Around the City - thoughts on Exeter’s past 11

The Pharmacy by Rev’d Paul Collings 

The building that houses the present Laura Ashley, at 41 and 42 High Street, was for many years the premises of Hinton Lake, the chemists. The building, largely dating from 1564 was called the Mansion House up until 1740.

And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy: Exodus 30:35

There Hinton Lake’s the chemist store,

Long had it’s high street’s opened door,

Offering it’s wares, a cure to ease

From pain, an ailment, or disease.

Apothecary skills applied

With careful measures there supplied

Each patient’s own prescriptive needs,

Renewing health, their cure to speed.

From ancient times, right to this day,

Prescriber’s art has been displayed

As with physician’s practiced skills

They join, unite to banish ills.

You call us too to emulate

Such given skills  and to relate,

A tempered balm, holy and pure,

An answer here, a lasting cure.

O great physician, draw me near,

That I may too share in the cure

Of saving grace, of that welfare,

That wills our freedom through your care.

“IN THE OUR HANDS (adapted) by Suzy Kassem 

The one who creates a poison, also has the cure.

The one who creates a virus, also has the antidote.

The one who creates chaos, also has the ability to create peace.

The one who sparks hate, also has the ability to transform it to love.

The one  who creates misery, also has the ability to destroy it with kindness.

The one who creates sadness, also has the ability to to covert it to happiness.

The one who creates darkness, can also be awakened to produce illumination.

The one who spreads fear, can also be shaken to spread comfort.

Any problems created by the left hand,

Can also be solved with the right,

For the one who manifests anything,

Also has the ability to

Destroy it.” 

Around the City - thoughts on Exeter’s past 10

 High Street Trade by Rev’d Past Collings 

A road will be there and a way;

it will be called the Holy Way.

The unclean will not travel on it,

but it will be for the one who walks the path.

Even the fool will not go astray. 

Isaiah 35:8 Holman Bible

The city street where traders meet

Has through the decades stood complete.

As through long ages,  bartered, sold

Their goods on tables there unfold.

Each merchant’s store. through custom, trade

Has fed and watered, clothed, displayed

To meet the people’s daily need

With merchandise, their sales proceed.

Today, through lockdown, the High Street

Sees closures, changes, stores retreat

With loss of jobs, of income, wage,

With little hope to turn the page.

And so I ask midst these hard times

Your Spirit, Lord, within us chime,

That one in hope we share the load

As your promised word unfolds.

Help us your providence to share

In ways that demonstrate your care

To lift above this dreariness

Each heart into your sweet stillness. 

Worshipping is stripping ourselves of our idols, even the most hidden ones, and choosing the Lord as the centre, as the highway of our lives. Pope Francis

Around the City - Thoughts on Exeter’s pass 9

Click this link to share today’s St Nicholas Methodist Church online worship

 Exeter Cathedral by Rev’d Paul Collings

 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

St Peter’s see, Cathedral fair,

Has stood there bold, a place of care.

It’s towers two, upright declare

The lasting power of humble prayer.

It’s grandeur speaks of praise and awe

Beneath its vaulted arches tall.

The peal of bell, the choral voice

Across the years have here rejoiced.

The daily prayer, the spoken word

Has in its hallowed nave there stirred,

And still it draws from far and near

Each tourist, pilgrim, worshipper.

Though grand this ancient house of prayer

You call me Lord, to so declare,

That in my body there you ‘bide

Your Holy Spirit there to guide.

You call to mind, and in me form

A temple made of flesh and bone.

There in my heart and soul to raise 

The glory of your name to praise. 

Your daily life is your temple and your religion. When you enter into it take with you your all.

Khalil Gibran

Around the City - thoughts on Exeter’s pas 8

 Mols Cafe by Rev’d Paul Collings 

The tradition that this build as Mol's Coffee House appears to have been a romantic construction by a late 19th early 20th century owner, a Mr Worth? Research has shown that it was an built for Ecclesiastical use.

The building, along with Hanson's, next door, was built by the Cathedral Authorities to house 'Annuellars', or priests. Annuellars attended to the last wishes of benefactors to the Cathedral. They would conduct duties requested by the deceased, visit and comfort relatives and keep a candle lit in remembrance. It was during the Reformation of the 1540's that these practices were banned and the buildings housing the priests were taken over for other purposes.

Isaiah 56:7 “These I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

The house of prayer stands there four square,

A place of lasting gracious care;

To comfort, ease each grieving heart,

Where once love lived though now apart.

There chaplain priests, would hold each year

A time to render through their prayer

A lasting memory of lives at rest,

To kindle candles there to bless.

Lord, how to hold within a prayer

A lasting memory that bears

The hallmarks of your humble care

And reach another’s deep despair.

Your word declares each honest prayer,

From one who by faith’s gift repairs 

An inner righteous truthfulness,

That mirrors your own tenderness.

O that through grace I may, Dear Lord,

Pray from pure heart words that accord

With your just will and there unfold

Your perfect purpose to behold. 

“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.” ― Soren Kierkegaard

Around the City - Thoughts of Exeter’s past 7

 The Royal Clarence Hotel  by Rev’d Paul Collings

Luke 14:12-14 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbours; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,  and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

The Royal Clarence hostelry,

The heart of city’s revelry 

Has welcomed travellers there to rest,

A place to dine as honoured guest.

For city folk it marked the place

To celebrate, console, embrace

The rites of passage there to note

And even raise a glass, a toast.

Yet through that devastating fire,

The years of welcome now expired;

It’s image scared, a blot. a blight,

With heartfelt tears I view that site.

And as I stand that scene to view,

I think of lives destroyed, askew.

By perils, pitfalls, lasting pains

With no release from lives that strain.

For such a one I come in prayer

And ask for strength their pain to share.

Lord, of the lifting hand of grace

Raise-up their heads, your face to trace. 

“People will forget what you said, forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou

Faith in times of Crisis 18 by Dr J P Hunter

 

“The Sparkling Sun on the  Blue Grotto Malta” by Rev’d Paul Collings

Meditation by Dr J P Hunter

Psalm 19 The Living Bible 

19 The heavens are telling the glory of God; 

they are a marvellous display of his craftsmanship. 

² Day and night they keep on telling about God. 

^3-4 Without a sound or word, silent in the skies, 

their message reaches out to all the world. 

The sun lives in the heavens where God placed it

 ⁵ and moves out across the skies 

as radiant as a bridegroom going to his wedding,

 or as joyous as an athlete looking forward to a race.

⁶ The sun crosses the heavens from end to end, 

and nothing can hide from its heat.

^7-8 God’s laws are perfect. 

They protect us, make us wise, and give us joy and light. 

⁹ God’s laws are pure, eternal, just.

¹⁰ They are more desirable than gold. 

They are sweeter than honey dripping from a honeycomb. 

¹¹ For they warn us away from harm and give success to those who obey them.

¹² But how can I ever know what sins are lurking in my heart? 

Cleanse me from these hidden faults. 

¹³ And keep me from deliberate wrongs; help me to stop doing them. 

Only then can I be free of guilt and innocent of great crime.

¹⁴ May my spoken words and unspoken thoughts be pleasing even to you, 

O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer.

Meditation

This is a wisdom Psalm guiding us towards understanding God through his creation, through his law and through his personal relationship with each of us. People searching for God’s presence in their daily lives, through these revelations are guided into a God-centred way of living.

Verse 1-6 tell us that creation and nature reveal the existence of God in the majesty and mystery of the night sky to the warmth and splendour of the sun by day. God also reveals himself in his law, protecting us, guiding us, giving us joy through keeping them, warning us away from harm to stay on the right path towards great reward, verse 7-11. The final verses 12-14 request Him to forgive our hidden sins and deliberate wrongdoing, to be able to live without guilt, ending in the desire that our words and thoughts will be acceptable to God.  

Prayer

O Lord, you have revealed yourself in the glory of your creation, the sun by day, the starry sky by night. You also revealed yourself through your teachings and your commandments; help me to stay faithful to your laws. Also keep me from wilful sins, cleanse me from my secret faults. May the words and the thoughts of my heart be always acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.

Jonathan Aitken, adapted.

Hymns & Psalms 481, verse 1,6

The heavens declare the glory, Lord,

In souls renewed, and sins forgiven;

But when our eyes behold thy word,

We read thy name in fairer lines.

Thy noblest wonders here we view

In every star thy wisdom shines;

Lord, cleanse my sins, my soul renew,

And make thy word my guide to Heaven.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

Around the City - thoughts on Exeter’s past 6

The Cathedral Close by Rev’d Paul Collings

Colossians 1:9-10 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

For centuries past, along this way,

Pilgrims and priest have come to pray‘

‘Long cobbled street by red stone walls,

There hear cathedral bell, that tolls.

Worn by the tramping of such feet,

I wonder if those stones could speak;

What stories would their words unfold,

What tales of comfort, woes be told.

Yet here today this thoroughfare,

Finds worshippers with different flair,

As to the high street they now run

Intent, the bargain must be won.

With nodding glance across the grass,

They view, but do they ever ask

Why such an edifice stands tall,

Its fabric ‘grained with praise and awe.

But if today, the passing crowds

Bemused, unsure, see but a shroud

Of life wrung out, and can’t believe,

How can the church renew, retrieve.

Your pathway’s truth, ever the same,

The offered life you share remains.

You call us too to walk that way,

Reflecting Love’s distinctive ray.

Help me to shine for you dear Lord

In ways that capture and accord

With hearts and minds of this our age,

Carved as in stone love’s clear message.

I think everybody has their own way of looking at their lives as some kind of pilgrimage. Some people will see their role as a pilgrim in terms of setting up a fine family, or establishing a business inheritance. Everyone's got their own definition. Mine, I suppose, is to know myself. Eric Clapton