Page 6 - Jigsaw June 2020

Thrapston, Denford and Islip Churches ............................
Thrapston Baptist Church
Minister: Reverend Mat Hussain
e: mat.thrapston.baptist@gmail.com t: 07501 718797
Since last month so much has changed. Lockdown has become a stark reality for everyone, with so many different effects on people. For some it has meant isolation – perhaps even worse than before, but for others it has meant more time together
with family. For some it has meant working from home or not working at all and for others it has meant working even harder with longer hours and under more stressful circumstances. But for all it has been a time when it becomes clearer what is important – what really matters in life.
In the middle of the time we were
getting used to doing things differently we celebrated Easter. It’s easy to question “Where is God in all this??” and whilst we can never fully understand why God allows things to happen, we can be sure that He
is alongside us suffering with us, as He did at Easter on the cross, and we can be sure that whilst we may not recognise Him – as Mary didn’t at the tomb – He is alongside us, loving us.
As a church we haven’t been able to
meet in person but, thanks to technology, we have been able to continue our services and mid-week meetings online. All the details of our meetings are on our website www.thrapstonbaptist.co.uk and you are
of course very welcome to join us. Also,
on the website are links to a series of video reflections that our minister, Mat, has been posting. These have been well-received and you may find them helpful too.
Finally, we have set up a special “Prayer Request” contact form so that you can contact us, in confidence, and ask us to pray with you or for you or your family.
Find the link on the website, or directly on: www.thrapstonbaptist.co.uk/prayer-requests
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As we enter, at the beginning of May, the 8th week of lockdown with all it’s attendant difficulties, I am delighted to have been invited to contribute on behalf of St Paul’s Church. As organist at the church I always choose the Sunday hymns to go with the liturgical celebration and I have kept this going during lockdown even though our church is closed. I can see that the last time we celebrated Mass together was on 15th March, the 3rd Sunday of Lent and, as I write, we will next be celebrating the 5th Sunday of Easter - at home!
For me, reading the scriptures for each Sunday and still choosing the hymns has been a way to keep in quite a close contact with my faith - and other parishioners whom I have circulated seem pleased to be told what we would have been singing! Some even suggested I make live recordings which I have begun to do.
There are, thankfully, plenty of ways to keep in touch with our fellow Christians. All the BBC local radio stations broadcast a live ‘lockdown’ service at 8am each Sunday and the Radio 4 Morning Service continues 8.10am, though not quite as usual.
I know many local churches have
been putting out Sunday Services online, recorded in a study room or a kitchen and our Fr David Donahue has just started a 5 minute prayer and reflection on YouTube each day. Sunday Mass with our new Bishop David Oakley is live-steamed from Northampton RC Cathedral at 11am.(www. northamptondiocese.org)
I can’t imagine that our new Bishop David when just ordained on 19th March thought he’d be celebrating Mass in an empty Cathedral for the foreseeable future. Strange times but then God’s ways are not our ways!
Keep safe, keep faith and keep smiling.
Vincent Davy
St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church
Parish Priests: Canon Michael & Father David
e: ourlady.corby@yahoo.co.uk t: 01536 203121
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