Operation Christmas Child

Here is a short video from Samaritan's Purse saying a big 'Thank You' to all of you who helped us out by filling shoe boxes last month. Together we have helped provide something special for over one million children this Christmas time.

Click here to download the short video

Enjoying the snow

Having been born during the February snow it is now time for the snow baby to experience the stuff for herself...

...but she wouldn't keep her gloves on!

Never work with...

It has been said that you should never work with animals or children. Following our Christmas Nativity Service on Sunday it is safe to say that you should never work with children dressed as animals.

Money, money, money

Money is a subject that we all know something about - even if it is that we don't have enough and would like more. There are those who think that money is not something that we should talk about in church, and yet the Bible is full of passages dealing with money.

Today we finished our series on Philippians (looking at 4:10-23), and in these verses we find some help in how we should think about money.

1) Paul's contentment has nothing to do with his bank balance. Paul has learnt to be content whether he has lots or whether he has nothing. For Paul there is nothing more important than knowing Jesus. And therefore he can rejoice and be content whatever his physical condition - because he has something that is beyond price,.

2) Paul doesn't desire wealth. For Paul there is nothing more important than knowing Jesus, and telling others about him.

3) The Philippians' give their money away. Paul's ministry is partly funded by the church in Philippi. As Christians we have the opportunity, when we have money, to use that to fund ministry elsewhere in the country and in the world. We should give with joy, as a genuine response to God's love for us, not quibbling about 10% or 12% or asking whether that's before tax or after tax...we should be looking to give away as much as we can, not giving away as little as we can get away with.

The Truth is out there

We didn't really get time last Sunday morning to explore Philippians 4:8-9 as most of our time was looking at verses 4-7. But I wonder how you understand the instruction Paul gives in 8? 'Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things'.

Is this a challenge to separate from the world around so that we try to eliminate contact with anything that is not true, noble, right etc? Is it a call to only read Christian books, and only listen to Christian music, to attend Christian school, college, university...?

Or is it rather a recognition that the world is God's world. It was created by God, and initially it was good. Since then it has been spoiled, but surely there is still much that is good in the world. There is plenty that is good, and lovely and beautiful in the world. And one of the ways in which we develop this thankful attitude that Paul has been speaking about, is to allow ourselves to become more aware of what God is doing in the world around us - The Lord is near (4:5). And so whatever is true - whether it is a truth that you hear in a sermon, or someone standing up for truth and challenging injustice - whatever we encounter that is true, we can be thankful as we think about these things. Yes - I believe in absolute truth - Jesus claims to be the truth (John 14:6), but that doesn't mean that truth is confined to the four walls of the church. If we really believe that God is everywhere then we may well find things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy in some unusual places.

Don't worry, be happy

'Don't worry, be happy' - great - but based on what? On what grounds shouldn't I worry? Putting on a 'happy face' in public, even though my world is crumbling around me is one thing - but what about in the middle of the night, when I lay awake at night? Is it so easy not to worry then?

The grounds for not worrying, according to Paul in Philippians 4:6-7, is that when we present our requests to God, God will give us peace. There is no promise here that the situation or crisis will go away - but there is the promise of peace. But these requests come out of a thankful attitude - an awareness of what God has already done - not in the sense of providing me with so much stuff - but in the sense that He has begun a work and will carry it on, that I am loved, that my sin is forgiven, that I have a hope for the future......

There have been times in my life when I have experienced this peace that makes no sense - total peace in the middle of the raging storm. If you're looking for peace - ask God.

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Making Cakes for Children In Need

This year our toddler group had a cake sale to raise money for Children in Need.

First you mix the ingredients.
Put it into the cake cases.
Add decorations.
Then set out the tables and get the bags ready.Make sure you have your collection tin handy.And then the best bit! Well done to the toddler group who raised £32.30.

A shoe box full of joy

This morning (Wednesday) representatives from Operation Christmas Child came and collected 120 shoe boxes from church. These boxes will eventually find their way into the hands of needy children in South America, Africa, Asia or Europe. Many different people in the church have been involved in packing boxes. Some of the boxes came from the children in our local primary school. Some boxes came from other churches and some from members of the public. We pray that God will touch lives through these boxes. [On Sunday morning when the above photo was taken there were only about 60 boxes.]

Dealing with Differences

In Philippians 4:2 we read of two Christians, who, once upon a time, had worked alongside the apostle Paul in his church planting ministry, but who now have had a very public falling out with each other - and everyone knows about it. In fact, we still know about it today, 2000 years later! Just imagine how they'd feel, just imagine how you'd feel, if you knew that the only thing you'd be known for in 2000 years was the fact that you had a falling out with someone else in your church.

But these things happen, even in churches - because churches are not made up of super-spiritual people - they are made up of ordinary people like you and me, who are loved by God and who are trying to follow Jesus. But as we mature in our faith we should learn how to better handle our differences.

The cross is central to our faith, and as Christians we must keep coming back to the cross - that's why we have communion/breaking of bread/Eucharist. It is at the cross that we are reminded that Jesus gave up everything, even his life, because of his love for us. It is because of the cross that I can know the forgiveness of God. And therefore if I am claiming to follow Jesus - who gave up everything even though he was God - how can I demand my rights? If I accept God's love and forgiveness how can I refuse to forgive others for what they have done to me?

This attitude will help to put our differences in perspective. And these points may also help.

• Pray
• Talk to a mature, trusted, Christian friend who will be able to help us work through our side of the issue.
• Consider your motives - why do you think this - is it your pride speaking?
• Talk to the person involved, but

1. Give them the benefit of the doubt, and assume the best rather than the worst of them.
2. Be gracious and compassionate and forgiving and loving.
3. Keep your mind open and your mouth closed!
4. If necessary involve a trusted, mature Christian friend in your discussions.

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It's not what you know but who you know

On Sunday it was a real privilege to be able to invite one of my tutors from college, to speak at our morning service. Richard Harvey teaches Hebrew Bible, Hebrew language and Jewish Studies at All Nations Christian College. Richard tackled the next passage in our series through Philippians - 3:1-14, allowing his own experiences as a Messianic Jew to bring the passage to life.

This is such a rich passage that a life time of sermons will not unpack it all, certainly not a short blog! But there is this central theme of knowing Jesus. In comparison with knowing Jesus everything else is rubbish, worthless, and will count for nothing. No matter what our heritage, history and hopes unless we know Jesus they all count for nothing.

Someone said to me yesterday in passing - "it's not what you know but who you know that matters". That was in the context of getting hold of empty shoe boxes - and how much more true that is of Jesus. Unless we know Jesus what we know, who we are, what we've done...it all counts for nothing.

And so as disciples of Jesus our desire, our ambition, the thing that gets us out of bed in the morning should be this passion to know Jesus better, and so to become more like him (which involves suffering too!). For the glory of God.

Thank you Richard - I've had people asking when you're coming back again! I'll be in touch.

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Map, Route Finder or Sat-Nav?

I wonder what preachers did in the days before Sat-Nav illustrations? Those of you who follow this blog will know that I have written about Sat-Nav systems on more than one occasion, and yesterday I was on holiday in a church listening to a children's talk using a Sat-Nav as the illustration. Which got me thinking off on a tangent...

Many Christians have questions, at some point or another, about guidance. We believe that God has a plan for us - the question is whether I know what that is. Am I doing what I should be doing? What should I be doing? What happens if I get it wrong?

One of the good things about Sat-Nav is that if you take a wrong turning you either get told to turn around, or a new route is calculated. Also you are not stuck to a fixed route. Coming back from holiday yesterday afternoon and being stuck on the M5 in traffic around Bristol, we had a brief stop in a service station and then drove off into the country, away from the motorway and towards Bristol using a mixture of A and B roads, before meeting up with the M4 at Junction 19. It may have taken a bit longer but it was a much more interesting drive.

So where is all this going?

I have heard illustrations that describe the Bible as a map - it shows us the way to live. But a map gives the big picture. You can see the whole country - every road. Life is not always like that. Rarely, if ever, do we see the big picture. God certainly sees the big picture but we rarely do.

Before Sat-Nav I used to use the AA website to print off directions from one postcode to another. The trouble with this system is that if you take a wrong turn you are totally lost without hope unless you can get back to the point at which you went wrong. I think some people see guidance this way - there is only route and if I ever take a wrong turn there is no hope, I've messed up, and if I can't get back to where I was then things are never going to work out as they should. And such a fear of making a wrong turn can paralyse people into making no decisions at all.

But I think the Sat-Nav is more like the way things are with us and God. I know where I am, and I know what I need to do next (turn left in 2.35 miles). God knows the rest. And as long as I follow the instructions I should get to where I am going. But if I make a mistake it is not the end of the world. Sometimes I will have to turn around, but at other times an alternative route will get me to where I am going - as long as I follow the new instructions. And sometimes I believe that God gives us the choice to make up our own mind. "You know where you are, you know where you want to be. Any of these three roads will take you there. One is quicker than the others. One is shorter. One is more scenic." All I have to do is start driving down one of those roads, follow the instructions, and enjoy the ride.

A good walk and a cream tea

Today, as the weather was once again so good, we went over to Budleigh Salterton and had a walk along the beach before lunch.

And then we went on a walk, following the River Otter, up to Otterton Mill, for a cream tea!

Which we all enjoyed!

Oh Deer

Today we went to visit the Earl of Devon in his castle. We went on a ride through his deer park.

We all enjoyed the tractor ride.

And some of us enjoyed the zip wire.

You're Fired

Those of you who were following our summer holiday blog will know that the girls painted two penguins which were going to be fired, but too late for us to collect before the end of our holiday. Click here to read that blog. Well - now that we're on holiday again Joanna and Penguin have been collected. And here they are.

And today they painted a bee, a snail and a footprint.

As well as going for a walk along the river this morning, and collecting shells on the beach this afternoon.

Now they're all fast asleep.

There's no such thing as a free lunch

There is a saying which goes, 'there is no such thing as a free lunch'. The implication of this is that if you are having a lunch for which there is no need to pay (money) there will be something that someone wants from you as a result. And so, in one form or another, we end up paying.

The word 'grace' flies in the face of this mentality - God's gift of forgiveness and a new life, is just that - a gift. And yet we find this really hard to believe. Instead we think that God only loves those people who are good enough. Or that there are things that we have to do to earn merit points with God. But no, it's all gift.

And then if we follow this line of thinking we soon get into the grace v works debate which is picked up on in James 2 in the NT. Today, in our series in Philippians we got to 2:12-30. Paul begins by encouraging his readers to 'work out your salvation in fear and trembling' (2:12). It is important to note that it is 'work out' and not 'work for your salvation...'. We are not working in order to earn anything, rather it is a similar line of thinking to 1:27 ... live in a manner worthy of your calling as a follower of Jesus. If you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sin, if you've asked for God's forgiveness, if you proclaim 'Jesus is Lord', if you believe that Jesus is coming again - if you really believe these things - then you will live in a certain way.

And although this work is very much God's work (1:6, 2:13) we need to co-operate. God will not force His will on us. We need to listen and obey to the promptings of God. If we want to go our own way, God will let us. One of the ways we listen to God is to prayerfully read the Bible: both regularly as an individual, but also corporately within the church community. Scripture Union is just one organisation who produce daily Bible reading notes to help us understand and apply God's Word. We had some copies of their different publications on display at the church today - visit the Scripture Union website to find out more.

Scripture Union also do an online Bible reading resource called Word Live.



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Citizenship

There are regular scare stories in the newspapers about the numbers of people trying to get into Britain, many of them trying to get in illegally. Many no doubt have paid a lot of money, many have risked their lives as they make this journey, but they all have the hope of a better life. For many the ultimate goal is a British passport and being able to live as a British citizen, with all its benefits - but also its responsibilities.

In Philippians 1:27 Christians are described as citizens of heaven. The British government will often allow a person to hold dual nationality. So when in Britain they use their British passport and live as a British citizen. But on arriving in (let's say) the States they put their British passport to one side, and get out their American passport and live as an American citizen.

But when it comes to God there is no dual citizenship. To become a citizen of heaven means giving up your 'world' passport. I do not have the option of hiding my heavenly passport away and taking out another passport just because it might be more convenient or easier. I cannot live one kind of life at work and another kind of life at church or at home. Once a citizen of heaven we are called to live like that all of the time - no matter what happens. There are incredible benefits to being a citizen of heaven, but there are also some challenging responsibilities. And no one is promising that it will be easy.

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City Life

Is God more present in the city or in the countryside? Thinking about some of the retreat centres and conference centres I know it would be easy to believe that to encounter God we need to leave the city and get out into the countryside - for there, in the peace and quiet, amongst the beauty of nature we are able to encounter God. Life is just too noisy and manic in the city - it's no surprise that God has moved out! But God is God in the city, as well as in the countryside. God is doing great things in our cities, and He will do even greater things yet.




Now listen to Chris Tomlin talking about the song, 'God of this city'.

Radical Dissenting Non-Conformists

I wonder what kind of image you would conjure up in your head if someone was described to you as being a radical dissenting non-conformist. Maybe you'd just look blankly and take a step backward, maybe you'd have an image of a person on a protest march, or a G20 protester, or maybe you'd think of the people in your local baptist church!!

Yesterday we had our first evening service for several years, and I asked the question, 'why do you come to a baptist church?' There were a variety of answers. For some it is location that is important. For others it is the informality that is attractive. For many the label 'baptist' is not at all significant. And surprisingly, no one answered that they came because they identified with the radical dissenting non-conformist ethos that baptists are known to stand for!

But baptist roots are in radical dissent - as the first baptists, about 400 years ago, refused to conform to religion as laid down by the king and the state church. Instead they called for freedom of religion (for all - not just Christians); to be allowed to worship God as they wanted; to be able to read, interpret and apply the Bible as they saw fit, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (one application was that of believers baptism - something that was not an option the the early seventeenth century).

Many of those first baptists were persecuted for this stance. Some died in prison. Some fled to Holland where they received a warm welcome.

And as Christians today, whether we are baptists or not, we are called to a life of radical dissent. In Romans 12:2 we are commanded not to conform to the ways of the world. Instead we should stand against those things that we see in our culture that do not reflect God's way. Or have things become too comfortable for us?

Seeds of Hope

Harvest is a time for giving thanks to God for His provision - even for those of us who live in large cities and are far removed from the agricultural process. Whether we grow our food in the garden, work on a farm, or buy it in the supermarket ultimately God is responsible for the food on our plates.

But image you live in a war zone and although you planted crops last spring you can't harvest them because your fields are either covered in land mines or cluster bombs. What are you going to do?

BMS World Mission work in many parts of the world in conflict or post conflict zones, working to plant seeds of hope. One way of doing this in places where people have had their land contaminated is to identify alternative places to grow crops. The trouble is that these safer areas are often harder to farm due to poor soil quality or no access to water. But with the help of BMS World Mission these problems can be overcome, allowing families to plant and harvest.

We had the opportunity this Sunday to pray for the work of BMS World Mission and also to provide financially to the important work they are doing throughout the world. If you want to know more visit www.bms.org.uk

Jargon buster

Yesterday I attended my first governors' meeting at my daughter's school, as one of the parent governors. Although I used to be a teacher (ten years ago now) I was struck by just how much jargon and particularly how many abbreviations were used (both spoken and written) without any explanation or clarification. Some of course could be guessed at from the context, others were simply noted down so that I could either google or facebook the answers (facebook has been a great resource - thanks to all my teacher friends). Of course I could simply have asked - but no one wants to do that sort of thing do they.

I was reminded of the importance of keeping our church services jargon free. We were especially conscious of that last week with Back to Church Sunday but all the time we need to be conscious of the fact that we're not here for the 'in-crowd'. And therefore the language that we use has to be everyday. 'In jokes' and witty asides may be funny - but if you ain't got a clue what's going on you're going to feel excluded rather than welcomed.

Of course there are some words that we use, because, for example, they are in the Bible, that are not everyday words. I think it is important to hold on to these words, but to remember to explain what they mean. This is no longer a culture where people grew up in church and learnt the language. And so we need to make the effort to bridge that gap.

Back to Church Sunday

You don't need to spend too long searching on the Internet, reading blogs, visiting chat rooms etc. to know that there are plenty of people out there in cyberspace who are fascinated by Jesus but who can't stand the church. And there are all kinds of reasons as to why this might be. Some will have had a boring experience of church as a child and longed for the day when they were old enough never to have to return. Others may have been an active member of a church until something happened that brought disillusionment. Others have experienced the gap between what some people in church say but then go and do - the gap for example between love, forgiveness and grace on the one hand and a harsh judgemental attitude on the other.

But whatever the reason, this coming Sunday is Back to Church Sunday. An opportunity for those who attend church to invite their friends, who may have attended church in the past but no longer do so. For those of us who attend to church to say to our friends, 'Do you want to come along to something I really enjoy doing?'

And if you're fascinated by Jesus but can't stand the church, use this coming Sunday to find a local church that is holding a Back to Church service and give it go. You never know - you may be totally surprised by what you find.

Operation Christmas Child

This coming Saturday we are having a mission evening where we are looking at the work at Samaritan's Purse - particularly their Operation Christmas Child programme. We will be learning about the work through a number of DVD clips as well as wrapping our own shoe boxes.

'But it's only September', I hear you cry. Yes but it is good to plan ahead. The actual dates of the OCC appeal are 1-18 November, so in order to encourage as many people as possible to get involved we need to start letting them know now.

Everyone can be involved - to find out more, if you live in the UK visit www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk. If you live outside the UK go to www.samaritanspurse.org

New Beginnings

Feeling much better - just can't quite shake off the cough. But it really is about time I got back to writing!

At the beginning of the month, as a church, we started a new chapter in our history. Having been amalgamated into part of a bigger church for eight or so years (to help the church through a difficult time), on 1 September we once again were ready to stand on our own two feet, to go and make our own way in the world, to fly the nest...add any other analogies regarding children leaving their parents' home for the first time that you can think of...

On Sunday morning we began looking at the New Testament book of Philippians (1:1-11). And there is much here to encourage us. Just a few points.

Although we are at the start of a new chapter, we go into our exciting but uncertain future with a faithful God who has helped us this far, and who has promised that he will bring to completion what he has already started (6). It's not about us standing on our own two feet for we walk alongside a God who has promised to be with us every step of the way.

We are currently having building work done at the church, and so there has been a lot of dust and noise. Parts of the building can be best described as a building site. It's a mess, but the work is being done, and will soon be completed. Our lives resemble a life long building site as God works in us to fashion something amazing. Sometimes that work will create a lot of noise and dust. Other times we may hardly be aware that it is going on. But we will never be the finished product - God is constantly at work in us - until our life here comes to an end.

One of my dreams and hopes for our new church is spiritual growth. And I echo Paul's prayer in verses 9-11. Praying for increased love for each other; that we get to know God better; that as God works in us we learn what the right thing to do is in any situation; and we discern which are God's priorities in the long list of things that we could be doing. And that we will see the fruit - to God's glory.

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Not long now

Just to let you know that I am feeling much better and will be back with you in blog-land within the next couple of days.

Still Here

Sorry to those of you who got used to the nearly daily additions to my blog over our summer holiday and have had to suffer a total blackout since then. But I do have a good excuse. We returned from holiday on the Sunday evening and on the Tuesday evening I started to notice my temperature going up. And pretty much since then (a week) I have been out of the picture. It may have been swine flu, or something else. Starting to feel much better now - hopefully be back to normal by the weekend.

Boy Racer

Here's a holiday tribute to all the boy-racers who drive up and down the sea-front once it gets dark.

Nutty Noah and a few animals

The title of this post has nothing to do with the Bible story recorded in Genesis about a large boat and lots of rain. Yesterday we had a great day at Pennywell Farm, getting up close with lots of animals and enjoying an hour of music, magic and mayhem with children's entertainer Nutty Noah. Here are a few photos.

Stroking a hedgehog is ok as long as you only stroke from head to tail. Stroking tail to head is a mistake you only make once.

Even a light shower during lunch would not deter us from our picnic.

Three times round a track with a steering wheel and an accelerator and already insisting she's ready to drive my car now!

Pond dipping. Fortunately no one got wet.

The only really heavy shower we had all day coincided with a one hour indoor music and magic show by Nutty Noah. I could say that we didn't take any photos because of the poor lighting - but in reality we were enjoying ourselves too much to think about taking any pictures. But to give you a quick flavour here is a clip from Youtube of Nutty Noah on his Hornophone - a musical instrument made up of lots of bike horns strapped to a large metal frame. I did think maybe we should get one of these for church instead of the organ.

Plans for a Rainy Day

Yesterday, we looked at the weather forecast and thought we'd better plan for the first rainy day of our holiday so far. But by mid-morning the sun was shining once again. But we had fun doing our rainy day activities anyway. This morning we went to the swimming pool and this afternoon we painted penguins.

Later this week the two penguins, 'Joanna' and 'Penguin' will be fired in a kiln and will be ready for collection next Thursday, by which time we'll be back in London.

Cricket

Today there was time for cricket practice. With the decisive Fifth Test starting tomorrow which England's men must win if they are to regain the Ashes it is maybe worth remembering that England's Women's Cricket Team are champions of everything this year. And here are future stars in the making!
A great pull shot to the boundary.

Working on direction with the top hand.

Bowling practice.

Wicket keeper.

More time at the beach

Bicton Gardens

Yesterday we enjoyed the day at Bicton Gardens - which involved yet another train ride. And lots of running around in gardens that are kept almost as well as mine!

Today we're off to the beach again.

Steam Power

Today we visited a few attractions around Buckfastleigh, starting with the Abbey.

And then onto the steam train for the half hour trip to Totnes...

...which the girls were excited about and really enjoyed.

Once we reached Totnes, we stayed on the train and came right back. All this travelling is exhausting!

Next it was the Butterfly Farm, which was hot and humid but not as hot as the Rainforest Biome at Eden.

And then before we got any hotter, we went on to see the otters.

And to complete a train themed day we played two versions of Ticket to Ride - both of which I won - finally, after a week of holiday making it onto the winners board!

The Eden Project

Yesterday we spent the whole day at the Eden Project in Cornwall. This incredible visitor attraction was nothing more than a disused clay pit little over ten years ago. If you've never been I recommend it - it was well worth our 100 minute car journey - and this is the fourth time we've been. The four domes in the background make up the Rainforest Biome - the world's largest conservatory - allowing the visitor to trek through the rainforests of Malaysia, West Africa and South America - it's very hot and very humid. The three domes to the right are part of the Mediterranean Biome and includes plants from South Africa and California. The white tent to the left of the picture is a large indoor arena.

This is currently home to a whole variety of family activities. The first we tried was building a shelter. The girls set about collecting bits of material to tie our bamboo poles together.

With Auntie Carol's help our super structure began to take shape.

The girls put the finishing touches to the inside.

I'm fairly sure this would survive any major storm!

For those of you who are wondering what has happened to my Garden Updates - I'm sad to report that it doesn't look like this. This is the vegetable garden that surrounds the outside restaurant.

After lunch and a very hot walk through the Rainforest it was time to build and test our rafts.

If it's there to climb it will be climbed.

By 8pm we were all very tyred and ready to head home!