General Chat

Hello all

Many thanks for the daily calendar Cynthia.

A special Easter Day communion in church today.
with two traditional hymns sung during the service.

Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia,
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia,
Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia,
Suffer to redeem our loss, Alleluia. to begin with and another traditional hymn to close with.

Thine be the glory,
Risen conquering Son
Endless it the victory
Thou o'er death has won.

I drove home singing this uplifting hymn.

Happy Easter everyone.

Happy Easter everyone.

It was good to see your post the other day Tabitha.

With the sun shining, new plants showing through the earth and the birds singing and nesting, it does feel very much like a time of renewal and hope. Just what Easter Sunday should be.

Now that most restrictions have been lifted yesterday was a Celebration of Life for my beloved brother. As you may know he died 15 months ago but restrictions at the time meant only a handful of us could attend his socially distanced and masked funeral and there could be no gathering afterwards. Our family and friends are scattered throughout the UK and abroad but about 90 people attended yesterday, one distant cousin even flying from Spain to be there. It was a great comfort to me, and to brother's partner, that so many wanted to be there. I think it is a measure of the esteem in which he was held by everyone he came across. I now feel we have said a proper goodbye to him.

I am so grateful that I was privileged to be his sister and when I went to bed last night I said an extra thank you for his life and all he achieved.

Hello all

A dry and bright but a really cold day today.

Hoping Cynthia is well and having a good day.

Vera, it sounds like you had a lovely day, sharing happy memories with family and friends of your brother. Handing out the wild flower seeds was a lovely idea, I've not heard of that before.

Ongoing thoughts and prayers for all in Ukraine.

Good afternoon - sorry for the delay - had visitors.

So glad you managed the celebration in memory of your brother Vera - how special he must have been to you all. <3

Like kandj, we had a good Easter service yesterday. Lots of people in and creme eggs for the children.


Easter Eggs and New Life

Easter is the most important date in the Christian calendar. Every year, Christians around the world remember Jesus’ crucifixion and celebrate his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

For Christians the egg is a symbol of Jesus' resurrection, as when they are cracked open they stand for the empty tomb. No-one actually knows when eggs were first used as symbols at festival times but it was long before Jesus' time. Eggs were always thought to be special because although they do not seem alive, they have life within them especially at springtime when chicks hatch out.

The first English chocolate egg was sold by Fry’s in 1873, and Cadbury’s quickly followed them, introducing their own chocolate egg in 1875. These early Easter eggs were made using dark chocolate, and were smooth and plain, but in 1897 the famous Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Chocolate was first introduced.

An important part of Easter celebrations today is giving (and eating!) chocolate eggs, and in the UK we buy about 80 million Easter eggs each year!

Dear God, we thank you for the gift of Easter eggs, a sign of new life and of Christ’s resurrection. May the joy of Easter be a reminder of the joy we have in you now and always through Christ’s death and resurrection. Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed. Alleluia.

Anyone for a battered deep fried creme egg then? ??

Cx :-)

Good morning :-)

Easter - New Life

Why do most people come alive in spring? It marks the season of new life.

There's a huge stirring in the garden too. It’s amazing how plants respond to the increasing light levels. After the cold and dark of winter, signs of new life begin to emerge. The sights, sounds and smells bring us hope and cheer as more light and warmth encourages unfurling leaves and colourful plants.

Along the roads, we can see the first flowers of spring in gardens and green spaces, bringing vibrant yellows, pinks, purples and blues amid vivid green and white. Just beautiful.


Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the wonderful season of spring. During this lovely time, I ask You for a fresh beginning in each of our hearts. Please allow each of us, as Christians, to bloom in Your world, just as the flowers are blooming. Help us to be witnesses whenever there is an opportunity, and to be followers of Your word every day. We ask this in Your name. Amen.


Cx :-)

Good morning :-)


Easter Reflections

With OUR EYES we see
The beauty of Easter
as the earth awakens once more...

With OUR EARS we hear
The birds sing sweetly
to tell us Spring again is here...

With OUR HANDS we pick
the golden daffodils
and the fragrant hyacinths...

But only with OUR HEARTS
can we feel the MIRACLE of GOD'S LOVE
which redeems all men...

And only with OUR SOUL
can we make our 'pilgrimage to God'
and inherit His Easter Gift of ETERNAL LIFE.


Cx :-)

Hello all

Amen to your words this morning Cynthia.

A beautiful sunny God-given day here today.

Springtime....... a new season
Warm weather
Brighter evenings and longer days.
Pretty flowers around to lift our spirits.

Happy Wednesday blessings everyone.

Good morning :-)

This lovely weather just lifts the spirits.......agreed!


Easter – New Life

The change from a larva, a worm like creature, to a lifeless looking chrysalis, to the emergence of a magnificent, winged butterfly has often been used as a symbol of the resurrection.

The butterfly begins as a tiny egg. From the egg, a larva emerges. The larva eats and grows and eventually forms a chrysalis. For days, as it grows, it remains quiet inside a delicate shell. Then, it emerges as a fully developed butterfly. After pumping fluid into its wings, that amazingly different looking insect takes flight.

We are earthbound creatures with limited views of what the future might bring. Christ promises us a new body which will not know the limitations we have now. The butterfly symbolizes this change from an earthbound creature into a new form.


Cx :-)

Hello all

Warm and sunny but cold in the shade today.

Lots of pretty butterflies and bees around here.

Happy birthday to H M our Queen, an inspiration to so many including me.

Good morning :-)

Thanks for your post kandj, I had put birthday greetings to the Queen elsewhere, but omitted to do so here........sigh.


Easter - new life

A lot of people have been busy with their gardens or planters, getting ready for a lovely display of flowers and plants. Some of these will have been grown from a bulb in the darkness of the soil. They need the daylight, sunshine and rain to fee and nurture them. Those bulbs promise a miracle of new life and will be beautiful, not just because we have cared for them, but because God designed them to be beautiful.

Our natural world has been created by the God we worship, it has been created with its own harmony and rhythm. We do not need a microscope to admire its unseen beauty, but if we do have a microscope, we can be even more amazed by the intricacy and detail of each individual plant as we sometimes see on nature programmes.

Our Easter hymns express our faith and hope not just in the past, but in the future. Jesus died, and was buried, and hope seemed gone but, on that glorious day we sing ‘Jesus Christ is risen today’….Alleluia.


Cx :-)

Good morning :-)


Easter – new life.

Holy Week and Easter are complete. We have shared in prayer and memory the sufferings of Jesus, his death and resurrection. We rejoice at the faith that allows us to look towards him in sorrow and joy – and to share God’s love as he did. Holy Week and Easter are complete when we share blessings with others.

God gives us a world to share. We belong to one another and to God with Jesus: standing near the cross and believing in the resurrection.

Cx :-)

Good morning :-)

A beautifully sunny Sunday morning...................... <3


Today is known traditionally, as Low Sunday - possibly the contrast between the high festival of Easter last week.

The Collect (special prayer) for today :



The Collect (special prayer) for today:

Almighty Father, you have given your only Son to die for our sins and to rise again for our justification: grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth; through the merits of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.


Today’s gospel tells the story of the disciple who became known as Doubting Thomas. (John 20. 19-to end)


Cx :-)

Hello all

Sunny but with a chilly breeze today.

Lovely to see all the St George's Day flags in the village on my way to church this morning.

Ongoing prayers for the Russia/Ukraine war.

Good morning :-)

We have left the solemnity of Lent behind us and have celebrated Easter, so maybe time for a little laughter.

Take for instance…….baptisms – you never know what little ears pick up.

After a rainstorm filled all the potholes in the streets and alleys, a young mother watched her two little boys playing in the puddle through her kitchen window. The older of the two, a five year old lad, grabbed his sibling by the back of his head and shoved his face into the water hole. As the boy recovered and stood laughing and dripping, the mother runs to the yard in a panic.

"Why on earth did you do that to your little brother?!" she shouts in pure fright..

"We were just playing 'church' mummy," he said. "I was baptising him in the name of the Father, the Son and in the hole-he-goes."


Cx :-)

Good morning :-)



And then, there’s the weddings……………………

The bride and her father arrived at the church door. The bride was, understandably, nervous and confessed to her Maid of Honour that she was worried she’d completely forget what to do.

“You’ve just got to remember three things,” said her friend. “First, walk nice and straight down the aisle. Second, stop and stand when you get to the altar. And third, sing along with the hymn: it’ll relax you.”

So as the bride arrived at the wedding, she was heard muttering to herself over and over again: “AISLE ALTAR HYMN”, “AISLE ALTAR HYMN”…’

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D


Cx :-)

Good morning :-)

Humour in church............

Money plays an important part in the life of a church if we wish to keep the doors open and the mission ongoing.


A minister was preoccupied with thoughts of how he was going to ask the congregation to come up with more money than they were expecting for repairs to the church building.

So, he talked to the organist to see what kind of inspirational music she could play after the announcement about the finances to get the congregation in a giving mood.

"Don't worry," she said. "I'll think of something."

During the service, the minister paused and said, "Brothers and Sisters, we are in great difficulty; the roof repairs cost twice as much as we expected, and we need to raise another £5,000. Any of you who can pledge £100 or more, please stand up."

Just at that moment, the organist started playing The National Anthem.


Cx :-)

Good morning :-)

There's always room for laughter in church...


A vicar explained to his congregation that the church was in need of some extra money, so he asked them to consider being more than generous, offering whoever gave the most money the chance to pick three hymns.

After the offering plates were passed about the church, the vicar glanced down and noticed that someone had graciously offered up a total of £1,000. He was so excited that he immediately shared his joy with his congregation and said he’d like to personally thank the person who placed the money in the plate.

A very quiet, elderly, saintly lady in the back of the church shyly raised her hand. The pastor asked her to come to the front, so she slowly she made her way towards him.
The vicar told her how wonderful it was that she gave so much, and in thanks he asked her to pick out three hymns.

Her eyes brightened as she looked over the congregation. She pointed to the three most handsome men in the church and said: “I’ll take him and him and him.”


Cx :-)

Good morning :-)

There's always room for laughter in church and children can cause a lot of amusement at times. Children aren't just the church of the future, they are part of the church now.

An associate minister visited our Sunday school class one morning, and asked, "What would you like me to talk about?" One child spoke up boldly and said, "About 3 minutes!"


Sunday school teacher asked Little Johnny, "Do you believe in the Devil?" "No," said Little Johnny. "It's the same as Santa Claus. I know it's my daddy."



“Dad, I want to ask you a question,” said little Josh after his first day of Sunday School.
“Of course,” said his Dad.
“The teacher was reading the Bible, about the Children of Israel building the Temple, the Children of Israel crossing the Red Sea, the Children of Israel aking the sacrifices,” said Josh.
“So what’s your question?” his Dad asked.
“Well, didn’t the grown-ups do anything?!”

Cx :-)

Good morning :-)

Lord, give me a sense of humour,
a spirit that is light.
So when I feel the darkest,
my heart will sparkle bright.

Let me learn to giggle,
when something tickles me.
Like my baby grandson,
when I bounce him on my knee.

Let me learn to chuckle,
like I did when I was a little girl.
Even when life's tangles,
are pulled through my thinning curls.

Let me learn to laugh aloud,
even if only to myself.
Like when a child is playing,
with no one but them self.

Let me learn to smile,
when I prefer to wear a frown.
Like a toddler thick in mischief,
and they think no one is around.



Psalm 126:2

Then our mouth was filled with laughter
And our tongue with joyful shouting;
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”


Cx :-)

Good morning :-)


The Collect (special prayer) for today

Almighty Father,
who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples
with the sight of the risen Lord:
give us such knowledge of his presence with us,
that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life
and serve you continually in righteousness and truth;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen


The Gospel reading tells the lovely story of Jesus and his disciples having breakfast on the beach. John 21 1-19

Cx :-)