From our Sunday School Days (Lift up our hearts)

Hi all, THOUGHT FOR TODAY. This blows my mind! YOU ARE UNIQUE. Even if your are described as an identical twin, you are still totally unique. A quote from Interpol. A unique identifier Fingerprinting is one form of biometrics, a science which uses people's physical or biological characteristics to identify them. No two people have the same fingerprints, not even identical twins. Neither do fingerprints change, even as we get older. What's brought me to share this is my interest in sound & music, because no two people have the same voice pattern. Well if that doesn't send me out for a Saturday breaky, I don't know what does. I'm off out! God Bless all.

I have read through every post in this topic this morning, and the word "faith" appears in most of them. Not really knowing what my faith is or if I even have one? I looked up the dictionary meaning and found the two as below. "Complete trust or confidence in someone or something" "Strong belief in the doctrines of a religion based upon spiritual conviction rather than proof" There is also a passage quoted from the bible as follows "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" Reading these, I think my faith falls into the first meaning listed??

I love that reply Mick, You telling it as it is. Thank you so much. With or without our forum posting rules, I'm totally against any posting that causes issues or makes someone else uncomfortable. If I did, I would be uncomfortable. The forum is It's own comfort. I value that more than ever now, as I know others do, who maybe restricted for going out, whether their own mobility issues or being a house bound carer for someone. We bring it all together.

Hi all, What is Faith. I so enjoyed my chucky egg with bread & butter this morning. Being in a thoughtful mood, I marvelled at the formation of the hens egg. It sent my mind back ages to a one off event, when I thought that I knew it all. Know it all! I haven't got half a clue now. That's no joke! Years ago, I was teased into sharing my testimony about my faith in public, in Coventry. I say teased because I'm never going to be a preacher. I can argue or discuss over a desk, but that's my limit. Anyway, I bought a bunch of small bananas & with the help of Pam, very carefully wrapped them in various commercial wrappings. Cadbury, Rowntrees, Fyffes & so on. I then asked folk, which manufacturer had made the bannas. That is my faith! I don't ask who made my egg, I know who made my egg, that's my faith. A hens egg, but what a complex piece of engineering. Now experts will be telling me about the composition of my egg & the bananas, but I'm reminded with all of our wealth of expertise, we can't make a blade of grass. Have a good day all.

Hi Philip. It's that word FAITH again. Was your faith divided on whether the egg was going to be good or bad upon breaking the shell? Or did you revert to optimism / pessimism ?

I'm not sure that I've ever had a bad egg. Ones so far out of date that they're not good ones, yes, but never a rotten one. I've had a box with all but one with double yolks. I think the expectation of a good egg now has to be experience of modern farming methods rather than faith or optimism/pessimism.

It's simply the fact that I love boiled egg & it comes out of the bottom of a bird. I've tried to explain the meaning of that word to me. The belief in what I cannot see. I'm off for a curry in a bit.

Hi all, FOOD FOR THOUGHT. I'm sharing on this topic something that really troubles me. I've not posted on this thread for some while. In so doing I'm being critical of aspects in my own back yard. The Christian faith, to mean something, has to be what it says on the tin. Christ-like. In recent times, there has been an explosion of prophetic futuristic preachers, often using YouTube, hundreds of them, to predict the future. Often using brimstone & fear language. Scripture actually states that no one knows the time of the end. My understanding is that the time of the end started two thousand years ago, but a day is as a thousand years in God's sight. Please, never feel intimidated, by anyone. Fear of Him is totally different, that's down to our personal relationship with Him. Intimidation does not come from Christ! It's my belief that there are only two commissions given by Christ to me. "To feed the flock" "To tell folk that He died for my filth" . I remember as a young child, standing outside of the jewellers at the top of Trinity St, looking at all of the barometers in the window, asking my mum why did they all say something different. They have to be calibrated was her reply. So it is with preachers. It's God who does the calibrating. So no matter the date, today the start of October, 2023, even with all that's going wrong in the world, the dreadful tragedy on our motorways last week, the hate, crime, unhappiness......... It's very little different than it was during the civil war, the so called religious crusades that I'm ashamed of, the plagues, 1940, it doesn't end. I'll finish with what Scripture actually says about the future. Whilst we store up for ourselves the harvest to feed us, I'm to concern my self just for today, because tomorrow will have enough issues of its own. Love to you all, whatever your beliefs, please don't let anyone bully or intimidate you. Your belief is yours. God bless.

THANK YOU TO EACH & EVERY MEMBER. This post is simply a huge thank you to all of us, during a year of unprecedented awful world events, yet we on our forum have stuck together, kept the lid on our feelings, ensuring that our forum is just like being at home. A happy home, even with all of the awful issues going on outside. Thank you all, everyone. It's a learning curve for me.

Hi all, My very fond memories of a much loved member have been stirred by this monochrome picture from 1962. The train has just left Aberystwyth on its journey to Shrewsbury, the loco, a manor class named Foxcote. It was a privilege to have known this lovely lady whose forum name is Foxcote. Her posts still remain.

Great post, Philip. Foxcote was an enthusiastic member of the forum in its formative years, when it was fortunate to have many members who were true Coventry folk, able to share great local knowledge from their upbringing and lives in the city. Over time, many of those have been lost to the forum, some because their memories and stories have all been exhausted. Others, sadly, are no longer with us. Some have drifted away for other reasons. The forum is a poorer place because of the loss of members like Foxcote.

Well not from my "Sunday School Days" (hated it!) but I can claim to have sung the weekend offices with the first visiting choir, apres Covid, in the cathedral https://www.wingravesingers.org.uk/. (Back row third from left.) I owe my love of singing to RSCM evensongs in the newly consecrated cathedral and I am afraid to admit that as a teenager I would spend Saturday afternoons at cathedral evensong and not supporting the Sky Blues. (Each to their own.) Just back from a weekend of singing the services at Bristol cathedral. What struck me was how lively Bristol was at making the most of their heritage compared with the remote dead end in Spon Street etc.

That's fabulous you sharing that. Thank you. My Sunday School experience wasn't all to write home about. Especially when some were teaching what in fact they didn't understand, in some cases hadn't even read it. If it hadn't been for my family connections or my love of music, I may not have endured it. Late yesterday afternoon after returning from playing at a funeral for a family that I love so dearly, I learnt that a motorbike chum of mine had suffered a collision coming home from work on Tuesday evening in Humber Rd. I'm hoping to see him later today in Walsgrave. A little blessing (some would say coincidence) was that a passing empty ambulance gave immediate assistance, otherwise he might have had to wait hours for another. I will stick to my faith, for all of my warts.

Hi all, It's the secondary title to this topic that means more to me than anything, "Lift up our Hearts". May that be to each & every forum member. The coming year will see a thousand days that will have passed since I last saw my Pam. Yet, in all truth, I miss her for all my selfish reasons. Home baking & generally looking after me. For me, she is not lost. I know in my heart where she is. If I didn't, then there would be no hope for me either. The world is currently awash with end of time preachers. It often is in times of global conflicts. I'm not saying that they are correct or wrong, what I do know is that Scripture tells me to feed the flock, not whip them! I don't pretend to know the answer to so many of the intellectual global questions that I keep hear being raised on the radio, television debates & so on. I've a smattering of info that Scripture declares as a chronological time line, but even in scripture, the folk that could see future events, were told to keep quiet until the generation that were the final subject to it. I'm hardly an intellectual, hey! I play trains!! What I can tell you is how much I value Scripture from beginning to end. That includes the promises, yes & the rebukes. Some believe it. Some don't. Some eat meat, some don't. I will leave a Psalm that at this point in time means more to me about what's going on right now than anything I've seen or heard anywhere. It's Psalm 83. There's a prayer in that Psalm that is possibly the last prayer that will ever be made on planet earth. I do honestly believe that. The last verse of the Psalm-; "Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord- that you alone are the Most High over all the earth." To all of our members, team & friends. May this season of festivities, be a joyful time, to each & all. Love Philip.

Hi all, For all of the issues affecting the management of our state health management, I'm so grateful for its existence. Our modern medicine in Europe, I believe it's the Greeks who we have to thank. Valid archaeological human remains indicate the very successful recovery of folk from many forms of surgery, head surgery included, going back at least three thousand years. My mind nearly blew a fuse when years ago I first learnt that. Europe wasn't on its own. At around the same time, India & Asia were developing their applications. Similarly, so was South America. The source thread to this may have been the Egyptians. Certainly, four thousand years ago the Egyptians were the greatest trading nation anywhere. The cultural similarities of the Aztecs, in South America to Egyptian culture is stark. Not just pyramids either. The reason I'm posting this on our wellbeing topic is this. In spite of the awful state of warfare & hostility, hate & greed, just how much we do need one another. I attended an all day Nigerian wedding, that started at my little chapel, then moved to the banqueting suite in Binley. I had known the bride along time, but to meet her new husband, the friends & families was delightful. Three hymns that most of us would recognise formed part of the service. Often at weddings, the singing can be a bit lacking, folk not sure of the hymns, or a bit shy, all understandable, but it's my job to cater for that in the way that I play. There was no shyness on Saturday. I knew from from the first line of the first hymn how this was going to go. It wasn't just volume coming from nearly three hundred folk. It was the intensity of their enjoyment that added such powerful volume. After the first line was being sung, "How Great Thou' Art", I knew that I was completely at liberty to do whatever. Three of the brides work colleagues (all medical research professionals) were sat next to the organ, I could see their facial expression surprise at singing the likes of which they had never heard. Afterwards, one asked if both my legs were made of rubber. Certainly a day that I will never forget, neither do I want to! One of the fundamentals of modern medical diagnosis is skin colour & texture. It goes back to the earliest Egyptian skills, of diagnosis & I just wonder if I've been reading about it in the book of Leviticus, chapter thirteen. It's a long chapter to read, about ten minutes straight reading, plus about a year to think about it. I don't pretend to understand it, but I'm fascinated. I will keep to my subjects of numbers & music hey! Have a good day all. Might nearly squeeze a dry day out today. God Bless.