Neil’s Reflections
What’s the perfect number of days for a holiday?
‘One more’, most people will say.
For most of us it takes a few days to unwind, to stop worrying about the things we can’t change, to sleep a little more deeply, to walk a little slower rather than charging around. And there’s a sweet spot in the holiday when all that’s happened, and you’re still a few days away from ‘getting back to normal’ that’s a sweet spot.
And you breathe.
This has been the year when we have found what it means to stop. Who would have thought in January that most things in society would come to a screeching halt in March? If you like Michael McIntyre, you might like this, if not just read on …
Our house backs on to the East Lancs Road. There were a few weeks when it was brilliant not to hear the traffic! We breathed.
Lots of engagements that were cluttering up my diary were cancelled, pretty much overnight. I breathed.
Apart from visits to the supermarket to see what they still had on their shelves, we didn’t visit another shop for months. And we breathed.
It was a sabbath. And sabbath’s are for breathing.
The sabbath was the gift that God gave his people to breathe. They had memories of being slaves who never had time off. Now they could take one day every week and worship and play, and God would provide for them. They could breathe.
Some of you need time this summer to breathe again. Life changed and some of you had to learn new skills, new responses, new practices. It all takes energy. So I hope you get a chance to breathe this summer.
Getting us all online as a church has taken a lot of time and effort behind the scenes by a few folks. Phil. Tony, and Jay have served us really well week by week. I want to thank them and tell them to take a breath over the summer as well.
With that in mind, we have taken advantage of using a service that has been put together by Elim centrally. Our denominational leaders decided to put together a service that churches could use to let all the folks who have worked so hard behind the scenes could have a week off. So they can breathe.
I hope you enjoy the service.
And I hope you breathe.
You’ll be able to join us watching the service on Sunday here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TkDms0WOlM Why not go there now and set a reminder so you don’t miss it?
You could also subscribe to our channel and get notifications from us when we upload new videos.
You can subscribe by pressing this button:There will be a chance to join together on Zoom after the service for a ‘coffee time’ if you want. The link to that is here: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/836810848 (Meeting ID: 836 810 848)
Interview
One of the things I have loved doing over the past 4 months is filming the interviews with people in church. And they will continue, but we will have a break in August. I hope you’ve enjoyed finding out more about the people who are in your church. If you would be willing to be interviewed in the future, please contact Neil.
Connecting
1. Our Gatherings
Midweek Gatherings
This week we have 2 prayer meetings during this week:
On Thursday at 7.45-9.00 All Church Prayer Meeting
The link is here: https://zoom.us/j/99171331331?pwd=WWUrajBFd29SUGNETnVJVlpSMVA1UT09
On Friday 10.30-12.00 there is a prayer meeting that doesn’t need Zoom! We use Whatsapp and it works great. If you want more information contact Corinne Baines or Gill Oldham or Neil and they’ll make sure you are able to connect.
2. Stay Connected: ‘Virtual Vine Wednesdays’
‘Virtual Coffee Morning’ – Wednesday 10.30-11.30am
Since closing we’ve missed chatting to people and we know some of you have missed popping in for a brew and a catch up too. So, whilst it’s not as good as the real thing, we thought we would try meeting up online instead. So, grab yourself a brew and join us. There may even be games and live music!
Meeting link: https://zoom.us/j/94930624852?pwd=dlI0SnhwY3RaNnUrUGpSMTkrWm5hZz09
If in doubt
All the links to the meetings are in Church Suite and on the ‘Calendar’ section of our church website: https://www.salfordelimchurch.org/events/
3. You’re not alone
If you need help and don’t know where to turn, you are always welcome to contact Neil on 07771 558058
