The past year has taught us that the hands of people are important. So many people have lived the past year without the touch of family and friends. I know that I have missed the hand shake, the hug and the physical contact of strangers, friends and family.

Michael Rosen, Children’s author and poet wrote a poem about hands to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the NHS titled, ‘These are the Hands,’
​
These are the hands
That touch us first
Feel your head
Find the pulse
And make your bed.
 
These are the hands…
 
and so the poem goes on as we hear how the doctors and nurses care for us.
 
The hands of those in the caring professions have become so important in the last year.
 
Today, as we begin the three most important days in the life of the church hands will pay a significant part in the last days of the life of Jesus.
 
On this Maundy Thursday we will see and reflect on Jesus’ hands as he washed the disciples’ feet and as he gave the instruction, to wash one another’s feet.
 
So if I your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. (John 13:14)
 
On this Maundy Thursday we also reflect on the hands of Jesus as he blesses the bread and wine at the last supper:
 
While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them and said, ‘This is my body.’ Then he took the cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, ‘This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many.’ (Mark, 14: 22-24)
 
On Good Friday we see others using their hands, not in service and care of others, but in cruelty and ultimately death. Pilate in the Gospel of Matthew washes his hands as a symbolic gesture that he was innocent of Jesus’ death.
 
So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood;
 see to it yourselves.’
 
On Good Friday we see the hands of the Roman soldiers nail Jesus’ hands to the cross, those compassionate hands of Jesus that had shown love and care to all so cruelly impaled.
 
But the story does not end there, on the cross.
 
Easter Day, the day of resurrection will reveal the hands of Jesus as caring and loving hands once more as Jesus stands and offers his scarred hands as testimony to his resurrection, to a doubting Thomas.
 
Hands are important in our Holy Week and Easter Story, but hands are also important for our Covid world. Hands show us how we love, care and serve others. As Jesus revealed himself and God to those first disciples through the work of his hands, God is revealed to us through the care love and service of all those who have supported us through the past year with their hands.
 
These are the hands…

Dean Sue

While you're here:
Why not prepare for next Sunday's worship? Our preparation sheet for adults and for children can be accessed by clicking on the Resources tab of this website: https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html.

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​We are now in Holy Week, that great week of weeks, when we travel with Christ through the final days of his earthly ministry.
 
An early Christian understanding of the liturgy was to ‘make real again’ the events about which we read in the Bible, and which are central to our faith, and over the centuries, the church’s liturgy has evolved with this in mind and the liturgies of Holy Week are no exception.
 
The offices of the early days of the week call to mind the events leading up to Mandy Thursday and the great triduum of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter does this especially well;  we can add to this the devotion known as the Stations of the Cross, and the Medieval inspired Passion Plays which we in Liverpool came to know only too well with the powerful performances of the ‘Liverpool Passion Plays’, here in the Cathedral in the last decade. 

As with other aspects of the liturgical year, we at Liverpool Cathedral have evolved the traditional liturgies of Holy Week for a twentieth century cathedral and our use of the building to such good effect means that Good Friday especially, has become known as one the great liturgical events of the year. 

Such liturgies help us to stand, unobserved, in the crowd in the temple and watch the tables of the money changers overturned; they help us we weep with Christ at the tomb of his friend Lazarus and marvel at the events which followed; they help us watch from the corner of that far off dining room in Bethany, as a woman anoints Christ with precious ointment; they help us to stand, unobserved in the corner of the upper room, and witness the Last Supper, and Christ’s instruction to, ‘do this in remembrance of me’,  they help us watch with Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and no doubt there are times when we fall asleep, as the disciples fell asleep. 

​They help us stand in the crowds and observe the betrayal and trial of Jesus; they help us walk the way of the Cross and watch, horrified and confused, as Our Lord is crucified; they help us watch and weep and wonder as our Lord is laid in the tomb.

And finally, ultimately, they transport us through the ages and we watch the women walk through the garden in the dawn mist of that far off morning, we see them running to Simon Peter and the others, we see them talk to the Angel and with joy, we hear them proclaim the good news of the resurrection. 

After that, we are transported back to our own age and our own lives and this year, to COVID, and we begin life again, as the disciples on the Road to Emmaus were doing, and as the whole of creation does, fresh with the knowledge that sin and death have been overcome. 

What a lot we have to come back to this year though, despite the wonderful success of the vaccination programme, the effects of the pandemic will be felt for years to come and as we say and sing, Christ is Risen, we have much to reflect on.

We are hoping that we can return the Cathedral to some form of normality just as soon as we can; we are now able to safely welcome you back for worship, we are able to have some music, although we will miss our Choristers at this year’s Easter services, and we are able to grow our online community, thanks to the technology available to us; please do join us this Holy Week; however best suits you, and invite others to do so, whether in person or online and journey with us and with Christ; help us to make these events real again, and in so doing, together, we will bring the Kingdom of God closer to those who need it the most and ultimately, to us all. 

We all look forward to praying and worshipping with you this Holy Week, we continue to hold in our prayers, all who have suffered as a result of the pandemic, and we hope and pray that this Easter we will sing Alleluia as an Easter People, with fresh hope and determination to build a better world for us all. 
​

Canon Nick
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While you're here:
Why not prepare for next Sunday's worship? Our preparation sheet for adults and for children can be accessed by clicking on the Resources tab of this website: https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html.

​Today is Palm Sunday, the day that marks the beginning of Holy Week. Today the events of Holy Week begin with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey. Each of the three synoptic Gospels tells the story in a slightly different way, but the key idea remains the same. Drawing on imagery from the Old Testament, the Gospel writers make it plain that Jesus is entering Jerusalem as Messiah. Some people spread their cloaks on the road. Other people spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. As Jesus rode on the donkey people shouted the salutation from Psalm 118: 
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!
 
For those of you who wanted to do some thinking and preparation for today’s service during the preceding week, I invited you to reflect on the image of processional banners. Today’s picture of processional banners has been taken from the illustrated communion book, The Lord is Here!:
 
Lord Jesus Christ,
you rode into Jerusalem to shouts of Hosanna.
Ride into our lives and accept our praise.
Hosanna to the Son of David,
Hosanna in the highest heaven;
Hosanna now and always.
Amen.
 
Next Sunday, Easter Sunday, focuses our attention on the resurrection of Jesus. The image to help us prepare for next Sunday’s theme is spring flowers. You can find out more about that theme here https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html. We would really appreciate you letting us know how you are using these materials. Please send us your ideas and photos of the things you may create; email them to Nelson.Pike@liverpoolcathedral.org.uk.
 
To learn more about The Lord is here!, follow this link to the relevant page of the St. Mary’s Centre website: http://www.st-marys-centre.org.uk/resources/childrenandcommunion.html.
 
You are warmly invited to join us in worship online. We are livestreaming our 10:30am service on both our Facebook and YouTube pages. To stream the service on Facebook, follow this link to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LiverpoolCathedral. To stream the service on YouTube, follow this link to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/LiverpoolCathedral/videos. 
 
I send Palm Sunday greetings to all.
 
Canon Leslie

Probably the most agonizing promise in the whole of Scripture is Jesus’ foretold return, as John the Revelator proclaimed in His voice: “Sure, I am coming soon” (Revelation 22:20b). It is with this phrase, followed by a final doxology, that John concludes his Revelation, and since the fourth century, the whole narrative of Scripture for the Christian Church. But unlike early Christians, Christians two millennia on know that it will probably be a while yet before the Second Coming actually comes. 
 
And more to the point: we don’t know when it is coming: “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 42:36). 
 
Jesus left us an important instruction regarding the end times: keep awake. 
 
“Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour” (Matthew 24:42-44). 
 
So we have to act like the end is coming just around the corner, even if we know it may not be for a bit. 
 
Does that attitude sound familiar? 
 
Many of us can appreciate the agony of patiently and fervently waiting for something that is still a ways away: the almost mythic-sounding easing of lockdowns, wide-spread vaccinations, and opportunities to interact with others face to face. 
 
The agony of the past year is akin to the agony Christians have experienced for two millenia. We, like in lockdown, must wait, and more importantly prepare for when this world is over and we face the merciful judgement of God.
 
Here’s the key to doing well at the last judgement: make sure you have kept awake. We may be waiting for the end times, as may be God, but we aren’t supposed to be sitting at a table with anxiety for thousands of years. The Christian call to wait is also a call to action. 
 
“Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:20-21). 
 
God is already at work among us! Like the labourers in the field, there’s plenty for us to do. But Matthew provides us with a final warning-parable we ought to take note of before picking up our shovels. In the parable, Jesus tells the story of a landowner who hires labourers for his field throughout the day, yet pays each the same daily wage. The workers, however, 
 
“grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous? So the last will be first, and the first will be last” (Matthew 20:11b-16). 
 
There’s so much to do that there’s a place for everyone in God’s kingdom. God values all the varying contributions from different folks according to different abilities and varieties of gifts. 
 
And pray tell: what does that kingdom look like? Right now, even during lockdown, how do we prepare for both the world beyond Covid-19, and more importantly, the world beyond this life? 
 
I think Mary said it best: 
 
“His mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
    and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
    and sent the rich away empty.” (Luke 1:50-53) 
 
Let’s get busy. 
 
For, “Surely I am coming soon.” 
 
Nelson, Tsedaqah Community Member
​
While you're here:
Why not prepare for next Sunday's worship? Our preparation sheet for adults and for children can be accessed by clicking on the Resources tab of this website: https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html.

Empty roads – a tangible sign of the weirdest year in living memory. Even before the landmark broadcast by the Prime-Minister on the evening of Monday 23rd March 2020, our public spaces were eerily silent. A portent of what was to come in the PM’s directive: “Stay at Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives” with its stark black writing on a bright yellow background fringed with red and yellow hatching. In nature, black and bright yellow signal danger. Even if one could not read the text, the message was clear; we were in for a tottering time.
 
A few weeks later, I snapped a couple of pictures of the Queen’s Walk car-park outside the Cathedral on a sunny Saturday afternoon. In a space where it was common for the ‘Full’ sign to be out by the middle of the day, there were just a couple of cars! Astonishing. It made me think: as many folk across our nation were grieving as the death toll rose exponentially, all of us were in a state of grief – for a way of life that it seemed had suddenly been consigned to the archives.
 
Little did I know that, within a couple of months of the PM’s announcement, I would have lost my Uncle Keith to Covid. Suffering with advanced dementia, his last, lonely days were in pain, distress and confusion in a Bedford hospital. Awful. A scenario which has played out too many thousands of times across our nation, let alone our world. Nor that, two months on, my father would have lost his struggle with an aggressive asbestos-related cancer. Covid restrictions prevented me from visiting him as he spent his last weeks at home. Thank goodness for WhatsApp and FaceTime.
 
There have been hilarious moments too in the last year, as we have sought to get to grips with the (to me) new technology! Thank goodness for it, I have to say. And it has opened up more opportunities too. As far as I know, none of my colleagues at the Cathedral has ended up on a ‘Zoom’ or ‘Teams’ call upside down, resembling a cat, or looking like a gangster sporting a fedora and shades!
 
We know that we are not quite out of the woods just yet but, on this first anniversary of the lockdown officially starting, the National Day of Reflection on Tuesday 23rd March 2021 does ring true for me. Although the current advice from the Government is to stay at home, we know that some people will want to take advantage of the ‘private prayer’ space that many churches are offering, including the Cathedral. So, just today, we are open from 11am to 3pm if you wish to do that. In a Covid-secure environment, you can light a candle or two for anyone or anything you would like to pray for and keep a moment of silence – often the only appropriate response when speech leaves us short-changed. Or you can join us on-line, via our FaceBook page. At Midday we will, with the nation, pause for a minute’s silence to take a communal deep breath. And then to join in a simple celebration of the Eucharist. Eucharist means ‘Thanksgiving’. Within it, we also remember. ‘Do this in remembrance of me’ said Jesus just before he died, as he took the bread and wine and shared it with his dearest friends. At 2pm, we will read out a list of all the names that people have submitted via our virtual ‘prayer wall’, names of those who have been lost to us in the past year, whether from Covid-19 or other causes. You can submit a name if you wish; please go to our Liverpool Cathedral ‘Home’ page and you will see the button for ‘Prayer Requests’. The link is: https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/requests.html if that is easier.
 
However you choose to mark this day, I hope that you will encounter the love of God somewhere within it. That may be in someone or something you remember, something you do, or something that someone says to you, in-person or on-line. Our human history is one of change and upheaval – and we have seen plenty of that in this last year-like-no-other. The God who we worship is the one who does not change. Even in the darkest and toughest places of human existence, we can rely on God’s hesed, a Hebrew word which is hard to translate but has the sense of his steadfast love and loving-kindness. Truly his faithfulness is great. And his mercies new every morning. We certainly need them, especially today, and in the days to come!
 
With good wishes

Canon Neal
​
While you're here:
Why not prepare for next Sunday's worship? Our preparation sheet for adults and for children can be accessed by clicking on the Resources tab of this website: https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html.

​Today is the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the season in the Church’s year when we prepare for the events of Holy Week and Good Friday. It is a season for reflection and penitence. Today’s Gospel reading from John invites us to call to mind how Jesus prepared his followers for his death on Good Friday. Like them, we need to approach Good Friday and the death of Jesus in confidence of the resurrection. In this passage from John’s Gospel (that follows immediately after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey) Jesus offers the model of the grain of wheat being buried in the earth and dying before growing into new life.
 
For those of you who wanted to do some thinking and preparation for today’s service during the preceding week, I invited you to reflect on the image of seeds. In today’s picture from his book Water, Aled is taking care of the seeds that he has planted, and making sure that they have enough water to germinate. He has a picture too to remind him of what will grow from the seeds he has planted.
 
Next Sunday, Palm Sunday, focuses our attention on Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey. The image to help us prepare for next Sunday’s theme is processional banners. You can find out more about that theme here https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html. We would really appreciate you letting us know how you are using these materials. Please send us your ideas and photos of the things you may create; email them to Nelson.Pike@liverpoolcathedral.org.uk.
 
To read Aled and Sian’s book, Water, follow this link to the resource on the St. Mary’s Centre website: http://www.st-marys-centre.org.uk/resources/Exploring%20Why%20Series/Water/Water%20Short%202016%20WEB.pdf. For more adventures, see the Exploring Why section of the St. Mary’s Centre RE Resources page: http://www.st-marys-centre.org.uk/resources/Exploring%20Why.html.
 
You are warmly invited to join us in worship streamed live from the Cathedral Facebook page. The service will go live just before 10:30 on Sunday morning, so tune in then to watch the service live: https://www.facebook.com/LiverpoolCathedral.
 
Aled and Sian send their Sunday greetings to all.
 
Canon Leslie

The nice weather of the past couple of weeks brought many people out of their homes. Maybe, the boring lockdown has been lasting too long. Dealing with nagging children and annoying spouse is not everyone's cup of tea. However, it seems that one long year of endeavor and sacrifice eventually is going to pay back. Talking of sacrifice, it was a bit different from the historic ways mainly associated with torture and blood-shedding. Staying at home, working in pajamas, online shopping, gardening, and family feud are some of our new forms of the sacrifice of which we are proud and bored.    
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It is the Lent season. In less than two weeks, we would pay tribute to the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem like what the people of Jerusalem did at the time. Howbeit, in less than one week, all of that eagerness and tumult vanished, and Jesus ended up on the cross. That was not a very warm welcome although, all of it meant to happen as a part of the divine plan of salvation, the ultimate sacrifice. Even if our offering is nothing compared to Jesus's one, still giving up on our routine life and making restrictions is not that easy, especially unwillingly. Confusion over the approaches plus financial difficulties makes the situation much harder. Many people have lost their loved ones. Many others are still suffering from the long-term effects of the disease.

Maybe at the time, many of us wondered if there is any hope. And suddenly, an amazing thing happened; a light in the darkness, new medical development, and vaccine. Probably "suddenly" is not a very welcomed word for the scientists who persevered months with research and experiment. But anyway, from our point of view, a sudden light brightened our perspective. 

In physics, a dark area is an area with limited light sources. In other words, there is no darkness. It is just the absence of light. I think it is the same for our hopes and disappointments; when we forget about our aspirations, fears come through. Upcoming Easter to me is a special one; the resurrection of a crucified man in the middle of shock and disappointment of his friends and family was in-fact the fulfillment of his mission and the start of a new era in history. People did not understand what was going on until Jesus came back like a light in the darkness. Our limited knowledge usually deceives us. Usually, we do not have the complete picture; therefore, we decide what is right and what is wrong until our mind's dark corners are enlightened sometimes by experience, sometimes through science, the wisdom of years, or maybe a divine plan.   

Post corona time is a new era in humans' modern history, an age at which our insight regarding the world, nature, and human changes. This disease reveals lots of our weaknesses and lots of disproportions in our societies. It probably burst lots of bubbles in our minds and creates a new perspective; of course, for those who perceive not just see.

Canon Saro

While you're here:
Why not prepare for next Sunday's worship? Our preparation sheet for adults and for children can be accessed by clicking on the Resources tab of this website: https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html.

​Last week, a very poignant memorial was held online for those healthcare workers who have lost their lives through this pandemic – nearly a thousand of them.  As one of them, even if I do not work clinically in the hospitals now and my clinical work was never in the melting pot of A and E, which it has been for many of these individuals, we are still brothers and sisters, all people together striving to heal, to cure, to help, to care for our patients.  In a very real sense, they have given their lives for the sake of others; that many patients indeed did live, alongside the many thousands that we have sadly lost.  And although the vaccines bring us hope for a brighter, more normal future, we must still remember those lives which are still being lost – the numbers being much lower than in recent weeks; but each one is still a mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter…..an individual – unique and distinctive, who loved and is loved.

Last Sunday, mothering Sunday, will have been very different for many people – not least with the lockdown and not being able to gather, greet, express love and thanks for our mothers, the mother church or those who mother us.  But also remember our mothers no longer with us. In Newsham park, near to where I live, it is lovely to see the daffodils out in a glorious bloom – the picture above is from just one corner of the park.  Interestingly, I estimated about a thousand in just this small patch….  In my rural home parish of Ribchester in Lancashire, many volunteers would normally have gathered on the Saturday before Mothering Sunday, to lovingly put together small bunches of the flowers, to give out to our mothers and indeed all our loved ones.  A lovely gesture…..back then, I would take some home to mum and even some years I received some myself – from the members of the church choir who thanked me for mothering them!  Bless them!

The lectionary for Sunday offered two alternative gospel readings for Mothering Sunday – both recounting our Lady, Jesus’ mother Mary, within the life of Jesus.  The first (Luke chapter 2) at the presentation within the temple, when Simeon reveals to all, including Mary and Joseph, precisely who their baby boy will be.  The path that he will take, to bring us salvation and eternal life – that we might live.  A path, though, that will bring sorrow and pain to Mary herself, as a sword will indeed pierce her own heart.

The second (John chapter 19) is at the foot of the cross; where the realities of Christ’s sacrifice are made abundantly clear.  Like the unimaginable pain of those who have seen and witnessed their offspring pass away before them, Mary is there seeing the boy whom she brought into the world, taken from it in such a cruel and savage way; his life as a ransom for many…..that we might live.

Lent allows us, indeed encourages us, to consider and reflect upon the life of our Lord; born, raised, died and resurrected for us.  But so too those who have loved and nurtured us in our lifetime; those who still do – even as we support and pray for others, they pray and support us too…..that we might live our lives for the good of others.  That is something for which, for myself, I am truly grateful.

With my love and prayers for you all; God bless you and go gently…that we might live daily with the love of God in our hearts. 
 
Canon Mike 😊

While you're here:
Why not prepare for next Sunday's worship? Our preparation sheet for adults and for children can be accessed by clicking on the Resources tab of this website: https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html.

​Today is the Fourth Sunday of Lent, the season in the Church’s year when we prepare for the events of Holy Week and Good Friday. It is a season of reflection and penitence. Today’s Gospel reading from John invites us to call to mind Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus. At the beginning of chapter 3 of John’s Gospel, Nicodemus is introduced as a Pharisee and as a leader of the Jews who came to Jesus by night. Chapter 2 has closed by saying that many of those in Jerusalem for the Passover believed in Jesus because they saw the signs. Nicodemus may have been among them. He has come by night and may be walking from the darkness to meet the light that has now come into the world. For John’s Gospel darkness and light, night and day, are important themes.
 
For those of you who wanted to do some thinking and preparation for today’s service during the preceding week, I invited you to reflect on the image of darkness. In today’s picture from his book Night Time, Teddy Horsley is looking through his bedroom window at the dark night sky, and sees there the light of the moon and the stars breaking through the darkness.
 
To learn more about Night Time and more books by Teddy Horsley, you are invited to visit his page on the St. Mary’s Centre website: http://www.st-marys-centre.org.uk/resources/TeddyHorsley.html, as well as his own: https://teddyhorsley.org/.
 
Next Sunday, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, focuses our attention on Jesus teaching about a grain of wheat needing to die before it brings fourth much fruit. The image to help prepare for next Sunday is seeds. You can find out more about that theme here https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html. We would really appreciate you letting us know how you are using these materials. Please send us your ideas and photos of the things you may create; email them to Nelson.Pike@liverpoolcathedral.org.uk.
 
You are warmly invited to join us in worship streamed live from the Cathedral Facebook page. The service will go live just before 10:30 on Sunday morning, so tune in then to watch the service live: https://www.facebook.com/LiverpoolCathedral.
 
Teddy sends his Sunday greetings to all.
 
Canon Leslie

Many of you will remember this statement from childhood days. Well I do! I remember being squeezed into the back of a very small car with my brother and sister for car journeys to grandparents and to beauty spots or holiday destinations. It was not a comfortable experience and invariably one of us would ask ‘are we nearly there yet’.
At the recent webinar, ‘Who cares? What kind of life after COVID-19,’ one of the contributors used the phrase to reflect on the journey of Covid 19 and to ask ‘are we nearly there yet’. Of course the answer was, not yet.
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I have been reflecting on this statement over the past few days as I observe more and more people getting frustrated, because we are nearly there, but not quite. I am one of those people, I would like to have my hair cut, I would like to have coffee with friends, I would like to have a meal out, but it is still not possible and I can feel the frustration within myself. There are friends who tell me that they recognise behaviour in themselves that just would not happen in ‘normal’ times. It feels harder this time round to deal with the frustrations of being nearly there, but not quite.

For me what does not help is the continually toing and froing of information about when we will come out of lockdown. Only this morning I heard that the Chief Medical advisor, Chris Whitty, has warned about coming out of lockdown to quickly and the threat of another wave if we did not take things slowly. My brain tells me that that makes sense especially in the light of other lockdowns, but my emotions respond differently. I feel the frustration rising.

To deal with this frustration I think of the advice to stay in the present moment. To live each hour and each day in the present. It is not easy I know, but if we stop breathe and think of the God who knows and loves us perhaps our frustration and stress will reduce.

We need to remember and dwell on the fact that by staying present in the moment God is with us in that moment. God has not abandoned us, God is with us through all the trial and tribulations. As we continue our Lenten journey towards Good Friday and Easter and as we continue to walk in lockdown we need to take a day at a time. We need to be trusting and hopefully people. We need to try and dwell in the moment WITH God.

Dean Sue

While you're here:
Why not prepare for next Sunday's worship? Our preparation sheet for adults and for children can be accessed by clicking on the Resources tab of this website: https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html.