Lockdown Reflections by Mike Collis

Little did I realise when I left St. Peter’s on the evening of March 15th that it would be my last church service for the

foreseeable future. Just over a week later a full UK lockdown was announced and life as we all knew it changed completely.

For me the lockdown was somewhat reminiscent of the first six months of 2019 when I was unable to drive and became reliant on others for shopping or going to church. People’s kindness, help and support was a Godsend.

Having lived alone for a number of years I was not daunted by lockdown. I have always liked routine and I have my hobbies and interests, in particular gardening. In that respect I was lucky: I had placed a vegetable seed order in November and in January had ordered bedding plant plugs for delivery in late March. The week before lockdown all my composts and bark chippings were delivered. All this enabled me to grow over 800 plants including tomatoes and cucumbers.

However, lockdown meant I was unable to do my own shopping and became totally reliant on my daughters and grandchildren for this. I was unable to go to the gym, so with a new static bike and dumbbells i set up my own home mini gym. But most important of all I was unable to attend church services. How I have missed this. No more weekly fellowship, no more spiritual refreshment, no more long sermons; on second thoughts that one may be a blessing. Unfortunately, digital church services did not give me what I needed.

I therefore acted to fill my spiritual void. Hywel recommended an app called “Pray As You Go’ which was not bad. Then Ian recommended Lectio365 which has become my daily spiritual driver. It is based on the word PRAY: Pause, Rejoice and

Reflect, Ask and Yield. Lectio365 recommends the book “How to Pray’ by Pete Greig. I have read this uplifting book several times. I also downloaded ‘Sunday Worship’ and ‘Reflections for Sundays’: these books enable me to work through the weekly church service and read reflections on the readings which gives them a new dimension.

Lockdown has therefore enabled me to expand and develop my spiritual journey giving me new understanding and the ability to pray in a new and more meaningful way.