TO KNOW GOD AND TO MAKE GOD KNOWN

St Laurence Frodsham

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      • Advent 20 - Epiphany 21
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St Laurence Frodsham

St Laurence FrodshamSt Laurence FrodshamSt Laurence Frodsham

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Wednesday Reflections 3

The third page of reflections from the booklet 'Walking with God' by Chester Cathedral. Various people were asked to choose a Bible passage and explain its significance to them.  Here is the first page and the second page



 The whole booklet can be found here.  If you or your parish wish to receive a printed copy, then please email Canon Jane Brooke to arrange to pick up some copies. It is hoped that funds will be raised for the Alzheimer’s Society through donations.  Email Canon Brooke here. 

Wednesday 20th January 2021

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Ann Woodward - Volunteer Welcomer, Education Volunteer, and Cathedral Guide

Chosen reference: 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 Verse 13


In a word there are three things that last for ever: faith, hope and love; but the

greatest of them all is love.

How this verse has helped me in my life

Some years ago a very dear friend who I came to the Cathedral with brought me a bookmark back from a holiday. It had this verse on it. When she died years later, her family asked me to read a Bible passage at her funeral. They chose ‘1 Corinthians, Chapter 13’. They knew nothing of the bookmark.


Looking back I realised this passage had been my guide through life.


I, like most people, have had highs and lows. I have two sons but between them, lost a daughter at just 8 days old. The loss of my parents and then the greatest loss, my beloved husband who died very suddenly after 35 years together but despite all this it was my faith, hope and love which got me through.


If everyone lived by faith, hope and love the world would be a better place.

wednesday 13th january 2021

Jacqueline Rainsforth - Cathedral Sunday School Coordinator

Chosen reference: Romans Chapter 8 Verses 38-39


For I am persuaded, that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities,

nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor

any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is

in Christ Jesus Our Lord.


How this verse has helped me in my life


This quotation from Romans, was the favourite verse in the Bible of my R.E. teacher at Secondary School.


Each week she would read to us a particular quotation from the Bible and explain it in her own words and what it meant to her. She asked us to try and remember these verses, whenever there were difficult situations that may crop up in our lives.


In later years, when I worked for the Health Service in various departments of the hospital, maternity, accident and emergency and administration, I sometimes came across difficult situations, when dealing with patients or in my own working life.


When thinking through these situations, St Paul’s words always came back to me and helped me to remain positive. In fact in nearly all of the problems I came up against, everything had a positive ending.


This quotation has also helped me in family life, through bereavements, in bringing up children and helping friends and work colleagues in difficult times in their lives.

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Wednesday 6th January 2021

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Margaret Bass -Member of Cathedral congregation

Chosen reference: Romans Chapter 7 Verse 19


For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now

if I do what I do not want, It is no longer that I do it, but sin that dwells

within me.

How this verse has helped me in my life

I was a student nurse mid-training, at the Royal London Hospital. I knew the Lord’s Prayer and the 23rd Psalm and thought that being a Christian was being kind and nice to people so I always said I was a Christian. However, at this time I was very miserable, worn out, bad tempered, anxious and feared that I would have to stop training. I wanted Florence Nightingale as a role model but I felt more like Attila the Hun. A friend invited me to an evening service at her church: I didn’t want to go but I did. We got to the first reading,

Romans 7. All I heard was that someone knew about ME, knew about wanting to do good but letting myself down and feeling bad. To my mind it was obviously someone who had seen me in action, so I scanned the congregation for someone I knew, and drew a blank. I hissed to my friend ‘Who wrote that’? I was a bit nonplussed when she hissed back ‘St. Paul’ because even I knew that St. Paul was dead. That was in October 1967. I finished the nursing course but above all through that chapter I learned of God’s love for me. ONE day I will see God, face to face. What more could I ask for?

wednesday 30th December 2020

David Briggs - Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire

Chosen reference: Acts Chapter 20 Verse 35


In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the

weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more

blessed to give than to receive.’


How this verse has helped me in my life


My father taught me to do what I could to help those least fortunate. I have always tried to use my business and legal background to help others. Initially at St John Ambulance and then at Warrington Boys Club - now Warrington Youth Club - which has grown from a small base to now having nearly 2,500 young members. And very soon we will ‘break ground’ for the building of the new Warrington Youth Zone.


Since becoming Lord-Lieutenant I have been able to open doors to help to make things happen and have been able to play a part in helping a number of Cheshire charities and in helping to set up Cheshire Community Foundation and Cheshire Connect. My biggest learning came when I was asked to Chair Cheshire West’s Poverty Truth Commission and that has led to the creation of Community Connectors who are now helping some of the most needy people in our community.


I have been hugely fortunate to have been given a position which has enabled me to play a part in improving some of the infrastructure which helps those in greatest need and I much hope to be able to do more as there is a huge need to connect up the services which do exist to help the needy.


It is impossible to overstate the pleasure which being able to give some little

help to others has given to me.

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Wednesday 23rd December 2020

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Corentyn Smith - Head Verger

Chosen reference: Acts Chapter 2 Verse 42


The Fellowship of the Believers: They devoted themselves to the apostles’

teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

How this verse has helped me in my life

Acts 2:42 is the first description of the beginning of something resembling an established church, and lays the basics for what should exist in Christian community. I read the passage to mean; Education, friendship, the sharing of possessions (and food) and to pray and find peace. I moved through a lot of churches whilst at college and university, trying to understand the purpose of church and once I had grasped this passage I knew what to look for. Working for a church for many years now, it is helpful to revisit this passage and its surrounding verses to help me stay on track and focused on what the purpose of this great building, where I spend so much of my life, is. The Cathedral is grand, and the workmanship that has gone into crafting it is quite unfathomable. Nowadays we use it is a multipurpose venue, but this simple short passage, with these four seemingly simple actions helps remind me of what it is truly for. We can come to the Cathedral to learn, to share what we have, to create relationships and find space to pray and take stock of things.

wednesday 16th December 2020

Mia Hope Wallwork Manning - Sunday School member

Chosen reference:John Chapter 13 Verse 5


After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet,

drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.


How this verse has helped me in my life


My favourite passage out of the Bible is when Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, because for me it demonstrates equality. Jesus was the son of God which made him an important person with a high status in society, but his actions in this Bible passage don’t reflect that status, instead they show that everyone is equal no matter their position in society. Someone of Jesus’s status washing his disciples’ feet would have been an act that would not have happened back then, therefore making this action all the more powerful.

The disciples knew Jesus had a higher society status than them and, at first, wouldn’t let him wash their feet but Jesus insisted on it in order to teach people a vital message - to show no matter who you are, we are all the same and equal in God’s eyes. I also feel that doing something so personal allowed the disciples to truly connect with Jesus and God, something that would have been classed as a precious gift. The reason I love this passage most is that Jesus teaches us an important lesson that spans the length of time- to treat

others equally with kindness, respect and in a way in which we wish to be treated ourselves. In this way, following Jesus’ example, allows us to use his actions to help us achieve equality in our world today.

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Wednesday 9th December 2020

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Tim Stratford - The Dean

Chosen reference: John Chapter 4 Verse 11


The woman said to Jesus, “Sir, you have no bucket and the well is deep. Where

do you get that living water?”

How this verse has helped me in my life

I love this woman’s conversation with Jesus. Her encounter with him is

represented by a cast bronze sculpture situated in the Cathedral Cloister

Garth.


She can see Jesus’s material dilemma quite clearly but she completely misses

his deeper significance. He asks her for a drink of the well’s water and offers

her living water. The idea that Jesus can provide living water is doubly

confusing to the woman. He has no bucket; also, living water in the linguistic

culture of the day could have been understood as stream water, moving water,

not stagnant water nor well water. How could he give her this?


Jesus is of course talking about something very different. If the water in the

well is the source of life, the living water that Jesus gives is the source of new

life in the Kingdom of God. And there is another surprise. The life of this

Kingdom is a liberation. She is both a Samaritan and a woman! Two things that

served to prevent her from any meaningful encounter with a Jewish man like

Jesus, let alone sharing her water with him. The living water of the kingdom

washes away the barriers that divide peoples.

wednesday 2nd December 2020

Helen Barber - Cathedral Safeguarding Officer

Chosen reference:John Chapter 1 Verses 1-5


In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.


How this verse has helped me in my life


In a world which is so often turbulent, dark and often evil, I find this passage so reassuring and uplifting. To me it is clear and unambiguous. When aspects of life seem wrong or very unfair, I can know that God is in control. Eternally. 


God’s light of love, holiness and goodness, as demonstrated in the life of Christ, shines constantly. Whenever my life feels surrounded by darkness and evil, I can be confident that goodness and light will also be found. Sometimes it doesn’t seem that way! Sometimes I need more patience and faith to seek more determinedly for the good. I always find it – eventually- through prayer and through encounters with other people. If I don’t, I think it’s because I’m not looking closely enough.


The glow that a light provides in darkness is illuminating. Christ’s love illuminates. Darkness and evil cannot ultimately overcome it.

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Wednesday 25th November 2020

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Jen Stratford - Cathedral Education Officer

Chosen reference:

Luke Chapter 18 Verses 16-17


But Jesus called for them and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.

Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”.

How this verse has helped me in my life

Children are like spinning tops they don’t stay in the same place for very long. They have the potential to get very excited very quickly and move very fast but they can sit and play very still and quietly.


In all the churches I have been part of I have encouraged a welcoming of children. Children and their parents need to see a space especially for them, which is safe but also bright with interesting things to do. The space needs to be there even if we are not expecting children.


Children are the future of the church. Churches that make children fully welcome are able to see things through children’s eyes. They can experience the wonder of seeing things for the first time.


Sometimes we lose that excitement and enthusiasm and with day to day worries and stresses, watching a child experience something new for the first time helps me remember the wonder of our world and how amazing it is. Sometimes we need to be that child and see things with their eyes.

Wednesday 18th November 2020

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Liz Hardman - Chair of Chester Cathedral Flower Guild

Chosen reference:

Luke Chapter 10 Verses 30-35

A Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, ‘Look after him’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any expense you may have’.

How this verse has helped me in my life

The Samaritan in Luke 10:33-35 is the caring nature that I adhered to when fulfilling my nursing career of 25 years. I also keep the verse in mind while carrying out my volunteering at the Cathedral, overseeing the Flower Guild Volunteers. I need to be a coordinator and listener for problems that may occur in some of their lives beyond the Cathedral, especially as many of them are now elderly. Attending the Christian Acorn listening course some years ago, has helped me to listen to others and so have happy teams.

wednesday 11th November 2020

Stewart Pain - Volunteer Fundraiser, LEGO® builder, gardener, and Sunday School Leader

Chosen reference: Luke Chapter 6 Verse 48

He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was foundedon rock.


How this verse has helped me in my life


As an engineer, I try to ensure that things are made so they will work, do what people need them to do, and that they will last. That means working out the design based on well-established principles. That could be good foundations, like in this story, or using the right materials, or thinking about how the item is put together.


Our Cathedral has stood for hundreds of years, built on both the foundations of faith and the unseen stone in the ground that holds our great building in place.


I also found that the same works for how we work with one another. While many organisations have many detailed rules about lots of things, I’ve often found it’s better to go back to some simple principles that underpin our faith, such as asking ‘how I’d like to be treated under the same circumstances’ before deciding what to do.

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wednesday 4th November 2020

George J. Brooke - Cathedral Lent Bible Talks Coordinator

Chosen reference:Mark Chapter 10 Verses 36 and 51

What do you want me to do for you?


How this verse has helped me in my life


The author of the Gospel according to Mark likes saying things twice so that

readers get the point. In Mark Chapter 10 at the end of the story of Jesus’s

ministry before he goes to Jerusalem, Mark includes just such a doublet.

Though I am not inclined to take scriptural verses out of context and apply

them immediately to myself, Jesus’s responses in the form of a questions have

challenged me directly for very many years. In the first story James and John

approach Jesus for a favour and he asks them, “What is it you want me to do

for you?” Their request for privileged places when Jesus enters into glory is

clearly the wrong answer. In the second story blind Bartimaeus approaches

Jesus who asks him a similarly-worded question, “What do you want me to do

for you?” Asking for sight is evidently a right answer. But how should I answer

Jesus’s question? I know I am still on a journey because I cannot yet give an

answer that I find satisfactory, but I have a sense that the love of God and all

that is to be trusted in the universe is contained in that question


Photo: Gareth Rainsforth

Wednesday 28th October 2020

Robert and Diana McConnell - Members of Cathedral congregation

Chosen reference: Mark Ch 1 Vs 17

And Jesus said unto them, ‘Come ye after me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’

How this verse has helped me in my life

To select one verse from the Bible does not put it above all others, but this one illustrates for us one of the many readings that are known, due mainly from Daily Worship at school, which made them memorable. Fish are regular features in the Bible starting in Genesis 1 where God said ‘Let the waters bring forth abundantly… and created great whales and every living creature… and saw that it was good.’ The fish theme continues with the enrolment of Simon and Andrew on the shore of Galilee, the feeding of the 5,000 along with many other occasions. When visiting Israel, on our very first morning this had particular poignancy when there, on the shore of Galilee, were fishermen with their fish! 


Along with the Bible one must include The Prayer Book where there are many worthy sayings - in particular in the Order for Holy  Communion … “meekly kneeling upon your knees.”

wednesday 21st october 2020

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Mary Sawyer - Place of Welcome volunteer; Mission Group fundraising volunteer; Sunday am coffee rota

Chosen reference: Matthew Chapter 25 Verse 35-40

For when I was hungry, you gave me food; when thirsty, you gave me drink;

when I was a stranger you took me into your home, when naked, you clothed

me, when I was ill you came to my help, when in prison you visited me.

Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did

not do it to me.

How this verse has helped me in my life

The verses in Matthew which I heard regularly as a child have consciously or unconsciously underpinned many decisions in my life. They helped form my political attitudes, and in the churches I attended as I became an adult I recognised them in action. At St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London I volunteered with the social work project, getting to know homeless and lonely individuals I should otherwise not have met or, maybe, should even have avoided.


The values I imbibed from Matthew influenced my career, leading me to teach in schools in poorer parts of London and to work in adult education in Merseyside. I spent my early retirement years very much involved with Asylum Link Liverpool, a centre offering practical help and friendship to asylum seekers. I made friends with people in desperate circumstances from all over the world and tried to offer the best of me.


Although, disappointed with attitudes I found in some churches, regular church attendance disappeared from my life for almost forty years, the New Testament, and especially these verses in Matthew, still gave me a moral foundation to life. Now that I have discovered at Chester Cathedral a community sharing my values my life has come together.


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