God’s Great Party

Aug 11, 2023

On Sunday 6 August we welcomed 75 people into our family service. At the ‘Churches Together’ family fun days we have been looking at the parables of Jesus and in particular over the summer at the lost sheep, lost coin and lost son (Luke 15). In each of these stories, we saw that there is a party in heaven every time someone comes back to God, so we decided to throw our own party to celebrate God’s goodness and kindness to us.

We sang a song about the shepherd looking for the lost sheep, searched for lost sheep in the building and heard a story about Cecil the Sheep by Andrew McDonough.

We played Pass The Parcel and enjoyed party dancing with bubbles and disco lights.

 

We had party food, because a party without food just doesn’t seem right, and God talks about that great party in heaven by comparing it to a wedding banquet!

We also had fun on the Bouncy Castle and on the Nerf Shootout provided by Alison Taylor-Fellows. All in all, we had a great time!

God’s New Creation

Aug 10, 2023

Tonight in our Bible study we read Revelation 21, where we see God making a new heaven and a new earth (see also Is 65:17-18, Is 66:22, 2 Peter 3:13). The imagery is of the church, God’s people, as a bride and as a city (see also Is 54:5, Eph 5:26-27). with God’s trustworthy and true promise being that He will dwell with His people forever.
The imagery in this chapter is of beauty beyond our wildest dreams (with the streets paved with gold and beautiful jewels adorning the walls and the gates made from pearls.) God takes our brokenness and is building us into something beautiful; Peter reminds us that we are living stones (see 1 Pet 2:9-10). His new creation will be a place of perfection, with no more sorrow, death, mourning or sin; those whose names are in the Lamb’s book of life will inherit all God has promised, whereas nothing ungodly will ever be found there again.
The brilliance of the city comes from the light and glory of God. We are promised light, eternal satisfaction ‘without cost’ and a glorious inheritance. This hope fuels us in this present darkness and reminds us that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (Rom 8:18)

Living In The Light of God’s Promises

Aug 6, 2023

Garry spoke this morning from Genesis 47:28-31 on ‘living in the light of God’s promise.’ Jacob, Joseph’s father, shows us that the promise of God determined how he thought and lived; he lived his life in the expectation that God would fulfil His promises to him. If we live without God’s promises, our lives are full of dread and darkness, but with God, we are given discernment and the ability to judge situations (as the men of Issachar demonstrate, they understood the times and knew what Israel should do (1 Chron 12:32).
God gives us spiritual insight through His Spirit (see 1 Cor 2:16); we have ears that need to hear what the Spirit is saying (as Revelation 2 and 3 make plain.) We must, as Karl Barth said, read our newspapers in one hand with the Bible in the other, for it is God who interprets what is happening in our world.
It can be hard to know how to live in a world that ignores God or is even hostile to His ways (see Romans 13:1-8, Ex 1:15-17, Dan 6:6-10). The apostles made it plain that ‘we must obey God rather than human beings’ (Acts 5:29). Nowadays, so much of what governments approve is against God’s law; we must learn to live in the light of God’s promises, be they conditional or uncondtional. Where God’s promises rest on our obedience, we must strive to obey, but so many of His promises are unconditional and rely on His faithfulness alone. We should not fear what the world fears, but should rest in God’s sovereignty and let His promises direct our living and our hope, no matter what.

God’s Great Party

Aug 6, 2023

Every morning I read through a passage in the Old Testament, one in the New Testament and one from either Psalms or Proverbs. I use the Bible In One Year reading plan (https://bibleinoneyear.org/en/) and find it extremely helpful to get this broad overview of Scripture rather than just reading favourite passages over and over again. All Scripture is God-breathed, we are told (2 Tim 3:16-17), and so it is useful for us, equipping us for every good work.
Today’s Psalm was Psalm 91, a very well-known and much-loved psalm. I read it today in The Message version, and was struck by the ending in this version as I prepare for our special party service at church this afternoon:
“If you’ll hold on to me for dear life,” says God,
“I’ll get you out of any trouble.
I’ll give you the best of care
if you’ll only get to know and trust me.
Call me and I’ll answer, be at your side in bad times;
I’ll rescue you, then throw you a party.
I’ll give you a long life,
give you a long drink of salvation!” (Ps 91:14-16, The Message)
Why are we having a party service today, complete with traditional party games, party food, bouncy castle and inflatables? How can this possibly be called ‘church’?
All throughout Scripture, we see a God whose love for us is lavish, generous, abundant. Luke 15 shows us Jesus telling three stories about lost things – a lost sheep, a lost coin, a lost son – and each time the lost item is found, there is celebration and a party in heaven.
So often, we think of God as a killjoy, someone ‘out to get us’, someone who positively smirks when we fail. That is so far from the truth. God is a God of celebration, of lavish love, of welcome. Parties are God’s idea; He speaks of the ultimate celebration when we are reunited with Him as a wedding banquet. (Matt 22:1-14) Everything we love about parties – food, singing, dancing, games – is a reflection of the joy in God’s own heart when we live in right relationship with Him.
So today I am grateful for the party-heart of God!

GPCC Family Fun Day

Aug 2, 2023

Today we had the second of our summer fun days, this time at GPCC. On a thoroughly wet and miserable August day (where is summer/?!), it was lovely to welcome 110 people into the building (45 adults and 65 children) and to celebrate ‘God’s Great Party‘, looking at Luke 15 (how heaven rejoices when a lost soul returns to God) and Matthew 22 (at the wedding banquet to come).

Because it was a party theme, we had to decorate party food!

We also had yummy food to eat, thanks to the Salvation Army and Gregg’s.

We made party invitations and bunting and decorated party bags.

We painted people and dressed up paper people to go to a party!

We played Pass The Parcel.

We heard stories.

We danced and enjoyed bubbles.

We all had a grea time!

God At The Centre

Jul 31, 2023

The kaleidoscope is a toy, an optical device consisting of angled mirrors that reflect images of bits of coloured glass in a symmetrical geometric design through a viewer. As the section containing the loose fragments is rotated, the image changes, allowing us to view a seemingly endless variety of patterns. Invented in 1816, the kaleidoscope can provide hours of entertainment and is a visual reminder that beauty can come from brokenness and that variety is a vital aspect of life.

 

Life can feel rather like a kaleidoscope, shaking us more than we would prefer. After each shaking, life looks different to before. The view changes; we see things differently.

We all start life believing we are the centre of the world. The baby’s plaintive cries are designed to ensure its needs are met. The toddler tantrums because it must learn consideration for others and how to deal with that awful word, ‘No’. It takes time and training to be shifted from this egocentric view of life.

At some point (if we are fortunate), life shakes us so that we see God as the centre of the universe, not ourselves. Our lives are realigned to meet reality rather than going along with the devilish fiction that we are at the centre of evverything.

Eugene Peterson writes, “Worship is the strategy by which we interrupt our preoccupation with ourselves and attend to the presence of God.” (“Leap Over A Wall”) This is why personal and corporate worship of God are so important. Left to ourselves, we easily slip back into childish thinking (“our self-importancec is so insidiously relentless.“) We have to learn to “deliberately interrupt ourseles regularly”, which is why a daily quiet time with God and regular attendance at church services can be vital ingredients to living well. We have to learn to re-focus, to give God our undivided attention.

This is where gathering together as believers is so useful. It gives us the time and space to focus on God, to declare who God is, to listen to what God says, to put God at the centre. Only when He has His rightful place will the kaleidoscopic picture of life fall into place and make sense. There is a meaning, a purpose, a picture to life, but this cannot be seen or understood apart from God.