Churches July/August 2022

St. Helen’s Church is now open for worship again. Everyone is welcome. The wearing of face covering and social distancing are discretionary.

PCC and Sub-Committee Meetings

All meetings to be held in St. Helen’s Meeting Room.

PCC Meeting

The next meeting of the PCC is 6th July at 6.30pm.

St Helen's Contact Details

Vicar: Audrey McCartan 708806

audreymccartan@btinternet.com

Website: www.achurchnearyou.com

Wardens: David Pringle 788283 (Treasurer)

Stephen Gibson 788711 (Secretary)

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Longhorsley Mission Bible Convention, 2nd & 3rd July 2022

Held in the Memorial Hall, Longframlington.

Speakers: David Campbell (Preston) and Rupert Bentley-Taylor (Bath).

Saturday 2nd July at 3.30pm and 6pm.

Sunday 3rd July at 11am, 3.30pm and 6pm.

Tea provided each day after the afternoon meetings.

All are welcome.

Contact Ian Pagan 788263 idpagan@btinternet.com

Website: www.longhorsleymission.org.uk

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Thought for the Month

Of Deserts and Beaches and Stars…

I have a treasured pocket bible which was my father’s. The inscription on the flyleaf I love,

“To Annie, from Joseph”, then “to Raymond, On loan, for the duration”.

Then, my Dad’s familiar script,

“Returned with thanks November 1946 - France, Central Africa, South Africa, Egypt, Palestine, TransJordan, Iraq, Iran, El Alamein to Tunisia, Salerno to Santa Maria La Fosse, Belgium, Holland, Germany and back home. The word of God proved to be peace in the midst of battle, a guide when alone in the Sahara, and in the ‘Promised Land’, and always bringing very near the presence of my Saviour and Lord”.

When my Uncle Joe gave his sister the bible they didn’t know that war was looming. When Annie passed it to her little brother for his battledress pocket they didn’t know when the war would end, or the outcome for the country or themselves.

My father, during the dark desert nights found comfort in the stars. He wrote to my mother,

“to you the stars just shine, by them my course I steer, but still they’re yours and mine, for the stars you see are here".

Though separated by war they shared the same stars and had faith that God who created them was in control.

Loved and familiar to me, as once to my father, are the Northumberland hills; our beaches; our dark skies. Against distant Cheviot’s unchanging outline sands shift, rocks appear and disappear; the sea, placid, Mediterranean blue, or turbulent, unrestrained, and battleship grey; but it’s on a clear night looking up at ancient stars that I am in awe of God’s upholding power;

“Lift your eyes, look to the heavens: who created these? He who brings out the stars one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing”.

Isaiah 40v26.

I hold Dad’s bible as he did in wartime and reflect on God's unchanging promises within those pages; they apply to me now as to my father then.

We share the same stars; we walk the same earth that God created. So, as we enjoy our beautiful county, pause and remember that He who made these things, and who holds Creation together, is the Father who loves us and carries us through life, whatever it may hold. He is our unchanging horizon.

Lesley Smith Longhorsley Mission

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