Butterflies

We are promised creating butterflies at the First Sunday Thing next Sunday (5th June). By then we will have not only passed Easter but also Ascension Day, and the apparently dead cocoon produces the new life of the buuerfly which then flies.

Although the doors were locked

And here is the prayer for the Second Sunday of Easter in the form in which those who came yesterday folded paper to take it away with them. Among other things we lit the Easter candle, explored the Easter garden, made rubbings of the Easter scene, and sung some Easter songs.

Sunday after Easter

The planning group at the weekend looked forward to our next First Sunday Thing in two weeks time on 1st May. The church will be reading the next bit of the Easter story that day - the risen Lord appearing to the disciples including Thomas. We noticed that God can operate behind our locked doors. We noticed a prayer set for the Sunday beginning Risen Christ, for whom no door is locked, no entrance barred: open the doors of our hearts... It is this theme we will be picking up.

Planning ahead

A small group of us will be meeting informally in St Michael's next Saturday (16th April) to sketch out ideas and plans for the First Sunday Thing for at least May and June. The gathering is open to anyone who wants to come along then or to offer us thoughts in the week before then.

Mother of the Tribe

This is the carving from Mua in Malawi which we looked at this morning. The Chewa sense that God is the 'mother of the tribe' is here made Christian; she has a cross on her forehead and Jesus' death is one of the things going on beneath her feet. Alongside the crucifixion, all sorts of ordinary parts of life (from a school lesson to an old man on a stick) are down there under God's protection as well.

Mothering Sunday

Next Sunday is Mothering Sunday and that will give a flavour to our First Sunday Thing that day. But the main thing to remember is that we will be back at St Nicolas' - our venue for the six months April-September. We'll put a notice on the door at St Michael's in case anyone tries to find us there.

Seeing through us

This 'stained glass window' was created at the First Sunday Thing last week. It is Jesus in majesty reigning over the earth.

It is said that saints are those 'who God shines through', an idea which works for saints in stained glass windows and for saints in real life.

Most Christians know that we are not as good as we would like to be. We know that from time to time people will notice this and 'see through us'. But nevertheless our prayer continues to be that it will be soemthing of God which they see.