Happy New Year

Happy New Year. With only a few hours of 2010 left, and 2011 about to start, it is good to take time to reflect on the past year - remembering the things that God has done and who he is. As we recall his faithfulness, his love, his provision, his care we are able to face the new year, the future, with peace and confidence. Whatever the new year holds God knows already - he's already there - he's promised to walk with us each step of the way.

Essential 100

As we come to the end of one year and head into the next it is often a time when people feel it is appropriate to make resolutions and set some goals for the coming year. I expect for a lot of Christians this will involve something along the lines of 'to read the Bible and pray more'.


We know these are good things; activities that we will benefit from; and yet each year we struggle to meet the standards and goals that we set ourselves. And I expect for many of us we feel as if we are in the minority in this - that most of the other people in the church are much more disciplined than we are - and this makes us feel even worse about the whole thing and so we end up being motivated by guilt rather than love.

Of course for the majority of the time that the church has been in existence most of the followers of Jesus have not been able to read a Bible, in their own language, or even have access to one. (And in many parts of the world this continues to be the case today.) Therefore any encounters with the Word of God have been done within the context of a group of local disciples.

Doing anything is always easier when we do it with others. Whatever goals we set for 2011 we are more likely to succeed if we do it with other people. Whether it is a diet, a fitness regime, or a desire to read the Bible, we are more likely to succeed with the encouragement and support of others.

This year as a church we are not going to try and read the whole Bible from start to finish. Instead we are going to follow the Essential 100 reading programme - 100 bite sized readings that cover the key stories in the Bible.

We will read five readings a week and then Sunday's message will be based on the previous week's readings. And there are plenty of ways in which you can follow along with others even if you're not part of a church or no one else in your church is involved.

For all the details click here to visit the E100 website.

As well as a list of all the readings (you'll need to download the free 'E100 readings and planner' from the Resources page of the website) and other resources there are links to Twitter, Facebook, blog sites etc. There is also information on how you can access the readings on your mobile phone - and much more. If you want to get involved find a friend somewhere - local church, cell group, online... - and read together.

The Nativity

I don't know if you've been watching the BBC's 'The Nativity' but if not, and you live in the UK, I recommend it. Parts one and two have already been broadcast, but can be seen on iPlayer for the next eight days. Parts three and four will be on tonight and tomorrow night, on BBC1 at 7pm.




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A digital Christmas!

Character - not comfort

This week we came to the end of our autumn series, 'From Empire to Exile'. In terms of dates we've reached 586 BC and the people of Judah have been exiled by the Babylonians, the city has been destroyed and so has the temple.

But even in this darkest hour there remained a glimmer of hope. There remained a core of people who continued to be faithful to God. One of those was Jeremiah - who had known his fair share of persecution under the reigns of the final four 'bad' kings of Judah. Jeremiah experienced the events of the exile first hand, and as the people are taken away from their homes as captives, as they are settled in a foreign land, as they wonder where their God is - Jeremiah continues to bring God's word to them.

The Old Testament book of Lamentations is a collection of five acrostic poems that move from despair at the current situation, through the acknowledgement that this is the punishment of God - punishment which is deserved, to hope in God for the future.

We all know what it is to live through tough times, but often it is in those tough times that we grow the most. It is then that our character develops - and God is more interested in our character than in our comfort. And yet through our experiences we know that we have a faithful and loving God - who is working out his purposes.

To listen to this message click here

It's not my fault

It is said that a bad workman blames his tools. Certainly this golfer does!



I wonder if we've ever uttered the words 'it's not my fault' - even if it was.

Last Sunday we looked at the life of king Josiah (2 Kings 22-23), a good king who was compared to king David. One of the things that these two men had in common, and one of the lessons we can take from his story, is that when they were confronted with sin they didn't make excuses, they didn't point the finger at anyone else, but they acknowledged the wrong doing and they confessed and repented.

Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that when a person is a Christian they will be perfect - but we all know that that is just not the case. Whilst we seek to be like Jesus, none of his followers is ever going to be sinless whilst we live here on this earth. We will make mistakes, we'll get things wrong...But what do we do when we realise it? Do we make excuses? Or do we confess and repent, believing in the God who has promised to forgive us (1 John 1:9).

To listen to this message click here.

Snow

As the UK remains gripped by snow and ice I thought you might enjoy this.

Shoebox World

Shoebox World is not a new theme park opened by Samaritans Purse but it is their brand new web site that allows you to take part in their shoebox appeal even if you are unable to get to the shops to buy the gifts to fill a shoebox yourself.

Once on the site, which can be found by clicking here, you first choose the wrapping paper for your box, and whether it is for a boy or girl and which age range. Then you select between 14 and 16 gifts from four categories: toys, hygiene, educational and some additional items and then ... I've not explored the site any further but presumably you pay and add a message. Then volunteers in a warehouse somewhere will make up your box and send it off to a child somewhere in the world in time for Christmas. If you've not yet done a 'real' shoebox why not try the site out now.

[For those of you who have not yet dropped your box off at our church it is still not too late - due to unavoidable circumstances today's collection has been postponed until Monday morning - so bring your box along on Sunday].

What will you swap?

On Sunday, as we continued our series looking at the period of OT history from 930-586BC, we looked at Amos 5. This is one of those chapters in the Bible where it is very hard to miss the obvious message that God is passionate about issues of poverty and justice in this world.

There are over 2000 verses in the Bible where these issues are addressed, and they are all highlighted in the Poverty and Justice Bible. The issue in Amos' day was that the people were religious but they did not care for the poor and the oppressed. In fact they were the ones responsible for many of the injustices these people experienced. They went to 'church' and sung the hymns on one day, and then cheated the poor and bribed their way out of trouble the next. And God's judgement was coming.

How much do we identify with those on the margins? What difference do we make? What difference could we make? Are we a part of the problem, or part of the answer?

Whether it's running, Bible reading or social action it is always better to start small and build up. Why not commit to changing just one item in your weekly shop to a Fair Trade option? In the UK there are now over 3000 products that carry the Fair Trade logo. These include tea, coffee, chocolate, honey, sugar, bananas and beans to mention just a few. What will you swap?

Two days to go

There are still two days to go until we reach the deadline for this year's Operation Christmas Child shoebox appeal.

On Monday 96 boxes were collected from the church, so that those at the depot can start processing boxes in order that they be in the hands of children before Christmas. This year boxes collected locally will be making their way to Mozambique. As with many of the countries where shoeboxes end up Mozambique's statistics on things like child mortality, life expectancy, average annual earnings, access to safe drinking water, literacy levels etc speak for themselves.

Today 64 more boxes arrived, with more due in over the next two days. 13 of those boxes came from the children at a local primary school, and these boxes were filled with pens, pencils, rulers, note books, crayons, maths sets...the sorts of things that you would need if you wanted to go to school. In Mozambique children are required to provide their own school materials if they want to attend school, something that many simply cannot afford to do. When these 13 boxes arrive at the depot they will be put to one side, and then whenever a box is checked which does not already contain these essential school items volunteers will add these things from the items provided by these local school children.

We live in a world where there is so much need, and at times it can seem overwhelming. But the truth is that we can each make a difference. And sometimes it is the little things that make a big difference.

Shoeboxes

It's still not too late to get involved with this year's Operation Christmas Child shoebox appeal. The deadline for handing in completed boxes is still over a week away - Thursday 18 November.

You can't fool God

Apparently you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. And sometimes we need to be reminded that you can't fool God - ever - at all - any of the time. But so often we think we can.

Elisha is the next prophet we looked at in our series 'From Empire to Exile' and in particular, a couple of weeks ago we looked at the story from 2 Kings 6:8-23. The king of Aram (we'll call him Bob) is an enemy of Israel, and is plotting to do harm to the king of Israel - possibly through setting an ambush. But God informs Elisha exactly where Bob and his army are - and so the king of Israel is on his guard. So Bob moves somewhere else - and again the same thing happens. In fact it happens so often that Bob assumes that he has a spy in his camp. But it is revealed that there is no spy - there is just Elisha who tells the king of Israel everything, even the secrets that Bob speaks in his own bedroom.

So Bob comes up with a plan - capture Elisha. I wonder if it ever crossed Bob's mind that Elisha might catch wind of the scheme and avoid capture - apparently not.

But how often do we think that we can 'pull the wool over God's eyes'. That we can do things, think things, watch things etc. and because no one sees, no one knows - but God knows it all and sees it all. Which brings us to two points.

1) We should be careful how we live. If we're serious about living for God then we need to remember that we're never off duty. God will hold us accountable for our actions.

2) God knows it all and sees it all - and yet he still loves us. He is gracious and forgiving. He knows when we mess up but has promised that when we confess our sin he will give us a new start, a fresh beginning.

There is no point trying to fool God - instead we should be open and honest and confess our mistakes and receive God's forgiveness.

Bad King Ahab

I'm in danger once again of getting too far behind with my blog...

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of being in church and not preaching, as we continue our series 'From Empire to Exile' looking at a whole sweep of Old Testament history covering 930BC - 586BC. Seeing how someone else tackles a passage reminds me again that the Bible is so rich - no matter how many times we read a passage God is always to bring out something new, fresh and relevant.

Ahab was a bad king - you can read all about it in 1 Kings 16:29 through to his death in 1 Kings 22:40. But one particular challenge from Ahab's life is drawn out of 1 Kings 20:42. King Ahab had defeated his enemy Ben-Hadad, with God's help, but rather than see the victory through to the right conclusion Ahab makes a treaty with Ben-Hadad and lets him go.

Whilst our immediate response might be that this is the right, loving, gracious, merciful, forgiving thing to do - God's comment is 'You have set free a man I had determined should die'.

How on earth can this be of any relevance to us in 2010?

In Colossians 3:5 we are instructed, as followers of Jesus, to put to death anything that belongs to the earthly nature. Instead we are to set our minds on Christ and to be obedient to his will. But I wonder how many of the things listed in Colossians 3 or elsewhere in the New Testament, that we are supposed to have put to death, have we actually 'made a treaty with'. We've allowed them into the chariot to ride along with us. But God reminds us that there are things in our characters that we need to put to death - to get rid of - to have no part of.

One to Watch

Resurrection

What part will I play?

Back to Elijah early next week, but just something to keep you thinking for the weekend.

On Sunday we are celebrating our harvest thanksgiving service, giving God thanks for his on going care and provision, but also recognising that with the blessings come responsibilities. We have responsibilities to the poor and the oppressed in our community and around the globe, and we have a responsibility towards caring for our planet.

On Sunday we will be looking at some of the work that BMS World Mission are doing in poor communities in Thailand. But we all have a part to play.



Also have a look at this post from last week.

Get some sleep

And that brings us to the story that we looked at last Sunday - from 1 Kings 19:1-18.

We might think that Elijah's faith etc would be at record high levels following the events of Mount Carmel, which we looked at yesterday. But a threat on his life from Queen Jezebel - which was quite a credible threat - she had killed a lot of other faithful prophets - fills Elijah with fear and sends him running for his life.

There is no direct comment on whether this was a good decision or a bad decision, although towards the end of the story God sends him back the way he had come. But it certainly leads to a low point in Elijah's emotional life, even to the point where he curls up under a tree and prays that he will die.

Elijah was emotionally low, he was tired, he was hungry, he was rapidly coming down off a spiritual high...perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that Elijah made a poor decision. We are whole people - we are emotional, physical, mental, spiritual - and however we might want to, we can't compartmentalise our lives. Each bit of us affects all the other bits.

Sometimes we might, for example, see spiritual attack, where actually there is nothing of the sort - actually what we need is a good night's sleep and a decent healthy meal. And at times we are our own worst enemies - we don't look after our physical bodies, we don't get enough sleep or exercise and we eat too much saturated fat and processed food - and we wonder why we're down, or grumpy, or say things that we later regret...

And once we're feeling down it is very easy to get things out of perspectives. The negatives in life become huge, and the positives almost disappear. Elijah knew from his conversation with Obediah in chapter 18 that there were other prophets alive, that he was not the only one left, but in his low state Elijah has allowed things to get out of perspective, and he has sent his servant away - maybe the one person who could bring a bit of balance and perspective to the situation.

But God in his grace meets Elijah and we'll think about that tomorrow.

Fire!

Next, we come to perhaps the best known story from the life of Elijah - it's the kind of story that gets (partially) told in Sunday school and holiday clubs. There's suspense, action, humour and lots of potential for good craft activities! It's the story from 1 Kings 18 of Elijah on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal.

Battle lines are drawn on the mountain, and at the start of the day it looks as if Elijah and his God are on one side; and all the people, the king, and the prophets of Baal and Asherah are on the other.

And the task for the day for each team is to first of all build and altar, sacrifice a bull on top and then call on the name of either Baal or God and see who answers with fire. Ever the gentleman, Elijah allows the 450 prophets of Baal to go first. After several hours of unsuccessful calling on Baal, during which they have lost their voices, got tired legs from dancing and jumping around, slashed themselves with spears and swords...still nothing. Elijah suggests that maybe Baal is asleep or maybe travelling - suggesting that they shout louder - still nothing.

Then Elijah suggests that he has a go, and builds his altar, kills the cow, digs a trench, pours 12 large jars of water over it so that even the trench is filled, and prays a simple and short prayer. And the fire falls from heaven, consuming everything, including the water. And the people turn their hearts back to God and worship him.

James 5:17 tells us that Elijah was human, just like us, and therefore we should have faith when we pray. But I doubt many of us will have had such a dramatic and public answer to prayer as this one on Mount Carmel. But God does answer prayer, he continues to work miracles. He is not asleep or travelling or otherwise occupied. So we pray to a God who hears, a God who is in control, a God who is working out his good purposes in us and through us.

We might expect this event to boost Elijah's faith to super levels, but as we shall see tomorrow the opposite is true. He plunges from the mountain top into despair and fear.

God really can use you

Do you ever feel insignificant? When we look at the situations around us, they seem so huge and we wonder what difference we could ever make. And then there are really gifted people already doing all they can - and how can we compare ourselves with them? We have no experience. We have no training. Or maybe we've grown up listening to messages telling us that we're no good at anything, and we've heard it so often that we've started to believe it. Or maybe we've started to believe that because we come from a certain background we have nothing to offer. And so we keep our heads down, we don't get involved, and we believe that God can't possibly want to involve us in his plans.

The next part of the Elijah story (1 Kings 17) shows how God uses the most unlikely people in the most unlikely places. In fact, the more unlikely it is, from a human perspective, the better it is from God's perspective, because then we learn to rely on him, and depend on him, rather than ourselves. It is in our weakness that God demonstrates his strength and power.

From Elijah's cultural/religious background the widow at Zarephath would be the last person he would go to in order to find provision in a time of drought and famine. She was a foreigner. She was a woman. She was a widow. She lived in the heartland of Baal worship (see yesterday). And yet this widow was exactly the person that God had spoken to and wanted to use to provide for Elijah in a miraculous way. The most unlikely person in the most unlikely place.

When it comes to doing amazing things for God maybe you see yourself as the most unlikely person. That's great - because that's exactly where God wants us to start from - because it's ultimately not about us - it's about God working in us, and through us, as we make ourselves available to him, and are obedient to his call.

Elijah - a good man to have on a camping trip

This past week, as I've been preparing for Sunday's talk on the Old Testament prophet Elijah, it was clear that there was far too much for one message - there was probably enough for a whole series. So over the next couple of days I'll look at a few of the bits of Elijah's life we couldn't cover yesterday.

Yesterday I briefly mentioned that our introduction to Elijah (1 Kings 17:1) is as he gives king Ahab the message that there will be no more rain in the next few years unless Elijah gives the say so. Such a claim is pretty amazing in and of itself - for anyone who can control the weather is clearly getting help from a greater authority than themselves.

But this claim becomes more significant when we look back to 1 Kings 16:31 and see that king Ahab had chosen to neglect the worship of the true God, and has instead aligned himself with the worship of Baal. The item below is a small statue of Baal, displayed in the British Museum; although this statue is much older than the time of Elijah. It is not complete - whatever was in Baal's raised hand is now missing but the view is that it was either a club or a thunder bolt - because Baal was a storm-god.

And so when Elijah makes this claim that there will be no rain, it is a direct challenge to Ahab and his new god - who is a storm-god, and supposed to be able to bring rain. Therefore the drought that followed was a clear message - Baal is powerless in the face of the one true God.

God is all powerful. Ahab made the wrong choice of whom to worship with disastrous consequences as we shall see over the next few days. Where is our allegiance?

We can all do something

What's your promise? from Micah Challenge in the UK on Vimeo.

Start well...Finish well

Incomplete DIY projects, an exercise bike covered in dust, exercise equipment in the loft, a discarded gym membership card - all testimony to the fact that it's a lot easier to start something than it is to finish it. Anyone can start running a marathon, but to complete the course takes dedication, commitment, hard work, determination, training...

Paul, one of the major writers of the New Testament said in Acts 20:24 that his only aim was to finish the race and complete the job that Jesus had given him to do. He knew that even though he had done some amazing stuff in the past he could not bask in past glories - he had to keep on going - right to the end of the race.

Asa was King of Judah between 913-911 BC and we read about him in 1 Kings 15, and 2 Chronicles 14-16. He was a king who started really well, but it all went wrong at the end.


Whenever we're in a new situation we need to try and start well. We want to make a good impression. But who are we trying to impress? Asa knew that it was more important to impress God than to try and please people. Asa made God his number one priority. Whenever we start something new we need to take the decision that God is going to be our priority - and allow that fact to influence all of our decisions and choices.

So for those who will be starting university in the next couple of weeks here are three pieces of advice. Find a good church, join a Christian student group, and join another student group (sports club etc etc).

But Asa let things slip, and so the end of his reign is marked with war rather than peace. He took his eyes off God, and began to rely on himself. Maybe as we look at our Christian walk we see that things have slipped. We're not doing the things we once did. God is gracious and compassionate and therefore he wants us to start again - yes it will be hard and difficult, but the invitation is there. The invitation is there to finish well - because there is a prize in store for those who finish well.

Lessons from 930 BC

Last Sunday we began a new sermon series at church. The title of the series is 'From Empire to Exile' and looks at the period of Old Testament history that starts with the death of king Solomon in 930 BC and ends with the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Each week we are going to look at a different character, either a king or a prophet, and see what these ancient stories have to say to us as we seek to live a followers of Jesus in 2010.


We started with king Rehoboam and focused on 2 Chronicles 12 and drew out three short points for reflection.

First we saw the danger of blessings. After a time of struggle Rehoboam became established and strong. It was at this point that he and the people deserted God's way. Many of us turn to God in times of hardship, distress and turmoil, but when things settle down, when things are going well, the danger is that we drift away from God and start to rely on ourselves and on our own strengths, abilities and resources.

This morning I came across a quote from C.S. Lewis' The Problem of Pain

Everyone has noticed how hard it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything is going well with us

The second thing we saw was the God was in control. Humanly speaking - at this time in history Egypt was a world superpower, and could flex her muscles as she wished. But verse 2 makes it clear that it was because the people had abandoned God that the king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. God was working out his purposes. God allowed this to happen. The people may have wondered 'where is God in all of this?' The answer is that he is closer than you think.

And our final point was that because Rehoboam did not seek God, because often he did his own thing, his life was not all it could have been. God promises us life to the full. Rehoboam settled for a life of bronze imitations rather than the genuine gold. How much do we miss out on because we do things our way rather than God's?

To listen to this message click here

And the Results are in...

Today we went up to Great Ormond Street Hospital to hear the results of all the tests they have done on R following her stroke/seizure episode earlier in the year. And it would seem, when taking everything into consideration, that it was most likely a seizure and not a mini stroke after all.

So what does that mean? Well, in the immediate short term it means that R has stopped taking Aspirin, and so within a week or so the consistency of her blood will be back to normal - so not bruising as easily as she does now, and not bleeding all over the place when she cuts or grazes herself. This also frees us up from the daily petit filous saga!

But if it was a seizure, it could happen again - or not. There is no sign at this stage of epilepsy, but the more seizures she has the more likely she is to develop epilepsy in later life. They don't feel they need to do anything further at this stage, but if R was to experience more episodes then they would obviously see if there was anything further they needed to do. But we pray that it was a one off.

She is most susceptible when tired, ill, has a fever... So we will never leave home without a sachet of Calpol close by, and we may tape one of those forehead thermometers permanently in place, and even when R is 16 she will need to be in bed by 8!

Since coming out of hospital R has been fine, a perfectly normal five year old. She loves school and Girls' Brigade, and as you'll see from the photos a few days ago we had a great summer holiday.

Although there is of course some uncertainty over the future, and it is impossible to monitor a child all the time, we can see how God has looked after R so far, in her (to quote the consultant) short and eventful life, and we thank God that we can trust him for the future.

Oh yes...we also found out today that R also has a hole in the heart - but it's only small and will sort itself out in time!

Wordle

Here's a wordle based on my notes for last Sunday's family service. We were looking at teamwork - and how we all can be involved in the work of sharing the good news of Jesus with others.

Summer Holidays part 3

A relaxing picnic after an exhausting morning at Castle Drogo, in Devon.

Here the girls are pretending to drive a steam train at the South Devon Railway at Buckfastleigh.

Aboard the train for the trip to Totnes and back.

And if you wondered how we managed to get all the camping stuff and everything else and everyone else in the car...

Whoever said camping was about travelling light!

Summer Holidays part 2

Other activities at Leading Edge included face painting...

...making masks from paper plates...

and singing.


From Warwick it was on to Devon for the second week. Here R has found something to read at Exeter Cathedral.


And in Nanny's kitchen A has found the Tupperware cupboard.

Summer Holidays part 1

The first week of our summer holiday this year was spent camping at Warwick School with about 900 other people for Leading Edge. Leading Edge is a week long event organised by the Baptist Union and Viz-a-Viz - who run an excellent children's programme for the whole week. The children had activities every morning, whilst there were Bible Studies and seminars for the adults; a variety of activities were arranged in the afternoons; and in the evenings there were celebration events. Here are a few photos from the week.

On one of the afternoons we went along to an African Drumming session - which the girls really enjoyed.

Thursday was left free all day so we took the chance to visit Warwick Castle (courtesy of Mr Tesco). Here R, A and I are about to begin the ascent of the tower - the carrier only got stuck once on the narrow spiral staircase. I think it was 530 steps.

This huge device is the Trebuchet. Here it has just been fired - you can see the fire ball on the left which will shortly be flung into the air as the arm comes over. To give you some idea of the size - the wheel at the base of the device is like a large hamster wheel - two men get it to the one this side, and two the other (the wheels are not quite twice the height of a man) and they run, making the wheels turn, which tightens the rope pulling the arm back.

Here S is trying to get her hands on someone's cream tea.

There's no way that sword is coming out

We don't normally trust S with a pair of scissors.

Warwick Castle - a great day out - worth a visit if you're in the area - and you can use Tesco vouchers to get in for 1/4 of the normal price.

What's the Hurry?

Banner

When it comes to making cards, scrap booking and other crafts - I'm not the person to speak to. All that sort of thing is best left to others, including my wife. So when it comes to planning craft activities for our Holiday Club I am often a sceptical on looker - wondering how these ideas are going to come together, within the time scale of each morning, and within our overall budget.

But one thing we have seen over the few years we have been running our holiday club is that all of the children enjoy the craft. Both the boys and girls really get in to it, whether they are at the bottom or top end of the age range.

This year one of the bright ideas was to make a banner, that would eventually be hung permanently within the church. The children would be given a felt square and letter, and various other bits such as small felt shapes and buttons which they would use to decorate their square.

We weren't really sure how well it would turn out - but the children loved it, and as you can see the result is amazing.

Now all that needs to be done is for all the squares to be sewn onto the backing material.

Wordle

A wordle is an image made up of words taken from a passage, speech, book etc. where the size of the word is related to the number of times it is used. Common words (such as 'the' or 'and' are usually not included for obvious reasons). I created the following wordle on wordle.net using my notes for tomorrow's sermon.

Any ideas on the topic?

Remember Remember

Today is the second and final day of the 'UK Open International Memory Championships' in London. [As I had to check back to their website three times just to get the competition title correct there is probably no point in me entering for next year's competition!]

Competitors will have to complete a number of memory challenges over the two days, and the one with the most points at the end wins. These challenges include things like having 30 minutes to remember a list of 1s and 0s (e.g. 0111010011001...). The winner of that particular task correctly remembered a list of 3620 1s and 0s. Other tasks include remembering names and faces, and quickest time to memorise a pack of playing cards.

Whilst we may struggle to remember what we did yesterday, or what we're supposed to be doing today, memory is important. Again and again the Bible encourages us to remember the things that God has done in the past - as that will shape our present and our future. Someone has said that Christianity is very simple, all you need is bread, wine, a memory and a vision. The bread and the wine remind us of Jesus' sacrificial death and the love and forgiveness of God. Jesus said to his disciples 'love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another'.

Some things are more important to remember than others. It is quite important to remember certain dates. It is quite important to remember names and faces. It is not so important to remember lists of 1s and 0s.

It is important to remember how much God loves us, and that he wants us to love others too.

Back Again

It's almost a month since my last blog - anyone would have thought that I was away on holiday...but now I'm back. Over the next week or so there will be pictures of the banner we made in Holiday Bible Club - for those of you who are waiting for that. There will be some thoughts on the last in our Sunday morning series looking at Hebrews. And there will be a few pictures from our summer holiday. And by the middle of September I will hopefully be able to update you on all R's test results from Great Ormond Street.

Holiday Club

Thursday - one day to go! Holiday Club has been great so far. We've had good fun, even if we could all sleep for a week! So here are a few pictures.

Each morning we have an 'aerobics' session with the Restaurant Cleaning Crew!

Creative prayer - on Monday we wrote on fish, yesterday we stuck our prayers onto a wooden cross, today we stuck red hearts onto clothes on a washing line. It has been great to read some of the things that the children are writing.

Today the children decorated squares for a church banner. This is the 'before' layout - come back next week to see the afterwards!

And just in case you're not worn out yet - clean forwards, clean backwards, clean forwards, clean backwards...

Boomerang

Today our 2010 Holiday Bible Club started, and we had a great time. The title of the club is Rocky's Plaice and throughout the week we are looking at stories from the life of Peter as recorded in the book of Acts.

Today we started with the Ascension (Acts 1) - the story of how, 40 days after the resurrection, Jesus went up into heaven, but with the promise that he would return again - hence the boomerang reference.

The keyword for the day is HOPE. And Christians live with this hope - that Jesus is coming back again one day. And this is not just some wishful thinking, but it is a sure and a certain hope, because God has promised, and God never breaks a promise.

The memory verse the children learned was from Psalm 145:13 - God is trustworthy in all he promises.

Maybe some photos tomorrow.

Our God is Greater

If you read this blog regularly you will know that every Friday morning I get a new email from www.worshiptogether.com arrive on my desktop. Included within this email will be details of a new song, free sheet music to download, and a short video interview with the writer(s) talking about how the song came about, how best to play it ...

You will also know that I am quite a fan of Chris Tomlin's music - even if it is slightly on the high side when it comes to singing in church!

Here is one of his latest songs, taken from the Passion Awakening album, and written with Matt Redman, Jonas Myrin and Jesse Reeves. The first video is just the song, and then if you're interested in hearing more about it the second video is the interview with Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin. Enjoy.

Rocky's Plaice

Next week we will be running our week long summer holiday Bible club, which this year is called Rocky's Plaice. It is based around a fish and chip shop and looks at various stories in the life of Peter as recorded in the New Testament book of Acts. But more of that next week...

Those of you who are going to be helping out might want to get to grips with the Rocky's Plaice theme song and actions!



Whilst on the subject of new songs - last Sunday we introduced 'The Voice of Hope'. Those of you who belong to our 'strings section' might want to listen to the intro...

Lettuce - what's the point?

I've never really been a fan of lettuce, or a number of other leaves that can be used to make up a salad. What's the point of eating something that needs to be covered in dressing in order for it to taste of anything? And what's the point of growing something that the snails and slugs will enjoy more than you?
The 'what's the point?' or the 'so what?' question is one of the most important questions we can ask whenever we read the Bible. If it doesn't make a difference, what's the point?

This last Sunday we reached Hebrews 10 in our series looking at the book of Hebrews, and the first part of this chapter is a conclusion to the things we've been looking at in previous weeks - things like sacrifices, the temple, the priests... And the second part of this chapter is a kind of 'so what?' If all these things we've said are true, then so what? What difference should it make? And the answers are to be found in a bowl of salad!

1) Lettuce draw near to God (verse 22). No matter who we are and what we've done it is possible, because of Jesus' death on the cross, to know complete forgiveness and a totally new beginning, and therefore we are able to draw near to God. Many of us, often because of less than perfect relationships with our own parents, bad experiences with our head teachers, trouble with the boss etc. have a real problem believing that we can draw close to God. And so although we may make it to the door, we don't have the confidence to burst in (see this post)

2) Lettuce hold unswervingly to the hope we profess (verse 23). Remember that this was a letter to Christians experiencing hardship and persecution. And the encouragement comes to hold on to the hope - the hope of forgiveness, freedom from a guilty conscience, new and eternal life... It is easy to hope when things are all going well. But when things are hard we need to hold on to hope, not because it is a crutch that will keep us going, but because the one who made these promises is faithful.

3) Lettuce consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds (verse 24). We're in this together. And although love and good deeds are the sort of things that should characterise the life of the Christian these things don't come easy. That is why we need to encourage each other in them. We can do this by continuing to meet together, by praying for each other, by being interested in each other's lives, by visiting, by calling, by sharing our stories... You may have other ideas - why not comment.

A Long Day

We're back home after a long day at GOSH. We arrived about 11am and left the hospital just after 10pm. One of the first things that needed to be done was a swab of the inside of R's nose and mouth - which totally freaked her out and confirmed that there was no way she was having either of the two tests without a GA. But in order to be able to co-ordinate the GA the MRA and the Echo it meant that R had to be last on the list, so that there wasn't the pressure of another patient coming along in 30 mins. Fortunately with the things we had brought with us, the toys at the hospital and some painting we managed to fill the time, without too many requests for a drink. She finally went down for the tests about 4.45 and was back in the ward shortly after 6pm. It was then just a case of waking up, eating, drinking etc. We will now have to wait for another appointment in order to discuss the results - watch this space. Thank you for your prayers.

Another visit to GOSH

Those of you who were following R's progress after her recent seizure / stroke episode will be interested to know that we are taking her to GOSH tomorrow for an MRA and Echo under GA. It is hoped that these two tests will clarify what it was that happened, and therefore what treatment is appropriate. We have continued to give R aspirin, (treatment for a stroke), disguised within a Petit Filous, although she now knows it's there, and has even helped us prepare it. On at least three occasions she has got out of bed and come to tell us that we have forgotten to give her her medicine.

Since she came out of hospital and went back to school she has been fine - back to her old self. Aspirin, of course, thins the blood, which is the whole point, but it does mean that R bruises really easily and also if she cuts herself it takes a lot longer to stop bleeding - one morning we had a bleeding lip for an hour and a half! Just what you need before school.

Please pray for us all tomorrow, and that the doctors will be able to tell us what happened...

Fire!

One of the things that we are required to do in the church is a fire risk assessment. This involves evaluating fire hazards, evaluating those at risk, seeing whether it is possible to reduce the risk of fire and try to reduce the danger that that fire is likely to cause to people.

For a fire to start you need to have (1) a source of ignition, (2) fuel and (3) oxygen. So not keeping the petrol lawn mower next to the gas oven is a good idea. (Not that we did!)

I wonder how many of us would benefit from conducting a spiritual fire risk assessment?

We know that we do things that let God down, and sometimes it seems that we keep on doing them. But do they just happen, or do they happen because a number of factors come together at the same time?

Let's suppose that (a) there is a certain person in the church who regularly annoys me; (b) I lose my temper easier when I'm tired; and (c) I find it easier to 'say' things I later regret when I use email.

If all these three things were true then it would not be wise to come home after church, having been annoyed (again) by 'that person', to stew on it all day, and then at midnight, when I'm tired, to fire off an angry email (lots of capital letters), highlighting all their failings and wondering how on earth they can think of themselves as a Christian.

Assess the risk and then take steps to minimise the damage.

A Summer of Sport

If you enjoy watching sport on TV then the last few weeks have been great. The football World Cup still has a few days left to go, we've had two weeks of Wimbledon, there has been the cricket between England and Australia. Just a few days ago the Tour de France started. And next year is the London Olympics.

Of course there are those who hate having their regular TV schedules messed around with in order to accommodate '22 grown men kicking a bag of air around!' Maybe you're one of those people. (There are other channels).

If you'd lived in the first century in the world influenced by the Roman or Greek Empires then sport of a different nature would have been a big part of city life. Chariot racing, the Gladiators, the Olympics...all played a big role in life.

And last Sunday we looked at a few verses in the New Testament where the writers pulled out some of the similarities between what is required to be successful in sport and what is required to live the Christian life.

One example is 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. Just as the top athlete goes into strict training - watching what they eat, making sure they get enough sleep, following a carefully worked out training schedule etc - as a Christian I need to realise that growth and maturity will not just happen. There need to be disciplines (such as Bible reading, prayer, coming to church, learning Bible verses) that I need to be developing. This will not come naturally, it will require sacrifice and will at times seem like hard work.

An athlete makes these sacrifices for the hope of an Olympic gold medal. But for the Christian there is a much greater prize.

Welcome

On Monday I went to part of a Hindu wedding. Although I have been to Asian Christian weddings and Muslim weddings before, this is the first Hindu wedding I have attended. In reality it was only a small part of what was apparently a very long day for others, which was one day of three.

The daughter of our next door neighbours was getting married and we were invited to the reception. [As it turned out this meant that you turned up any time between about 6pm and 8pm, went straight away to eat - a served buffet of great tasting food - and then went to greet the bride and groom and their parents - and then leave when you were ready.] But having never been to a Hindu wedding we didn't really know what to expect. But we were warmly welcomed at the entrance to the hall, and after looking aimless and clueless for only a matter of seconds we were instructed that we should first of all go downstairs to eat. Again at the next entrance we were greeted and told which way to go. We were helped with our selection of food, directed to a table and one kind gentlemen even carried my tray for me as I had our 1 year old in the other arm.

Friendly faces greeted us back upstairs and helped us to understand what we were supposed to do and took the time to answer our questions, they offered to take photos for us, spoke with the children...

Going somewhere for the first time or doing something for the first time is always a slightly nervous experience. I think sometimes we forget, in our churches, how nervous coming into the building can be, especially if you've never been in a church before. Which way to do I go? Can I sit anywhere? What should I wear? Will there be chairs? Do I need to take my shoes off? When do I stand up? What happens when the offering comes around? What's communion all about?

Stewards are there to do so much more than simply give out the Bibles. They can make a person feel comfortable and at home within seconds. And all of us have a responsibility to be welcoming and helpful. It is the warmth of welcome and the friendliness of the people that may make more of a lasting impression than the quality of the sermon!

Knock Knock...

I have an office at the church, at the end of a corridor - that doesn't really go anywhere. So most footsteps that make their way along the corridor are almost certainly coming to see me. And sometimes these footsteps make interesting listening. They get less and less confident as they approach the end of the corridor, almost as if there is some internal battle going on in the walker. When they reach the door there is invariably a pause - as if the visitor is first of all trying to establish whether I am in or not; if they think I'm in am I in the middle of an important meeting or phone call; maybe I'm too busy and they should come back later; maybe their 'issue' is not so important after all... The majority will then knock, and wait to be invited in.

But there are three people in the church who refuse to follow this protocol. They simply run down the corridor at full speed and burst into the office without so much as a knock or 'excuse me' (the latch on the door doesn't work so the door can simply be pushed open). They are, of course, my three young daughters. They're not coming to see the pastor, they're coming to see their daddy. And whatever it is they want to show me or tell me, or even if they just want a cuddle, they will interrupt whatever I'm doing.

In our weekly series in Hebrews we have reached chapter 8, which talks (amongst other things) about how the 'new covenant' is about having a relationship with God. It is about knowing God - not just knowing about God. God invites us to be his children, to be in a relationship with him. He offers forgiveness for sins (verse 12). And part of this all means that we can come into God's presence with confidence (4:16).

How do we feel about coming into God's presence? Do we stand at the door and knock cautiously, full of doubt as to whether we should even be there? Or do we run down the corridor and burst in without knocking because we want to see our heavenly daddy, who loves us?

Fed up with Football

I thought I'd share some highlights from last night's 0-0 draw between England and Algeria.





OK - now that that's done, on to something completely different.

If you enjoyed the first two films from the Chronicles of Narnia you will be pleased to know that the next installment - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be coming out at the end of the year.

What's the difference betwee Robert Green and Jesus?

With the football World Cup starting this last weekend I thought I'd start my sermon on Sunday with a football link - and so on Thursday I wrote my opening paragraph about one of the England goalkeepers David James - those of you who follow English football may also know him as Calamity James - because of some of the mistakes he has made. I'd chosen one Youtube clip from among many. All building up to the conclusion of that opening paragraph: 'What's the difference between Jesus and David James?'

But then on Saturday evening in England's World Cup opener against the USA with Robert Green in goal, this happened.



A quick re-write of the opening paragraph was required on Sunday morning, with a new punchline: 'What's the difference between Jesus and Robert Green?' The answer: 'Jesus saves'.

This week, in our series in the book of Hebrews, we were looking at chapter 7. And in that chapter we read that Jesus is able to save completely.

The author of this letter wants her/his readers to know that when it comes to knowing your past forgiven, knowing peace, having a right relationship with God, seeing that your past need no longer define your present or your future - it is only Jesus who can do that. Jesus saves.

An Apple a Day...

At the moment it seems as if I'm getting an email from Apple pretty much every day with news of the new iPad or iPhone4...so far I have resisted clicking on the 'Buy Now' button! But some of you no doubt use an iPhone or iPod Touch or maybe even an iPad - or maybe something similar made by someone else.

We are nearly halfway through the year (this is week 23 - we reach the halfway point at the end of the month), and for those of you who have been memorising the weekly Bible verses printed on our church notice sheet, that means you should now have 23 verses memorised.

But memorising Bible verses takes effort. Those of you who are going through exams at the moment will know that it is possible to memorise something for tomorrow's exam, but you will have forgotten it all in two days time! To memorise Bible verses and keep them memorised is a discipline that requires going over verses again and again and again, and then reviewing the older verses regularly so that they remain accessible and at your finger tips.

In the past, in the days when I used a PDA, (before reverting back to pen and paper - neither of which need a battery or are likely to crash) I had a great program produced by Laridian that helped with memorising Bible verses. Once the verses were entered you could check you knew them by typing the first letter of each word. And if you got totally stuck there was a 'hint' button. Now I simply use little cards with the verses written on them!

But for those of you who sleep with your iPad under your pillow, or who don't go out without your iPhone why not look up an app that will help you memorise the Bible? Do a search on 'Bible Memory Verses' in the apps store. I haven't tried any of these out so can't make a personal recommendation but there are a number to choose from. Some of these apps are free, but you might have to pay a bit for some of the better ones, or to have one that includes a modern translation such as the NIV.

An apple a day might not keep the doctor away, and neither will memorising a verse of the Bible a week - but over the years, it will be time and effort that you will not regret.

Camping Trip

If you've been wondering where I've been - the answer is camping. Here are a few pictures.

Toasting marshmellows.



Worn out after a hard day's camping!

Your secrets revealed next week

How many of us are glad that there are things about us that no one knows? I wonder what would happen if I was to announce on a Sunday morning in church that the following week every person present will have something about them revealed on the projector that until that point no one else knew. I guess some people may be torn between turning up to see everyone else's stuff revealed and not turning up so as to keep their own secrets - but I'm guessing the church would be a fairly empty place - at least it would give an indication as to who wasn't listening the previous week!

But Hebrews 4:13 tells us that God knows everything about us - nothing at all is hidden. And 4:16 tells us that we can come with confidence into the presence of God. How is that possible? If God knows exactly what I'm like and what I've done and what goes on inside my head, how is it that I can come to God with confidence - especially when we think that the first readers of Hebrews had grown up with the tradition that only the high priest could enter the presence of God - the Holy of Holies - and then only on one day a year, the Day of Atonement - and then only after having made a sacrifice for his own sins.

It's possible because between verses 13 and 16 we read about Jesus and in verse 16 we read about God's mercy and grace. It's possible, not because of what I can do, but because of what Jesus has already done, on the cross.

So rather than sweep our rubbish under the carpet and hope no one finds it there, let's believe that God has dealt with our past failings and step into the present with confidence.

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