‘Happy 95th Birthday’

 

... on the  27^th of June to Miss Dorothy Haynes. Many will know her, and some of you were taught by her at school. Dorothy has made a full recovery from major surgery last year. She lives alone, so she has had to rely a lot on good neighbours and district nurses and carers; her family live a long way off and can only visit infrequently. Apart from some trouble with her hand, arm and eyes, she is in good condition for a lady of her tender years and is mentally as ‘bright as a button’!

 

It has been my privilege and pleasure to take Communion to her each month, a visit which she values because it keeps her in touch with the Church she loves.  Her faith means everything to her, and her pluck and stamina remind me of  Bunyan’s “Pilgrim”. Our Church is the richer for the prayers and faith of our older people who now find it hard to get about and attend services.

 

Thank you to Dorothy and all you at home, for your valuable and faithful witness.

 

This article was sent to me by my friend Rev. David Wood. It encapsulates the value we should place on our ‘not so young’ members of our Churches.

 

“Frequency holders”

 

To all who seek to meditate and especially those who as they get older experience diminishment in daily practical energy, this quotation from “A New Earth” (awakening to your life’s purpose), by Eckhart Tolle (Penguin £12.99). He calls us ‘frequency holders’. The essential contribution that day by day our contemplative practice is making:-

 

‘On the arising new earth, however, their role is just as vital as that of the creators, the doers, the reformers.  Their function is to anchor the frequency of the consciousness on this planet.  I call them the frequency-holders.  They are here to generate consciousness through the activities of daily life, through their interactions with others as well as through ‘just being’

 

In this way, they endow the seemingly insignificant with profound meaning. Their task is to bring spacious stillness into this world by being absolutely present in whatever they do.  There is consciousness and therefore quality in what they do, even the simplest task.  Their purpose is to do everything in a sacred manner.  As each human being is an integral part of the collective human consciousness, they affect the world much more deeply than is visible on the surface of their lives.’

 

Sheila. Wrigley