22nd December - Carol Service
Led by Rev Alf Waite
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15th December - Prepare to Follow
Continuing the Methodist ‘Hush the Noise’ theme for Advent 2024 with ‘Babel Sounds’, local preacher Joan Murray brought a reminder of the Towel of Babel story in Genesis 1 and what we can achieve when we all work together. Lectionary reading Luke: 7-18 introduced us to an angry John the Baptist, dedicated and determined in proclaiming baptism as the way to prepare people for forgiveness of sins and a complete change of heart. Through a series of illustrative examples, John finally got his point across. Even Pharisees, Sadducees, tax collectors and soldiers asked what they should do to change.
The message here is to share whatever you have, to live in the right way, to be content with what you have; “the one more powerful than John the Baptist is coming”.
Our Old Testament reading - the final six verses of Zephaniah (3:14-20). A very short book, only three chapters long, a collection of poems portraying Zephaniah’s message. Split into three parts, this easy to overlook book first looks at the day of judgement coming on Judah and Jerusalem. A reversal of God’s created world in Genesis 1.
Next, we hear of the Lord’s judgement on a larger scale to include nations around Judah. The tone is of an angry Zephaniah. Finally, the mood changes and we hear of an ‘unexpected burning fire from God’ there to purify, not to harm. Hope, healing and a transformation of rebellious nations into one family. A reminder that we can come full circle, that with God’s help we can “patch, repair and improve”, both ourselves and our community. That when we hesitate or stumble over what to do next, when we feel hope slipping away and joy feels way beyond our reach, Christ the Messiah will show us the way.
Sorry - no video service this week
8th December - Hush the Noise
For our second service of Advent 2024 Local Preacher Peter Walsham asked us to ‘hush the noise’ that takes our attention away from the real joy of Christmas, which is the arrival on earth of God’s Son, Jesus the Messiah (Saviour) of mankind.
In Malachi Ch 3 vs 1-4 , written 500 years before Jesus, Malachi is predicting the birth of John the Baptist, God’s messenger who would introduce the world to God’s Son, Jesus. In his book, Malachi criticises the people for being stubborn in their disobedience, turning themselves away from God by offering a worship that was second rate and generally, going their own way.
And of course this has been the way of the world throughout history. The earlier Old Testament prophets had spoken against it as did St Paul, who commented on it in his letter to the Romans. Sadly, the truth is that human nature has not changed to this day.
But back to Advent and the coming of John the Baptist, the messenger preparing the way for the coming Messiah, Jesus. Our role, as Christians in 2024, is to prepare the way for Jesus’ coming in our world and time. So reflecting God’s will, how do we prepare the way for Jesus in this busy world? The answer can be found in Ch 13 of St Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth by offering ourselves in service through love.
Is our duty to share God’s gift of love with others, because in cutting through the busyness of modern life and ‘hushing the noise,’ it’s through love that God’s Kingdom grows.
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1st December - Jesus is coming
Taking Luke Ch 21 vs 25-36 as her text where Jesus says that at the end of the world there will be great upheaval, Rev Dawn Brown explained that God is here with us and supporting us even when in times of trouble, we cannot see Him. And we can rely on the Grace of our God because Jesus has told us that the people who follow Him will be saved.
Christians believe that whatever your circumstances and difficulties true Peace is available to you if you are prepared to surrender your life to God and rely on Him to see you through. This is because no matter what your problems may be, Jesus loves you unconditionally and is there to intercede for you.
So on this first Sunday in the Christmas season when many people feel pressured by the amount there is to do and the cost of it all, relax and hush all that noise and stress! Talk to God in prayer, put your concerns to Him, ask Him to give you what you need and listen out for His response.
Let’s get excited by the real message of Christmas, which is that of joy, peace and hope for the future. Jeremiah Ch 33 vs 14 and 15 put it like this: The days are coming declares the Lord, when I will fulfil the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land.
That ‘good promise’ is Jesus’ arrival here on Earth.
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17th November - Loving Yourself
Reading Jesus’ great commandment in Mark Ch 12 vs 28-34 in which He tells us to love God and our neighbours as ourselves, Local Preacher Jean Shotton focused our attention on the fact that because God loves each one of us, we have to look after ourselves too.
Earlier we looked at the story of Ruth in the Old Testament. Ruth was a young foreign woman who although a widow with no husband to look after her, she dedicated herself to look after Naomi her mother-in-law. Her love for Naomi, putting the older woman’s care before her own interests, resulted in her finding a new husband herself a marriage which placed her in Jesus’ own family tree.
Ruth’s actions reflect God’s own self-giving sacrificial love for us when He gave up His only Son Jesus to the Cross and He did that because God, the great Creator Himself, loves all who follow Him.
Often we find it difficult to love ourselves because we know our own failings - all those things we shouldn’t have thought, said or done. But the Good News is that God knows all our misdemeanours too and yet loves us still and wants us to be with Him and like Ruth, if we follow Him faithfully, He will look after and care for us as He cared for her.
God has work for us to do and an exclusive story He has written for every one of us. It starts by loving God with every fibre of our being and loving our neighbours as we would ourselves. So, because God loves you, it’s ok for you to love yourself.
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Remembrance - Respecting Their Sacrifice
Respecting their sacrifice was Local Preacher Bill Naylor’s theme this Remembrance Sunday. Relating the story of a much loved Aunt whose husband was lost during WW 2, Bill concentrated upon what it means to all of us still alive today to respect the sacrifice of those who laid down their lives for us.
In spite of suffering from a potentially terminal illness and a tragic bereavement Bill’s Aunt was told she “mustn't step back now." And her unfailing belief in God’s Love helped her to conquer her condition and her devastating loss.
So we who survive mustn't 'step back' either but 'Keep Calm and Carry On' making the world a better place by being there for people. Serving others builds and grows the kingdom of God. There can be no excuses for slacking! Our personal challenge is to find ways to serve, using even our disadvantages as opportunities.
How can we look on Jesus' Great Commission, in the context of Remembering our
war dead today? Think of it that we too are at war!
We fought the war on Covid didn’t we? Now think about the war on poverty. Give all you can, lobby those in power, volunteer to collect for a Food Bank perhaps.
And absolutely not least, go to war on climate change, the truly existential war of our age. Learn about it, consume less and reduce your carbon. Pray to God for our collective forgiveness and mercy.
Those who sacrificed their lives wouldn’t have wanted us to throw away the futures of our children by trashing our environment. No war is won without many individual contributions so we owe it to those who died to make the lives of future generations better.
It's our everlasting Poppy, representing and respecting the sacrifices we are commemorating today.
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3rd November - Just ONE Task
What God wants from us is frequently asked and this week, reading Mark Ch 12 vs 28 – 34, Rev Dawn Brown gave us the answer. Those six verses comprise Jesus’ response to a question as to what was the most important of the Mosaic commandments that framed Jewish law. And it is simply this: love God with every fibre of your being and then love other people as you would love yourself.
It is said that people demonstrate, and their faces reflect, who they are on the inside which means if we love God then it should be evident to those we meet from what we say and do as Jesus’ great commandment to love God challenges us day by day. If we love God then we love our neighbours as well as ourselves.
And having other commitments is no defence. Rev Dawn told us a story about a lighthouse keeper who gave away some of the oil he’d been supplied with to help out his neighbours. Very laudable no doubt, but on the night his oil ran out and the lamp wasn’t lit a ship was wrecked and many people died because he had neglected his only task.
For us this means that nothing must come between us and our one God-given task. If we take loving God and other people seriously then the good news is that Jesus, through God’s Holy Spirit, is with us all the way and His love for us, regardless of our mistakes, just keeps on flowing and never runs out.
God showed His love for us when Jesus was crucified. So how will we love God in return? It may be by forgiving someone, or in giving encouragement, or maybe in sharing your money or your time.
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27th October - Seize the Day
Local Preacher Judy Tasker spoke today about Bartimaeus a blind man who cries out to Jesus for healing. It’s in three of the gospels but only in Mark Ch 10 is the man named.
Facing life as a blind person is a frightening disability even today but back then at a time when most jobs involved physical labour the need for sight was even greater. Blindness condemned the sufferer to a life of begging and a very high dependency on the local community. Added to which, any disability was seen as a punishment for being sinful.
When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was coming near He recognised it as perhaps his once in a lifetime opportunity and He cried out for mercy. Had his spiritual sense suddenly been awakened and enlivened? We don’t know but he certainly seized the moment and the chance that was before him.
Could Bartimaeus’ story be a wake-up call to us as well? A reminder to us that we need to take hold of our opportunities to do something new for Jesus, something that takes us into a deeper relationship with Him?
When Jesus calls him Jesus asks Bartimaeus what he wants Jesus to do for him. This is significant because Jesus never forces Himself on anyone – we have to recognise our shortcomings and ask for His help. We all have things in our lives that we need the Lord’s help to resolve. It’s part of our journey of Faith. Jesus always listens and He is with us all the way.
As we seek to follow Jesus, do we go that extra mile to ask people we know what they might need and then listen to them or do we just make our own assumptions as to what, if any, help is required?
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20th October - About Holiness
Rev Alf Waite read from Matthew Ch 15 today where Jesus criticises the Pharisee sect of the Jewish religious leaders for their slavish adherence to their own human rules rather than seeking God’s will and following His directions as expressed through the proper interpretation of the Scriptures.
Here the Pharisees were critical of Jesus’ disciples for not washing their hands before eating because it was believed that this was what defiled a person, making them unholy. Jesus has to explain to them that what defiles someone is any unwholesome and unloving speech that comes out of their mouths and it is that which really matters to God. In other words, they needed to follow the spirit of Scriptural law rather than obscure it with literal interpretations.
These literal religious rules had been invented to ensure that the Jews, now under Roman rule, maintained their national identity but these regulations, together with sectarian divides between the Pharisees and the Essenes were in conflict with the outgoing and all-inclusive nature of Jesus’ Ministry which preached a message of love and care for everyone – the essence of what the Scriptures really mean.
Even today, the Christian Church can still appear divided because of doctrinal differences but regardless of denomination, Jesus expects His disciples to display Holiness by going the extra mile and showing His love and care for people in need. Because if God’s Holy Spirit is guiding us, that’s what will come out. Holiness is found in serving others.
In Romans Ch 8 St Paul expresses the need to love God by caring for His creation by loving others including your enemies as well as looking after yourself. Through us, His disciples of today, Jesus reaches out to the world still.
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13th October - Don't Hold Back
In Mark Ch 10, we read about Jesus having a conversation with a young rich man. He tells Jesus that he has kept all the laws since birth. We are told that Jesus likes this chap but that he needs to do one more thing which is to sell what he has and give the money to the poor, something that it appears he is not prepared to do. All the disciples are amazed because in those days, riches were seen as a sign of God’s favour.
So Rev Dawn Brown explained what Jesus is actually telling us here and surprisingly, it’s not simply about our wealth, although that’s part of it. What it’s really about is where our real priorities in life lie and the clue to this can be seen from the context of this story.
Earlier, the disciples have been criticised for trying to turn away some children, in those times the lowest level of society, from ‘bothering’ Jesus, and afterwards we see the leading disciples seeking to ‘jockey’ for position in the heavenly hierarchy of the after-life. And the common denominator of all these stories is that those involved are more concerned with themselves, be it wealth and possessions or their position on society, not the service of others.
True discipleship means allowing God to mould and utilise us to go the extra mile in His service. We have been given God’s free gift of eternal life, bought at the cost of Jesus’ precious blood, but He also gives us freewill, either to accept His will for our lives or to go our own way.
We all have something we can give. What’s holding you back?
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6th October - The Tree of Life
In our service today we read from both the Bible’s Old and New Testaments. Ezekiel Ch 17 tells of God planting a tiny cedar tree sapling on the top of a mountain where it grows large enough to shelter birds of every kind. Then, in Ch 4 of Mark’s Gospel, we see Jesus teaching a similar lesson, likening the Kingdom of God to a tiny mustard seed which grows large enough to shade all the birds that take refuge from the sun within it’s branches.
These readings point towards the coming of God’s Heavenly Kingdom reminding us that it will be like a huge spreading and everlasting tree whose branches provide a safe haven, large enough to contain all people who trust in God and in Jesus as their Saviour, whatever their colour or nationality. God’s Kingdom, which will be unlike all human kingdoms throughout the ages, will never be cut down.
At first, like the cedar sapling and the mustard seed in the two stories, our faith in Jesus and our trust in the Kingdom of God begins in a small and insignificant way but from small beginnings, loved and nurtured by God as it grows, big things can happen. Through Jesus, we find that we have a spiritual home providing protection from fear, despair and uncertainty.
If, through our words and actions, we can plant God’s seed in other people we can draw them towards the Tree of Life, God’s Heavenly Kingdom. Can you be a sower for God’s Heavenly Kingdom?
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22nd September - Why God Loves Us
Taking the story in Mark Ch 10 of the rich young man who came to Jesus asking what he had to do to achieve eternal life, which is just one of a number of stories about people responding to God in different ways, Rev Jenny Porterpryde reminded us that our Creator God is both infinitely strong and yet endlessly loving. Verse 21 is the key to the piece because it tells us that Jesus instantly loved the young man because that’s what God does. Come what may, God loves us always, because He made us.
But Jenny asked us how willing we were to follow Jesus and to be guided by Him or were we still resisting Him by putting other things like family, friends or possessions first. The challenge is whether we value our physical relationships and material wealth more than we value God and doing His bidding through knowing, loving and obeying His instructions.
Whilst our money can give us a sense of security and of being protected against many of life’s problems the danger of having it is that we could become to feel less in need of God. The truth is that we always need to remain focussed on Him.
In the Bible’s Old Testament book of Jeremiah we see that God’s people have become comfortable and have moved away from following Him. God tells Jeremiah to visit a potter at his wheel in order to visualise to Jeremiah that He is the potter of His people and that the people need to return to Him.
God is always willing and ready to engage with us. Do you need to rediscover the guiding hand of the Creator?
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8th September - Ambassadors
Local Preacher Peter Walsham reminded us today that all Christians, whatever their age and abilities are called to be ambassadors for Jesus, a message first set out by St Paul in 2 Corinthians Ch 5 vs 20.
These days we understand an ambassador to be a diplomatic appointment in a foreign land advising government, helping our citizens there and providing humanitarian support and it’s a very similar role that we are appointed to as followers of Jesus.
In Jeremiah Ch 1 in the Bible’s Old Testament, God calls Jeremiah, who is only a youth at the time, to be a prophet but also reassures him that He will put the right words in Jeremiah’s mouth and protect him wherever He goes, whilst in the New Testament, we see Jesus in Mark Ch 6 sending His disciples out to preach His message. To put it another way, like the Bible’s people of old, down the ages God has commissioned His followers to be ambassadors for Him.
Being an ambassador is a big job which may be quite daunting as we encounter its many challenges. But it’s a job we can do because we have Jesus at our side. If we reconcile ourselves with God and put our trust fully in Him through good living and constant prayer, He is always faithful to those who serve Him and we will be provided with all the resources we will need.
The world is a difficult place and Christian values are under constant scrutiny but if we put other people’s needs before our own with humility and respect, then our words and actions as ambassadors for Jesus act as a witness of His love for the world and all of His creation.
Can you fly the flag as an ambassador for Christ Jesus?
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1st September - Jesus at our centre
This week, Local Preacher Bill Naylor emphasised that for Christians Jesus needs to be at the centre of everything that they think, say and do.
We looked at the passage in 1 Kings Ch 8 where King Solomon dedicates to God the Temple he has spent seven years building. The key thing here being not the actual building, but that 1,000 years before Jesus, Solomon was telling his people to put God at the centre of everything in their lives, the Temple being merely God’s symbolic home. St Paul reiterates Solomon’s words in Acts Ch 17 when he says “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.“
And then Jesus comes and the focus changes.
In John Ch 6 we see Jesus physically feeding the 5,000 but later, Jesus defines the core principle of Christianity which is that feeding on Him spiritually enables us to be resurrected and reconciled with God “as the living Father sent me… so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live for ever.”
Unfortunately, then as now, we then read: From this time, many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
Sometimes living the Jesus way will be hard because people will disagree with us but at some point everyone has to choose between living life spiritually in sync with Jesus or just existing to satisfy their daily physical needs.
Christians are not defined by grand church buildings but by their relationship with God which only emerges through our engagement with Jesus because we only fully live by having Jesus at our centre.
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25th August - NEVER Give in
Reading from Ch 6 of St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, where he exhorts us to don God’s armour for the fight ahead, Rev Dawn Brown emphasised that although we know that Jesus has already won the war against sin and death, we still have to win every battle we face.
Whilst we might ask why God doesn’t sort out the world’s huge problems, we do know what He has already done in sending His Son Jesus to die and cancel out our sins. Despite that, we’re still called to face challenges because Satan will use all his wiles to come between us and our Lord.
So as we face life’s pressures from all sides, through any number of personal challenges such as illness, personal relationships, or the pressures of this selfish world, we must put on the armour of truth, righteousness, peace, faith and use the word of God in the knowledge that we are already saved.
Overcoming worldly problems and pressures is like recovering from addiction. We know that when we have defeated it, every day contains the fight to stay clean, a fight which we win by being vigilant to the risks that might take us back into slavery.
And remember that just as David overcame Goliath not with King Saul’s armour but with the weapons he knew. So win each fight by staying connected with God. Pray continually for others and yourself and know that through God’s Holy Spirit Jesus is with you and His strength never runs out.
As Churchill said “This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
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19th August - Suddenly...
This week, Rev Dawn Brown told us to always expect the unexpected because sometimes God can move suddenly and surprise us! We read vs 15-20 from Ch 5 of St Paul’s letter to the Ephesian Church where the Apostle entreats his readers to stay connected with God’s will for their lives. The same applies to us today.
Walking with God can be frightening at times, especially when we are challenged by Him to do something new, outside of our comfort zone. But if we do that, then He will be with us and the task will become easier, even enjoyable, when we get used to it.
And the Christian life is always about the wisdom of listening to God, rejecting the folly of this world and walking with Him, remembering all the great things He has done. And the more we connect with God the greater our encounters with Him will be.
On occasions, as it was for Moses when he saw the burning bush and for St Paul on the Damascus road, the call can come without warning. Some might say that the task is not for them as they don’t have the talent of a Biblical great but remember that God needs us just as we are and He believes in you if you have faith in Him.
So give Him your praise and thanks and grow with Him in your church fellowships. We are called to share His Good News with other people.
Our God of surprises never gives up on us, so with Him let’s take that all important next step. As Buzz Lightyear said, ‘to infinity and beyond’.
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12th August - Add Yeast
A little leaven, aka yeast, goes a long way was the message delivered by Rev Alf Waite this morning. In Luke Ch 13 Jesus is asked what the Kingdom of Heaven was like to which He offered the parable of the yeast emphasising the effect of a tiny amount of yeast, , has when added to the bread dough.
In England in 1538 a law was passed that Bibles in English were to be placed in every church in the land to enable everyone to hear the word of God in their native language. This small change encouraged the knowledge and spread of the Christian faith as previously, reading the Bible had only been done by the local priest. This small rule change had a big effect 100 years later, on Oliver Cromwell and 200 years later, on John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Fast forward another 100 years and we find Queen Victoria in prayer meetings with her subjects. Clearly leaven had an effect over many centuries.
And the Word of God, contained in the Bible which is the source of God’s instruction and direction for our lives, continues to liberate people today. God delights in and cares for all who follow Him so if we are true to His teaching, by a word here or an action there, we are enabled to be good and faithful ambassadors for God.
Sometimes we think that we can’t do anything to alleviate the problems in the world around us. When you feel like that just remember that God’s incredible power is far beyond anything we can imagine and that there is no limit to what He can do with a few little grains of our yeast.
So spread your little grains of His yeast wherever and whenever you can.
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5th August - Learning to Walk
In Acts Ch 3 we learn of the first recorded healing miracle done by the Apostles after Jesus’ crucifixion and today, Local Preacher Joan Murray spoke about St Peter’s discourse with the crowd that had gathered in surprise at seeing how a man, commonly known to be crippled had been given the strength to walk.
Peter had used the healing to show that although Jesus was no longer with them in person it was through Jesus’ name that God’s power had been demonstrated, pressing home the fact that the people he was addressing had caused Jesus to be executed even when the Roman Governor had offered to release Him.
But then Peter softens his tone, calls them ‘Friends’ and asks them to repent, saying that although they had misunderstood the nature of their Messiah, who was a man destined to suffer as opposed to being an all-conquering military leader, they could still turn back to God and receive His forgiveness.
Through Jesus, God erased sin as if it had never existed and He still offers that to everyone here and now. Forgiveness and salvation comes at the foot of the Cross.
Many words have more than one meaning, and in the Christian life ‘walk’ is one of those. Learning to walk, as the Biblical cripple was healed to do, is not just a physical thing. It’s a mental and spiritual thing too because we are not strong enough to walk in our own strength alone.
Are you walking forward in your life? If not, trust in Jesus and pray to God for His forgiveness of anything that is holding you back. Do it every day.
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28th July - God of Surprises
In our busy world it’s often a temptation to do more and more and there’s never an excuse for doing nothing. But as Local Preacher Maureen Simpson pointed out in this service, sometimes stepping back, stopping what we are doing and taking time out to pray, think and be still can have positive results if in so doing, we listen for God’s guidance.
Because our God is full of surprises, He’s a God of More, a God of Love and Hope and if we are prepared to ask, He will come to our aid.
We read from 2 Samuel Ch 11 about King David seducing Bathsheeba, another man’s wife, and then attempting to cover it up. Here was a man who was neglecting his duties as king and thought himself above the law that governed other people allowing the Devil to make use of his idle hands as the saying goes.
Then we read from John Ch 6 about Jesus feeding the 5,000 where He transforms a young boy’s totally insignificant gift into food for a multitude and in doing so demonstrated that with God’s incredible power that nothing is impossible.
The lesson here is that David could have engaged with God in the face of His temptation but chose not to while Jesus the man, faced with an unsurmountable problem prayed to His Father for help and achieved a miracle.
So we need to ask ourselves this. Are we doing what God wants or sticking to doing what we want to do and in our own ways. Our God is full of surprises.
Ask Him for His guidance in your life today!
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21st July - Resting in God's Love
We all live busy lives, so this week Rev Dawn Brown spoke about the need for us to rest because without it we are less effective and our lives may actually be shorter as a result.
In Mark Ch 6 we are told that after a lot of work all around the district, Jesus and His disciples try to escape for some much needed R&R only to find a crowd of people waiting for them when they arrive. It’s the famous feeding of the 5,000 story when recognising their needs, Jesus is filled with compassion and spends His time first teaching but then feeding them.
It’s a delicate balancing act because we are called to be caring and compassionate whenever it is called for, so the point to bear in mind is that we need to be flexible and take our rest when we can but as long as this does not compromise our compassion.
But one thing we should never rest from is prayer. Jesus prayed all the time and taught us how to pray too because an active prayer life keeps us connected with God and His will for us in this World. God our Father never stops loving or caring. He never grows weary in showing compassion and we won’t grow weary either if we show compassion whilst resting in His love.
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14th July - In God We Trust
Rev Derek Aldridge asked us to consider if the promises made in TV adverts were better than our experiences of the products themselves once we had bought them. Unfortunately, they often don’t live up to our expectations.
In Exodus Ch 6 Moses receives God’s promise that He will liberate the Israelites from their Egyptian slavery and give them life in a new land, full of goodness. But in their suffering the Israelites didn’t listen and couldn’t believe that there was a better future for them just around the corner.
And at times, we react in the same way too! Maybe things are tough because we are unemployed and struggling financially, or perhaps there are difficult circumstance we have to get through at work, or in our families, and at such times we enter what can be described as a spiritual winter.
But don’t forget, Jesus is there with us at such times because He experienced similar heartache in Gethsemane and when He went to the Cross.
In the first chapter of St Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians he tells them that all God’s promises are affirmed in Jesus and so for us, as well as them, if we are prepared to be faithful and wait, then we will find that living our lives with Him in accordance with His ways will prove to be as good as He promises it to be.
We can trust in God's love – it’s locked in!
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7th July - Leadership
This week Local Preacher Bill Naylor looked at leadership through two great Biblical leaders, the Old Testament’s King David and the Christian apostle, St Paul.
We read from 2 Samuel Ch 5 when David reunited the two Jewish kingdoms of Israel and Judaea through military and political prowess. But David was deeply flawed, even committing murder, yet David followed God and sought forgiveness for his wrongdoings.
Our New Testament reading from 2 Corinthians Ch 12 presents a very different kind of leader. St Paul had no political power at all saying that his strength was founded in weakness. And he too, before his conversion, had been involved in judicial murder.
The link between David and Paul is that they consistently sought and relied on the power and grace of God to overcome the hurdles in front of them. And as Christians we are told to invoke God’s Holy Spirit through prayer in all our actions. It’s what Jesus did all the time.
So the lesson here and now from both readings is that although we may have to live with the consequences of our actions, even when those consequences are not good, it also means we are still loved and valued by God.
St Paul wrote in Romans 8: I am convinced that… nothing in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
No-one is spared human weaknesses and setbacks. Think of Jesus on the Cross, the ultimate example of strength in weakness.
Yet despite our weaknesses, if we pray frequently, ask for forgiveness and offer ourselves to God we connect powerfully with Him, understanding Him better and what He would have us do.
Make a point every day of taking His Holy Spirit along with you as you go about being a leader for Jesus.
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30th June - Never Forgotten
There is no video of our service this week but the message is that we are NEVER forgotten by God:
Chapter 16 in the book of Genesis covers the story of Abraham the Father of Israel and his wife Sarah’s efforts to build a family, using Sarah’s slave girl Hagar as a surrogate, instead of waiting for God to provide them with the son and heir that He had promised them. In dramatising many of the thoughts that would probably have been in Hagar’s mind, Local Preacher Alison Mcleod outlined the lessons that we can learn from this text.
In those days, slaves were treated as their owner’s property exactly the same as a cow or a sheep or any other personal possession would have been, having no rights beyond the essentials of food and shelter. Everything about her was controlled by Sarah, so much so that even her womb was not her own. Hagar was pushed around and treated as a pawn.
But once Abraham had made her pregnant, Sarah and Hagar’s relationship changed. Hagar became disrespectful and in return Sarah and Abraham became even more abusive towards her.
So Hagar runs away but finds herself in an even worse predicament in the wilderness without any protection. At this point, she is seen by God who sends an angel to restore her hope - someone did care for her! The angel advises her to return, promising that her son, in effect, will not be a slave or be ruled by anyone. Although the world had rejected her, God did not.
What this tells us here and now, is that God abandons no-one who trusts Him and that He knows us all implicitly. Yet despite all our faults, God is compassionate and forgives us and uses us, flawed people as we are, to do His good works and further His Plan even when we cannot see what that might be or where it will ultimately lead us.
23rd June - From Fear to Faith
with fond memories of Donald Sutherland
Sgt Oddball in Kelly's Heroes - 1970
This week Local Preacher Jean Shotton spoke of the lessons we can all learn from the story in Mark Ch 4 where Jesus, in a boat with His disciples, is woken from sleep to calm a storm on Lake Galilee and save His friends from drowning.
And it must have been an extremely severe storm because many of the disciples had spent their earlier lives as fishermen, so would have been acutely aware of the danger they were facing as they headed away in their boat from the stresses and strains, occasioned by helping Jesus with His healing and teaching ministry, for some well-earned rest and recuperation.
When we face issues in our lives which make us feel threatened it’s easy to feel afraid and abandoned without hope, much as the disciples had done that evening as the weather deteriorated around them into something quite frightening, and like them, forget that God promises to be there to protect us and keep us safe.
So this is why when Jesus is awakened that He rebukes His disciples for their lack of faith because He was teaching them - and us - that we need to live and trust in the power of God to resolve things putting our faith in Him even when we can’t see the way forward.
When we are in the midst of one of life’s storms we may not know what the outcome will be or when that might happen but if we take the time to look back on previous struggles, we can often see that they were merely bumps in the road.
We may not be able to see other people’s problems in the way that they do but strengthened in faith through knowing God we can offer hope in Jesus.
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16th June - Authority and Faith
Local Preacher Peter Walsham led our service today and asked us to consider the meaning of the word ‘authority’ and the faith we need to live a Christian life.
To illustrate these we read two famous Bible stories. First, in the Old Testament in 1 Kings Ch 18, we saw how God’s great prophet Elijah, a man who exuded authority, humbled the false prophets of the pagan god Baal when he demonstrated God’s awesome power by calling fire from heaven to consume an animal sacrifice that the false prophets had been unable to light. Elijah demonstrated authority and faith.
Then in the New Testament book of Acts we saw how Philip, one of the first apostles, spoke with the authority of his own personal knowledge obtained through faith, about the risen Jesus and God’s offer of salvation to a foreign statesman, an Ethiopian man who was banned by disability from entering the Jerusalem Temple.
As Philip’s knowledge was dependent on his faith in Jesus as the God’s Messiah, we then thought about what faith actually means.
Having faith is a gift from God (Ephesians Ch 2 vs 8) which enables us to interact with Him and it’s essential for our salvation. It’s also a matter of having trust in God and Proverbs Ch 3 vs 5&6 tells us that we can trust God to make our paths straight, whilst the writer of Hebrews takes the whole of Ch 11 to give examples of faith and the importance of it.
God invites everyone and it’s our task to tell people about God and His ways through both words and deeds. We can do this if we have faith that God will provide us with the tolls we need. Nothing is impossible for God so reach out to Him in faith.
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2nd June - What's the Plan?
Because today is Environment and also Bible Sunday, Rev Dawn Brown brought the two together by referencing the stories in the first chapters of the Bible.
The book of Genesis opens with a very short, succinct summary of how our World and the Universe began, saying that it did so through the power of God who made everything and who saw that it was good.
So God spoke and Creation happened. People argue about whether this stands up to scientific scrutiny but what cannot be denied is that billions of organisms live together harmoniously until something upsets the balance and the early Bible stories deal with that too.
Sin and disharmony entered the World when, disobeying God, humanity decided to do things differently. For example, Cain killed Abel because he didn't love his brother as he should have and God destroyed everything on Earth except Noah's family and the animals in order that we could start again.
We have different ways of viewing Creation. Some see it when they climb mountains, others when they swim in the sea and others still when cuddling a new-born baby. God is creating still and all these are part of God's interactive plan.
God never gives up or gets tired of His creation, including us. The proof of that is that God, in Jesus, came in love to redeem us through His sacrificial death, offering eternal life with Him if we listen and then follow the guidance of His Holy Spirit, who God sent to live within each one of us if we accept Jesus as our Lord.
God wants a close relationship with us - which means loving Him and caring for His creation so if you want a nice World then love it, and everything in it, because God's plan is simple. It's called Love.
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26th May - Three in One
Today is Trinity Sunday, where we celebrate God in His three persons of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Taking the Trinitarian, tripartite nature of God as her subject, Local Preacher Maureen Simpson said that it's an idea that many people find hard to grasp, yet was perhaps best explained in terms of a snowdrop that has three petals but is one flower, or a Shamrock which is a one-leafed plant yet appears to be divided in three.
In John Ch 3 Jesus meets Nicodemus, an important cleric of his day, and explains that God grants eternal life to those who follow Him, but that we must be 'born again' by which He meant that to obey God we must follow the guidance of God's Holy Spirit. And the Good News is that God's Holy Spirit is available to everyone who asks Him to come in and influence their lives.
God is more than just our hope in the promise of eternal life though. All the Bible stories relating to God's work in the world are powered by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit to people who delivered them, and it remains so to this day. We are invited to go ever deeper into our relationship with God as our Father, with Jesus as our Saviour and with the Holy Spirit who guides us.
Being inspired by God is a lifelong process not a single event which means that throughout our lives, we need to give ourselves the opportunity to be close to God. To do that, it's a good idea to make a point of regularly taking some time out in quiet contemplation, to think about Him and allow Him to speak and tell us what He would want us to do.
Let the Holy Spirit empower you today to do God's work in His world.
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19th May - Dem Dry Bones
For Pentecost Sunday, which celebrates the coming of God's Holy Spirit to Jesus' first followers in Acts Ch 2 Local Preacher Bill Naylor investigated the famous piece in Ezekiel Ch 37 where the Spirit of God is breathed into dry bones lying in the desert. Basically both pieces are about God coming - especially for you.
Jesus had promised the original Disciples that He would be within them in Spirit form, for all time but for the Jews, Pentecost was already a celebration where they thanked God for their Early Harvest.
Note how God uses our traditions and conventions to introduce Himself into our lives! But of course there were the scoffers back then, as now, who said ‘They are filled with new wine’. Sadly, today such people sneer at social justice and condemn caring as being "woke". Jesus' work doesn’t make sense to those whose only idea of service is self-service!
Rewind 600 years to Mr Ezekiel's vision of Dem dry bones, which represented Israel having turned from God, yet His response is to give them new life, reflecting Genesis Ch 2 vs 7 Then the Lord God formed a man... and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life... The Bible equates 'living' with the breath of God which is to know and serve Him.
Ezekiel also says: 'So I prophesied as I was commanded...' and that's our job too - to breathe new life into people.
The bones were dry because Israel had turned from God, following other gods. In our time, this is us becoming ever more embroiled in everyday life, like overworking or spending all day in the gym. Remember the seed that Jesus sowed which fell among the thistles?
So to avoid becoming 'dry bones' we need to stay connected to God, through worship, praise, prayer and doing His works of service to others. There is no 'life' without God's Holy Spirit.
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12th May - Build It High
We celebrated a baptism this week and Rev Dawn Brown spoke about the need to build God's kingdom up and to build ourselves up too. We read from John Ch 17 where Jesus prays for His disciples knowing He will be leaving them very soon. And to this day He is still praying - for us.
It's important to recognise that we are in something bigger than we can imagine and part of a bigger picture we don't understand which means that we must trust in God and we can do that because the Holy Spirit, who was sent to the first disciples at Pentecost as Jesus had promised, is with us every day.
Jesus is praying for us right now to do God's work in the world and build His kingdom high. sometimes this will be difficult but if there's a set-back don't give up because we only fail if we fail to try - remember we have God on our side!
And don't panic even if the situation appears grim. We can take each challenge in our stride because God, through His Holy Spirit, will provide us with the skills and inner strength we need which comes from His love for us.
So how do we build God's Kingdom high? We do it by praying together and supporting each other. trusting in God and the power of His Holy Spirit.
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5th May - Love Your Neighbour
In John Ch 15 vs 9-17 Jesus reminds us of His love for us His friends and tells us that when we obey God's commandments and love one another as God loves us, we remain in His love.
Some people might consider this burdensome but Local Preacher Jean Shotton emphasised that being alive to God actually brings us joy in many things and that following the guidance of the Holy Spirit we are not isolated and alone but become part of the community of God.
Jesus demonstrated His gift of love for us when He died on the Cross, actually choosing to become the sacrificial Lamb in atonement for our sin and wrongdoings and in turn, we know that if we choose to trust Him and put Him at the centre of our lives, everything we say and do, that we are not far from our great Almighty God.
To put it another way, if we love one another it becomes a way of life and in so doing, we are invited to share in and become a part of God's family, through which we can obtain a taste of heaven and a glimpse of our eternal life to come, all whilst we are still here on earth! Yes, it's true that with certain people this can be difficult at times, perhaps when we do not see eye to eye with them, but it's something we are called to do nonetheless.
And the commandment to love is something that gives us confidence as well as the ability to conquer our disabilities and fears and can be transformational - both of others and ourselves.
For each one of us, it's worth asking ourselves this question. Enlivened by the Holy Spirit, how does your love for Jesus shine through?
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28th April - Good Shepherds
Following on from last week's message, Local Preacher Maureen Simpson asked us this morning if we were following Jesus' example by being good shepherds to God's people today just as Jesus was - and is - our Good Shepherd.
In Biblical times, occupations were followed down the generations, so fishermen were the sons of fishermen and shepherds were the sons of shepherds etc. We read John Ch 10 vs 11-18 where Jesus states that He is the Good Shepherd of His sheep, that His sheep know Him and yet there are other sheep that need to be brought into His flock, which, dear friends, is our job in our generation!
We all go through difficult times in life but through them we need to remember that Jesus laid down His life for us and stands at the gateway to our sheepfold protecting us from the ultimate harm of separation from God, just as the 23rd Psalm tells us.
After His time on Earth, Jesus passed the baton of His mission, which was to reunite the people of the world with their Creator God, to Peter. In turn, we have choices to make. Do we follow the promptings and promotions of the many celebrity influencers we see on TV and in social media or do we encourage the people we know and meet to want to know more about Jesus THE Good Shepherd and the way God wants us all to live in the world.
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21st April - Walking with God
In John Ch 10 Jesus states that He is the Good Shepherd of His sheep so Rev Dawn Brown asked us to consider how well we follow Him through our words and actions, which is what it means to walk with God. This is reaffirmed in 1 John Ch 3 where we are told that as Jesus died for us so in turn we ought to dedicate our lives to work for the good of others. Vs 18 says: 'Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.'
Following Jesus also calls for our attitude to be right as well, because to walk with God we need to do His work not in a dissatisfied manner but with contentment, without restlessness or grumbling. It's all about our surrendering our wish to be in control and give our souls to Him.
Finally we celebrated Psalm 23. Firstly, it tells us that we are not lost and alone but cared for beyond all measure because the Lord is our Shepherd. We are thankful to be led into calmness and peace and shown our path home for all eternity. As the Psalm says, we are anointed with oil and made part of His royal priesthood with a service to do, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
It's not enough to know the Way, but to walk the Way supporting each other, living as Jesus taught, at one with our heavenly Father, loving Him and other people as Jesus calls us to do.
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14th April - Gospel Basics
Reflecting on the lessons of Easter Rev Jenny Porterpryde spoke on 1 Corinthians 15 where St Paul reminds people of the basics of the Gospel by which we are saved.
Back then, there was no Bible, hence the need for Paul's teachings via his letters and he writes to encourage his readers. The Corinthians were worried about their personal resurrections and Paul needed them to know what the real truth is, that Christ died to redeem us from our sins and this was what the scriptures had foretold.
For Christians then and now, this is the Gospel truth on which we have taken our stand and which shapes our whole lives, a people who can speak about their faith not in terms of what people shouldn't do, but about how much God loves them.
God has a plan for us that nothing can thwart whatever joys or problems we encounter. Although we live in a fallen world where bad things happen and which we struggle to understand, God has a way of working through everything. For example, in Acts, we read of Paul (then known as Saul) persecuting people, and as a result some Christians fled, and God used this to expand His kingdom.
Paul reminds us that death is not the end and we will awake refreshed in God's presence at the end of this life. Whatever guilt we feel, as Christians we know that everything is under God's control and that death has been defeated, so we have nothing to fear.
Trusting in the Easter story we have a Gospel we can be sure of and know that we have eternity within us. No matter how fearful we are at times, we know that God will make all things new again when His kingdom comes.
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7th April - Sin is Dead
7th April - Sin is Dead
Rev Alf Waite commented that both Lent and Easter had given us the opportunity to reflect on God's love and to recommit ourselves to following Jesus.
We read Psalm 51 which is King David's lament and contrition for his sins. Remember that David had not only committed adultery and got Uriah's wife pregnant, but to cover this up he'd had Uriah put in harms way and so, in effect, had murdered him. In the Psalm David pleads for God's forgiveness and that God should not reject him as He had done with King Saul his predecessor.
We then looked at John Ch 12 vs 20-33. Here Jesus' disciples tell Him that some Greeks would like to meet Him but Jesus uses the moment to tell His disciples that He would soon have to die, sacrificing Himself on the Cross saying "anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me".
Jesus knew that this was His mission and the reason why He had come, but He also knew it was going to be extremely painful and hard. But the sacrifice of Good Friday wouldn't have meant anything if we had not had Easter Sunday where the resurrected Jesus demonstrates that He has defeated sin and death for all time.
All humans struggle with sin, but through Jesus' sacrifice if we truly repent of our wrongdoings we can pray to Him in order to gain God's forgiveness as King David had done.
In our lives we should ask ourselves what we can do through our words and actions, to bring other people to know Jesus' love and saving grace.
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Easter Sunday - O Glorious Day
Leading our Easter Sunday celebrations Rev Dawn Brown began by asking us to imagine how Jesus' followers must have felt on the day before, when it appeared that their Messiah, who some had thought would free them from Roman rule, had been defeated when He was executed on the Cross.
What they did or thought that day is not recorded but they must have experienced heart-breaking grief and a total emptiness. Everything must have appeared lost and their missionary life with Jesus over the previous three years a waste of time. It must have been a very dark day indeed!
And the Jewish leaders who would have been jubilant, believing that a major challenge to their authority had been removed were still taking no risks, having the tomb guarded to prevent Jesus' body being taken and used as a rallying point for further dissent.
When we too have dark days and all seems lost and our prayers appear unanswered, we need to remember that God is with us in our worst moments and just as in the Garden when the risen Jesus meets Mary and calls her by name, He never gives up and stops caring for us either.
And that's the message of Easter, that death is not the end and that if we listen for Him we can have hope in a glorious new day because Jesus is calling us by name too, transforming our darkest days and offering us new life to come with Him.
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24th March - Give Thanks and Praise
This week Rev Alf Waite spoke about Jesus' famous entry into Jerusalem (see Mark Ch 11 vs 1 -11) on a young donkey where the crowd acclaim Him and spread palm leaves in His path as a sign of honour for someone who they probably thought had come to free Israel from its Roman occupation. We call it Palm Sunday.
Jesus had probably been into Jerusalem to celebrate the first Passover, the festival which preceded the Jews' liberation from Egyptian captivity a thousand years earlier, many times in the past. However, this year was different because having built a loyal following over the three years of His ministry, the crowd were now expecting so much more from Him. They wanted their Messiah to liberate them! This was going to be THE year!
With hindsight we know that overthrowing the Romans militarily was not what Jesus had in mind but we also know that He about to deliver them (and us) from their sins and reconciling us with God by giving up His own life on the Cross.
The crowd sang "'Hosanna' Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord" So today is a day to give praise and thanks to God because on the Cross Evil is conquered forever. St Paul tells us in Romans Ch 11 vs 15 that the Jews' rejection of Jesus brought about reconciliation with our Creator God who loves us and is always in control.
And we do not even have to lift a finger to benefit from this. All we have to do is accept Jesus into our lives, follow Him and His wonderful gift of eternal life is ours! What a wonderful day to give God our thanks and praise!
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17th March - Pilgrimage
At the beginning of the Easter season, today is Passion Sunday and Rev Derek Aldridge spoke about Jesus' journey towards Jerusalem and the Cross, picking out two readings from Mark's Gospel, Ch 1 vs 14-20 and Ch 10 vs 32-45. One is at the start of His ministry which could be said to be the beginning of His pilgrimage whilst the other emphasises the end of His pilgrimage on Earth and the sacrifice He is about to offer.
Clearly there were many people making the journey from Jericho with Jesus. Some, like the twelve original Disciples, had been with Him from the start, others were probably very recent followers but none really understood where or how things would end, despite Jesus telling the twelve that He was destined to die on several occasions. Everyone was on their own individual spiritual pilgrimage as well as taking part physically.
Notwithstanding that, even two of His disciples, the brothers James and John, were pre-occupied with their own personal positions rather than with the needs of others which was what Jesus had been concentrating His entire ministry upon.
And today, we're all on personal pilgrimages. All of us are on the same journey of learning more and more about God, turning ignorance into recognition, turning the old saying 'Seeing is Believing' on its head by changing it into 'Believing is Seeing - but differently.
But unlike the travellers of old we know that Jesus' pilgrimage ends with His death on the Cross, giving Himself as an offering for all our sins, past present and future.
Jesus invites us to make the journey with Him. We don't know exactly how it will go but we can be assured that He wouldn't invite us to take part if it wasn't worth it.
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10th March - Letting the Light in
Local Preacher Maureen Simpson led our worship today and emphasised the need for us to stay positive, even in the most difficult situations because Jesus has been through earthly sufferings and is always there to support us and pull us through.
We read the Old Testament story of how the Israelites, on Moses' instruction, had trusted in God when confronted with a plague of poisonous snakes in the desert. He told them, in Numbers Ch 21, to erect a bronze snake as a symbol of God's healing power and if bitten they could touch the image and be saved.
After Jesus' time on Earth, John Ch 3 vs 14 - 21 tells us that we no longer need a bronze symbol because through Jesus, we have God's promise that He will do the same for us when we are in trouble.
People have a choice whether to be positive or negative, to live in the light or the dark, but our eyes need to be open to appreciate the wonder of God's creation and let His light into our lives. Jesus represents the light, life and spiritual healing of God.
Negativity is a terrible affliction because it acts like the snake venom that poisoned the Israelites and the news media often accentuates this. Similarly, we are often locked in our traditions and attitudes rather than seeking the changes necessary to heal ourselves.
There's an old saying that we sometimes hear in such situations. "You need to get out more!". Approaching God is not restricted to a church service on Sundays - He is available and longing to help us in every moment of every day, wherever we are and whatever we may be involved with.
Place your dark times in Jesus' hands and let His light flood into your life.
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3rd March - Spiritual Cleansing
For this years' World Day of Prayer Rev Dawn Brown spoke about Jesus' cleansing of the Jerusalem Temple as told in John Ch 2 vs 13 - 22. In this story Jesus causes chaos by entering the Temple with a whip, scattering the animal sacrifices and disrupting the smooth running of the Temple because over the years, layers of tradition and privilege had been added which prevented people from approaching God and offering their worship. Everyone must have wondered what He was doing - and why.
The answer is that Jesus needed to recreate the opportunity for people to simply come before God and access His forgiveness. In the same way, we have to let Jesus into our hearts for restoration to take place, disrupting our corruptions as He did in the Temple.
Jesus had had enough of the separation from God caused by Jewish traditions which over the years, instead of enabling a better relationship, had put burdensome practises between God and His people. Jesus was saying that's not how it works - He comes to destroy separation and break down barriers.
What would Jesus find if He made a whip and came into our hearts? Would He find a heart filled with corruption, discrimination, division and separation caused by tradition, false expectations, blame and bitterness like Jesus found in the Temple or one filled with love and compassion?
We know the basics. The Temple wouldn't have been in a mess if people had been more committed to God's principles. Jesus summarised the ten commandments into two simple tenets - love God and love your neighbour as yourself.
But instead of coming with a whip causing pain and suffering, Jesus comes in love to cleanse us. So today, let's share the peace and love of God with people we don't know or whose opinions we don't share.
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25th February - Do It Now!
As part of our Lent journey Rev Dawn Brown asked us how we receive and respond to visitors. Do we give of our best, laying out the crockery reserved for important occasions and serve a special cake or do we hope that they won't stay long?
When God in the form of Jesus, came to visit us on Earth He received different reactions. Some people accepted Him with open arms and gave Him everything, whilst others saw Him as a threat and eventually got rid of Him. Sadly, as it was then, it would be the same if He had chosen to come down from heaven in our time today. Some people would welcome Him fully whilst others would be less wholehearted and try and fit Him into their busy schedules, committing themselves to give Him only a limited amount of their time.
But as we continue our journey through Lent we come to realise that when God comes to us He comes bringing His all. So how do we respond to the fact that in a few weeks’ time at Easter we will experience Jesus Christ, the Son of God, dying for us on the Cross? Will we give of ourselves, regardless of cost as we respond to this very special visitor?
Back then, the disciples and the Jews were waiting for a political Messiah who would deliver them from Roman oppression but that wasn't God's plan then or now. We need to remember that Jesus wants us to put others before our own needs and be ready to die to the values of this world.
And the time to do it is now - don't put it off until later! Put what God wants first in your life and express your faith because that's what it means to be a Christian.
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18th February - Proclaim His Name
Today Rev Alf Waite discussed the horrors and depravity of this world, like Oct 7th last year and the murder of Alexei Navalny just last week. In Mark Ch 13 Jesus speaks of the signs that will be seen at the end of time itself. That is not to say that current events are part of that time but vs 17 stresses how dreadful such things are for families.
Unlike the other Gospels, St Mark spends little time talking about the end of the world. His emphasis is to tell about Jesus' death and resurrection because it's through His selfless act of love for us that we are saved. Only in Jesus is our hope and encouragement found! It's the essence of what Mark is teaching.
Sometimes the purposes of God and the pains of the world cross and Christians have to stand in that place because notwithstanding persecution, God needs a remnant to survive and carry His message. For example, when the Berlin wall came down, young people who became Christians had done so through their grandparents who had kept the faith alive during communism.
We are called to pray in times of suffering because it's only through Jesus that change and healing can come and we need to trust that God's presence will enable us to endure such times. 1 Peter Ch 3 vs 15 teaches believers to revere Jesus because He knows what it is to live a human life.
Lent is a good time to reflect on our faith. Christianity is in decline in the West, so we need to witness Jesus in whom we believe and what He has done for us. Pray for guidance, listen to what God wants and be prepared to proclaim His Name, the answer for the hope that's in us.
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11th February - Trust in God
Rev Jenny Porterpryde spoke of our need to trust in God and that He will protect us as she related the famous story of Daniel in the lion's den told in Daniel Ch 6. The context here is that although Daniel is a hostage held at the court of Darius, King of Persia, he has become a trusted servant held in high regard by the King who clearly cares about him.
However, Daniel's popularity has made him a target of the Persian hierarchy who, knowing that Daniel prays to God three times a day, set a trap to kill Daniel by inflating Darius' pride into legislating that worship of anyone other than the King is punishable by death.
So that's how Daniel ends up being cast to the lions and Darius spends all that night worrying about the outcome.
We too live in a world where there are evil influences and Christians are not immune from persecution but Psalm 91 entreats us to trust in God, safe in the knowledge that we are always in His care and that we can be sure of His protection.
Please remember this coming week and every week that trusting in God we have hope of eternal life and that God holds you in His love and will keep you safe.
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4th February - Priorities
Today Local Preacher Judy Tasker asked us to think about our priorities in life, to whom and what we give special attention to.
With this in mind we read Mark Ch 1 vs 29 - 39 and it is clear in this, the earliest of the gospels, written around 40 years after Jesus' three year ministry on Earth, that Mark's priority is to record without preamble or deviation the Good News of Jesus, who He was and what He had taught about God.
In this passage, Jesus cures Simon Peter's mother-in-law so that she could resume her work of service to Him and her family now that Peter had resigned his profession as a fisherman to follow Jesus' call. Her priority became to help Jesus because He had helped her and we are then told that He then goes on to cure many others who had come to the house.
What priorities can we learn from this? Firstly, it's that Jesus was never too tired or too busy to help people when they brought their problems to Him and He did that regardless of anyone's race, gender or their position in society. We need to do the same.
And next, we need to set time aside for prayer and meditation, not just to list our needs, which God knows before we ask Him, but to listen for His voice.
As the season of Lent approaches, we should make time to meet with others to consider the Scriptures and what they are telling us we need to do, here and now in our time and in our communities.
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28th January -Opportunity Knocks
This week Worship Leader Gwyneth Walsham discussed how a visit to the Doctor had led to an unexpected admission to hospital and had provided her with a renewed confidence in the goodness of God together with an opportunity to express her faith with others.
Whilst going through triage Gwyneth had lost the cross she always wore, not once but twice! The first time had been bad enough but on the second occasion she had been moved to another ward so had had to involve half the hospital in searching for it! Many prayers were said but luckily, or through Providence, it had turned up again.
But the loss also provided Gwyneth with an opportunity to discuss Faith and the importance of the Cross with other people, both patients and staff, putting into practice the lessons learnt and witnessed at Christmas, when God had sent His only Son into the world to reconcile humanity to Him, a reconciliation that was expressed through the Cross.
One of the other patients Gwyneth met had been diagnosed with two forms of cancer. Perhaps Gwyneth's admission was God placing her where He wanted her to be, in order to give comfort to someone badly in need of God's love.
We are called to live out God's vision for us, putting into practice His love and care for all His people.
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21st January: Love Needs Action
In the week designated as the week of prayer for Christian unity Rev Dawn Brown took us through our annual Methodist church 'Covenant' service where we affirm our commitment to God and to do His will in our lives and communities.
We read the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke Ch 10 and looked at the characters of the Priest and then the Levite who both passed by the injured man at the side of the road before a Samaritan, a people who were hated by the Jews, stopped to help.
Maybe the first two had been either too busy or too tired or perhaps it might have cost them too much to stop so although they were committed to serving God, they weren't actually involving themselves in doing it and seem to have forgotten the real reason for their calling. In other words, they didn't have 'skin in the game' of loving their neighbours and putting other peoples' interests before their own.
Can we be like the Samaritan, who hadn't cared how he might have been seen by others or what it was likely to cost him, and show ourselves to be both committed to God by actively involving ourselves in His work?
So in our Covenant service we reaffirmed our commitment to love, as Jesus loves us, giving of ourselves and getting involved?
God so loved the world that He sent His only Son (John Ch 3 vs 16) and we can be safe in the knowledge that Jesus is always with us and never asks us to anything that is beyond our capacity.
Only through God's Holy Spirit which is the DNA of love within us can the World be changed through both our words and actions.
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14th January: Talking God
Local Preacher Maureen Simpson discussed with us how God sends people to intervene on His behalf with us - although we don't always listen! When as a child the great prophet Samuel was called to serve, as told in 1 Samuel Ch 3, it was his master, the old priest Eli who discerned it was God calling him and in John Ch 1, when Jesus was appointing His disciples, Nathaniel needed his friend Philip to introduce him to the Lord
It's easy to assume that these things only happened in ancient times but that's not true - God continues to speak and He's speaking now. The Bible stories we learnt in childhood all have messages for us today, but do we allow ourselves the quiet time needed for the penny to drop and for God to speak through our seemingly random thoughts?
Do you remember who it was who brought you to the knowledge of God? We are all called to be aware of the opportunities to affirm God to other people when we get the chance. Perhaps we can do this when we are at work or at the match or whilst enjoying one of our leisure pastimes.
So let's meet together and pray together in order to move forward together in the power of God who will always be with us, as we walk God's walk and talk God's talk.
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7th January -Hear God Speak
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In our first service of 2024 Local Preacher Jean Shotton asked us to be aware of and appreciate all the different ways God might be speaking to us and encouraged us to be aware of what He might be telling us to do if we are truly intent in following Him.
We read the stories of God's first call to the great Israelite leader Samuel, as a sleeping boy, in 1 Samuel Ch 3 and then in 1 Kings 19 how the prophet Elijah heard God comfort and direct him in the calm after a great storm had passed by.
But God can speak to us in many different ways. We looked at this painting to think about some of the methods God uses.
Can you pick out an image of a Trumpet? Music is something that touches many people deeply reminding and connecting us with our emotions, with places or important events in our lives.
Then there are the hands in the picture. We can all remember those times when just a fleeting touch can bring a sense of relief or connection. They're part of our body language, one of our modes of expression. The healing hands we all need sometimes can remind us of the privilege of holding a new baby and seeing purity and innocence.
Is there an image of a scroll? If so, think of the continuity of the word of God throughout the ages whilst the water, essential to life but also the risk it brings.
Then there are those 'thin' places, from great churches where people have worshipped God for centuries to wilderness places where you might be more open to God.
God can speak to us in all of these places and circumstances. Can you find yours?