As many of you know Christian Aid Week takes place every May, and across the churches in Windsor we have always been very active, holding a range of fundraising activities to support the work of Christian Aid , including door to door collections.
This year we cannot do that! But many of us still want to support the work of Christian Aid, particularly as they work with our global neighbours around the world – many of whom will suffer particularly badly as a result of Covid-19, so here are some of the ways you can support Christian Aid Week 2020:
1. Please make an online donation directly to Christian Aid using our ‘justgiving page’:https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/windsor-christian-aid-group
2. Please sponsor one of us who is doing a Sponsored activity this month: Ruth Norri and Tracy Tickle are doing a Sponsored Step challenge; Sally Wright is cycling 250 miles for the whole of May and they have started already. Again, please use the same justgiving page to sponsor them.
3. If you would prefer, please send a cheque made payable to ‘Christian Aid’ to our Treasurer Mrs Pat Gibbinson, 6 Drummond House, Balmoral Gardens, Windsor, SL4 3SG.
Why not give:
· £2 – the cost of the coffee you may not have been able to buy this week
· £5 – the cost of an activity you haven’t been able to do in lockdown
· £30 – to pay for a family to have hygiene kits and safe water
· £50 – to pay for a community toilet and handwashing block
· £100 – to help set up a clean water point
Many of us in this extraordinary lockdown have been very focused, quite rightly, on our own families, friends and our own local community: but this is a good opportunity to look out further to our ‘global neighbours’ as Christian Aid calls them. So please consider supporting our efforts for Christian Aid in Windsor this May. More details will follow about other activities later in the month. Thank you and God bless you.
Windsor Christian Aid Group
A group of seven "Daily Devotionals" for Christian Aid Week (10th--17th May inclusive) are attached along with this newsletter to Rosemary’s email and can also be found on our Church Website. Alternatively, if you would prefer to receive these by email, please contact Susy Shearer at: shearersj@btinternet.com
And finally, a prayer for Christian Aid by Mary
“Lord, in the midst of our own preoccupations and worries, help us to remember those in poorer countries whose crops are failing, and who have to walk miles every day to collect drinking water. Amen.”
A REFLECTION by Mr Richard Cracknell
Like many people, I function best in a routine. I don’t respond well to any change in my life either good or bad, so the current covid crisis has caused me a fair amount of anxiety. I am fortunate, in some ways, that as I cannot work from home, I am still travelling to work each day and thus maintaining some vestige of normality (and enjoying the quieter roads!). But this has been the longest period that I can remember that I haven’t gone to church on a Sunday. Our regular services and fellowship meetings help to sustain our faith and are a very important part of our ‘routine’. It is at times like these that we most need the support of our brothers and sisters in Christ and yet we are denied this vital lifeline at present. Of course, there has been sterling work done by our ministers in running ‘Zoom’ services and by those who prepare and distribute the newsletters, not to mention the ongoing care of our pastoral visitors. But seldom has there been a time when we have had to rely on our own personal faith to see us through, and this is not always easy, particularly when we are worried or anxious and don’t know where to turn.
I was reminded of the psalmist in Psalm 121 who pondered where he would turn to for help:
I lift up my eyes to the mountains - where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip - he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord watches over you - the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all harm - he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
Here in the Thames Valley we are hard pushed to look to the mountains! But we can still look to our Lord, who will sustain us in our most difficult times as He has done for all those who have looked to Him throughout the years. And when we eventually return to church may it be with renewed joy at the fellowship we share and appreciation of what we have missed, and may it never again seem to be simply part of our ‘routine’.
Richard