My Calendar
Week of Nov 17th
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Transgender Awareness Week Transgender Awareness Week
13/11/2023 – 19/11/2023
World Kindness Day World Kindness Day
13/11/2023
Love this video - it's well worth investing 5 minutes and 44 seconds to watch it!
Now, how about doing something about it? There are a load of ideas below:
CLICK HERE FOR PLENTY OF IDEAS!
CLICK HERE FOR A VIDEO PRAYER FOR TODAY
Loving God,
If I cannot be brilliant, let me be kind.
If I cannot change the world, let me inspire just one other to do so.
If I cannot give away riches, let me be loving.
Let me be known for kindness, for it is the greatest glory.
Amen -
Transgender Awareness Week Transgender Awareness Week
13/11/2023 – 19/11/2023
World Diabetes Day World Diabetes Day
14/11/2023
So how does having diabetes affect lives?
CLICK HERE for a short quiz to highlight symptoms of diabetes.
Here's a really great 6 minute video of Things Not To Say To Someone With Type 1 Diabetes.
A PRAYER FOR TODAY
Loving God,
we hold before you all who are living with or are affected by diabetes
and ask you to ease suffering and to quiet fears.
We give thanks for their fortitude and ability to organise
and ask you to give them strength and encouragement.
We pray for those researching treatments and cures,
that they will use their skills and knowledge,
finding the inspiration to make diabetes a thing of the past.
We pray this in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
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Transgender Awareness Week Transgender Awareness Week
13/11/2023 – 19/11/2023
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Transgender Awareness Week Transgender Awareness Week
13/11/2023 – 19/11/2023
International Day for Tolerance International Day for Tolerance
16/11/2023
International Day for Tolerance
Here's a quite wonderful video (4 mins 17 secs)
Which of these people do you:
- most admire?
- most agree with?
- most want to be like?
Perhaps tolerance is a simple as following the teaching of Jesus to "Treat others as you'd like to be treated!"
A PRAYER FOR TODAY
While the United Nations designates today an International Day for Tolerance,
we know that you, God of all people, call us to something higher,
to something beyond mere tolerance.
We pray that you would enable and empower us to be people of love and compassion,
who actively seek the good of the other and work to to that day when people from all tribes and tongues might come together in peace, embracing and delighting in our differences.
Amen
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Transgender Awareness Week Transgender Awareness Week
13/11/2023 – 19/11/2023
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Transgender Awareness Week Transgender Awareness Week
13/11/2023 – 19/11/2023
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Transgender Awareness Week Transgender Awareness Week
13/11/2023 – 19/11/2023
Children's Grief Awareness Week Children's Grief Awareness Week
19/11/2023 – 25/11/2023
Grief is something we all experience at some point in our lives. While no two people react in exactly the same way, there is much to learn from hearing about others' experiences and sharing our own when we feel able to.
If you are grieving and want to talk to someone, do approach someone you trust.
If someone who is grieving approaches you, don't worry - you won't make it worse. The worst has already happened. If they want to talk, just listen.Here are some reflections on what it can be like to lose someone.
This is a video which you might find helpful:
A PRAYER FOR THOSE WHO HAVE DIED
Eternal rest, grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. AMEN
A PRAYER FOR THOSE WHO ARE GRIEVING
Jesus, healer and teacher,
you know what it is like to lose someone you love and you wept for your friend, Lazarus.
Help me make sense of what is happening,
because some days I feel angry, some days I feel lost,
some days I feel helpless, some days I don't feel at all.
Send me comfort and people to walk with me.
Help me through this pain,
and let treasured memories sustain me.
Help me to have faith that my loved one is now with you,
free from pain and worry.
Help others who are grieving this same loss.
I ask this in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
AMEN
International Men's Day International Men's Day
19/11/2023
Imagine a group of people whose members:
- suffer 70% of murders in the world;
- account for 85% of homeless people;
- serve 64% longer jail sentences than others in society;
- die 4-5 years earlier than a similar sized group;
- are twice as likely to die from heart disease or lung cancer than others.
They're shocking statistics, aren't they? By the way, the group in question is MEN!
WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT? (1 mins 53 secs)
This is an INTERESTING TAKE ON WHAT IT IS TO BE A MAN (2 mins 58 secs)
A PRAYER FOR TODAY (available as a 1 minute video HERE)
Loving God,
we hold before you especially today - the men in our lives;
help all of us to deepen our understanding of gender roles and expectations;
that we might live life in all its fullness,
building families, communities, societies and a world of openness and acceptance.
Help us not to be bound by stereotypes
but to enjoy the diverse nature of every human being.
We pray this in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN
World Toilet Day World Toilet Day
19/11/2023
Did you know that:- 4.2 billion people live without safely managed sanitation – more than half the global population. (WHO/UNICEF 2019)
- 673 million people still practise open defecation worldwide. (WHO/UNICEF 2019)
- Today, at least 2 billion people will have to use a drinking water source contaminated with faeces. (WHO 2019)
- Inadequate sanitation is estimated to cause 432,000 diarrhoeal deaths every year and is a major factor in diseases such as intestinal worms, trachoma and schistosomiasis. (WHO 2019)
- 297,000 children under five are estimated to die each year from diarrhoea as a result of unsafe drinking water, sanitation, and hand hygiene. (WHO 2019)
All of the above is not because we don't have the technology! After all, human beings went to the Moon over 50 years ago! Do we, and the governments who serve us, need to re-align some priorities?
Let's spend a few moments imagining what it must feel like not to have a toilet.What might you have to do if there was no toilet available?
Why might this have a disproportionate effect on females?
What are the possible consequences of not having a toilet?
A PRAYER FOR TODAY (from CAFOD)
Loving God,
we pray for a world of justice
where everyone has access to
a toilet and clean water.
May all our sisters and brothers throughout the world
be able to live in the dignity they deserve
as children created in your image.
Amen