Many of us start the day with these words.

Many of us start the week with them and you might like to take a breath and say them before you carry on this morning.

I am fortunate to be able to look over the sunny rooftops this morning and can just about see the 3^rd floor of the Peninsula Campus. It pains me not to be able to be with you but as God is with us all in Spirit, so I am with you in spirit.

As a peculiar week starts for staff and students alike, it is important to remember again that in these troubling, unsettling times –there is more that unites us than divides us. 

I have set an alarm each day for 1pm. At that time I will pause each day and say a Midday or lunchtime prayer. If there are any prayers you would like me to offer then please email me. I will be using a form of lunchtime prayer adapted from Celtic Prayers from the Northumbria Community. If you want to have a copy, print it out, stick it up in the room you are working in today and join me in saying it, then just contact me by email. If you want to set an alarm at 1pm and just take a few breaths and remember the rest of our community – those serving in school, those serving in their homes, those at home with their children, then that’s fantastic too.

Yesterday (Sunday 22^nd March 2020) at 7pm many people around the country joined the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in lighting a candle and praying a prayer of hope #candleofhope – maybe at the end of each day we could light candles for the work we have done and for the safety of those attending our Woolwich and Peninsula Campuses, for the safety of all our children who are in their homes. (Please be careful with candles – one vicar on twitter set his jumper alight trying to lean into the camera whilst praying…take care).

Remember I am only an email or a phone call away if you want to talk.

Praying for you.