Cascades of Grace

Dear Friends,

I hope the week of reflections on what we can learn from the Covid Pandemic was interesting and helped you as we all continue to process memories and emotions from that difficult time.  We now turn to two weeks of reflections written by women from the Cascades of Grace network which exists to network global majority women in the URC for mutual support, to hear and amplify their voices, and to share their gifts for the benefit of the whole Church.  (Please contact Karen Campbell at Karen.Campbell @urc.org.uk for more information.) 

It is a joy to have them guide our reflections for the next two weeks.

With every good wish

Andy

The Rev’d Andy Braunston
Minister for Digital Worship
 

Prayer for the URC
to mark the UN International Day
commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence
based on Religion or Belief 

Dear <<First Name>>,

God of justice and peace,
we grieve that people, here and worldwide, 

are threatened, attacked, and killed
because of their religion or belief.

We remember Jewish people facing antisemitism, 

Muslims attacked in homes and mosques, 

Christians worshipping in secret, 

those of other faiths or none
condemned for belief,
and all who live afraid.

Forgive our silence.
Comfort victims and families.
Confront hatred; overturn systems of violence.
Strengthen the United Nations and all who defend the persecuted.
Awaken your Church to speak, protect, welcome,
and stand alongside the suffering,
until violence is overcome
and peace is established.

In Jesus’ name. Amen

With every good wish

Andy

The Rev’d Andy Braunston
Minister for Digital Worship
 

Luke 12.22-28 

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!’

Reflection

The Covid pandemic was a time of worry for everyone. Some have never recovered fully from the onset of that anxiety. But others of us remember with fondness the times (an hour a day to start with) when we were able to go out. My wife and I were fortunate to discover a number of wildlife havens – some of which we had never previously visited – within walking distance of our home. With the traffic stopped, we could hear the birds singing, the sound of wind in the trees, and enjoy the peace, tranquillity and rest of nature. By contemplating nature, we could – at least some of the time – put our own worries into a different and healthier perspective. We know that those who were not within easy reach of such spaces suffered more than we did.

For a short while, there were great hopes that these experiences for so many people would lead to those in power having a greater appreciation of the need to protect and care for nature, both for its own sake and for the sake of humans who clearly need it to survive emergencies and ameliorate worries.

Sadly, however, our reaction as humans to the end of the pandemic has not been to learn these positive lessons. Quite the opposite. Across the world, governments have called ‘Drill, baby, drill’ and ‘Build, baby, build’, to catch up with lost time in our despoilation of God’s Creation, undermining our chances of physical or emotional survival when the next pandemic comes.

One of the deficiencies of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry has been that this aspect of the pandemic’s legacy has barely been mentioned, still less highlighted. Surely we – like Jesus- should be remembering how we benefited from the rest of nature during the pandemic and learning from the experience.

Prayer

When through the woods and forest glades I wander,
and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,
and hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze;
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
How great thou art, how great thou art!
 (R&S 117)

Mark 10.13-16 

People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; 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.’ And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

Reflection

Although most children did not become seriously ill even if they caught Covid, they were required to stay at home, their playgrounds were closed and their opportunities drastically curtailed. The UK Covid-19 Inquiry has heard a great deal about the effect of the pandemic on children, and – shockingly – that none of the governments of the UK gave much attention to the needs of children when making their initial decisions in 2020. The farcical way in which GCSE/National 5 and A-level/Highers results were announced and then changed in each nation that summer caused huge distress to older children.

When schools were closed, it was decided that ‘vulnerable children’ would still be able to attend. Many parents resented greatly the state suddenly declaring that their own children were ‘vulnerable’ and decided to keep them at home rather than send them to school. Follow-up was patchy, and some children disappeared from view. Sadly, some suffered as a consequence not of catching Covid but of neglect or abuse. The Inquiry has recommended that in future the rights of children themselves be given proper weight through Children’s Rights Impact Assessments.

How different is the approach of Jesus, who doesn’t just talk about children, but welcomes them literally into the centre of the conversation and blesses them. These children are more than a visual aid. They are a reminder to the disciples, and to us, that we can see the kingdom of God most clearly in the way that children live, play and interact. Adults need to learn from them, rather than decide what should be done to them.

This lesson for governments is also a lesson for the Church. We have Jesus’s example, and quote it at infant baptism and dedication services. But do we live it out in church life, and place children at the centre?

Prayer

Father and Mother God,
in Jesus you placed children at the centre of your kingdom,
and call on us to do likewise.
In our public life and our church life we often forget,
and – like the disciples – try to marginalise them.
Forgive us, and help us bless the children among us,
by listening and taking seriously what they have to say
and by seeking their interests even in the midst of our own crises.
Amen.

Proverbs 22.1-6 

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
     and favour is better than silver or gold.
The rich and the poor have this in common:
     the Lord is the maker of them all.
 The clever see danger and hide;
     but the simple go on, and suffer for it.
 The reward for humility and fear of the Lord
     is riches and honour and life.
 Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse;
     the cautious will keep far from them.
 Train children in the right way,
     and when old, they will not stray.

Reflection

During the first lockdown in 2020 I was out for my daily walk and strolled through a nearby social housing estate. As usual, the streets were almost deserted, so I was surprised to be approached by a small group of children aged about 10. As schools were closed, they had – with the help of the mother of one of them – spent the morning making cupcakes, and had now ventured out to sell them to their neighbours.

I asked what they were raising money for. “Us”, they replied. They must have seen from my face that this had reduced my enthusiasm for making a purchase. One lad tried to retrieve the situation. “We made them to cheer people up in lockdown,” he declared, “people like you!” My heart began to melt and I reached in my pocket. “And,” added his friend, “we made them with love.” How could I refuse? I bought two – one for me and one to take home to my wife. As I did not have the exact money they had to calculate the change – which they did correctly. I wished them well and went on my way.

At the time, the media were full of stories about the effects of the loss of school education on children. But these children had been learning domestic science, business studies and mathematics, along with marketing and people skills – and had a lot of fun. I do not doubt the value of formal education, but this too was “training children in the right way.” As they now approach their GCSEs, I hope they remember that morning and the stranger who bought two of their cakes.

The earlier verses of this passage contain a number of other aphorisms that seem relevant to the pandemic experience. I will let you ponder those for yourself.

Prayer

Parent God,
you call us to train children in the right way.
We pray for those engaged in providing formal education,
 in school and extra-curricular activities.
We pray too for parents and neighbours who train children
by encouraging them to be children –
to learn through play, friendship and community.
May we never devalue what is learned through the ordinary interactions of life,
and encourage our children to be clever, humble and cautious.
Amen.

`2 Chronicles 29.1-11 
 
Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old; he reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his ancestor David had done.  In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. He brought in the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east. He said to them, ‘Listen to me, Levites! Sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and carry out the filth from the holy place. For our ancestors have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God; they have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the dwelling of the Lord, and turned their backs. They also shut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps, and have not offered incense or made burnt-offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. Therefore the wrath of the Lord came upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of horror, of astonishment, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes. Our fathers have fallen by the sword and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger may turn away from us. My sons, do not now be negligent, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence to minister to him, and to be his ministers and make offerings to him.’
 
Reflection

The most difficult period of my ten years as Policy Officer for the churches in Wales was in 2020-22, when churches in the UK were closed by law for the first time since Roman Catholic public worship became legal in 1791, and their activities were legally restricted for the first time in generations. For some Christians, this was an abomination equivalent to that committed by King Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28.22-27) – although he not only closed the Temple, but set up altars to alternative gods around Jerusalem. For many, it was a painful infringement of liberty, and the delay in re-opening churches until after “non-essential retail” added insult to injury. Indeed, some individual Christians took legal action to prevent further church closures, and won their case in Scotland. In England and Wales, their governments allowed churches to remain open in the 2021 lockdown, and churches were never closed by law in Northern Ireland.

However, the United Reformed Church and other denominations within the Churches Together family supported the closure, seeking to ensure that we did not by worshipping God contribute to the spreading of a deadly and (at the time) incurable disease, and setting up new online ways to worship.

As churches re-opened in restricted form, we learned to keep our distance, to worship without singing or socialising, and I was engaged in constant discussion with the Welsh Government about the epidemiological risks of ordination, baptism and the like – not topics I ever imagined I would need to consider!

Hezekiah was a king who realised that restricting worship infringed the very identity of his people. I hope that this realisation has dawned on our own rulers too, and that in any future emergency churches (and other faiths’ places of worship) will be consulted on how they can both honour God and keep their neighbours safe.

Prayer

Loving God,
you call us to love You and to love our neighbour.
In times of emergency, these two loves may seem to be contradictory.
Give us wisdom to navigate our heartfelt desire to meet together to worship You
and Your command to us to put the needs of others before our own.
Give governments wisdom to understand the necessity of worship
as well as care for neighbours, and free us to do both.
Amen.
 

Isaiah 22.12-14 
On that day the Lord God of hosts
     called to weeping and mourning,
     to baldness and putting on sackcloth;
 but instead there was joy and festivity,
     killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
     eating meat and drinking wine.
 ‘Let us eat and drink,
     for tomorrow we die.’
 The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears:
 Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,
     says the Lord God of hosts.

Reflection

I remember exactly what I was doing six years ago this evening. We were in that interim phase of the Covid pandemic, Eat Out to Help Out, and my wife and I took advantage of the scheme on several occasions to enjoy £10 each off a number of lovely restaurant meals. Perhaps in Wales we felt a little safer than most with 2 metres’ social distancing and many restaurants allowed to open only outdoors during what was, fortunately, a sunny August.

Nonetheless, the Covid Inquiry report published last year found that many who knew more about viral transmission than us thought that the scheme was foolish – Prof. Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer for England, apparently called it in private ‘Eat out to help the virus’. There is no doubt that some approached this special offer with the gung-ho attitude “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.” We now know (but did not at the time) that such an attitude had already permeated 10 Downing Street, where parties on Friday nights helped hard-working staff to relax, despite the danger of spreading Covid by socialising in this way, and the fact that thousands of people were dying and millions in fear of their lives.

In this chapter, Isaiah is talking not about a pandemic, but the restoration of Jerusalem after a period of desolation (although the exact historical reference is difficult to pin down). The desire to revel in a break from disaster is understandable, but, says Isaiah, utterly wrong. Weeping and mourning were the fitting response. These verses might have usefully been read six years ago in Downing Street and elsewhere.
This week we will reflect, with the benefit of six years’ distance, on the remarkable events of 2020-22, and what we might learn for the future from our experiences.

Prayer

Lord God of hosts,
in your Son you showed that you too enjoy a party.
But you remind us that there is a time and a place for everything –
and when people are dying or in fear of their lives
is a time for weeping and mourning rather than eating and drinking.
Help us to see our revelry from your perspective
and the perspective of those who might be hurt by our excess.
Amen.
 

Learning Lessons from Covid

Dear Friends,

I hope you found Romilly’s reflections on money stimulating.  We turn now to a new series.

We can all remember what it was like to live through the various lock downs we had in the UK, daily briefings from London, followed in Scotland and Wales with briefings from our First Ministers (who were both seen as being rather more serious than the then Prime Minister).  We remember a lovely spring amid the dreadful headlines, marvelled at the opening of Nightingale Hospitals (but now know they couldn’t really be staffed well), and worried about not seeing friends and loved ones.  I remember conducting funerals where chapels were set up like exam halls with socially distanced chairs, no singing, and very few mourners allowed to be present. I remember grappling with technology to ensure my congregations (and others) could worship. 

As the virus lifted, vaccines were rolled out, and life returned to normal I remember the profound anger that came from the revelations of attitudes at the highest levels which were so different to what we had to endure.  An MP travelling home on the train to Glasgow after getting a Covid diagnosis later lost her seat.  Parties in No 10 and top political advisors going for a car ride to check eyesight whilst The Queen was stoically socially isolated at Prince Philip’s funeral captured a national mood and, later, meant a government was ejected from office.  Since then we’ve had public enquiries and, now these have concluded, Gethin Rhys, a retired URC minister and member of St Andrew’s Methodist Church in Cardiff, offers a week of reflections on the remarkable events of 2020-22 considering what we might learn for the future from our experiences.

With every good wish

Andy

The Rev’d Andy Braunston
Minister for Digital Worship
 

Saturday 15 August 2026
 

Theology and Money 

Matthew 6:19–21, 24 

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal;  but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

Reflection

These familiar verses point at two great and simple truths: that money needs to be our servant, not our master; and that we are on a journey through this life and need to keep our eyes firmly fixed on our ultimate destination. So far, so good: I’m pretty sure you didn’t need me to tell you that. So I would like instead to share a thought about what Jesus does not say, or rather, how he might have said it slightly differently.

Jesus does not tell us in this brief passage how to store up treasures in heaven. For sure, we can get a fairly good idea about that from the rest of the Sermon on the Mount – but in this passage, those treasures are left hanging, so to speak, as if Jesus thinks that we don’t in fact need to be told. It challenges our comprehension. Yet if we turn round what Jesus actually says, it could help us understand more about what he means and more about ourselves.

Suppose Jesus were to have said, “Where your heart is, there will your treasure be also.” If I’m wrong, then I have to trust in God’s mercy – but I’m fairly sure that I’m not taking a blasphemous liberty, and I hope you agree. It certainly helps me, because I’m sure that Jesus means that our hearts should be in heaven, and it would therefore follow that everything we treasure is framed in that Kingdom context.
And in this life, it might actually help us focus on where God is suggesting that we use our worldly treasures. If my heart lies with the body of Christ on earth, then that’s where my treasure will be too, whether it is my money or the gift of my time and talents.
 
Prayer

Lord, 
help me to hold fast 
to the knowledge that 
my life and heart belong with you. 
When I am distracted and dazzled 
by the possibilities that 
money and earthly treasures offer, 
be the still small voice in my head 
that guides me out of slavery 
and back into mastery over wealth 
of every sort. Amen.