Codex Sinaiticus

Have you ever wondered what one of the oldest Christian Bibles looks like. Codex Sinaiticus was handwritten well over 1600 years ago, and the manuscript contains the Christian Bible in Greek, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament. And now it is available online at http://www.codex-sinaiticus.net/

You may be interested to take a look even if you don't understand a word of Greek.

A Bucket full of Love

Given the option of knowing exactly when you were going to die would you want to, or not? According to Morgan Freeman in The Bucket List, 96% of people would say 'no'.



But often when we are confronted with our own mortality things come into a sharper focus than before. Suddenly there are things that we want to do with the time we have left.

In 1 Peter 4:7-11 Peter passes on some instructions to his readers about what their priorities should be given that the end is near. None of us can be sure when the end will be. We may think we have another 20, 30, 40 years or more, but we don't know what is just around the corner. The Bible also tells us that time will come to an end - but it doesn't tell us when that will be.

But Peter wants us to live as if it could be today. And the most important thing, he says, above all else, no matter what else you think you need to do, is to love each other deeply. And this is only possible when we have already accepted the love that God has for us. We have been forgiven so much - and therefore we love each other, and allow that love to cover a multitude of sins.

See the best in people this week, rather than suspect the worst. Put the needs of others before your own needs. Be generous and big hearted. Do something kind and unexpected for someone.

Well fed

Yesterday we had our International Sunday and after the service we really enjoyed a lunch together with food from many parts of the world. It was good to try some new things, and listen to people enthusing about dishes from their own country and encouraging others to try a bit. I was certainly well fed by the end.

We had 21 nationalities represented, and in rough west to east order they were:

USA, Brazil, Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, St. Lucia, Tobago, Grenada, St. Helena, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, England, Scotland, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Heaven is going to be filled with people from every nation (Revelation 7:9), and one of the images used in the New Testament is of a great feast (e.g. Luke 14:15-24) - so it is good to get some practice in now!

International Sunday

This Sunday is our International Sunday - one day in the year when we make a special effort to acknowledge and celebrate the diversity that comes with a multi-cultural congregation. So what sort of things do we have planned for tomorrow? Hopefully there will be some who come in their national dress. We will sing some songs in languages other than English. We will acknowledge every country represented by name, and encourage the children to colour the relevant flags. And to round everything off we are having lunch together, and everyone has been encouraged to bring a national dish, which will have a flag in it, so (if we know our flags) we can know where it has come from.

So why do we have an International Sunday? Well, I think that multi-cultural church is biblical - where a church exists in a multi-cultural environment, that church should be multi-cultural. And to build a multi-cultural church you have to be intentional. And this Sunday is just one part of that jigsaw.

I don't believe that it is good enough to say, 'I'm colour blind - I don't see colour - I don't think of you as black, white ...' For whilst I am not defined by the colour of my skin, I can't deny who I am - and that is moulded by where I have come from, where I have grown up etc. And therefore it is wrong to think of everyone else as being just like me (and I believe that is often what is under-lying comments like, 'I don't see you as black...'

On International Sunday we acknowledge that we are all different (and this is as true with gender, age, class etc. as well as race) and yet we are all created in the image of God, we are all loved by God, and we are all a vital piece in the bigger picture. God wants to use me and God wants to use you. Wherever we are from we have something to bring to the table that will enrich life for us all.