Full Transcript for Rising and Falling

and now with ourselves, with each other, and with that which we hold to be of greatest worth both within us and beyond us. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:11:59.200 Let us pray. 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:09.600 Let us pray for our world with all its grievous troubles. 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:17.759 Our hearts ache for those suffering through violence. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:19.919 The world over. 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:39.759 We might think of the people in the Sudan, in Ukraine and Russia, in Israel and Gaza and the West Bank, as well as so many other places where violence rules. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:53.919 Oh, may that spirit of peace and possibility whisper its healing message in the ears of all who seek vengeance. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:05.759 May the spirit of love and compassion touch all whose hearts are hardened or despairing. 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:13.519 In a shared time of silence, now let us pray for all who are suffering. 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:51.600 Let us pray too for the peacemakers, those who dedicate their lives to finding solutions to the most difficult of situations, and the medics who seek to heal the wounded, sometimes in the hardest of circumstances. 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:57.440 May all be inspired and strengthened in their work. 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:02.960 May they be protected and supported in all they do. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:20.960 At times some of us feel we live in a far too complex world with too many matters calling for attention, too many irresolvable issues filling our awareness. 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:28.799 Life is confusing, challenging, and so much is out of our control. 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:43.440 May we be comforted then by accepting that we are powerless and that the ups and downs of existence have a rhythm of their own. 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:56.159 In quiet times such as this, may we discover once again the simplicity of stillness and balance. 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:07.200 A quiet, calm centre in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of both our inner and our outer lives. 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:22.240 May we remember, when we claim to be certain and sure, may we remember that there is indeed so much for us yet to understand. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:37.840 And when we are assailed by doubts and uncertainties, oh may we discover an inner strength that allows us to rest in our unknowing. 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:45.360 To be human is to be at times confused and challenged. 00:15:46.559 --> 00:16:00.799 May we remember that when we are about to judge others or ourselves, and resolve to be a little kinder than we might sometimes be. 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:18.000 So let's take time now in quietness for our own thoughts and prayers, for those we love, for any aspects of our lives that are troubling us, and for all that this world is carrying this day. 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:19.680 It's um a hundred years this week since A.A. 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:25.119 Milne first published his now famous and much-loved book called Winnie the Pooh. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:30.319 And it just seemed to fit well with our themes of life's joys and challenges. 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:31.200 Because A.A. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:35.359 Milne's characters, well, they have character. 00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:41.920 They're recognisably different personalities, and they cope with life in just such different ways. 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:44.240 A bit like all of us, I guess. 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:54.400 Some of us may have had these stories read to us in childhood at school or at home, but if you've not met them before, I could briefly introduce a few of them. 00:17:54.640 --> 00:18:03.599 There's Pooh the bear himself, often cheery, even bumptious, quite self-focused and with a deep love of honey. 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:10.640 This Piglet who is small and can quickly become nervous and distressed in life. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:25.359 And Eeyore, an old stuffed toy donkey, who can be so gloomy and low in energy at times, yet he is so lovable, especially for those of us who can be grumpy and low in spirits from time to time. 00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:34.480 So I'm just going to read two short extracts from chapter six of this Winnie the Pooh book, a chapter I'd highly recommend that everyone reads. 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:41.440 It's a helpful reminder that small interventions in the life of another can make a real difference. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:45.200 We can lift one another's spirits, can't we? 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:51.599 So the chapter begins with Eeyore alone in the woods staring into a small stream. 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:58.559 Eeyore, the old grey donkey, stood by the side of the stream and looked at himself in the water. 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:01.519 Pathetic, he said. 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:04.160 That's what it is, pathetic. 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:11.839 And he turned and he walked slowly down the stream for twenty yards, splashed across it, and walked slowly back on the other side. 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:14.720 Then he looked at himself in the water again. 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:22.880 As I thought, he said, No better from this side, but nobody minds, nobody cares, pathetic. 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:24.480 That's what it is. 00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:28.319 Then there was a crackling noise in the bracken behind him. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:29.839 Out comes Pooh. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:32.480 Good morning, Eo, said Pooh. 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:35.759 Good morning, Pooh, said Eo gloomily. 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:38.960 If it is a good morning, he said, which I doubt. 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:39.839 Why? 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:40.559 Why? 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:42.079 What's the matter? 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:44.960 Nothing, Pooh Bear, nothing. 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:47.759 We can't all, and some of us don't. 00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:49.359 That's all there is to it. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:50.960 Can't all what? 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:53.279 said Pooh, rubbing his nose. 00:19:53.599 -->

00:19:58.720 Gaiety, song and dance, here we go round the mulberry bush. 00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:00.240 Oh, said Pooh. 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:04.960 And he thought for quite a time and then asked, and what mulberry bush is that? 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:09.039 Bon Army, went on Eeyore gloomily. 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:12.960 French word meaning bonhomme, he explained. 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:15.519 I'm not complaining, but there it is. 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:21.759 And to cut a long story short, Eeyore explains that it is his birthday, that nobody has remembered it. 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:27.599 And this sends Pooh rushing home to get his last pot of honey to give to his friend. 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:33.680 But being Pooh, he does take off the lid to try it, and before long he has emptied the pot. 00:20:34.079 --> 00:20:38.079 But he has the bright idea then of making the pot the present. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:44.799 And then on the way to give the pot to his friend Eeyore, it's a very useful pot, he meets Piglet. 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:51.440 And when Piglet hears that it's Eeyore's birthday, he decides to give Eeyore his very special red balloon. 00:20:51.599 --> 00:21:01.359 And as he runs through the wood, clasping this balloon, which is as big as himself, Piglet trips, bursts the balloon, and he's terribly upset. 00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:09.519 But when Piglet and Pooh arrive with an empty jar and a burst red balloon, Eeyore cheers up. 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:11.279 So it goes on. 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:13.440 It's a useful pot, said Pooh. 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:17.759 Here it is, and it's got a very happy birthday with love from Pooh written on it. 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:21.519 That's what all that writing is, and it's for putting things in there. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:25.759 And when Eeyore saw that pot, he became quite excited. 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:30.960 Why, he said, I believe my balloon will just go into that pot. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:32.880 Oh no, Eeyore, said Pooh. 00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:35.599 Balloons are much too big to go into pots. 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:38.160 What you do with balloon is you hold the balloon. 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:40.400 Not mine, said Eeyore proudly. 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:41.440 Look, Piglet. 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:54.559 And as Piglet looked sorrowfully round, Eeyore picked up the balloon with his teeth, placed it carefully in the pot, picked it out, put it on the ground, and then picked it up again and put it back in the pot. 00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:56.400 So it does, said Pooh. 00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:57.519 It goes in. 00:21:57.839 --> 00:21:59.200 So it does, said Piglet. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.240 Comes out doesn't it? 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:03.119 said Eeyore. 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:05.279 It goes in and out like anything. 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:10.880 Oh, I'm very glad, said Pooh happily, that I thought of giving you a useful pot to put things in. 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:16.240 I'm very glad, said Piglet happily, that I thought of giving you something to put in a useful pot. 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:18.240 But Eeyore wasn't listening. 00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:24.400 He was taking the balloon out and putting it back again, as happy as could be. 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:27.599 Just a really lovely, heartwarming chapter. 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:38.000 And on the order of service here in church and also online, where you can find the text of this service, I've put the names of two other writers who've adapted A.A. 00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:42.000 Milne's work to create their own life-enhancing messages. 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:59.359 One's Benjamin Huff, who wrote The Tao of Pooh, and then the other is Catherine Wallace, who used this same story in an online post to remind us all that simply making the effort to be a presence in someone else's life can make a big difference. 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:07.119 Yeah, those presents were good, but I reckon it was the friends going round that actually made the difference to Eel on his birthday. 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:14.160 So that's the Dow of Pooh. 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:17.519 And we've got another hymn to uh sing now. 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:26.400 If you're here in person, do have a look at this uh number 210, which is called When the Song of Life is Ringing. 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:34.400 Uh it's got words written by a much-loved Manchester minister, David Dole, who combined work as a minister with psychotherapy. 00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:43.920 And he used to speak movingly of life's ups and downs and how we can help one another through our highs and lows, and all those bits in between. 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:48.240 So let's sing together when the song of life is ringing. 00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:14.400 It's an old story, and it I think it's got a message for any of us who might occasionally think that life is a bit too mean and harsh. 00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:19.119 Maybe the hard times are readying us for a whole new way of being. 00:27:19.359 --> 00:27:24.720 Maybe there's some hard time you're going through at present that may be shaping you anew. 00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:32.319 And it's a story that begins in a marketplace at a store selling the most exquisite old antique China. 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:39.759 A woman noticed a fine old teacup, still in perfect condition, a cup with matching saucer. 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.799 She picked it up to admire it and was astonished to hear it speak. 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:48.319 You don't always un you don't understand, the cup said. 00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:50.480 I've not always been a teacup. 00:27:50.880 --> 00:28:03.200 There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay, and my master took me and rolled me and pounded and patted me over and over, and I yelled out, don't do that, I don't like it, let me alone. 00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:07.039 But he only smiled and gently said, Not yet. 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:13.039 And whack! I was placed on a spinning wheel and

suddenly spun around and around and around. 00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:16.799 Stop it, I'm getting so dizzy, I'm going to be sick, I screamed. 00:28:17.039 --> 00:28:21.359 But the master only nodded and said quietly, not yet. 00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:28.559 He spun me, he poked and prodded, bent me out of shape, and then he put me in the oven. 00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:30.559 I never felt such heat. 00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:33.599 I yelled and knocked, I pounded at that door. 00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:35.839 Help, get me out of here. 00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:38.640 Not yet, came the reply. 00:28:38.880 --> 00:28:42.799 And when I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the door opened. 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:47.359 He carefully took me out, put me on the shelf and I started to cool. 00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:49.119 Oh, what a relief. 00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:51.039 So much better, I thought. 00:28:51.279 --> 00:28:55.920 But after I cooled, he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. 00:28:56.079 --> 00:28:57.519 The fumes were horrible. 00:28:57.680 --> 00:29:00.079 Oh please stop it, stop it, I cried. 00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:03.359 He only shook his head and said, Not yet. 00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:06.160 And suddenly I'm back in the oven again. 00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:08.160 Only it wasn't light the first time. 00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:12.480 This time it was twice as hot, and I just knew I would suffocate. 00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:19.279 I begged, I pleaded, I was convinced I would never get through this, and I was ready to give up. 00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:29.200 Just then the door opened, took me out, placed me on the shelf where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering what would come next. 00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:37.599 And an hour later he handed me a mirror, just like the hairdresser shows you humans, what style they've given you. 00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:39.920 And he said, Look at yourself. 00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:43.839 And I did, and I said, That's not me, that couldn't be me. 00:29:44.079 --> 00:29:46.559 It's beautiful, I'm beautiful. 00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:50.000 And quietly the potter spoke. 00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:52.000 I want you to remember then. 00:29:52.319 --> 00:30:00.240 I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and pattered and shaped, but had I just left you alone, you'd have dried up. 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:03.759 I know it made you dizzy to spin around on that wheel. 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:07.279 But if I had stopped, you would have crumpled. 00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:11.039 I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven. 00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:14.640 But if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:18.960 I knew the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over. 00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:22.400 But if I hadn't done that, you would never have hardened. 00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:25.839 And you would not have had colour in your life. 00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:33.200 And if I hadn't put you back in that

second oven, you wouldn't have survived for long because the hardness would not have held. 00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:35.119 That strength wasn't there. 00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:37.839 Now, now you're a finished product. 00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:42.559 Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you. 00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:56.559 And I think that story comes to mind to us from the good old prophet Jeremiah in the Hebrew scriptures, and the many who've then interpreted his oral tradition through the centuries. 00:30:56.960 --> 00:31:03.279 But you know, I'm not sure which of us is quite the finished product, looking round, my lovely teacups. 00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:06.960 Don't most of us still feel a bit like works in progress? 00:31:10.319 --> 00:31:13.920 And we might as well take that idea into a time of meditation now. 00:31:15.920 --> 00:31:28.000 And the invitation, if you wish, is to allow that imagery of a human life, our life, being similar to a lump of clay that is slowly shaped and pummeled by life itself. 00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:35.759 Altered by forces we don't do not and cannot always understand, especially when we're in the midst of all. 00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:40.400 Whether the shaping be joyful or unwelcome. 00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:44.480 I wonder if there's some message in that imagery for you today. 00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:48.960 So let's ready ourselves for this quiet time together. 00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:58.319 Let's just make those small adjustment segments that might help us feel more at ease, be aware of our feet on the floor. 00:32:00.799 --> 00:32:03.519 Bodies resting wherever they are right now. 00:32:12.799 --> 00:32:21.039 Straightening and adjusting our spines a bit, letting our shoulders move back and down, anything to be more comfortable. 00:32:21.839 --> 00:32:38.799 And imagining our ease-filled wave of relaxation, soothing us, flowing downwards from the crown of our head, across our sweet faces, down our whole body, releasing those tensions into the floor and to the earth beneath our feet. 00:32:40.319 --> 00:32:52.319 As we enter this fellowship of stillness together now, which will end in a couple of minutes or so with a chime from our bell, followed by some lovely guitar music played by Georgia. 00:32:53.359 --> 00:33:09.519 So I invite you to consider the rising and falling of your lives, ups and downs, highs and lows, many flowing possibilities between those multiplicity of experiences in a life where nothing stays the same. 00:40:06.159 --> 00:40:18.159 A poet, a farmer, and most importantly, a man who loved this earth and all that lives upon it, a great observer and describer of the natural world. 00:40:18.719 --> 00:40:23.519 This poem is short, and yet its imagery is so rich. 00:40:23.760 --> 00:40:33.599 It describes the land known as the woods on an autumn day, as leaves fall from trees, glistening in the dappled light. 00:40:34.079 --> 00:40:40.400 He reminds us to take time to be still and that we are not in charge of the show. 00:40:40.880 --> 00:40:44.239 I wonder what this poem might evoke for you. 00:40:44.719 --> 00:40:46.800 Grace by Wendellberry. 00:41:01.280 --> 00:41:10.480 Still, perfect in its rise and in its fall, it takes the place it has been coming to forever. 00:41:11.280 --> 00:41:15.039 It has not hastened here or lagged. 00:41:15.920 --> 00:41:22.960 See how surely it has sought itself, its roots passing lordly through the earth. 00:41:24.159 --> 00:41:32.079 See how without confusion it is all that is, and how flawless its grace is. 00:41:33.360 --> 00:41:38.079 Running or walking, the way is the same. 00:41:39.119 --> 00:41:40.000 Be still. 00:41:40.960 --> 00:41:41.840 Be still. 00:41:43.119 --> 00:41:46.719 He moves your bones and the way is clear. 00:41:56.719 --> 00:41:58.480 Just get instructions from Jane. 00:41:58.639 --> 00:42:00.079 Should we have this hymn? 00:42:00.400 --> 00:42:01.360 As usual? 00:42:02.960 --> 00:42:05.199 I think we'll miss this hymn out then. 00:42:05.280 --> 00:42:10.000 I'll go straight on to the address because my timings are a little askew. 00:42:10.320 --> 00:42:13.760 You get me reading Winnie the Pooh, and look what happens. 00:42:14.480 --> 00:42:19.519 But a moment ago we should have just sung a hymn called Love Will Guide Us. 00:42:19.760 --> 00:42:29.920 And when I was going to introduce that, I was going to say that it reminded me of a question that a spiritual teacher used to ask us. 00:42:30.159 --> 00:42:35.840 If we were in doubt about our next steps, well, what would love do now? 00:42:38.320 --> 00:42:50.480 Well, if we followed that kind of guidance and asked ourselves what would love do now at any of the turning points we come to in life, would that make life easier and our journey smoother? 00:42:50.960 --> 00:42:57.760 You know, I rather doubt it, because love can send a human life onto quite a ski slope, can't it, at times? 00:42:58.000 --> 00:43:02.800 And the longer I live, well, the more messy human existence seems to be. 00:43:03.039 --> 00:43:07.440 Complex, confusing, complete mystery some of the time. 00:43:07.679 --> 00:43:16.960 Perhaps a better description of a ski slope is a roller coaster ride with that inherent inevitability of going up and down and round again and again. 00:43:17.599 --> 00:43:24.320 And maybe that's why our human minds try to steady themselves by thinking in dualistic ways. 00:43:24.480 --> 00:43:26.079 What have I called this service? 00:43:26.320 --> 00:43:32.480 Rising or falling, highs or lows, ups or downs, good or bad, painful or pleasant. 00:43:32.880 --> 00:43:35.360 I like this, says Pooh Bear. 00:43:35.679 --> 00:43:38.960 I don't like that, says Eeyore, the donkey. 00:43:39.360 --> 00:43:49.039 But beyond dualism, beyond it, there is a rich messiness when we can discover that those opposites contain one another. 00:43:49.199 --> 00:43:51.519 They're in a continual dance together. 00:43:52.400 --> 00:43:59.840 But that

reality includes it all the leaves falling from the trees, the leaves still holding on the tree. 00:44:06.559 --> 00:44:09.280 poking their ways attentively towards the light. 00:44:10.719 --> 00:44:14.079 How did Wendell Webberry put it in that poem just now? 00:44:15.280 --> 00:44:22.000 See how without confusion it is all that it is and how flawless its grace is. 00:44:24.079 --> 00:44:29.119 Maybe this afternoon some of us might find ourselves out and about in that autumn sun. 00:44:29.840 --> 00:44:36.559 Maybe a leaf will just fall towards us and we'll ask ourselves am I rising or falling at the moment? 00:44:37.039 --> 00:44:42.639 Or is life swirling me round and sending me into an altogether different direction? 00:44:43.679 --> 00:45:19.440 I don't know about you, but I do need these poets and guides to remind me of well at the limits of my powers that I'm not in charge of this show that is life, though I do like to pretend I am and aren't we fortunate to have this wondrous world in which we live with its seasons of change to remind us that all life is change all life is movement and that there's a comfort to be had in life's tough moments in knowing that alteration will come. 00:45:20.719 --> 00:45:30.159 So here are just a few simple methods that we can use as we travel on life's roller coaster and find the ups and downs all a bit queasy and too much. 00:45:30.880 --> 00:45:44.719 Well we could hold on to a fallen leaf as a simple reminder that when our lives are taking a spiraling route downwards, we could have that leaf as a comforting reminder that things will change again. 00:45:46.320 --> 00:46:00.559 There's a line from a prayer that I use often in hard times it's written by UUA minister Mark Bellatini and I always paraphrase it now as remember your power in the days of your powerlessness. 00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:18.400 Remember your power in the days of your powerlessness our minds our minds hold so many memories of our life journeys and we do well to cultivate the memories that support and encourage and comfort us. 00:46:19.760 --> 00:46:37.280 Or we can do that deep spiritual exercise called looking for the diamond in the mud the idea that life's harsh times will always have some kind of learning for us if we're prepared to just roll up these sleeves and dig around in that metaphorical mud of suffering. 00:46:38.480 --> 00:46:48.960 Haven't most of us had at least some struggles that led to a new discovery probably about ourselves but also about others and about life itself. 00:46:50.079 --> 00:47:28.480 Treating life as a as a curriculum with much still to learn I think it keeps us well and truly humble still in the kindergarten even at this great age that's probably why I so appreciate that story of the talking teacup who had to suffer so very much on his way to becoming a beautiful and useful object and being human well it's more complicated than being a teacup I don't know if you've noticed that as I grow older I'm starting to understand that the pummelling and the shaping it goes right on to the end for us humans. 00:47:28.800 --> 00:47:39.039 I am never going to be a perfectly formed teacup and sadly neither are you we're going to be delightfully imperfect right to the end. 00:47:39.920 --> 00:47:45.199 So that's why we need to remember another method of coping with life's roller coaster ride. 00:47:45.599 --> 00:47:59.760 Help one another reach out to one another don't go it alone too often Pooh and Piglet responded to their friend Eeyore's distress in delightfully flawed ways they did respond. 00:48:00.800 --> 00:48:06.000 They needed him to explain that it was his birthday and he wanted some attention. 00:48:06.400 --> 00:48:19.119 That's a joyful modelling I reckon of how telling people what we need can really help and that we don't need to feel stuck when the roller coaster has reached an uncomfortable section and reach out. 00:48:20.239 --> 00:48:33.360 So come on let's discover our inner poo bear and eat that jar of honey and go on and then come up with a brilliant reason or a way to make an empty jar into a meaningful gift. 00:48:34.400 --> 00:48:45.519 Let's accept our inner eeure and be sure to let others know when we're fed up giving others an opportunity to respond. 00:48:46.079 --> 00:48:54.000 And let's admit that some of us have an inner piglet who can get so terribly anxious and disappointed at times. 00:48:55.280 --> 00:49:37.920 And if by chance it turns out that you have become a talking teacup well tell everyone about it they may have been pushed and pummeled and baked a time or two as well and it might just turn out that we are in fact all on the very same roller coaster ride together after all we can sing now sorry I nicked one of the hymns it's uh the closing hymn today is 165 in this book it reminds us if we're ever in doubt that we might as well walk in the light of love that it may just set us free. 00:49:38.079 --> 00:52:42.800 Let's single that was smashing thank you so time for some announcements um thank you Jane for hosting terrible way to end your holiday I think Charlotte thank you for co-hosting and do please stay online if you'd like to all of you to have a chat with Charlotte afterwards. 00:52:43.039 --> 00:52:46.480 Thank you musicians for lovely music treat today. 00:52:46.719 --> 00:52:54.960 Thank you to Hannah both for reading and greeting Julia who's gone off to make the coffee so do stay afterwards for tea and cake. 00:52:55.679 --> 00:53:06.960 And you can also hang around for our crafternoon which is going to take place in the hall next door at one o'clock we'll get the materials out and you can just do whatever you want to do with them and have a good chat. 00:53:07.599 --> 00:53:19.199 I was sad to hear we were cancelling just for today the Gaza Quilt project that Patricia's um organising for us but that will be happening again soon sometime. 00:53:20.079 --> 00:53:27.039 Tonight and Friday at seven o'clock

we've got Heart and Soul as an online contemplative spiritual gathering. 00:53:27.280 --> 00:53:38.639 This week our theme is or and that's going to be led by ministry student Ava and if you want to join the online gathering we can give you an email for her. 00:53:39.519 --> 00:53:47.199 And she's also going to be running the in-person heart and soul that's this Wednesday here at seven o'clock down in the library. 00:53:47.360 --> 00:53:59.360 And do come along to that I think she'd really appreciate the support and I just am constantly impressed by how those kinds of in-person gatherings really help bring people together. 00:53:59.519 --> 00:54:00.800 So give it a go. 00:54:01.599 --> 00:54:15.519 I'm aware that some emails are not getting through from the church and that I think Eva's emails are going into spam for someone at the moment so shout out please and and if you haven't received something or look in your spam folder. 00:54:16.480 --> 00:54:27.519 Sonia I hear you are offering me a dance here on Friday at 1230 that's holistic movement and dance and do talk to Sonia about it. 00:54:27.599 --> 00:54:47.119 It's accessible for everybody and uh the great choice for the Better World Book Club this month it's called Worn as in clothing and it's by Sophie Thannhauser and it's the history of clothing a kind of unusual subject but it's bringing up all sorts of social justice and environment concerns. 00:54:47.360 --> 00:54:58.159 We've got a few copies to hand out if you'd like to you've still got time to read it this week that's online next Sunday and tell Jane though if you're planning to come. 00:54:58.480 --> 00:55:03.039 There is a walk this Tuesday these activities just go on and on incredible. 00:55:03.519 --> 00:55:15.039 Would you like to go for a walk this coming Tuesday the 27th in West London can you let Jane know as soon as possible because we need a goodly number to make that a worthwhile activity. 00:55:15.679 --> 00:55:27.840 There's an online um RE course this autumn that Jane and Jasmine are running every Thursday night in November the language of faith um do let her know quite speedily about that. 00:55:27.920 --> 00:55:37.119 And Jane and Anthony I hear you're doing the time of the tricksters next uh Sunday that'll be one to uh look out for that service. 00:55:38.000 --> 00:56:56.320 The um all of this is on the back of the order of service sheet and it's in the weekly email that goes out and just let's keep in touch with people that's really important that uh church is more than just Sundays isn't it so time for our closing words and music now George is going to be playing the Beatles classic tune Here Comes the Sun and isn't that just a perfect reminder as we move into the darker months of the year that we are still spinning around our star we just tilted a little bit further away at first some words of blessing for all that arrives and departs in our lives let us give thanks for all that rises and falls be it moving slowly or speedily let us offer open-hearted acceptance for all that lies way beyond our control let us bend our knee in gratitude and respect for our world is filled with unexpected teachers and we will always be youngsters with much still to learn each and every one of you