Dear friends,The season of Creation-tide runs from the beginning of September until the first week of October. The intercessions in today’s mail out are for Creation, you may like to use them throughout this period, perhaps adding your own thoughts to the …. spaces as you pray (that will make sense if you look at the text I’ve attached!).I am very grateful to the Revd David Runcorn and Revd Laurence Hillel who will be taking Sunday services while I have some leave through the next fortnight; and to Revd Jean who is available to be contacted in case of pastoral need. Sam White is also willing to receive practical queries and you will see her contact details in the next item.I am also attaching our first newsletter – for September. In future it would be good for Sam White (our administrator) to be able to send this to you directly. Also, under the GDPR regulations, we now have to ask for your permission to hold your contact details and have attached a Form for you to complete and return to Sam White either by email to lynvalleymissionoffice@gmail.com or via hard copy. For future newsletters to include a comprehensive of events across the Mission Community please can we ask that all Calendar Events are emailed to Sam White (email address as above)by 15th of the preceding month? If you have any queries regarding this, please do not hesitate to contact Sam by email or ringing 07340762327. God bless,Samantha
Dear Friends,This weekend we are “belatedly” marking the ancient feast of Lammas. I say belatedly because it is usually celebrated on the 1<sup>st</sup> August, but in inverted commas because it is the feast at which a loaf was presented in offering to God that was made from the first wheat harvested that year, and yet the mill that one of our number has been liaising with has let us know that this year the first wheat is not yet milled. For me this is a wonderful example of how our modern schedules try to regularise nature rather than allowing for the wisdom of nature’s resilient adaptation through times and seasons. Between September 1<sup>st</sup> and October 4<sup>th</sup> the churches have taken up a season on Creation-tide to re-focus on Creation as God’s gift, and our calling to tend to the earth and care for all the living things amongst whom we are creatures. This year praying for the wisdom to address the damage we have done to the resilience of nature is urgent: let’s keep all delegates to the COP 26 conference in Glasgow in our prayers through this time.Lammas was also an ancient expression of gratitude for God’s generosity – offering to God the first fruits in the knowledge that all we have comes as God’s good gift. It is a good time to review and give thanks for all we receive in our lives and perhaps review our patterns of giving to sustain the life of our churches to be signs of God’s presence in the midst of this beautiful part of God’s creation. I am sure parish treasurers would be very happy to talk with you about the best way to give regularly to your church.I have also just received an email from Marilyn who was with us earlier in the year. She is being ordained Deacon on September 11<sup>th</sup> at the cathedral and the service is being live-streamed. Please keep her in your prayers, and if you would like the link to watch the service please email me and I will forward it to you.God blessSamantha
<div>Dear friends,Last week’s commemoration of the flood at Lynmouth church was a very special event. Thanks go to the dedicated PCC members whose organisation was brilliant – enabling us to host the event in the church in a way that enabled everyone to feel secure and confident. The Acorn’s music captured all the feelings that the anniversary brings and provided such a sense of communal life, both past and present that it was a reminder of the real joy of being able to gather once more. It was a very good example of how the changes of the last year can bring really creative responses and enable us to discover new and interesting ways to adapt past traditions in meaningful ways. As we remembered those who died in 1952 we were also able to hold in our prayers the community of Keyham. Prayers are hugely valued by that community and the churches serving them, please keep them going.Let’s hold in our prayers too, the situation in Afganistan, and all efforts to keep safe those who are in fear for their own lives.I know many of you miss the Mission Community magazine which we suspended without notice when it was not deemed wise to be delivering them across the area. We have all appreciated Tricia Morgan’s brilliant work with the magazine through the years. It’s a good time now to say thank you for that to Tricia, and to all who have contributed to it. As a first step back to being able to communicate each parish’s news with each other, in addition to the website, I am working on a very simple newsletter style bulletin to be compiled with your help by Sam White, our administrator. Initially, I envisage a single page with service details and events for each month which can be both emailed out and printed for those who need a paper copy. The events dates will need to be sent directly to Sam at lynvalleymissionoffice@gmail.com and I am sure she would be delighted to hear of anything already planned for coming months!God blessSamantha</div>
Dear Friends,The text of the prayers and my sermon was written prior to the tragic shootings in Keyham, Plymouth but in the video I have integrated prayers for the community there, all who were killed and all those bereaved and in shock into what is offered. Let’s keep that community in our prayers over the next week as they bravely support one another and pray too for the police, emergency personnel, medics, church and community leaders and counsellors who are seeking to offer solace and restore a sense of security.There is a poignancy in praying for a devastated community over the weekend when we mark the anniversary of the flood of 1952. I was struck too, by news of flooding in Japan today, as I have been by reports from across the world in the last month. I know that our commemoration here holds together a range of feelings and thoughts: grief, remembrance, thanksgiving, a sense of honouring the legacy of those who rebuild community life here. We will hold an act of remembrance at 7pm at Lynmouth Church as part of an event led by the Acorns, bring local music to mark the day. I am sure many would wish to attend, but we will need to limit the capacity of the church to remain Covid-aware and if that causes any disappointment I hope you will understand. As with all church gatherings currently we will ask people to wear face coverings.We also celebrate the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary (11am at Lynton) this Sunday. She provides a profound example of a life lived through both suffering and joy in full openness to God and in many traditions and through the centuries Christians have found solace for their pain in drawing close to her experience. Perhaps we can pray to share her sense of God in all things as we bring all that is on our hearts to the worship of God this weekend.God blessSamanthaSunday 15th August9am Morning Worship (self led) Parracombe 11am Holy Communion, Lynton 7pm Commemoration of the Flood, LynmouthSunday 22nd9am Holy Communion (BCP) Brendon11am Holy Communion Lynton11am Morning Worship (self led) Martinhoe8.30pm Epilogue CountisburySadly, the concert planned for Monday 16th August at Lynton is unable to take place
