Sermons An ancestor of mine was a Church Minister and I have a book of his sermons. To my eyes the sermons are not particularly easy reading! But it is clear fro the book that the sermons were originally available at a price of one penny in leaflet form. This is, of course, the way some Charles Dickens novels first appeared. This has got me thinking. Some churches have sermons recorded – facebook, YouTube, church website etc. But most churches in Cornwall do not offer this facility. So why not distribute your sermon to those who may be interested? Or, better still, why not have a brief note or precis to give to anyone who might be interested? People have lots of paper in their lives; so it may be best to keep it short. Of course this can be distributed via email. Wouldn’t it be great if this prompted some inter action between preacher and congregation? I have attached a note from a sermon I delivered recently. It adopts a meditational approach. This is an approach well known to those who use Selwyn Hughes bible notes. The theme is hope. Let’s enjoy that hope as we “chew the cud” from Romans 15.13. William Hazelton Romans 15.13 and hope Are we gloomy about the world? And our lives? And the C of E?….Or hopeful? Ponder “if you want to walk on water you’ve got to get out of the boat” (Matthew 14.25-32) and note:Hope got Peter out of the boatTrust held him upFear sank himIt all hinged on whether he was focused on Jesus or on the storm Romans 15.13: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” Peter’s focus…where is ours Biblical meditation...rediscover the “cow, sheep, goat” in you...”chewing the cud”...bolt down food, regurgitate it into mouth, repeat process...absorb into the blood stream...objectiveReconstruction of our thoughtsRefocusing our emotionsRealignment of our willsVerse:God is a God of hope...does not discourageHope overcomes fearHope may be realised soon...later...eternallyHe seeks right now to to fill us with joy and peace...all joy and peaceHe wants us to overflow…As we trustWork of Holy SpiritImage of sponge...useless without water...pours through us...we need to be refilled...a continuous process Ponder the verse...meditate...may joy and peace fill your heart...may you move on with a spring in your step...a spring given by the Holy Spirit Amen 145 CV ADV3 111222 - Peter Coster's Reflections on the Advent 3 evensong readings.
Prayers answered….. and Other Important News! Prayers Answered Many thanks to all of you who supported Lez and me though prayer in the last few weeks and to those of you who so kindly wrote emails. Lez spent the week in the Cardiac Investigation Unit and is now home armed with a small pharmacy of medication attempting to take things rather more easily and let other folk in church do some of the heavy lifting and running around. She has felt fit enough to do the three days of the craft festival, sing in and direct the Christmas show from a chair (orders of the cast) and go to the toddler group! Her experience in Treliske was a very positive one, apart from the worry and the investigations. The lady who did her angiogram turned out to have a daughter being taught music at Truro college by our son….. and the chaplain Angela, had been our curate in Redruth just to mention a couple of things! Amazing how things work out- thank you God! It also shows the importance of asking for prayer-the reader community is a fantastic spiritual resource longing to be used! Transforming ministry Magazine Some time ago a survey was sent out about who read what in the magazine because of the quite large price increase to the Diocese. The results were varied but many more folk said they did not read it, or, only read the odd article than those found it a particularly useful resource. The resulting discussion in the wardens group concluded that buying the full subscription for all readers was not only too expensive in the current climate but also not good value for money so this year Readers are asked to take out their own individual subscriptions if they would like to. Some funding has been put aside to pay for subscriptions for any readers who cannot afford one and would really find the magazine beneficial. We will repeat the survey next year and review the subject. Local Reader Chaplains and deanery Reader Stewards……. It had been proposed that each deanery should have it’s own Reader Chaplain (the old DRS) who would form the basis of a committee to feed information to the Warden’s Group however this has proved to be a more difficult task that was anticipated! The thought now is that we need to try something different at the same time as keeping those things that are working well, e.g. the wonderful work done by Graham Downes and the St Austell group. So the Warden’s Group would like you all to consider whether you feel called to be part of the chaplaincy team, no matter whether there is already a chaplain / Deanery Reader Steward in post. In the new year there will be the chance to have a vocational conversation with Bishop Hugh and chaplains will be appointed and celebrated at the Reader Day in May. I have the names of the people who transferred from being Deanery Reader Stewards, plus a couple of other people who have expressed a…