Christ Church Moreton Hall

Thank you to everyone who responded to my January letter. It was nice to know that it helped and inspired some of you so much.
This month I would like to draw your attention to two dates in February. The first is 17th February which, as many of you know, is Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent and is preceded by that wonderful occasion, Shrove Tuesday. I loved pancakes as a boy, and I still enjoy them today.

At Christ Church on Ash Wednesday at 7:30pm in the evening, we will be having a special Communion Service during which people will come forward to be "Ashed". "Ashing" is an ancient tradition in which people accept the mark of the cross on their foreheads in ash, made from burnt Palm Crosses. It is a sign not only of their faith but their commitment to take up their cross and follow Christ.

Many of you will have seen in the press that in some areas of employment, the wearing of crosses is now prohibited and many Christian organisations are being marginalised and put out of business. It is, therefore, becoming a brave step to be prepared to be known as a Christian and live our faith as we have always done. However, I am sad to report that on almost every continent on the planet Christians suffer persecution daily. By taking this mark, we are reminded that they are our brothers and sisters and their suffering is ours.

Once again we find ourselves in January with Christmas behind us and a whole new year ahead of us. We may be able to look back over 2009 with affection and see real personal triumphs and victories and perhaps even some of our New Year's resolutions kept. We are now fitter, thinner, better read and enjoying many more happy relationships.

As we go to press, our minds are full with the stories of the people who have survived the floods at Cumbria. It is very sad that there has been loss of life and the damage to the infra structure of that part of Britain will take years to replace. If that amount of rain had fallen in most other countries of the world, it would have killed many more, washing away entire communities. I would like to think that these last few days have been something of a miracle. We must also pay tribute to the hard work done by local authorities and community builders who have constructed such robust communities of both buildings and people.

The best evidence of a strong community is how they help each other when they are in need. That is why at our Christingle service we will be supporting the Children's Society that looks after desperate youngsters in the UK. We will also be taking part in the Blue Peter appeal for T-Shirts and have set ourselves the target of 150 of these to help those people in India who need them. Finally, we will be collecting money to send to the Cumbria relief fund to support the people there.

This month I want to do a small plug for Radio West Suffolk, the hospital radio. They broadcast on 1350AM so you can listen to them at home or in your car.

It is run purely by volunteers and they do a wonderful job. They have a "Thought for the Week" every Thursday evening and I am privileged occasionally to be invited to speak.

At first I found it quite disconcerting not being able to see the people to whom I was talking. Was anyone listening or was I just talking to myself?

In church of course it is quite different; I can look into the eyes of the congregation - those who are awake. (Abraham Lincoln once said "If everyone who fell asleep in church was laid end to end they'd be a lot more comfortable").

It occurs to me that prayer is a bit like speaking on the radio. When we pray to God and seem to get no answer how do we know that we are not just talking to ourselves.

There's a story of a sailor who falls in the water he prays "Dear God, you don't know me because I've never prayed before, I'm Sam the sailor. I'm drowning, I'm on the verge of death, please send a lifeboat or helicopter quickly, I know you are probably too busy to bother with someone like me, I've not lived a good life, but I promise if you save me I'll never bother you again".

At Christ Church, we use the free church presentation software OpenLP during our Sunday services. This is a great little piece of software which handles songs, bible verses, powerpoint presentations, images, video and now audio too.

We've been using it for nearly two years now, and find it very useful. We can put a service plan together in minutes, and easily make changes or add new songs and Bible verses, even during the service. Prior to this we used PowerPoint and although this allowed great flexibility in the layout and stunning slides could be produced, it was a time consuming exercise and it wasn't easy to add songs or Bible verses at the last minute.

openlp is very easy to use. During our weekend away last year we had to find a view volunteers to operate it at the last minute, and they were able to run it fine with just a few minutes training!

We were fortunate to get a preview of the new version 1.2 a few weeks early and the new audio backing track feature came in very useful during our Bible Holiday club. The team sing some very lively songs with the children, and in the past it's been a bit of a juggle switching between media player and the projection software. Now we just need to open up the lyrics and when the team are ready just click play without the need to switch programs or lean over to a CD player.