This Sunday 11th October 2020 Online: YouTube (from 6am Sunday) Please register to attend In-Person using this link: Sunday 9:30am and 11:00am On Zoom : Sunday 11:30am until 13:00pm "My soul is in deep anguish. How long, LORD, how long?" (Psalm 6:3) With Covid-19 cases and hospital admissions rising and hopes of a return to 'normality' put off until way past Christmas how do we pray for ourselves and our world? Well the Psalms are a great place to go for examples of prayer. A common cry in the Psalms is: "How long?" How long will God seemingly fail to rescue us? How long will he leave us in our situation of suffering and pain? The writers of the Psalms are bold and honest in their approach to God. There is no pretence that everything is alright; no 'always look on the bright side of life.' More often there is a raw outpouring of grief that faces fully and honestly the desperation of their situation. Over the next couple of weeks our sermons are going to look at a couple of Psalms that have this cry of, 'How long?'. This week we look at Psalm 6. It is a Psalm that pulls no punches in describing the intensity of suffering and yet it is still a prayer of deep faith and ultimately, although not easily, of confidence that God will deliver. As so many are struggling as a result of the pandemic lets turn again to the Psalms and learn to pray and engage with God in a way that is more powerful and meaningful than perhaps we are used to. Please read on... Prayer: Listen to a new musical version of Psalm 6, Videos for Sunday Care: Updates on our vision at St. Luke's Share: Update on Mercy Ships, our Harvest Appeal from 2018 Video Clips for Sunday's Service: Thank you to those who have already recorded clips for this Sunday in church. It would also be good to have some clips recorded at home. It's simple and easy to do. Just record yourself saying this short line from Psalm 6:4: "Save me because of your unfailing love!" I need to have the videos by the morning of Friday 9th October (tomorrow). Please send them either by Whatsapp: 07769 871520 or WeTransfer to
[email protected]. As we prepare to think about Psalm 6, you may find this recent musical version of the Psalm helpful: Psalm 6 Prayer Requests: Be assured I will do my best to check that people are happy for the requests to be shared before including them. Please pray for: Give thanks for all the money that has been given so far for our Harvest Appeal (£500 in the church collection and more online and through contactless payment!) and also for all the food donated to the Food Bank. Thanet Winter Shelter. Please pray for those planning how this can be run this winter with all the present restrictions. Evelyn (Audrey's sister), who has now moved into a care home that she will settle there happily. Lizzie (a friend of Willow Whybrow and Barbara Kail) has now had an operation for her cancer and they think she is now clear. Give thanks and pray that her health would continue to improve. Hazel Kenney's family after the death of her dad. The funeral is tomorrow (Friday 9th October). Beth Patterson and family after the death of her mum. June Warren and family after the death of Gordon Warren. Those struggling with deteriorating joints, especially those who are having to wait longer than normal because of the present crisis. It's not too late to donate to our Harvest Appeal . Please click the button below, choose 'Give one-off' and make sure under the amount you enter you click, 'Include any details and/or your reference number' and type in "Harvest Appeal." Donate to Harvest Appeal Last Thursday we had our Annual Meeting and it was good to see about 10-12 in church and 10-12 people on Zoom. Thankfully, the technology worked reasonably well and people could take part wherever they were. At the end of the meeting I shared the vision for how we as a church can move forward through the pandemic and beyond. The three key words are Reconnect, Reimagine and Reignite. The problem with social distancing and many of the necessary regulations in place to stop the virus spreading is that they tend to disconnect us from one another and this is a real challenge for us as a church community. So we need to find ways to Reconnect both whilst the restrictions are still in place and once we can start meeting more normally again. The restrictions have also meant that many of our church activities are on hold. During this time of pause, God is giving us an opportunity to Reimagine how we should go about being his people in this place. So we want to take some time out to think, discuss and pray about what we have been doing, what might be possible with restrictions in place and how God might be calling us to do things differently in the future. Finally, when things have been stopped for a while it is hard to restart again. So having reimagined our church life we need to start planning how we can Reignite both what is possible now and when the restrictions are lifted. To find out more on these ideas, please watch this 11 minute video of the talk... Last Week's Talk: The present pandemic has led to some very strange economic behaviour - especially the government furlough scheme. In this story that Jesus tells, Jesus teaches the disciples about the economics of the Kingdom of Heaven. The landowner in the parable gives full pay to workers who do almost nothing - a bit like furlough! Check out the talk as either a transcript, a podcast or a video: Equally Employed? (Matthew 20:1-16) Finally, our Harvest Appeal two years ago was for Mercy Ships. Matthew Kenney kindly sent this link to an article about their latest hospital ship being built in China: Remember to pray boldly and honestly to God like the Psalmist! Yours in Christ, Paul Worledge Vicar, St. Luke's Ramsgate www.stlukesramsgate.org
