Paternity leave

Thought I'd share a few more pictures, as I enjoy the last few days of my two weeks paternity leave. We just about manage to squeeze the three girls across the back seat for a first family outing - to Morrisons!



And maintaining the supermarket theme, here we are just after the new double buggy arrived on our way out to Iceland. Annie is tucked up nice and warm, and laying flat, in the section underneath Sophie!




Rebecca loves her little sister - much better than any doll.

Meeting the sisters

Anastasia came home on Sunday and shortly after got to meet her two older sisters for the first time. Sophie was more interested in sticking her fingers in Annie's eyes and patting her head a little too energetically. But Rebecca wanted cuddles.




The only slight problem is that when she has had enough she
just lets go! Just like with dolly.

We are very thankful to God for Anastasia Hope's safe and healthy delivery.

Welcome

Something a bit different this time - a few photos from my Friday. Nothing to do with the snow, but the safe arrival of our third daughter, Anastasia Hope. We thank God that everything went smoothly and both mother and daughter are doing well.









As a family we struggle getting clothes where the arms aren't too long!








Time for that first nappy change.

Think outside the box

For many people thinking outside the box is a very difficult thing to do. Given a task, and a blank sheet of paper, they almost inevitably come up with something they have seen or done before. And that is also true in the church.

As we continue our Sunday series in Luke's gospel, Jesus' challenge this week to the Pharisees is 'Think outside the box' (Luke 5:27-39). That's the point of the two parables at the end - the new thing won't fit into the old way of doing things, they are incompatible. Therefore to do the new things you need a totally new way of thinking and doing and being.

But because they find it so hard to put aside the way they've always thought and done things, they can't get their heads round the fact that Jesus could be God (5:21), or that eating with a tax-collector might not make you ceremonially unclean (5:30), or that not fasting might not be a sign that you're not serious about your faith (5:33), or that doing good on the Sabbath is better than doing nothing (6:9)...

2000 years later and in a very different society it is very easy to pass judgement on these Pharisees. But are we any better at the new kind of thinking that Jesus requires? Where do I need to start thinking outside of the box?

Visible Faith

At both our services today we are looking at how faith needs to be visible. In Luke 5:20 Jesus responds to the faith that he sees in the individuals who went to great lengths to bring their friend to Jesus. In James 2:26 we read that faith without deeds is dead. So how visible is my faith?

The world would have us believe that faith is personal and therefore private. It is fine to have a faith, as long as you leave it at home. As long as it does not impact on your everyday life. But that kind of faith is not really a faith at all - at least not the kind of faith that we find in the Bible. But faith has to make a difference. People should be able to see our faith in action. So maybe we'll stand out in the work place because we are compassionate, kind, forgiving, generous...because we don't entertain gossip, we give people the benefit of the doubt, because we take a genuine interest in people's lives, because we pray for people when they are going through a tough time...