Welcome
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Welcome to the Atlantic Coast Cluster web site We are living in strange times, and we are permitted to open our churches for private prayer and worship. Currently there are no Sunday Services being held in the cluster, one line services are aviable, via zoom or on the audio page of this site. If you wish to obtain the zoom link for Sunday worship please email atlanticcoastcluster@btinternet.com if you know of someone who has not got internet access then the daily service can be I will contine to post things that I have found helpful below as well as the Sunday Reflection
above is a photo the blessing which is in my hall, the celtic blessing, Useful links From the Times - Ways to Improve your Mood A 3 minute meditation +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-++-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-++-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Reflection for 6th Sunday of Easter Reflection .We continue in John’s Gospel, and todays reading follows directly on from last weeks ‘I am’ statement of Jesus; ‘I am the true vine’ and this passage together forms a part of Jesus’s speech to his disciples before his arrest. John’s Gospel has does not record the Last Supper as the other gospels do rather he has the washing of feet; Jesus’s prediction of his betrayal and of Peters denial; his words of comfort -many rooms and the way the truth and the life; then the I am the vine you are the branches, last weeks Gospel and this our gospel passage before us today. Together they are Jesus’ last words to His disciples. His instructions to them for when he was gone. It was a message that he hoped would keep them going and give them comfort in the darkest of days and in the wonder and loss of his resurrection and ascension. He knows that they will be in danger of losing their way, of missing the message, of falling out with each other and so he gives them words of hope, of comfort and of instruction, so they can hang in there and get it together, and so he says to them and to us, ‘This is my commandant that you love as I have loved you.’ So, what does this mean? Well for me, the way to find out is to reframe the questions as ‘How did Jesus show his love?’ Well, he cared, and had compassion. There are just so many stories, of him doing this. The woman who touches the hem of his cloak, the woman caught in adultery, the death of the widow’s son, crying for Lazarus, the son with the demons, the wild man living around the tombs, the feeding of the multitudes. Water into wine. Jesus cared for people. He accepted people where and for what they were. He sat, talked and ate with the lowest, the lest, the lost and the little. Jesus cared regardless of who you were. He was active and accessible. Jesus did not stay at home, or in the synagogue or Temple. He was out and about, meeting people, helping them, where they were. Yes, they came to him, but then he was accessible, he did not turn people away, no matter how tired he was. It was costly. He gave of himself, emotionally, spiritually and physically. He was forgiving even at the point of death – ‘forgive them because they don’t know what they do’. So, what are we called to do if we are to love as he love us? We are to care and in actions not just words. We are to accept, people where they are, they are not called to conform to our ideas, ways or even beliefs in the end, that is not what we are about, we are here to accept all comers. We are to have compassion. We may not like folks, agree with them, find their views or them pleasant but that is not the point or at least it should be and it should never affect our compassion. There is no getting even, or being right, there is just love. We turn the cheek; we continue, we do not hold things over others or against them. We are to be active in our lives to share the gospel, the good news of Jesus in actions but also in words. We are to give of ourselves in the service of Christ and therefore in the service of others. We cannot be serving God if we are serving ourselves first. We forgive, as many times as need in the end we cannot stop, people may not change but still we forgive. They, nailed Jesus to a cross and still he forgives, what right have we not to forgive in the light of that otherwise we too are nailing him there each and every day. Now, lets be honest, loving in the name of Christ is a challenge, but it is what we are called to do. I believe Jesus told his disciples this because without loving as he loves there can be no fruit or at least no fruit that is not bitter and marred. Only when we learn to love will we be able to bare fruit in his name. It is not our lack of work that means we bear little fruit, it is our lack of love that causes it My prayer for all of us is that we will be able to love as Christ loves us, freely abundantly and without counting the cost. Amen
St Cubertus by Sue Parkington “Tis closed”, the old man said, “Locked and cold within”, ‘Why’s that?’I asked ‘I can’t make sense of thee’. “Tis the virus; and the Bishops, So they say, They’m scared we might get sick. I’m only ninety three” ‘Let’s chat outside a while’ I said, Though raining heavily. “No good”, he said, then added, “Just come along with me, ‘Tis cosy in the south porch, And sheltered from the breeze”. And so we shared our crib there, Saffron bun and mug of tea. Keeping social distancing! A friend and company.
Precious Life (An Acrostic for Easter Time 2020) by Liz Cleves Perhaps we are listening, and Remembering what is dear to us Each of us recollecting Spring times, and the promise of nature bringing its gifts Conscious too that the beautiful Earth is suffering from our ‘overload’. In the morning I listen to the robin and the wren guarding my garden, and Out early I see the mighty sun lift over the horizon Unfettered and free in it’s course. Softly I give thanks for all in my care and all that I receive.
Let me give thanks In every way let me treasure my life and all that is dear to me Fearing only fear itself and Enjoying all while I may.
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