I wonder what your most valued possession is? Not necessarily that thing that you own that is worth the most money, but what is most precious to you? What would you grab first if you had to evacuate your home because of a fire? I doubt many of us would say a Bible. Even though a familiar Bible may have meaningful scribbles and notes in the margin and although we don't know exactly where that verse in Ephesians is - we do know that it's in the bottom half of the left-hand page - but a Bible is easy to replace - at least in terms of the text.
This afternoon at Oasis Tea we're going to be looking at the story of Mary Jones. Mary was born in Wales in 1784. Every Sunday her family would make the two-mile trip to church and Mary soon fell in love with the Bible, its stories and the God it spoke of. By the age of 9 Mary was determined to have a Welsh language Bible of her own. Mary's family were poor and Welsh Bibles were rare and expensive but Mary was determined. So she started to save up for her very own Welsh Bible. After six years she had enough money and set off on foot on the 25 mile trip to Bala in order to buy a Bible for herself. The man she finally bought her Bible from was so inspired by her story that he went on to found the organisation that is now the Bible Society. You'll find their website here which includes more details of Mary's story. The Bible Society are passionate about providing people with affordable copies of God's word in their own language. Here's a video of the excitement from a tribe in West Papua who have waited 47 years for the New Testament in their own language.
I wonder how much we take having a copy of God's word available in a language that we can read for granted. We've never had such easy, instant access to God's word and yet I wonder if we read it and value it less than generations before us. It wouldn't be Oasis Tea without a little craft to entertain and frustrate. Mary Jones' father was a weaver, as to was her husband, and so we're going to weave a simple bookmark - maybe to use in a Bible.
You'll need three drinking straws, these are about 12cm long, and three pieces of wool (about 6 cm longer than your straws) tied together at one end and threaded through the straws. Finally, use a piece of tape to fix the staws together at the knotted end. You're now ready to start weaving. Take the piece of wool you want to start weaving with and tie it to one of the outside straws. (This piece is not one of the three pieces you've threaded through the straws.)
Then simply start weaving - over, under, over, under...
Make sure you keep your wool reasonably tight and pressed up towards the knot end. If you want to change colour just tie another colour on and tuck any loose ends into the weaving. Keep going until you get to the end of the straws and tie off your wool to one of the outside straws.
Now, carefully remove the tape and whilst holding your weaving in one hand carefully pull out the straws one at a time.
Once you've removed the staws tie the three long threads together. You can now move your weaving up and down the strings to get them into the position that you like. Trim off any loose ends.
Obviously, you can make your weaving longer by using longer straws or by pulling your straws down your weaving as you progress. You can make your weaving wider by using more straws.
It's very kind of Rend Collective to release their latest album 'Good News' to coincide with our latest teaching series 'Jesus is Good News'! Here's one of the songs from the new album.
As well as some thoughts on the theme of Good News.
For more information on their album and upcoming tour (including Cambridge) visit their website here
Imagine that you're at work, doing whatever it is that you normally do, and someone comes up to you and says, 'come, follow me'. That is the way that Mark presents the calling of the first disciples (Mark 1:14-20) and the calling of Levi (Mark 2:13-17). People were already speculating as to who Jesus might be, and John the Baptist had laid the groundwork - but even so it must have taken a lot of courage to leave your livelihood (Simon and Andrew), your family and family firm (James and John) or a lucrative job (Levi) and follow a man who was calling people to repent and making claims about the kingdom of God. But Jesus is not just good news - he is the good news. As we continue reading through Mark's account of Jesus' life this term, Mark is confident that we will come to see that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that the kingdom of God has come near - and this is the ultimate good news. In fact, it is such good news that it is worth leaving everything behind in order to respond to Jesus' invitation to follow him. Unlike Jesus' original audience the terms 'Messiah' and 'kingdom of God' may mean nothing to us - so here are a couple of videos to help us out - both from The Bible Project. So, what's the Messiah all about? And what does Jesus mean when he's talking about the kingdom of God?
And like Mark says, this is good news. And so often we instinctively want to share good news. Here's the video I showed on Sunday from Igniter Media. Why do we sometimes find it so hard to share the good news about Jesus? Here are a few reasons I mentioned on Sunday:
We're not sure what to say - how will I answer their questions? - what gives me the right to start telling others how to live
We don’t really believe it is good news
We don’t want to offend people - what about those of other faiths
We’re afraid of how they will respond to us - what will they think of us
We compartmentalise our lives - so faith stays in the 'faith box
We’ve tried it before and it didn’t go well
We believe that faith is a private thing - not something we talk about
We’ve lost sight of the consequences - we no longer believe in heaven and hell
We no longer believe that Jesus is the only way to God
We don’t believe we need saving - our lives really aren't that bad
I don’t know any non-Christians
Someone else will do it
We deal with the symptoms but not the cause
If you want to listen to this sermon you'll find it here, or to download the home group notes and explore this theme a bit more click here.
This Sunday at CBC we're continuing our new teaching series 'Jesus is good news' looking at what happened when Jesus called his first disciples. One of the very first things that Mark records Jesus as saying is this claim that the kingdom of God has come near. We could spend weeks exploring this theme in more depth but here's a great overview by the guys over at the Bible Project.
This Sunday we're going to be starting a new teaching series at CBC - Jesus is Good News - based on Mark's Gospel.
Mark starts his gospel with the claim that Jesus is the Messiah - but what kind of Messiah is he going to be? Will he be recognised as Messiah? And, maybe most importantly, what are you and I going to do about it? If you want to get a good overview of the whole of Mark's gospel, his themes, and the structure of this book the 'Join the Bible Project' videos are a great place to start. They have two on Mark which I've posted below for convenience. Then head over to their website for other relevant videos (e.g. Messiah), blog posts and to download the poster below.
Happy New Year - the traditional greeting that we send and receive on 1 Jan. But do you really want a happy New Year? When I started thinking about this post a few days ago my working title was something along the lines of 'why I won't be wishing you a happy New Year' - but that didn't seem very friendly.
I guess for many the answer to the question, 'do you want a happy New Year?' will be ‘yes’. But as a Christian my answer should depend on how I understand ‘happy’. Generally speaking, we’d understand happiness as something to do with the way that we feel which is based on our circumstances. So when we wish each other a happy New Year we’re hoping that the other person has a year in which nothing bad happens. We hope they don’t have a year marked with worry or anxiety or sickness or unhappiness or grief or tragedy. They get promotion rather than redundancy. The things they try succeed rather than fail. And surely that is what any normal person would want for their friends, family and neighbours. But what is your goal for the new year ahead? Is your goal to be happy - or do you have something else in mind? For the writers of the New Testament, their desire and focus was always on the big, eternal picture. Their prayers rarely ask for circumstances that will generate feelings of 'happiness'. Rather they speak about circumstances in which they were able to rejoice because, in faith, they saw God working out a much bigger purpose with a much bigger reward than any temporary feelings of happiness. So, for example, James urges us to rejoice in the face of trials because through these trials God is moulding us into the people that he wants us to be. In the Beatitudes, Jesus teaches his disciples that God’s values are usually very different to the way that we often think. When it comes to God’s blessings they are often experienced by those who are going through (it would seem) unhappy times. Paul's prayer for the Philippians was focused on their eternal future, and God's glory, rather than their immediate comfort. And although Paul was writing from prison, facing potential execution, his prayer and desire for himself is fully focused on God's glory and the spreading of Jesus' reputation - and because of this he is able to rejoice - whether it means death or life. So, as we look ahead to another year, do we wish for happiness in the coming 12 months? Or do we thank God that whatever lies ahead he has promised to be with us? Do we ask him for the faith to trust that through whatever the new year brings we will believe that he is making us into people who are fit for his kingdom and through whom Jesus will be glorified?
