The activity at tonight’s family service tonight involved questions about roadsigns (including describing what these signs meant):

We also had to answer questions about the compass (did you know that in the Middle Ages, maps used the compass point ‘East’ (not North) and that the Latin word for this, ‘oriens’, is where our term ‘orienteering’ comes from?) and about cartography (including the difference between maps and charts).

Interspersed with these questions were clues to a treasure hunt, where people had to use a map of the church (imaginatively redesigned to include street names such as Providence Path and Charis Crescent) to find helpful hints for a life with God – a reminder that U-turns are allowed, a reminder that God leads and guides us (Is 30:21) and a framed map with Psalm 19:8 in the Message version reminding us that the life-maps of God are right, leading us to joy.

Tonight’s family service looked at the theme of ‘Directions For the Year’. If we want to be people who follow God, we need to stay on course on the path He has revealed (see Ps 119:1-5, The Message), running with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Heb 12:1-3) Nowadays, we use maps, signposts and SatNavs to direct us; God’s Word acts as a ‘life-map’ to us: ‘The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road. The life-maps of God are right, showing the way to joy.’ (Ps 19:7-8) We keep our way pure by living according to this Word: ‘How can a young person live a clean life?  By carefully reading the map of your Word.  I’m single-minded in pursuit of You; don’t let me miss the road signs you’ve posted. (Ps 119:9-10) 

In order to avoid detours, ditches and potholes on our journey towards God, we need to:

1. watch our step (Ps 119:101-102). It’s much easier to do this in the daytime, and we are urged to walk in the light as God is in the light (see 1 Jn 1:5-7, 1 Thess 5:6). God’s Word acts as a lamp for our feet (Ps 119:105), but we need to take heed of what He says and obey that word, not ignoring it.
2. choose God’s way. Jesus talks of the narrow path and the broad path (Matt 7:13-14) and we must be aware that there is a path that seems right to us, but actually leads to death (Prov 14:12) If we don’t choose God’s way, we risk making the same mistakes over and over again (rather like Clark Griswold driving round the roundabout in London over and over again in the film ‘National Lampoon’s European Vacation.) The way to avoid this is to constantly pray, as Jesus did, ‘not my will, but Yours be done.’ (Luke 22:42)
3. turn around when necessary. This phrase may strike dread into our hearts when uttered by a SatNav because it means admitting we have gone wrong, but repentance is the only way back to God (see Rev 2:5, Rev 3:15-18) Jer 31 tells us to ‘set up signposts to mark your trip home. Get a good map. Study the road conditions. The road out is the road back.’ (Jer 31:21) God wants us to change our behaviour (see Eph 4:22-32) and to allow His transformation to take place within us (2 Cor 3:18).

January is traditionally the time of sales, when shoppers go hunting for bargains. Items that once cost a certain amount are slashed in price, and people feel accomplished at the savings they make. God offers us a bargain which no shop can match, however: Isaiah 55:1-2 urges us to come and buy and be satisfied without any need for money exchanging at all!

Oscar Wilde once said, ‘A cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing’, and it is certainly true that we do not always recognise the value or worth of certain things (think of all thevaluable antiques dismissed as ‘junk’ or ‘rubbish’ by owners or the sentimental value attached by people to items that are perhaps not of any monetary value.) The price of something is usually determined by market values (refrigerants have greatly increased in price recently, for example), but Jesus’s advice to the rich young man (in Matt 19:21, Mark 10:21 and Luke 18:22) was paradoxical. Clearly, this man was not ‘complete’ or ‘perfect’; he recognised a lack in himself. He knew that his life was not complete, despite his great wealth; he knew that he needed something more. Yet Jesus advised him to let go of his possessions before he could gain the peace for which he longed.

Possessions are not intrinsically evil, but they can easily become obstacles and hindrances to us. Equally, despite our many possessions, we can feel there is a piece missing from our lives (like the jigsaw puzzle which cannot be completed without that missing piece), and the answer is to be found in a looser grip, not a tighter one. Everything in life is a luxury, Cesare Pavese commented, and for us to truly be complete, we have to take a long perspective. Peter, startled by the answer Jesus gave to the rich young man, said, ‘We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?‘ (Matt 19;27) and was assured of an eternal reward. (Matt 19:28-30). Paul urged the Corinthians to view their current sufferings as ‘light and momentary troubles‘, urging them to look beyond the now to the eternal perspective. (1 Cor 4:16-18) Phil 3:7-11 underscores the idea that we have to let go of things in order to gain Christ. As we walk through 2018, the answer to the question, ‘is it worth it?’ is a resounding YES!, but we also need to understand that we have to view life not as a sales’ bargain, but in the light of eternity. We have to count up the cost (‘The Cost,’ Rend Collective) and re-evaluate our priorities if we are to know the completeness which the rich young man ultimately eschewed.

Services this Sunday (7th January) are at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m., with our family service looking at the theme ‘Directions For The Year.’ Come along for activities, worship and digging into the Word of God to find out how to keep to His paths in 2018.

Our church outreaches re-start this week (youth club on Monday at 6.30 p.m. and Parent & Toddler group on Friday at 9.30 a.m.) Please do pray for these groups and encourage people you know to attend them! The youth club provides fun games for children aged 5-11 (including table tennis, pool, table football and air hockey as well as crafts and Wii games) and the toddler group is suitable for babies to 3 year olds, with parents enjoying the chance for a chat with others!

On Tuesday 9th January we have our first ‘Churches Together’ prayer meeting of 2018 at the Salvation Army at 10.30 a.m. Join with Christians from other churches to seek God’s face for our community.

On Thursday 11th January, we will be having a Bible study at 7.30 p.m. when we will be continuing our studies on the Psalms. This week, we will start to look at the Messianic psalms, those which point us towards the life, ministry and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.

On Sunday 14th January, our morning service will be at Cherry Tree Court at 10.30 a.m.

We have received a letter recently from Bedline, the girl in Haiti we sponsor through Compassion. She will be 8 in March, and we have just had a new photo! Thank you for your faithful support for Bedline and for Amshika in India.

My life is soon to be taken over by mess as renovation and refurbishment takes place in my house. The electrician will soon be arriving to rewire the house; the builder, plasterer and plumber will be hard on his heels, ripping out my kitchen and fitting a new one. I’m in the process of clearing out rooms (all of which have taken on a Tardis-like appearance if the amount of ‘stuff’ being thrown away, given away and packed away is anything to go by!) and I am uneasily anticipating chaos, noise, dust and disruption on levels that make me secretly want to flee the country. (The electrician suggested a holiday to Baghdad ‘so it won’t seem that bad when you return.‘ I’m not convinced he’s joking…)

I’m not the tidiest person in the world and live with a hoarder, and yet I’m finding the thought of all this upheaval unsettling. My clothes are in a suitcase; I’ll be without laundry-washing and cooking facilities for at least two weeks. And when the workmen disappear, it will be left to me to decorate and restore, unpacking all the boxes and bags currently stowed away for safekeeping. It’s a daunting thought.

And yet I know, deep-down, that if I want a safely wired house and that dream kitchen I’ve been waiting for for 30 years, I must first endure the mess. Things have to get worse before they can get better.

Mess is an inevitable part of life. Life cannot always be neatly tidy, everything boxed away. Some traditional churches have even named their attempts to be innovative and creative in their outreach ‘messy church’, acknowledging that conventional services simply don’t appeal to many people and that a different approach is required. Craft activities, children’s songs and food are all hallmarks of ‘messy church’ and all disturb our normal routines.

Since life is often messy, it’s inevitable that church will be too. This process of transformation – whether in the physical realm of refurbishment or the spiritual realm of new birth and growth – is rarely tidy and neat. Just as a baby’s arrival involves physical mess and much ‘stuff’ (nappies, clothes, a cot, a pram and various other necessities which add clutter to a house), so too church growth will inevitably involve change, mess, untidiness and a sense of not being in control…

I will have to submit to the superior knowledge and skills of workmen who are experts in their fields if I’m to see my house transformed. I will also have to submit to a sovereign God whose thoughts and ways are far higher than mine iff I want to see my life and our church transformed. If I’m honest, I will find neither easy, for I don’t like mess and I don’t much like change. But if we are serious about spiritual growth, we have to get used to the mess of change and the uncertainty of not being in control, secure in the knowledge that God is working all things together for good and always finishes what He starts! (Rom 8:28-29, Phil 1:6)

As usual, we started the New Year together at our party, a time for fun, food and silly party games!

Some of the party games were variations on familiar ones, like musical chairs:

 Tony triumphed again…

We also had a quiz about 2017 to complete:

Then there was pass the parcel and charades:

Thanks to all who gave so generously (the food was amazing!), who helped to set up and clear and tidy everything away and to all who came. We pray our fellowship may be sweet this year and our communion strong as we continue our journey with God.