Words from Bede Circuit
Dear Friends,
Recently, I received a message on my mobile which was a message from the NHS track and trace system. This message was telling me I had to self-isolate for ten days due to being identified as a close contact ofsomeone else who had tested positive for the Covid virus. Thankfully, I am allowed out again now!
Over the course of the last few months, I have never really got used to having to rub an extended cotton bud around my tonsils and then up my nose. As I wipe the bud around my tonsils, I really try not to wretch, but I have not yet managed to do this! It also makes my eyes water as I sweep my nasal cavity with the cotton bud. I have learnt that this task is best done in private.
It is thanks to the amazing work of our scientists, that we have been able to create such a test to help keep people safe. Whilst I appreciate this is not a perfect system, and it is probably something which we would prefer not to do, it is something that allows us to keep both ourselves and others safe by testing for traces of the virus which we may pass on to others.
I wonder, if there was such a thing as a test to detect how well we knew Jesus, what would it say for each of us?
If we truly know Jesus in our lives there should be no test required, as meeting with Jesus, and being in relationship with Jesus should change us from the inside out.
How we act, how we live, what we say, how we love, how we lift up others, is hopefully a conduit through which Christs light shines through us, so that others can see the Christ light in our eyes and in our lives, as we share the good news of Jesus with the world and as we seek to know Jesus intimately at the very centre of our lives.
I pray that others will catch a glimpse of Christ through each of us this day.
A Scottish Blessing, Author Unknown
May the blessing of Christ be on you - light without and light within. May the blessed Christ light shine on you like a great peat fire, so that stranger and friend may come and warm himself at it. And may Christs’ light shine out of the two eyes of you, like a candle set in the window of a house, bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm. May the light of Christ always light your path and may you forever walk in his illumined ways. Amen
With good wishes and prayers
Revd Matt Sheard on behalf of the Bede Circuit staff team.
SERVICES AND ONLINE DETAILS
No weekly Zoom services until September and after Sunday 4th July no WhyPay services.
However, there will be an Easter Offering service on Zoom on August 22nd at 6.00pm. More details to come.
Zoom Bible studies are now taking a break over the summer. More details of Plans for September to follow.
Wednesday prayers at 10am continue on Zoom.
There are still service sheets for use at home. For more information, please contact your pastoral visitor or minister.