Greetings, all you good people in lockdown. How are you faring? We’re all in this together, huh, but in our own homes, so there’s not much fellowship to be had, huh. Well, as the St Francis Web-guy, and in talking with Rev Joan, I thought I’d put up a few things to maintain some morale in these uncertain times. So, check out some of the the things below. You’ll find something there for you – plenty of inspiration, hopefully, and including some fun stuff and some interesting stuff. All jumbled up, so you can figure out which is which as you make your way through them. [Some are all three!] And I’ll add to it as long as we’re in lockdown, so keep coming back to see what’s been added.
So, yeah, I’ve added some more links (Monday morning), below, in the second half of the page. Scroll down – you’ll find a real smorgasbord. Plenty of distracting amusements.
Enjoy, peeps.
First of all, let’s remember who we are – and whose we are: a prayer to begin:
We are not people of fear:
we are people of courage.
We are not people who protect our own safety:
we are people who protect our neighbours’ safety.
We are not people of greed:
we are people of generosity.
We are your people God,
giving and loving,
wherever we are,
whatever it costs
For as long as it takes
wherever you call us.
Amen
(A Prayer from Church of England)
If you have a family with you, here’s a week of family blessings you can use (or adapt), daily:
| Sunday Risen Son, bless us with life! Creator God, bless us with rest! Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on us. Monday As the new day dawns and our week begins, bless our feet in paths of peace and our hearts with hope and courage. Tuesday Gentle Jesus, go before us in goodness Graceful Jesus, go behind us in mercy God of power, teach us to walk beside you And to rest in your arms of love. Wednesday Jesus, our friend, hold our hands, hold our hearts, hold our nerves steady as we believe and trust in you. Thursday Creator God, bless us with joy. Bless us with purpose, bless us with love and may we be a blessing to your creation this day. Friday We bless this day with the freedom of God and say “Be still” to the storms of the sea, we bless this day with the beauty of love that was poured out for you and for me. Saturday We rejoice in the gift of each other We rejoice in the gift of you We bless each other with joy today We bless each other in you |
Art Gallery, Paris
Seeing world travel has been squashed by Covid, different tourist highspots are making some amazing online offerings. Do you know, you can go through the Louvre Museum/Art Gallery in Paris? Click on this link Louvre site des collections, and pick your way thorough the art works there, complete with descriptions and provenance. You’ll need time – there are nearly 500, 000 items!!
The default language is French – hey, why not? – but there are buttons to allow you to convert to English, and when they’re not available they provide a different little button that allows you to use Google Translate.
Ring me if you can’t make these work (027 652 6100), because this is truly a wonderful site (sight?!) if you can make it work. Here’s the link again: Louvre site des collections
Here’s an interesting, slightly different, church service from Wellington last week.
You might enjoy it, in lieu of getting out to our usual Sunday service.
If you’d like access to an online copy of the Anglican Prayer Book:
Here’s a great idea if you need something to keep your (or your family’s) morale up during lockdown.
[Click on the link:] https://www.sunzbreakthrough.org.nz/resources/stopandnotice?fbclid=IwAR2W2v2I3KDMbvND-G_qoeudh-9DmUrStBxeanuMZDcvaQ9TAslidToP24c
And … here are two daily devotionals
The first is from The Word for Today. The second is from a group called 24-7prayer, but is actually only available as a cellphone app. (Go to their site and surf around – you’ll see how to download their app onto your phone.)
https://www.rhema.co.nz/the-word-for-today; https://www.24-7prayer.com/dailydevotional
- The Sphinx: Great Sphinx of Giza If you click on this link it takes you to Google Earth’s photo of the Sphinx (Egypt). Except, it’s more than a photo. It’s 360 degrees. If you left click somewhere on the photo and ‘drag’ your arrow, you’ll see all around, including two pyramids, other ruins, and the party of tourists that you’re with!
- New Life Church, Sydney: https://live.church.nu/ This online church comes with Barry’s and Keri’s recommendation. Click on the link and you’ll find You Tube recordings of their recent services/sermons, plus other stuff. They also offer live online services, which you’ll be able to connect to next Sunday.
- Whist. Have you ever played Whist? It’s a card game. But this is an online version that you can play alone, or with someone else in your household. (There are instructions (click on “Rules”), so when you understand the game you can play with someone else in your household, with real cards. Whist | Play it online
- Speaking of which, what about online chess?! Go to this link: Lichess.org. Go to the ‘Play’ button, select ‘Create a game’. You might have to register, and it might take a bit to figure out how to make things work, but once you do, you’ll be able to play against the online computer, or against another live person somewhere else in the world – someone here in Tairua or – who knows – someone in Latvia!
- This site is similar, but for card games: Card games
- RNZ Podcasts: Some fascinating interviews and programmes – more than you’ll ever have time to listen to. Some really interesting stuff, ideas and opinions: https://www.rnz.co.nz/series Scroll through and select one/some.
- University of the Third Age: U3A Online | U3A Online Too much to explain here – go to it and educate yourself!
- Something, perhaps, for kids? Kids of all ages! Some science experiments you can try in your home: 10 Easy Science Experiments
- Max Boyce. [My personal favourite]: This Welsh comedian is one of the funniest guys I’ve ever heard. Boyce put out a hilarious album in 1974. I can only find it on Spotify, so to listen to it you’ll probably have to register with Spotify – but it’s free and it’s worth it just to hear this 70s comic offering. Go to this link: Ode to Barry Island · Max Boyce
However, he’s put out an updated version recently that is free on You Tube. You can just view this if you like, although listening to the 70s one first will heighten your enjoyment of the second. Find the second here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8G_ouF1PeU Being Welsh, you’ll have to strain sometimes to understand his accent, and he even speaks (and sings) in Welsh sometimes. But …
Good clean hilarious fun. We all need a good laugh right now.
Happy Lockdown, all.
Ken F
stfrancischurchtairuanz 