St John the Baptist, Hey

Saturday, 8 August 2020

Sunday Eucharist

For the Service please go to Rev'd Lyn's YouTube channel here

Hymn: Sweet Sacrament Divine

Hymn: lead us Heavenly Father lead us

Thursday, 6 August 2020

It takes a village to raise a child

It takes a village to raise a child…. and the village of St John’s has raised a lot!

‘It takes a village to raise a child’ is a frequently used Nigerian Igbo proverb. Michael won a Young Game Designer BAFTA this summer. A real BAFTA from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. They have been awarding them for computer games programmers for 10 years. As you can imagine I am a very proud mum. He worked very hard on the project and his game design was chosen as the best in the 15-18 category. The award ceremony was different this year, the announcement was online and the trophy has still not arrived as the factory that makes them has been closed due to the pandemic! I am sure it will arrive soon with his ‘goody bag’ of games and more importantly the opportunity to be mentored by some industry experts. In the grand scheme of things the delay is the least of things and it has not spoiled the celebrations too much.

I know many of you know Michael but equally you may know the stories of the successes of the many other of St John’s alumni. Young people need a foundation on which to grow and our young people are testament to the support and nurturing of our church community. Our alumni have gone out into the world and are making it a better place. They are making a difference as medics; musicians; youth leaders; defenders; programmers; engineers and many, many more. They are successfully running their own businesses, representing us at prestigious universities and giving their time to help others.

I would like you to take a moment to acknowledge that as a part of the worshipping community you have contributed to all of this and accept my thanks, and I am sure the thanks of those generations of parents who came before and I am sure will follow.

Extending our Christian fellowship provides a framework that other young people may not have. They are given the confidence to read and speak before a large group because they know you will catch them if they fall. They have the ability to take time to reflect because you sat with them in prayer. They can see how their actions impact on others because you helped them consider another way. All of this is freely given in a safe place where they are told that they are held in an all encompassing love.

As one of the proud mum’s, thank you.

Barbara Ballantyne

Proverbs 22:6

‘Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it’

Wednesday, 5 August 2020

Faith, Hope and Love

Most of you will be very familiar with the passage from the Bible that is so popular with wedding couples. Margaret Silf wrote a wisdom story about these Christian qualities which points out that, as the Bible says, the greatest of these is love. The gist of it is as follows:

Faith and Hope were twin sisters but very different in personality. Faith was always wore her best clothes and was very fussy. She was a sweet but ailing child. Her sister Hope could be quite strong, but being something of a wild child, would often run out just when you needed her.

As Faith got older she strengthened but her limbs grew stiff and she became rather rigid. Faith could be judgmental. Hope on the other hand, had grown very weak over the years.

One day they were surprised to find that, although they had always thought that they were twins, actually there was a third sister called Love. Once love had been introduced to Faith and Hope, things began to change; Love helped Faith to become more relaxed and compassionate and helped Hope to become more reliable. Now they live side by side in perfect harmony.

And the moral of this story is - never forget to apply love to your faith and hope!

Monday, 3 August 2020

Calling all Gardeners

... and possibly builders.

Does anyone have a wheelbarrow that they can donate to church to assist with the grounds maintenance please?

Sunday, 2 August 2020

Monkey business-part 2

Monkey business- Part 2

Last week I spoke about my visit to the monkey forest which is part of the Trentham Estate in Staffordshire. This week I would like to tell you a little more about these monkeys.

As we walked through the forest, there were guides situated along the pathway who was very knowledgeable about the monkeys and would answer questions or share with us various interesting facts about the monkeys.

We learnt, in the forest, there were two troops of monkeys, one living at the top of the forest and the other further down the forest. The two troops live totally separate lives and do not mix with the other troop, ever.

We saw several baby monkeys, who looked so cute riding on the backs of their mothers

The period of gestation is 5 months and the babies are born at night in the tops of the tree away from menacing predators. The staff are totally unaware of the baby being born until mum comes down from the treetop in the morning bringing her baby with her. It is never known who the father is but any male monkey will try to exert his authority and claim parental ownership. The fracas I spoke about last week came about because a monkey was trying to exert his parental authority over another male monkey by running off with the baby. Mum was very unhappy about this as she did not trust him. Mum wasn’t going to sit back and let this happen. She let him know in no uncertain terms that she was displeased with him by chasing after him. Other monkeys joined in the chase, scrabbling up and down trees. There was a cacophony of noise which got louder and louder and it was over almost as quickly as it had started when the baby was safely returned to his mother.

Seeing the monkeys in their family unit and observing the way in which the monkeys all came together and supported mum in getting her baby back reminded me of the love our heavenly Father has for us. Just as the monkey’s mum was never going to abandon her baby to someone she didn’t trust, our heavenly father will never abandon us. He will always be there for us whatever the circumstances, bringing us back into the fold.