The Green Chalice by Mark Coleman

I visited an older member of one of the parishes recently. Widowed for many years she sat there with her TV times nearby. We had a good chat, remembering family, church, the changes in the town. We laughed and prayed. She said she would love to come back to Church, and she so appreciated people kindly keeping in touch. She was very very lonely. Loneliness is the theme of an article by George Monbio t. He talks about the age we now live in - the Digital Age - and says it says plenty about our artefacts but little about society. We are social creatures and we need each other. Mammals are shaped by contact with others and we need each other, we are inter-dependent. This we have been reminded off wonderfully in our harvest festivals when we looked at a piece of fruit and thought about the dozens of people that had been involved in growing, picking, transporting, and selling it to us. And all the bugs and bees and sun and rain that helped it grow. We depend on so much, from God and from eac...

  Compassion We read so often in the Gospels that our Lord "had compassion". Jesus looks at people weeping and he has compassion. He sees the hungry, and he worries. He sees his friend's weeping and he weeps too. He suffers with them. Com as in companion, passion as in the passion that Jesus went through on his way to death on the cross. Being alongside others is what us ordinary folk trying to be good friends of Jesus do. When we enter into their sadness, and hopefully their joy sometimes too, we are like Christ, compassionate. So it's very simple to be a Christian. If we take compassion as the essence of what Jesus is to us today then it's no mystery how to be a follower of Jesus. It's simply about compassion, sharing others' pain, standing alongside the poor, the grieving, the sick, the mistreated.   Music and liturgy are for me the great ways we reconnect with compassion. Music touches the heart and the mind and when the words are good they move u...

It's the same idea whatever words you use ! St Paul in Galatians (5.22-23) tells us that the fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance . That's what the King James version says eloquently if somewhat mysteriously !. The NRSV, witch is the favoured translation of vicars like me uses these words: By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. I quite like the Message Bible which expands, indeed adlibs: But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commit...

Originally published 2017 Well can you or can't you ? Do you have it in you or don't you ? Well you don't know unless you try do you ? Are you worried that people will laugh at you if you get it wrong ? I came across the group Can't Dance Can this week. They use the space that is St Chad's church hall. I was immediately taken with the idea and the title. You may think you can't dance, but you can ! There are no doubt other applications. What about Can't Sing, Can or Can't Cook, Can ? For a variety of reasons we get it into our heads that something can't be done. We tried it and did not succeed as we thought we might. Someone told us we could not manage it. Or maybe all the reasons not to came from deep within us. If you look at their website you see the smiling faces of those who have discovered the joy of achieving something they never thought they could do. Dancing. There are pictures of older people dancing with umbrellas as well as children a...

The band U2 sing in the song titled Grace Grace, it's the name for a girl It's also a thought that changed the world And when she walks on the street You can hear the strings Grace finds goodness in everything In my first sermon at St Mary's in the Baum, Rochdale last Sunday I preached about Grace. Here's the link if you want to listen to it. And here is a rather nice picture of the Church open for the heritage weekend. People were so welcoming (and grace-full) to visitors.

We have landed in a new community. The Falinge district of Rochdale is very different from West Derby where we used to live. We have moved from bungalow to house, suburban to town centre and urban, private housing. It's a place of much diversity too. Down at the end of the street are some flats managed by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing . Here's a picture of one block - Glastonbury. Flats are currently available....... Wendy and I attended the launch of Near Neighbours on Monday. It's a Church Urban Fund programme which distributes money to help Churches and other faith groups work across difference to build up neighbourliness. As we look at our new community, indeed our new town, we want to get to know our neighbours.They are near but we don't know many yet. I bumped into a man on the way back from the launch. He said "Please pray for me Vicar" and went on to describe how due to drinking his liver was failing. He certainly had a jaundiced yellowy look...

Seventh Sunday after Trinity Sermon by Revd Mark Coleman, Rector of West Derby, St Mary and St James’ I am full of mixed feelings. We are sad to leave West Derby after nearly 7 years, but excited about beginning a new ministry in Rochdale. We will miss you and Liverpool. But after 13 years working in this area – I was 5 ½ years at St Christopher, Norris Green,   - it’s time to explore new horizons. I thank God for all that we have done together – in worship, welcome of strangers, in service, in Christian fellowship. These last few weeks I have been reflecting on and reliving the many good memories. (I think there is “a do” afterwards so please do stay as there are many thank-yous we would like to make.) People have asked why we are going to Rochdale. It’s place of social and economic need where I hope we can make a positive difference - life expectancy is 7 years lower than here. It’s a place of many faiths, I want to help build good relationships between the faiths....