

Dear All,

Thank you for your email messages, phone messages and Facebook messages over the past weeks. It is amazing what a difference a short message makes, isn’t it, when we are all in lockdown.

I hope you are staying well, and that those who have been ill are on the mend. Please do hold the Jones family in your prayers on Monday as Glyn’s funeral takes place . And please could you pray for the family of Betty Tinworth, who sadly died this weekend and also Dave and Steve who are unwell at this time.

It was good to join with some of you for our online service this Sunday, at hobnob.org.uk/watch, where we focused on God as the loving Shepherd. Max preached about the fact that God knows each one of us by name and our need to follow Jesus our Shepherd, faithfully, by praying, reading our Bibles and looking out for the needs of others and we welcomed a reading and prayers from Sonia and Felicity in Horndon. We shared a song, ‘You never let go,’ by Matt Redmond, which reassures us that whatever we are going through, God never lets go of us. On the back of this letter or as another attachment to your email, is a Roots Adult Bible Study Sheet following on from this Sunday’s theme, which you might like to use during the week.

For those of you who use the Church of England Lectionary, the morning and evening Bible study readings for this week are:

Day	Morning Prayer	Evening Prayer
4th Sunday of Easter	Nehemiah 9 6-15 and 1 Corinthians 10 1-13	Ezra 3 1-13 and Luke 19 37-end
Monday 4th May	Exodus 32 1-14 and Luke 2 41-end	Deuteronomy 9 1-21 and Ephesians 4 1-16
Tuesday 5th May	Exodus 32 15-34 and Luke 3 1-14	Deut  9 23-10 -5 and Ephesians 4 17 – end
Wednesday 6th May	Exodus 33 and Luke 3 15-22	Deut 10 12-end and Ephesians 5 1-14
Thursday 7th May	Exodus 34 1-10, 27-end and Luke 4 1-13	Deut 11 8-end and Ephesians 5 15-end
Friday 8th May Julian of Norwich	Exodus 35 20-36-7 and Luke 4 14-30	Deut 12 1-14 and Ephesians 6 1-9
Saturday	Exodus 40 17-end and Luke 4 31-37	Deut1 5 1-18 and Ephesians 6 10-end

Thank you for your continued support for the foodbank and thank you to Jane, Kelly and Paul and the staff at Orsett Shop for their support. Needs for the foodbank this week are, tinned potatoes, cooking sauces, tinned meat, cereal, tea bags, mashed potato, tinned rice pudding, tinned carrots, custard and tinned spaghetti. We still have our collection points at 24, Church Lane, Bulphan, 1 Lion Cottages, Horndon and The Rectory, Orsett and you can now leave donations at Orsett Shop as well as place an order over the phone to the shop who will deliver it to the Rectory. The shop’s number is 01375 891242.

I hope it won’t be too long before we are able to meet again but please be assured of my ongoing prayers for you all at this time.

Take care and God bless,

Sue