Happy Resurrection Day

It's Resurrection Day - Christ is risen - Hallelujah.

This morning at CBC we celebrated the resurrection by reflecting on how the cross - a symbol that represents death and horror and fear - an instrument of torture and execution - has come to be a symbol of hope and new life and forgiveness and peace.

It's because Jesus died, was buried and rose again.

At the Cross

Yesterday, at our Good Friday service we listened to a song called 'At the cross (Love ran red)'. If you had one of the printed song sheets you may have noticed that there was quite a lot of copyright information. In this following interview Chris Tomlin explains how the song came about through the collaboration of a number of different artists.




Here's the full version of the song with the whole band in the back ground.

Called to Serve

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

Having looked in more detail at our Vision we're now starting to think about our Core Values here at CBC. We have adopted seven Core Values which shape everything that we do and say.

We started to think a bit more about these Core Values three weeks ago - if you missed these posts then use the links below to catch up - or the Values label at the bottom of the page.

Our Core Values: Loving, Welcoming, Missional, Servant-hearted, Biblical, Spirit-led and Prayerful.

Last week, when we were thinking about what it meant to be Missional, I ended by saying that being missional is for the whole church - it is not something that is reserved for the 'professionals', or the 'elite', or the 'fundamentalist fringe'. It is not something that is the responsibility of someone else. As a disciple of Jesus, his expectation is that we will be fruitful, and will disciple others - first by introducing people to Jesus and then helping them to grow in their journey.

In the New Testament, Paul uses the image of a body to describe how the church should work - our mission is to be achieved as every 'part' functions as it should (e.g. 1 Corinthians 12:12-31). So, each person who makes up the church has a role to play, and the whole only works as it should when everyone is playing their part.

Each part is therefore important. But this also requires a servant heart - because we are called to serve. Service is costly and it requires sacrifice - because it requires us to do something that someone else wants us to do rather than what we might want to do ourselves. It means we put someone else's priorities before our own.

In the first century, as the New Testament was being written, servants and slaves were very much a part of life. As a slave you were not your own. You had no rights. You were owned by your master and he told you what to do. And this master-servant relationship is one that is used to describe our relationship to God - although God is portrayed as a good master - just as early Christians we encouraged to be good masters recognising that their servants were not property but people loved by God.

But a Christian is someone who has chosen to become a servant of God. At CBC, as in many Baptist Churches we have a team of 'deacons'. The word 'deacon' comes from a Greek word - diakoneo - which means to serve and is used as a noun 'servant' (e.g. John 2:5). It is interesting to note that many churches are replacing the term 'deacon' which is not really understood outside of the church, with the term 'leadership team', which is widely understood outside of the church - but is not often associated with the qualities of being a 'servant'.

But we are all called to serve - not just a few.

Someone was once asked, 'how will I know whether or not I have a servant heart?'

The answer came back, 'by how you react when you're treated like one.'

How do I react when I'm treated as a servant? When I'm taken for granted. When no one acknowledges my behind the scenes efforts. When I'm left to do it on my own...again. Our responses to these situations will often reveal whether or not we have a servant heart and whether we're serving God or looking for reward elsewhere.

It is appropriate that we look at this theme on Good Friday. Yesterday, we remembered the Last Supper and how Jesus washed his disciples' feet and instructed his disciples that they were to serve each other.

Today, on Good Friday we remember Jesus' death on a cross - obedience to God, even to the point of death.

We follow the one who even though he knew all authority was his, got up and wrapped a towel around his waist and took on the role of a servant to serve his disciples. The one who said to God, 'not my will but yours be done'.

Your mission if you choose to accept it is...

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

At CBC, alongside our Vision - which helps us understand where we are headed - we have seven Core Values which shape everything that we do and say.

We started to think a bit more about these Core Values a couple of weeks ago - if you missed these posts then use the links below to catch up.

Our Core Values: Loving, Welcoming, Missional, Servant-hearted, Biblical, Spirit-led and Prayerful

This week we're going to think about what it means to be Missional - and out of the seven Core Values this may be the one that is least self-explanatory. So what do we mean when we say that we are 'missional'?

When we were thinking about our Vision and Values last year, one of the places that we started was the 'Great Commission' in Matthew 28:19-20 where Jesus tells his disciples that part of what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus, is to be someone who makes disciples. The sort of person who shows people what it means to follow Jesus and invites them to follow too. The sort of person who helps people move forward in their walk with God.

And whatever else we may be doing or thinking about doing as a church we need to be demonstrating what it looks like to follow Jesus and giving people the opportunity to follow too. Whatever help or services we may be able to provide, whatever needs we are able to meet - ultimately we believe that the only true answers are found in Jesus. 

Being missional also means that we maintain an outward rather than an inward focus. A few weeks ago I quoted Archbishop William Temple who said, "The church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members." We do what we do - not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of those in our community who don't yet know Jesus.

Being missional also requires us to look wider than just our community. This could be supporting outreach amongst local young people through WCCYM, supporting BU Home Mission projects throughout the UK, support of BMS World Mission or other overseas mission projects we're linked with, or it may mean actually going - being part of a summer team to Romania, for example.

But being missional, whatever that might look like, is not something that is reserved for the specialists or the fundamentalists. It is something that we are all involved in.

Helping hand

This morning at CBC, as we thought about Jesus' parables in Matthew 25, I showed a video that was recorded by the Bible Society, as they explore the idea of the Good Samaritan by doing some secret filming in Reading.

In Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus tells the parable of the sheep and the goats - about how, at the final judgement, God is going to separate the nations out as a shepherd separates out the sheep from the goats. And the basis for this separating appears to be the way that a person has responded to the hungry, the thirsty, those who are naked, or ill or those in prison.

But this isn't some kind of check list - of things you must do if you want to be a part of the kingdom. Jesus, in this whole chapter is talking to his disciples and he is helping them to see what citizens of the kingdom look like. The people you will find in the kingdom are the sorts of people who will see someone in need and will ask 'what can I do to help?'

To watch the Bible Society video visit their website by clicking here. On this page you'll find three videos, all worth watching, including the one I showed this morning.

Welcome

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

Last Friday we started to think about our Core Values - those values that shape everything that we do and say.

Our seven Core Values at CBC are:

Loving, Welcoming, Missional, Servant-hearted, Biblical, Spirit-led and Prayerful

Last week we thought about what it means to be loving, today we're going to think about being welcoming.

If you've been going to church all your life it can be easy to forget just how daunting an experience it can be to walk into a strange church for the first time. Although I grew up attending church at least twice on a Sunday, the first time I visited an Anglican church I was probably in my late teens. I went on my own and I had no idea what to expect. I sat at the back and struggled to follow what was going on - which book was I supposed to be reading out of, when to stand and when to sit, was I allowed to go forward for communion - when should I go, what should I do, were there things I had to say...

New experiences can be quite stressful and it is so much easier if there is a friend who can show you what's what. 

We probably wouldn't invite someone into our home for the first time and just leave them standing in the hallway - we'd make them feel welcome - we'd show them where to sit, we'd ensure they were comfortable, we'd sit and talk to them...

Being welcoming as a church means that we are good at practising hospitality. We make a conscious effort to look out for those who are new and then we make sure that they are made to feel welcome.

We might think that being welcoming is quite an easy thing - not something that will get us into trouble. But being welcoming got Jesus into trouble. For example, in Mark 2:13-17 we read a story where Jesus is happy to eat with the wrong kinds of people - tax collectors and 'sinners' - and as a result he is criticised by the religious establishment.

www.LumoProject.com

James warns us against only showing a welcome to the 'right' sort of people (James 2:1-4). Sometimes showing a welcome to those that others exclude will get us into trouble - maybe not to the extent that Jesus experienced, but we might find ourselves being misunderstood, or being rejected or being excluded as a result.

Depending on which newspapers our work colleagues read, for example, we might find our welcome of and attitude towards refugees makes us stand out in the crowd. In a world where we are increasingly suspicious of anyone who is not like us, we should, as followers of Jesus, be different.

We've talked in past weeks about being authentic - about how church needs to be a place where people feel comfortable to be themselves, to take off the mask. We welcome people as they are - without requiring them to be someone else.

Becoming a follower of Jesus required a lifestyle change - it still does - but the welcome came first. 

www.LumoProject.com

Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus' house and ate with him (Luke 19:1-10) with no requirement for Zacchaeus to change. But Zac did change - because of the welcome.

Love is...

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed

Over the last eight Fridays we have been exploring our Vision. If you missed any of these posts use the links above to catch up, or the Vision label at the bottom of the page.

The purpose of our Vision Statement is to give us an idea of where we are headed.

As well as a new Vision we also set out our Core Values - these values help us to understand who we are. All that we do and all that we say should be shaped by our Core Values.

Our Core Values are:

Loving, Welcoming, Missional, Servant-hearted, Biblical, Spirit-led and Prayerful

Although these values are not listed in any kind of order of priority it is appropriate that we start with love. Jesus taught his disciples that the whole of the law hangs on two commands - to love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; and to love your neighbour as yourself (e.g. Luke 10:25-37).

Later in the New Testament, Paul teaches that no matter how gifted we are, or what we are able to achieve, unless we are acting in love it is all of no more value than the noise of a clanging cymbal (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).

There are many people in today's world who have a very mixed up view of what love looks like. Fortunately as we read through the gospels we discover what love looks like - in the person of Jesus. God is not just loving - God is love (1 John 4:16).

But this picture of love that we discover in the gospels is both comforting and challenging. It is comforting to know that even though God knows everything there is to know about us  Jesus still loved us so much that he was prepared to die on the cross (Romans 5:8).

But it is challenging to know that we are called to love in this totally giving, self-sacrificial way. Demonstrating our love to our enemies as well as our friends.

But this is only possible when we know that we are loved by God. We are only able to love because God has loved us first (1 John 4:19). Everything that we do has to be motivated out of love. Our actions are our response to the love of God that we have already experienced.

So everything that we do and everything that we say is shaped by our knowledge and experience of God's love for us, our love for God and a genuine love for others.