Church

62 The West Dorset Magazine, August 12, 2022 Church Embrace the simplicity, it’s a blessing

By Canon Deb Smith, Team Rector of Bridport

According to the travel writer Bill Bryson, simplicity is a national trait of the British. He says the British like their pleasures small. In his book, Notes from a Small Island, he writes: [The British] are the only people in the world who think of jam and currants as thrilling constituents of a pudding or cake. Offer them something genuinely tempting – a slice of gateau or a choice of chocolates from a box – and they will nearly always hesitate and begin to worry that it’s unwarranted and excessive, as if any pleasure beyond a very modest threshold is vaguely unseemly. ‘Oh, I mustn’t really,’ they say. ‘Oh, go on,’ you prod encouragingly. ‘Well, just a small one then,’ they say and dartingly take a small one, and then get a look as if they have just done something terribly devilish. I imagine that streak in us that yearns for simplicity comes from our Celtic roots. That Celtic yearning for simplicity can be found in Celtic prayer too. This prayer is spoken by generations of ordinary folk in their homes on what today we’d call the ‘Celtic fringe’, Scotland’s rural west coast: Bless to me, O God, Each thing my eye sees; Bless to me, O God, Each sound my ear hears; Bless to me, O God, Each odour that goes to my nostrils; Bless to me, O God, Each taste that goes to my lips; Each note that goes to my song; Each ray that guides my way… It’s a simple prayer – asking for God’s blessing for the day ahead, preparing to go out into the world with God; confident that God’s love for us is real, and known in even the simplest moments in a day. The ancient Celts had prayers for milking the cows, welcoming the new light of dawn, making the fire in the hearth. Everything they did connected with the giver of life. Do we believe that God is with us in the simple, mundane activities of everyday life? In putting the kettle on to show welcome to a neighbour? In writing a card to a friend, in a smile to a stranger in the street? Do we have a language to celebrate that, to talk to God and hear God in simple terms? Why not try it this week? Embrace our Celtic simplicity and give thanks for the simple blessings of our days.

Services

Sherborne Abbey Weekday Services Monday to Saturday at 8.30am, Morning Prayer The Sepulchre Chapel Every Monday at 9am, Holy Communion - The Lady Chapel Every Tuesday at 12noon, Holy Communion - The Lady Chapel Every Wednesday at 10.30am, Holy Communion with Homily – The Lady Chapel Every Thursday at 12noon, BCP Holy Communion - The Lady Chapel Every Friday at 9am, Ecumenical Holy Communion - The Lady Chapel The first Friday of the month at 9am, Requiem Holy Communion - The Sepulchre Chapel - Every Saturday at 9am, Holy Communion - The Sepulchre Chapel

Sunday, August 14 Sherborne Abbey 8am Holy Communion 9.30am Parish Eucharist 6pm Choral Evensong St James the Great in Longburton 10am Family Communion St Martin of Tours Lillington 10am Holy Communion St Paul’s at The Gryphon 10.30am All Age Worship Burton Bradstock 11am Holy Communion Shipton Gorge 9.30am Morning Prayer Swyre 6.30pm Songs of Praise – a village thank you Litton Cheney 9.30am Holy Communion Littlebredy 11am Holy Communion Corscombe 5pm Hymns and Pimms (Milton Brook) Halstock 10am Holy Communion Melbury Osmond 9.30am Baptism Frome St Quentin 11am Holy Communion Maiden Newton 9.30am Worship Service Cattistock 6pm Holy Communion Friday, August 19 Sherborne Abbey 11am Remembering the Fallen

Sunday, August 21 Sherborne Abbey 8am Holy Communion 9.30am Parish Eucharist 6pm Choral Evensong St Martin of Tours Lillington 10am Morning Service St James the Great, Longburton 10am Family Communion St Paul’s at The Gryphon 10.30am All Age Holy Communion St Mary Magdalene, Castleton 11am Mattins Burton Bradstock 9.30am Family Service Chilcombe 6.30pm Evening Prayer Swyre 6.30pm Songs of Praise Puncknowle 11am All Age Holy Communion Litton Cheney 9.30am Morning Prayer Long Bredy 9.30am Morning Worship Corscombe 10am Morning Prayer Evershot 10am Holy Communion Rampisham 11am Holy Communion Maiden Newton 9.30am Holy Communion Chilfrome 11am Holy Communion