Trinity Sunday

Sunday 7th June 2020

An icon which helped to illustrate my short talk during the twelfth live-streamed Sunday worship which I have conducted online for parishioners of North Tyne and Redesdale  [See separate "Thought for the..." page]  It's interesting that in my old age and without particular interest in technology, I have been prompted by lockdown to take advantage of new (for me) techniques.

Food parcel delivery

Sunday 7th June 2020

Off to deliver morale-boosting treats of slightly exotic food parcels from Age UK after conducting Sunday worship by Zoom from the computer desk in my study.

Getting observant in lockdown

Wednesday 27th May 2020

    In lockdown there's a limit to the variety of scenes to photograph; but recording the development of early summer brings me to familiar favourites.  
    Here is the lime tree at the entrance to the Rectory glebe, arching over the track with slightly less grace than before its matching neighbour was tragically felled.  Soon the way through to the paddock should be scented with linden blossom and buzzing with bees.  This is a lighter scent than the intoxicating poplar which flowered earlier  at Catholic Corner  (the local name for the road junction outside St Oswald's Roman Catholic church).

Things come together

Wednesday 13th May 2020

     The weekly walk took me partway up Dunterley fell, passing a signwriter who was at work hand painting lettering on a vehicle.  I discovered that he had in the past done church notices boards and was willing to bring ours up to date.  As I continued to walk home, I encountered (at appropriate distance for a shouted conversation) the relevant Churchwarden with whom I made an arrangement for a phone discussion.
     These are the kinds of apparent coincidences which happen repeatedly during normal life when I'm constantly out and about parish visiting and  meeting people in the natural course of events.

Life in lockdown

Saturday 9th May 2020

A Northumberland National Park ranger arrives with a consignment of parcels from Age UK.  So I start to go through a list of residents in the parish to decide who would appreciate receiving some treats and groceries to vary the monotony of housebound isolation.  (Meanwhile fourteen boxes are stored in my hallway  --  which must be distributed before the contents get stale.)  

75th anniversary of V.E. Day

Friday 8th May 2020

The bell was rung 75 times (by the lone person allowed into the building) after a 2-minute silence at 11 a.m....

...during which I read the names of the fallen which are inscribed on the ring around the carving of Mother and Child on the font cover.  (This is the War Memorial in St Cuthbert's Bellingham.)
Then back into the Rectory for the VE Day cake made to Churchill's favourite recipe...

...and the V.E.Day video with a message from our bishop:

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W-coBfca5zjL46SQD6ah-1RdMyLaHREK/view?usp=sharing,%20https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s0Z29xrVSjTU1Zp5umsztBrGvyOZTXxH/view?usp=sharing

VE Day video .m4v https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DdU_WmFm2NJ9QXl6HML89J_UCzEbTE24/view?usp=sharing

Community life at a distance

Thursday 7th May 2020

      Even if we cannot get near to each other, neighbours wave at 8 o'clock on Thursdays when we go outside to applaud health workers and others who keep us going during the pandemic.  

     For me the other highlight today in a life of confinement was being allowed to go into church to say Morning Prayer there for the first time since mid March.  Otherwise the day has been spent at the computer with morning and afternoon meetings online and admin in the evening.

Day-off cake

Wednesday 6th May 2020

Made to the National Trust's recipe for Winston Churchill's favourite cake, this one is now ready for marking the 75th anniversary of V.E. Day on 8th May.  On Friday the church bell will be rung 75 times after we have kept a silence at 11 o'clock.  The cake will get eaten later in the day.

Summer is on the way

Monday 4th May 2020

Once the trees start to come into leaf, the summer landscape appears at a great rate in the upper North Tyne valley.  
     My administrative spring-cleaning is far less rapid, as I sort out the remaining copies of the May parish magazine for complex distribution:  they are left under the protection of the overhanging roof of the outbuildings to be collected by appropriate people observing social distancing.  There are also messages about Age Concern parcels and church finances as well as an online discussion about how to move the St Cuthbert's Three-Church Trail project forward. 

Enjoying isolation

Friday 1st May 2020

How beautiful the weeds are outside the kitchen door!

It was a lovely break from sitting at the computer fielding between fifty and sixty e-mails.  Some of those related to my taking my turn to set the online Friday Quiz for the community in Tarset.  (Most of them were more straight-forward work.)

Monday tidy up

Monday 27th April 2020

After the concentration of live-streaming worship from my study, I had furniture to move back into its place as well as sorting papers and creating some domestic order.  Outside the kingcups were flowering on the Rectory glebe.

St Mark's Day

Saturday 25th April 2020

     The Rectory Multi-tree, which I have long promised to photograph when conditions were right.  There are actually five young saplings growing from the stump of the ancient beech.  Only the silver birch, rowan and fir tree show in this picture.
     St Mark's day brings back various memories including one prompted by today's Bible reading: when St Paul and Barnabas were on one of the missionary journeys described in the Acts of the Apostles, they wanted John Mark to travel with them...When I began to explore the possibility that I had a vocation to be ordained, I consulted a wise priest and exclaimed "I don't want to!".  His comment was "What would have happened if Paul and Barnabas had said that?"

Weekly walk

Wednesday 22nd April 2020

It's supposed to be "daily exercise" during national lockdown, but I only manage to fit in a walk on my day off.  So, today, up the hill to look back down on Bellingham  --  rather out of breath as it seems steeper on foot than on a horse!

Spring crops!

Saturday 18th April 2020

Having spent two days at my desk sorting papers and co-ordinating things across the parishes, I take a break to pick some rhubarb before returning to preparations for tomorrow's live-streamed worship.

Spring in isolation

Wednesday 15th April 2020

The rose hedge beginning to come into leaf as I do the day-off chores like hanging out the washing and notice that the bird bath needs water.

Bank Holiday

Monday 13th April 2020

Easter Monday was domestically the same as all other days during lockdown, but we enjoyed a gift of traditional Pace (Pasque = Easter) eggs which had been hard boiled and dyed  by a parishioner.

     The main pressures were lifted for a few hours as the phone and e-mails stopped for the first time for a month.

Easter Day

Sunday 12th April 2020

Unable to leave self-isolation to go to our church buildings, a congregation of about sixty people tuned in online for a service streamed from the Rectory study, with the music provided by the organist from his house and a Bible reading from a third home. 

     After the Lenten austerity of no flowers in church (even when the church was open), we brought in daffodils to mark the joy of Easter.  We lit the new Paschal Candles (one for each of our closed churches) to remind us of the Christian hope  --  as we live in the light of the Resurrection, confident that Christ's rising shows that love is stronger than death   --  and giving thanks for God's love demonstrated by the selfless acts of kindness and dedication shown by so many people during this pandemic.

Still in isolation

Saturday 11th April 2020

Here is another of my normal routes, which I miss as I sit all day  working by computer and phone to keep in touch virtually rather than in person.  Tomorrow, though, the virtual congregation should gather in force to celebrate the Easter hope!

Good Friday

Friday 10th April 2020

     The picture was taken two days ago on my only walk for the last three weeks.  I know this route, but it raises the question as to where we are going in life.

     Today was a serious day of prayer as Christians remember the three hours during which Jesus of Nazareth suffered death by the Roman method of execution by hanging on a cross (a historical fact).  I offered an hour online from noon till 1 o'clock of readings, reflections and music; then joined in the further two hours conducted by other people.

     Tomorrow...?

Worship continues in our homes

Maundy Thursday 9th April 2020

The River North Tyne with the sallow willow in flower at the bottom of the Rectory glebe field, and only a few hundred yards away the bell turret of the parish church from which we are excluded by lockdown regulations during the pandemic.

Very pregnant!

Wednesday 8th April 2020

Rest eternal grant unto her...

Tuesday 7th April 2020 

It felt ironic that my first outing since lockdown began was in spring weather to conduct a graveside burial service.

The funeral directors bring the coffin past the church.  Social distancing keeps them well behind me (the officiating priest) and far ahead of the few family members allowed to be present.

Palm Sunday

Sunday 5th April 2020

About 45 people joined in worship online for Palm Sunday.  When we are free from lockdown, you can collect a palm cross (blessed this morning) from the local church once it is open again.
We hope that next year we can hold the procession with donkey and palm (willow) branches from Kielder Waterside to the Living (willow) Church which had been planned for this year.

April Fool?

Wednesday 1st April

What season is this?  No it's not an April Fool: it's about 6 o'clock in the evening and that is a band of cloud, not snow on the hills.

Spring still comes

Monday 30th March 2020

Spring comes to the Rectory glebe even if nobody else does!

Poised between winter and spring

Sunday 29th March 2020

Trees still leafless in the spring sunshine:
a good symbol of current life,  and even of earthly life in general.

Remember all the acts of kindness which bring hope, as we did during our local live-streamed morning worship.
For this morning's prayers see separate page: Thought for the Day.

Food Bank donations

Saturday 28th March 2020

This is the solution we have come up with since churches have to be shut in accordance with Government instructions during the pandemic --  and St Cuthbert's is a major collection point in Bellingham.  (The plastic bin was bought to be used as a bran tub for the church's Family Fair a few years ago and has never been used for anything else!)

New life

Thursday 26th March 2020

     The first of this year's lambs appeared about a week ago in these chilly northern hills, a hopeful sign of the season to come.  For most of the population self-isolating during the pandemic, it's good to remember farmers bringing life to the landscape.  
     Meanwhile, the clergy are in an odd category of key workers ("religious staff") who have certain essential duties out and about but otherwise conduct a great deal of work from home on the phone and the computer (like so many others). 

Feast of the Annunciation

Wednesday 25th March 2020

Sitting in the south transept the other day, I realised that this could be called "The Chapel of the Annunciation" celebrating the Angel's announcing  to Mary that she would give birth to Jesus.  In the traditional  Collect for the Annunciation we pray "that as we have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel, so by his cross and passion we may be brought unto the glory of his resurrection".  And here on the left of the arch we see a colourful representation of angel, whilst to the right of the arch are a reminder of Jesus' suffering and death on the cross and of his resurrection in the light burning to show his risen presence.

Self-isolating

Tuesday 24th March 2020

The wild rabbit in the plant pot is observing social distancing
whilst the Rector in the study fields phone calls and e-mails.

Remarkable Mothering Sunday

Sunday 22nd March 2020

Set up ready for the live-streaming of the morning service (with two of us present in my study and 29 Zooming in online) with the screen showing that I'm first listening to the service from Lambeth Palace with the Archbishop of Canterbury also confined at home.

Meanwhile we had left flowers outside all our churches as gifts for Mothering Sunday.  One church made extra posies part way through the day as 25 people in the village appreciated the offer.

A local cafe, closed to diners, delivered the Sunday roast to doorsteps throughout the middle of the day.
     The first day of self-isolation has been energising as people have risen to the occasion with kindness and ingenuity.  It remains to be seen how we feel after twelve weeks of it; but as we face our frailty and powerlessness, it is salutory to recognise that we humans cannot control everything.  All we can do is to trust in God's love and act in accordance with that love.

A heap of sheep

Saturday 14th March 2020

Sheep building themselves up for lambing

Christmas Eve

Tuesday 24th December 2019

The devout dog (who always attends Midnight Mass) and the patient organist both waiting after the service to get home to bed! 

Santa Claus drove so quickly past the Rectory that he didn't throw me any chocolate this year.
 

Almost Christmas

Monday 23rd December 2019



     A lot of driving around (past this puddle in a farmer's field) to arrange various things, such as giving readings to the farmers' children ready for tomorrow's Christingle service at Bellingham. 
     Today was Thorneyburn's Carol Service with the theme this difficult year being The Christmas Message bringing light into the darkness.  A good turnout: with a population of fewer  than 300, there was an attendance of 135.