Eastern Synod - Responding to Coronavirus: Twenty Seventh Emailing

UPDATES AND USEFUL INFORMATION (15^th October 2020)

Dear All

A reminder again – do let others know that this information exists. Please pass it on to anyone you think might find it (or any part of it) useful, and who may not be getting it.

It is posted on the Synod website and on the blog each week, so there is no need to get the reminder email to access it. All past emailings and related documents remain on the Synod coronavirus blog - https://urceasternsynod.blogspot.com/

Apologies – that we are a day late this week – and posting on the website will be delayed until Monday.

Take care in these changing and challenging times - and stay safe.

Best wishes

Paul

HOLY HABITS ROADSHOW – OR (AS THEY ARE) ONLINE TRAINING

Our new series of training mini videos is now under way.

This week Lindsey takes a Practical look at the Breaking of Bread – you should find it easily (once it has been uploaded, hopefully, but not guaranteed, on Thursday morning), if you go to the Synod YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtYncbpZJ4PKBBrjrcXBHrw?view_as=subscriber

SYNOD YOUTUBE CHANNEL

To make it easier to find items on the Synod YouTube channel, the uploaded videos have now been sorted into playlists, so you should be able to find things more easily.

There are playlists for Story Time for Under 5s; All Age Worship Reflections; Holiday Club at Home; Worship Roadshows; and Holy Habits.

ALL AGE WORSHIP

Children and Families

The URC Families at Home webpage: https://urc.org.uk/families-on-faith-adventures

Scripture Union have made available resources for Leaving Lockdown: https://content.scriptureunion.org.uk/leavinglockdown

Nicola is on a well deserved break this week, so you have the reserve team (Paul and Lindsey). Normal service will be resumed next week!

Story Time for the Under-Fives – Paul’s letters (with Lindsey)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEZ5io1AFfY

Singing together – Thank you Lord for making me me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEYz4i2SL2k

Gathering Prayer

O God, thank you for loving me.

Help me to know that you are with me always.

Show me the good things you want me to do.
Amen.

Reading listening and watching together

God values us as we are - an all age reflection (with Paul)

(The story of Brian the Camelephantelopelicanary)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nwKUWnH_nM

Singing together - If I were a butterfly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-nb5CR1uec

Colouring

Colour the butterfly

For a larger version to copy and paste go to -

https://urceasternsynod.blogspot.com/2020/10/butterfly-colouring-page.html

OR make a butterfly mask, using the template here or your own design –

Categories: Butterfly, Masks

Author: Lena London

Original image credit:

Printable masks templates

Permission:

Some rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License.

Or see the version of this template at –

https://urceasternsynod.blogspot.com/2020/10/butterfly-mask.html

OR make a bookmark – using this or your own design –

Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians 1:2 (TLB)

We always thank God for you and pray for you constantly. We never forget your loving deeds as we talk to our God and Father about you.

Table talk together

· Why might Paul (or anyone else) thank God for you?

· What loving deeds might you do?

Creative Prayers

Field of Children:

Materials: Small cardboard figures, pens, tray of damp sand or heavy soil, prayer on a large sheet:

God, please use .... Help him/her work for you.

“we are all God’s fellow workers”. (1 Corinthians 3:9)

God calls us all to work for him and to bring the joy of knowing him to others. We can all do something for God, however young or old we may be. As we place children into the tray, we can imagine adding people to God’s family.

- Take a child shape

- Write the name of a child on it

- Place them into the soil or sand, adding them to God’s family

- Quietly pray - God, please use … Help him/her work for you.

Pebble People:

Materials: small pebbles, a small mat or piece of carpet

“and the whole family was filled with joy”. (Acts 16:34)

God’s ideal is that children enjoy being part of a loving and caring family. Families come in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes families are not happy or safe places.

– Think of a child and family known to you

- Pick up a stone and place it on the mat, saying - This is a child

- Pick up another stone and say - This is the child’s mother (or carer)

- Pick up another stone and say - This is the child’s father

- Pick up two more and say - This is the child’s family

- Pick up two more and say - These are the child’s friends

- Look at your pile of stones, and quietly think of all the people involved in a family.

Thanks to: Jane Whitcombe Children’s Adviser for the Diocese of Bath & Wells

Playing together

Get some sweets or treats and hide them. Then have a treasure hunt. Before enjoying the treats, think of them as treasure – and that all playing the game are treasured by God.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:

......training, fellowship and more…

· Synod Quiz Night online Monday 19th October 7 for 7.30pm start Last call! Register yourself / your team with Lindsey

· Elders Training online Tuesday 3rd November 10 - 11.30am Sign up with Lindsey

· Discipleship Day online Saturday 7th November 10am-1pm Looking up, joining in, reaching out… Sign up with Lindsey

· Elders Training online Weds 18th November 7-7.30pm A repeat of Tues 3^rd session; Sign up with Lindsey

JUSTICE MATTERS REMINDERS

RESET THE DEBT

The Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT) have now launched their radical ‘jubilee’ campaign. Get your church involved in campaigning for justice for those in our communities who have accrued unavoidable and crushing debt over the last 6 months. Find resources, the report and stories which can be used in your services on the website: ResetTheDebt.uk The JPIT Facebook page is releasing new videos and information regularly: https://www.facebook.com/jointpublicissues

LEGACIES OF SLAVERY

We would like to particularly draw your attention to the new Legacies of Slavery webpages full of fantastic resources related to this theme, including accessible film and book lists, and particularly relevant right now as we are in Black History Month, although don’t feel constrained to only use it in October! https://urc.org.uk/legacies-of-slavery.html

YORK COURSES

Catherine Fox’s new Advent Course ‘Living in Hope’ is now out, as is the new course for Lent 2021 ‘Caring for Creation’. For more information on these and other York courses, please go to https://www.yorkcourses.co.uk/

URC INFO

All the latest information (and links to resources) from the United Reformed Church is on the Coronavirus Advice page of the denomination’s website –

https://urc.org.uk/coronavirus.html

MEDITATIVE PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION FOR USE DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

– If you want something shorter, go straight to the end and the closing prayer.

Each of these intercessions begins with an echo from one of the Psalms (slightly adapted in some cases) in order to root our prayer in Scripture and find inspiration there.

Trusting in God’s care for his children,

we pray in the name of Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

For those who are sick

Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the clouds.

Psalm 36:5

We pray for those who are unwell due to the coronavirus:

in your compassion, grant them strength and healing.

For our health workers

In the day of trouble you answer us, O Lord, and you protect us;

you send us help and give us support.

Psalm 20:1-2

We pray for all who minister to the sick throughout our health service,

that they may renew their strength in you

and be channels of restoration and renewal for those who suffer.

For the anxious

You are near to the broken-hearted, O Lord,

and you save the crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:18

We pray for all who are anxious about loved ones, friends and neighbours:

enable them to trust in you and be steadfast in hope.

For the lonely and the isolated

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,

I fear no evil; for you are with me.

Psalm 23:4

We pray for all those who feel isolated or alone,

that they may experience your loving presence.

For the strong and the vulnerable

Lord, you raise the poor and lift the needy.

Psalm 113:7

We pray that you would inspire those who are strong

to care for the vulnerable

and to serve them in love.

For the Church

How can we sing your song, O Lord, in these strange times?

(cf. Psalm 137:4)

We pray for your Church who longs to praise you

throughout this strange and confusing time;

through your creative Spirit

fire our imaginations to proclaim your unchanging love in new ways.

For those in authority

We cast our burden upon you, O Lord,

and you sustain us.

Psalm 55:22

We pray for all in authority who face difficult decisions

that affect the lives of many;

grant them wisdom and courage.

For those engaged in research

O Lord, you are great and abundant in power;

your understanding is beyond measure

Psalm 147:5

We pray for all engaged in research,

who are seeking to develop a vaccine and remedies for coronavirus:

grant them wisdom, understanding and effectiveness in their endeavours.

For traders and employees

Lord, you are our light and our salvation; whom shall we fear?

You are the stronghold of our life; of whom shall we be afraid?

Psalm 27:1

We pray for traders and employees who are fearful of the future,

that businesses may be secured, jobs protected and families supported.

For those who face hardship

The eyes of all look to you

and you give them their food in due season.

Psalm 145:15

We pray for all those facing financial hardship

that you would support and sustain them.

We remember also those who seek to fulfil Christ’s command to love one another

through the work of foodbanks and charities

and through acts of simple kindness.

For those in education

Lord, you give strength to your people

and you bless them with peace.

Psalm 29:11

We pray for all in education at this uncertain time:

inspire those who feel bored or directionless,

protect the vulnerable

and give fresh hope to the dismayed.

For the grieving

O God, for you alone my soul waits in silence,

for my hope is from you.

You alone are my rock, my salvation and my fortress.

Psalm 62:5-6

We pray for those who weep and mourn,

that they may find comfort and hope in you.

Closing prayer

Lord of life,

in this time of crisis for our families and communities,

our nation and our world,

we turn to you in faith,

to seek your guidance

and receive your blessing,

knowing that nothing in all creation can separate us from your love

made known to us in your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

We ask this in the name of him

who took our infirmities and bore our diseases,

who suffered the cross and rose again triumphant,

for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

ever one God, world without end.

Amen.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Quotations from the Psalms are taken from The New Revised Standard Version (Anglicized Edition), copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Finally, just a reminder from Lindsey, Nicola and myself that we are still there for you and, if there is anything you think we might offer, or you just want a chat, then do contact us:

Our prayers and our best wishes,

PAUL moderator@urceastern.org.uk 07534 274668

LINDSEY training@urceastern.org.uk 07801 352340

NICOLA cydo@urceastern.org.uk 07515 721172

STAY SAFE - PAUL