Monkey Business

Monkey Business

Last Thursday, a friend and I met up with my sister-in-law Judith, at Trentham Gardens. It was the first time I had seen her since before Christmas. Judith lives in Stroud In Gloucestershire, so Trentham was an ideal place to meet.

We visited the monkey forest which is part of the Trentham Estate. The forest is home to 180 Barbary Macaque monkeys which are an endangered species. There are less than 8000 left in their mountainous habitats in Morocco and Algeria. They live in the forest just as they would in their natural habitat. Of course, there were strict instructions about what we could and could not do and what we should do if a monkey came very close. We couldn’t eat or drink, shout or run and had to stand very still if one decided to cross our path. They often did this. It was surprisingly quiet in the forest despite the numerous children who had obviously listened to what they had been told.

I have never seen monkeys up close, only ever seeing them in a zoo. There was a woodland trail around the forest which allowed us to observe the monkeys at very close range. The monkeys were quite unconcerned about us being there and would walk across the path in front of us. There wasn’t much swinging from trees but a lot of lounging on the grass. There was the occasional fracas when the monkeys would screech and shout at each other, running up to the canopy of the trees. Quite often the fracas was caused by male monkeys trying to assert their parental rights (more about that next week). It was fascinating watching their antics and how they socialised with one another especially when they were grooming each other. This was a sign of friendship.

To be continued next week…….

Thank you, God, for all creatures, both great and small.

Non-Eucharistic worship 7th Sunday after Trinity

Hymn: O Lord my God (How great Thou art)

Rev'd Lyn's Sermon

Kathreen's Prayers of Intercession: Here

Hymn: All my hope on God is founded

Memories of a Verger

Having read the 3 part story by Kath Sellars, this note came from Carole Owen:

"My David will be thrilled to read this.  He was very fond of Bob.  He first met him as a pupil at St. Johns School in the 1940's.   

One story he has just told me is that Bob tried to drill holes in the bottom of the large candles for church (to save money, of course) but they broke so David got the job.  He was worried in case he also broke them.  Thankfully he did not.  A lot of the work was done at Owen Brothers across from church in the Old Schoolhouse building.

David was born on Turner Street but I am a Chadderton girl and that is where we lived when we got married.

We have only returned to the area to live in the last five years, but, of course, was in touch with Bob working across from St. Johns.

Carole"

Sun, sea and sand.

Didn't we have a lovely time the day we went to Fleetwood!

Sun, sea and sand, in my dreams. That was my wish for Saturday's weather. There was sea, there was sand, but there was definitely no sun. For the first time since lockdown two of my grandchildren stayed with me for the weekend. I decided that whatever the weather we were going to the seaside. When we left it was raining, it rained the whole journey and when we arrived in Fleetwood, it was still raining. As Peter Kay has joked " it was the kind of rain that wets you through, you know the fine stuff".

The sea front was almost deserted, but there were a few hardy souls walking their dogs. The sea was quite wild with plenty of white horses. My grandchildren enjoyed the zip wire even though they looked like drowned rats afterwards.  Fortunately the beach log cabin was opened and although we couldn't go inside, we got a very welcome cup of tea.
We decided to go in search of fish and chips because you can't possibly go to the seaside without doing this. We set off again and journeyed down the coast to Blackpool where there were crowds galore. Not what we were expecting at all. So, we drove on to Lytham which wasn't as crowded. We went in searh of fish and chips but was disappointed. However, there were several cafes open and  we did have scrumptious meal. By this time it had stopped raining and we wandered to the seafront. With great joy we spotted an ice cream van and we all enjoyed a cone with a flake and raspberry and chocolate sauce. A good day was had by all.

Thank you, God, for the joy of children who whatever the weather put a smile on our face.


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Non Eucharistic worship 6th Sunday after Trinity

Hymn: Fight the good fight

Rev's Christine's intercessions here

Hymn: Lord of all hopefulness

Flowers

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At the beginning of lockdown, which seems like such a long time ago, I decided to make sure that were signs of hope around the house. I did this through having flowers in the house. Every week I’d place new blooms on the dining table where my children study, on my desk in my study, and in the lounge. It might seem like a strange thing to do but through the week I’d watch the flowers open up and show their beautiful colours, and smell their fresh fragrance. 

As the weeks trudged by I clung onto the day that I would take my weekly trip to the shops and pick out a different bunch. There is something calming and stilling looking at flowers. Each petal is unique, each stalk a different shape, each leaf a different shade of green. 

Once I spent a day watching a bulbous peony open up. Hour by hour the petals shifted and opened slightly in the spotlight of the sun. My children and I huddled around this flower just waiting for it to open. And by the end of the afternoon it popped open, petals opening like the final bow of a stage performer. 

Flowers are a sign of hope. In bud they seem unknown and silent yet inside much is going on. Once I had a bunch of lilies that seemed like they would not open at all. Two weeks passed by and they remained fully closed. Then as I was just about to replace them they opened up in their perfumed glory, how happy I felt seeing what felt like a small miracle.

Eventually all of my flowers were ready for the garden waste, and as I said goodbye I remembered this passage from Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God will stand forever.” 

This is the hope that we can cling onto, that the word of God, Jesus Christ never fades or withers. Jesus is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. He holds onto us tightly as we bloom and flourish. And like my lilies sometimes it takes longer for us to open up, but Jesus loves us with a patient love who keeps calling us back to him over and over again.

Lockdown and the virus will have changed us all in some way, for some in unimaginable ways. For myself I saw my theological college life end, my placement in my previous church finish, and then ordination was postponed. All of it was like turning off a light switch, one minute it was on and then it was off. I’m sure many of you will have reflections of lockdown like this, and some still carrying the pain of losses that cannot be replaced.

Jesus comes to us with a sweet fragrance of hope bursting through into whatever situation we are in now. I pray that over these coming weeks we can find hope and a little bit of joy in the gift of the flowers we see in the world around us, the signs of hope even in the long grass.

Things children say.

The day finally arrived. Yesterday my grandaughter, Brooklynne and I had the birthday shopping trip that we had been planning since her birthday at the beginning of June. We arrived at the White Rose shopping centre near Leeds as the shops were beginning to open for the day. This worked well as we hardly had to queue to go into any of the shops and social distancing wasn't a problem.
Although my Brooklynne is 12 years old, she is still immensely fond of cuddlies. Even though she could set up shop herself with all the cuddlies she has, she wanted to add to her collection. Not such an easy decision when there are so many to choose from.  It was a little like the advert on the TV where the little girl repeatedly says  to herself daddy or chips, daddy or chips,  as she is on her way home. Only it was squishmallow or stitch. For the uninitiated squishmallow is a supersoft cuddly  (see below) and stitch is a character from a Disney film
In Brooklynne's words,"they were  both sick !!!!!" Apparently, that means very good

This got me thinking about some of the other things my children and grandchildren have said;
My eldest daughter Rachael, when she was little, once asked me for a Clump from the buggared. What she actually wanted was a plum from the cupboard.
Rachael, again when she was little would sing head, shoulders cheese-on-toast! Of course, it should have been head, shoulders, knees and toes. May have had something to do her love of cheese.
Archie can recognise a heart-shaped shape and knows his hearbeat goes Lub Dub. He dropped the heart-shaped shape that he had in his hand and very loudly said, Oh no, I have dropped my heartbeat.
Archie's daddy is now back working in his office and Archie told me " Daddy go work, daddy play golf. If only, was daddies reply. My grandchildren brighten my day and make smile. I hope your grandchildren brighten your day and make you smile.
Jesus said many things but one of His famous sayings is  "Let the little children come to me"  Matthew 19:14)  God bless children everywhere.