Bertie’s Brilliant Bonanza of Information [231]

It’s like an emporium, only it begins with the letter B… Bertie bravely bromises bright bideas… this isn’t really working- I’m all sad now.. I need to cheer myself up… Brie, Balfour, Baladi, Banon, Bandal, Bel Paese.. I feel better now… on with the email…

Oh, and just quickly, if anyone is adept at fixing tiles then there is a broken one in the Nave Aisle at St Paul’s which does my head in every time someone stands on it- please do volunteer to a Churchwarden if you would like to fix it and rescue my afternoon mouse-naps from the tyranny of noise oppression. Thank you. I can pay in used Camembert papers.

This Coming Week

Please keep praying for the health and well-being of the person who came into Church and inflicted the damage before Easter- it really matters that we continue to hold him before God in prayer, that he will be well again, and that something of what he found in Church before he started to do harm to the fabric of the building will help him to come close to Jesus, a splinter of light.

Don’t forget to engage with the Easter illustrations at St Paul’s- including adding ribbons to the Easter Cross in the Churchyard (Woosehill have one too), writing in Chalk on the path and looking at the amazing Easter Garden by the pulpit.

We are back to usual with the Zoom Coffees this week- two sessions, do pop along and have fun, as always.

Also, the plan at St Paul’s is that everyone collects a Hymnbook on the way into Church on a Sunday morning so you can follow the words and feel more part of it (while not singing) and then take it outside at the end of the service so we can sing the final hymn outside if the weather allows. There will be a big box outside to put the Hymnbooks in at the end. We are, as in so many other ways, trying to find the sweet spot when it comes to music, rejoicing in our musical tradition and in the way music lifts our worship while also making sure people are engaged and active in the service. We will keep praying about it and thinking about it- all questions or suggestions welcome!

Enormous thank you to everyone who filled in the online questionnaire about how we reopen St Paul’s and what our priorities should be- there were a lot of responses and there is lots to think about. Do please come along to the Meeting on Monday the 19th of April to talk it all through, and to listen to each other, and to listen to the Guiding Spirit of God:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86397276913?pwd=Sm1DTFpsbGhRcHpEMHVtenJJTDk0UT09

Meeting ID: 863 9727 6913 Passcode: 964301

The new series of the Tuesday Bible Study Group starts back on Zoom on Tuesday at 7.15pm, studying the First Letter of John. Please speak to Cara if you would like a copy of the Study Guide, which us currently on order from the excellent Christian Bookshop Quench.

Wanted- small team of people to do some minor jobs around St Paul’s Church- please speak to Louise in the Office if you would like to volunteer- might involve but not limited to the use of ladders. Possibly during the week as well as the weekend.

A Poem sent by John Sutton

After the Winter Rain by Ina Coolbrith

After the winter rain, 

   Sing, robin! Sing, swallow!

Grasses are in the lane, 

   Buds and flowers will follow.

Woods shall ring, blithe and gay,

   With bird-trill and twitter,

Though the skies weep to-day, 

   And the winds are bitter. 

Though deep call unto deep

   As calls the thunder, 

And white the billows leap

   The tempest under;

Softly the waves shall come

   Up the long, bright beaches, 

With dainty, flowers of foam

   And tenderest speeches…

After the wintry pain, 

   And the long, long sorrow, 

Sing, heart!—for thee again    

Joy comes with the morrow.