Year Three Homework

Our 7 year old daughter came out of school yesterday so excited about her homework - she just couldn't wait to tell us what it was. After quite a long explanation which included the words 'G8' and 'food' and something about helping people like we do with the shoeboxes we worked out that it was maybe something to do with UNICEF and the IF campaign. Once home a quick search on the internet and we came across the video they had seen in class and the activity that they were doing for their homework.

Foodbank

In a few weeks time the Harrow foodbank will open. You may well have heard about foodbanks on the news over recent months as the current economic climate tips more and more people and families over the edge into poverty - poverty that doesn't just mean that they can't afford as many luxuries as they once could - but poverty that means that they can't pay the bills, they can't keep up with the rent, and they can't afford food for the next meal.

This short video will give you an idea as to the importance of this work.




Pop back in a few days time to find out how you can get involved in the Harrow Foodbank or, if you don't live in Harrow why not find out where your local foodbank is.

It's a Gift

This morning we're starting week five of the Community Bible Experience, spending this week reading Matthew's account of the life of Jesus. But the last 2 1/2 weeks have been spent reading Paul's letters. That's quite a lot of reading but reading the whole lot in just a few days does highlight some of the themes that Paul keeps on coming back to. Some of the words that I highlighted as I read were: Jesus, Christ, Spirit, love, righteousness, grace, peace, faith, power, gospel. There are two problems with this approach.

The first is not really a problem at all: after you've read through a few letters you come across a new theme which means you need to go back over the material you've already read and see whether it was there or not.

The second problem is that eventually you run out of highlighters and crayons - even after raiding your children's boxes of colouring in materials.

Having finished Paul's letters there are a couple of additional themes/words that I would like to go back and have a look at.

When we read these books as letters from Paul to real people in real situations it is good to remember who Paul was. He was someone, as we read in Acts, who was totally opposed to the message about Jesus. He was travelling around arresting and persecuting Christians. And then he met Jesus on the road to Damascus - and there in that encounter, rather than face the consequences of his actions against God's people, he experienced the forgiveness of God.

And so it is no wonder that Paul's letters are always talking about Jesus and that grace is frequently mentioned. Grace is getting what we don't deserve, as opposed to mercy which is not getting what we do deserve. Paul was treated by God in a way that he did not deserve - it was all a gift from God, Paul knew what that was all about - he experienced it first hand.

Everything that Paul did was a consequence of that encounter with Jesus. And Paul wants us to encounter Jesus - because when we do nothing is ever the same again.

Shine like Stars

It's beginning to seem like a distant memory but a couple of weekends ago we were in Blackpool for the Baptist Assembly. The theme, taken from Philippians 2, but also picked up on from places like Daniel 12, was "Like Stars in the Universe" - the idea that as followers of Jesus our lives should stand out from all that is going on around us. 

The themes of light and dark run throughout the Bible and so there was no shortage of material for speakers to pick from. For now I'll leave you with just two thoughts.

Darkness is the absence of light - you can't turn darkness on or off. So for something to be dark you remove all sources of light. Jesus tells his disciples that we are the light of the world (e.g. Matthew 5:14). Therefore wherever we are, as disciples of Jesus, can't be totally dark - it is less dark because we are there.


A powerful image that one of the speakers mentioned was that of punching holes in the darkness. It is an image that comes from Robert Louis Stevenson, the author perhaps most famous for Treasure Island and Kidnapped. Stevenson had 'a thing' for gas lamps and wrote the following poem, The Lamplighter.

My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky.
It's time to take the window to see Leerie going by;
For every night at teatime and before you take your seat,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street. 

Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea,
And my papa's a banker and as rich as he can be;
But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I'm to do,
O Leerie, I'll go round at night and light the lamps with you! 

For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door,
And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;
And oh! before you hurry by with ladder and with light;
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him to-night!

It is also told that one evening when a young Stevenson was called for a meal he said he couldn't come because he was 'watching a man punch holes in the darkness'. Whether this is true or not I don't know, but Stevenson certainly described the lamp lighter as one punching holes in the nights is one of his essays written in favour of gas lamps and speaking out against the new electric lights.

Whatever the true source it is a powerful image of the follower of Jesus, as people who punch holes in the darkness and therefore allow the light to shine through.

Christian Aid Week

Today sees the start of Christian Aid week, 2013. Have you seen the TV advert yet? This little clip gives an insight in to how it was made (the advert itself is at the end).



I want to say a big 'thank you' on behalf of Christian Aid to all of you who sponsored me to run the London Marathon this year. So far the figure you raised is £2369 which when gift aid is taken into account comes to a brilliant £2624.50

If you've been watching the little film clips I put up each week in the run up to the marathon you will have some idea of just how much of a difference that sum of money will be able to make.

Hidden Treasure

This afternoon we went out and found a few geocaches. Here are a few pictures of one of our favourite caches ever.

It must be round here somewhere - at least this log provides a step up so we can look higher in the tree.

Cunning. Almost looks like a treasure chest - what with hinges and a lock.

A weekend in Blackpool

This time last week we were somewhere on the M1 or the M6 heading north to Blackpool for the Baptist Assembly. I'm not sure if there is an official way to describe the Baptist Assembly but it essentially the one time in the year when the 'baptist family' in the UK gets together. What happens? Lots of different things happen. There are large evening celebrations, there are small seminars, there are Bible studies, there are prayer meetings, there are a range of special interest groups that meet, there's the chance to meet new people, there's the chance to catch up with old friends, there's an after hours programme, there's a children's programme, there's a youth programme, there's the chance to hear stories of what God is doing here and abroad, there's food and drink, there's a swimming pool, there's the beach...

I haven't really had time to digest it all yet - but as a family we had a really great time. Arise Ministries did a wonderful job working with the children - helping them to engage with God in a real and meaningful way.

The overall theme for the weekend was 'Like stars in the universe', understanding what it means to live as people who punch holes in the darkness. But maybe more on that next week.

In the meantime I'll leave you with one photo and one song. 

I might not be able to read the words but I can dance

Time and relative dimension in space

Some of you will have looked at that title and thought - what? Others of you will have looked at that title and through TARDIS.

This might look like an old fashioned blue police telephone box - but it is actually the TARDIS - the space craft that allows Dr Who to travel the universe - not just going from place to place, but also able to go backwards and forwards in time.

Last weekend it was great to be able to conduct and speak at a wedding. And as the couple getting married were Dr Who fans it seemed appropriate to keep at Dr Who theme running through proceedings. I will share just one of those thoughts here.

In any relationship whether it is within a marriage, a friendship, with a family member, a working relationship... we will from time to time get things wrong. We will say something we regret. We'll do something we wish we hadn't done. The trouble is once we've said or done it there is nothing we can do to undo it. We don't have access to a TARDIS or some other form of time machine. We can't go back in time and undo what we've said or done.

That's why it is very important that we learn to do two things. The first is to say 'sorry'. When we get it wrong we need to say sorry. Secondly we need to learn to forgive. There is a passage in 1 Corinthians 13 about love that is often read at weddings. One of the things it tells us about love is that it keeps no record of wrongs.

We might not be able to go back and change the past, but how we respond to past mistakes in the present could have a real impact on our future.