April birthday

Mar 28, 2022

Although it’s still March, we took time last night to celebrate the April birthday of a girl who is ‘two, nearly three!’

Sacrificing

Mar 28, 2022

This week’s Lent theme is ‘sacrificing’. ‘Sacrifice’ is a word laden with preconceived ideas, but it is at the heart of the Christian faith. A sacrificial life, says Sally Welch, ‘is one which offers to God all the trials as well as the joys, all the challenges as well as the triumphs – accepting life in all its fullness and praising God throughout.’ (‘Sharing The Easter Story’, P 133) In today’s passage, Psalm 51, David speaks about the sacrifice of a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. He recognises his own sin and prays for forgiveness and restoration in this psalm, understanding that it is the heart attitude which matters more than outward conformity to religious rituals. Only when the heart is at peace with God can we live the way He wants us to.

This kind of brokenness over our sin and the sin of the world does not appeal to us, naturally speaking. But brokenness is the place where something new can be built up.

Gospel News

Mar 27, 2022

Dave spoke tonight from Romans 5:6-11, reminding us of the fundamental gospel truth that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. People may sometimes be willing to die for a cause or even for a good person (bodyguards often put their lives on the line to protect someone; a parent will often be willing to die to save their child), but to die for an enemy is very unlikely. Yet we were enemies of God because of our disobedience and He could easily have given up on us. Instead, He chose to send His Son, Jesus, to die for us, because God wanted us to be restored to the place and condition He had first created.

Adam was created perfect and lived in perfect relationship with God, but he chose to disobey God and we now all have inherited that sinful tendency. All of us have sinned, but God has paid the wages of death which sin demands (see Rom 3:23, Rom 6:23). Christmas and Easter are rightly the high points of the Christian calendar because they show us God’s plan of salvation in sending a sinless man to be our Sviour. The selfless sacrifice of Jesus at Golgotha was sufficient to pay the price for sin, a fact we know because God demonstrated His acceptance through the resurrection of Jesus.

We must decide what to do with this good news. God wants us to accept that we are sinners, repent of our sin and recognised we need the salvation He offers us through Christ. When we do this and turn our lives over to Jesus, then we are born again and restored to a relationship with God.

Helping Out

Mar 27, 2022

Tim Walker from CAP (Christians Against Poverty) spoke at our meeting this morning, reminding us that Christ’s love is outworked in very practical helpl. Luke 14:12-14 reminds us that Jesus invites everyone to eat with Him; God’s love is totally indiscriminate! He urges us to love radically and to give generously, and CAP seeks to work with all people who are struggling with debt and need help in managing money. Financial problems can come at any time in life (often not of our own making) and can be totally devastating; often people struggle along for some time(on average for about 2 years) before seeking help. CAP works with local churches to befriend and help people through these difficulties, teaching budgeting skills, helping to work with those to whom money is owed and working closely alongside local churches in supporting people in need.

The charity has worked for 26 years in these areas and their practical help and acts of kindness have influenced many people. 1000 people per year come to faith through contact with CAP and 650 churches are in partnership with them. It’s wonderful to know that we can all help to reflect God’s image through practical help.

This video tells a personal story of CAP’s help.

https://capuk.org/connect/more/video/568516921

Mothering Sunday

Mar 27, 2022

Today is Mothering Sunday, a day when we think about and honour the mothers in our lives.
It can be a painful day for many whose mothers are no longer here, for those who long to be mothers but who have no children, for those whose experience of motherhood has not matched the rosy picture we often have of this, but it can also be a day of joy as we celebrate people whose selflessness and love make the world a better place.
Motherhood is probably one of the hardest roles in life and one which is often undervalued in our Western society. Mothers are often jugglers, trying to manage a household and often paid employment as well for little recognition or reward (not to mention not enough sleep!) They may well be juggling caring for their own parents as well as their children; they may be on their own or working to make family relationships work as well as washing, ironing, cooking, doing the school run, cleaning the house, shopping and generally thinking about the practical necessities of life. I think we have to understand the vital importance of providing love and stability to children and must also learn to respect and express gratitude to those who care for us. No mother is perfect, and most mothers are all too aware of this, carrying guilt, anxiety and dread in their hearts on a daily basis. They may never show this to the outside world, but we do well to realise it’s not easy to be a mother!
The Bible speaks of mothers in Israel (see Judges 5:7), recognising that there is a symbolic aspect to motherhood which goes beyond biological birth. Spiritual mothers are women who may well fulfil many of the roles of a mother to us, even if they are not actually our mothers, even if they have never had children themselves. They pray for us, advise us, love us and nurture us, warn us, challenge us and urge us forward in faith. Again, we need to honour these women and recognise their vital role in the church.
It’s worth remembering that although God is traditionally spoken of as our Father, God is Spirit and therefore is also spoken of as loving us as tenderly as a mother (see Luke 13:34, Is 66:13). Even if our own mothers are no longer with us, God can be to us all that a mother represents.
So today, we pray you all have a blessed day and can rest secure in the love of God, which never changes, no matter our changing roles, our ups and downs, and above all, how we feel!

Use What God Has Given You!

Mar 27, 2022

Jesus tells a story in Matthew 25:14-19, 24-30 about a man going away and entrusting his fortune to servants, some of whom invested the money wisely and made more and one who was afraid and simply hid the money. This parable (often referred to as the Parable of the Talents, referring to the money rather than to what we generally call ‘talents’ nowadays) can often seem to be an incentive to work even harder and to have good business skills, which can leave many of us confused about its relevance to gospel living (and anxious if we feel we don’t have those business skills!) In actual fact, though, we see here how attitudes are so important; fear and an unwillingness to step out in faith and trust can be the real obstacles to living as God wants us to. Sally Welch says, ‘All we are asked to do is use what we have been given in the best way possible, to the glory of God and in the service of our fellow human beings. The third employee buried the money with which he had been entrusted, thus abdicating all responsibility for it. It is for this he was judged, not for his failure to multiply what he was given.’ (‘Sharing The Easter Story’, P 121)

Paul tells us that all of us who have been given a trust must prove faithful. (1 Cor 4:2) Faithfulness is an aspect of trusting which we need to grasp. This is what God is looking for in His people.