Communication in any relationship is essential, as these quotes show:

Part of good communication lies in the dissemination of information. If we don’t know what’s going on, how can we communicate well?

At church, there are a number of ways we try to communicate information. The ‘boring notices’ are not the most exciting way of keeping people informed about things, but they are crucial to letting people in the building know what is happening. Sometimes we prepare newsletters and Power Points if there is a lot of information to take in. This method only works with the people who are in church at a particular time and who listen, however!

This blog on the church website is another way of disseminating information and I try to keep this up-to-date so people know what is happening. This is especially useful if things happen during the week between meetings and is also a way of giving ‘thought for the day’ type information.

We also have a church Facebook page  for those of you who like social media and have just set up a Facebook page specifically about the India trip, on which we hope to post updates and photos while we are in India. We have also set up a church Facebook prayer page, but this is a closed group so that prayer requests can be confidential. If you would like to be added to this list, please see Garry. This page needs to be used sensitively and items posted there will be confidential, for prayer only.

In addition to this, we have a prayer chain at church which telephones prayer requests to people, so if you are not on Facebook, don’t worry! – you can still pray!

There are doubtless many other ways of disseminating information, and if you have suggestions as to how we can improve this, please do let us know. The most important things we can do to help communication are to keep the channels of communication open, to listen carefully and to respond graciously.

The world of make-believe is essential when growing up; watching children play ‘let’s pretend’ reminds us of how role play can be crucial in our development. Dressing up, pretending to be doctors and nurses or teachers, is an integral part of learning how to fit into the real world. The imagination is not something which is only important in childhood; there is a place for it in all our lives.

As we grow older, however, there is a tendency for an unhealthy kind of pretence to fill our lives. We learn to be tactful, to be kind and considerate in our speech, and we learn that it’s better to think before we speak, which are all good things… but we also learn to hide our true feelings, to disguise our motivation and to cover over our sins with all kinds of rationalisation and justification. This kind of pretence is not helpful to spiritual growth, because it results in fragmented, disjointed lives.

God wants us to be whole. He wants our lives to be fully integrated, so that there is no dissonance between what we say and how we live. We need to practise what we preach. Hypocrisy is such a dangerous sin because it leads to play-acting, to be pretending to be something other than who we are. Jesus’s strongest words of condemnation were for the Pharisees (see Matt 23:1-39). He reminds us that we should not do things simply to be seen by others (Matt 6:1-18), but should do everything as unto the Lord (Col 3:17, Col 3:22). We have to be prepared to look at our motivation and ensure our behaviour matches our beliefs in every area of our lives.

Phyllis Diller once said, ‘Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight.’ The Bible is clear that anger or wrath in people is rarely righteous. It is, of course, right to be angry about things that are evil or wrong; God’s wrath is described throughout the Bible as something which is holy and pure. But so often, our anger is not because of evil or injustice; it is because something has gone wrong for us and we want, in our selfishness, our own way. That’s why Paul says, ‘Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold’ (Eph 4:26-27) and why James says, ‘Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.’ (James 1:19-20)

Wrath can be defined as uncontrolled feelings of anger, rage and even hatred, often being associated also with a refusal to forgive and a tendency to desire vengeance. Dante described vengeance as ‘love of justice perverted to revenge and spite’, and it can be notoriously difficult for us to sift through our feelings of anger to separate what is true and right from what is ignoble and selfish.

When we feel angry, it is time to dig deeper and find out why. It is also time to seek God for help, so that our anger does not manifest itself in ways that will damage other people. As Ambrose Bierce remarks, ‘speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.’ We can’t take back words once they are spoken; we can’t undo the actions committed in anger. All we can do in those situations is ask for forgiveness and seek to restore what we have damaged. It’s better for us to deal with the source of anger – usually our pride, stubbornness and selfishness – before it grows into words and actions, however.

Self-control is one of the fruit of the Spirit. Self-control is the answer to anger. Instead of those explosive outbursts or those frozen rebuffs (silence can be just as much a manifestation of anger as noisy tirades), we need to allow God’s Spirit to melt anger and to replace it with love, compassion and kindness. Paul reminds us of our former way of living, saying: ‘You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.’ (Col 3:7-9) He specifically urges us to ‘be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.’ (Eph 4:32) A life of love has to be careful not to allow selfish, unrighteous anger to grow.

‘I’m bored!’ is not only the plaintive wail of a child which strikes terror into the heart of a parent. It seems to be the cry of a society which can no longer tolerate stillness and rest. We are hyper-stimulated in the modern world. Our frantic pace, endless interruptions, and the rich abundance of entertainment, fast-paced movies, video games and fondness for social media all are a feast for the eyes but they hyper-stimulate. From the time we awaken to our return to sleep, there is almost never a moment of silence, or a time when we are not being bombarded by images, often flickering and quickly changing.

This hyper-stimulation means that when we come upon things like quiet prayer or adoration, or are asked to listen for an extended period, or when the imagery is not fast changing, we are easily bored and therefore turn our backs on spiritual disciplines which require perseverance and quietness. We seem indifferent to God, showing enthusiasm for everything except Him. Charles Pope says, ‘We have time and passion for everything else, but not for God. It is a very deep drive. We are mesmerized by many things of the world, but bored, sorrowful and thus slothful over the things of the spiritual life. Where is the joy? Where is the zeal? Where is the hunger for completion in God?’

God wants to be first in our lives. Rom 12:11 says ‘Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord.’  This is a challenge for us all. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Col 2:3) There is no need for us to be bored!

The next time we find ourselves bored and indifferent, we need to draw close to God and dig deep into His treasury.

Garry led the Bible study tonight, looking at Psalm 33 to see how our studies on parallelism and form actually work in a real psalm!

Many psalms begin with an introduction which exhorts us to praise God (Ps 33:1-3) and then go on to give us reasons for doing this (Ps 33:4-20) before concluding with a renewed exhortation to praise. (Ps 33:21-22) This structure reminds us of one of the benefits of the psalms: combining a rational knowledge of God (loving God with our minds) with an emotional response (loving Him with our hearts.)

The first three verses use parallelism to exhort us to praise God – through songs and shouts of joy and music on different instruments (see also 1 Kings 1:40, 1 Chron 16:5, 42). We are commanded not only to sing, but to sing a new song, a fresh song. God seems to underline different truths for us at different times, and there is a place not only to sing older songs with fresh twists (many hymns have had new choruses added to them) but to express our ongoing relationship with God in new songs. Modern day psalms will reflect people’s ongoing journeys of faith, referring back to Biblical truths, but echoing the personal response to God’s call which is an inevitable part of discipleship. Tim Hughes, for example, writes of his faith being stretched as he left London to start a new church in Birmingham (see here) which inspired the song ‘Pocketful of Faith’, talking of his yearning to follow wherever Jesus called him but acknowledging his ‘mustard seed of faith’ (‘pocketful of faith’ in his modern parlance) was all he had to give. Such songs are new but ever old, to quote an old hymn!

The psalmist has many reasons for us to praise God, with each grouping developing ideas and images so that we can remember these essential truths. Memorisation of Biblical passages is a forgotten art these days when our attention spans are so short, but this Hebrew technique is far more effective at lodging truth in our memories than mere metre or rhyme (which are often lost in translation). The psalmist focuses on God’s character, speaking of His righteousness, justice, faithfulness and unfailing love before moving on to consider His creative power. God’s power is such that He foils the plans of the nations and thwarts the purposes of the peoples, whereas no one can thwart His plans; His purposes stand firm through all generations.

God’s power is contrasted with all the forces the world can muster (armies, warriors and horses are no match for God!) No natural power can compete against God’s power, for He is our hope, help and shield, the One who gives His righteousness to us so that we too can be called righteous.

Ps 33:21-22 concludes with an exhortation to rejoice and trust God, ending with a prayer. By the time we reach the end, our hearts have been stirred and we want to sing of the things God has done for us!

We have had a letter from Bedline, thanking us for our support and telling us about her Christmas celebrations. It is Bedline’s birthday on 19th March (she will be 7 years old), so please do pray for her. We have sent cards and a gift, but we pray God will richly bless our sponsor child and help her to grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus.

Compassion is very sadly having to withdraw from its work in India. The following email was received today:

“It’s with heavy hearts that we announce Compassion will formally end its programmes in India on 15 March. For nearly a year, restrictions placed by the Indian government have prevented Compassion funds entering the country. Without those funds, we can no longer pay our staff or provide resources to our church partners and the children they serve.

We’ve tried everything within our power to resolve this issue, but despite our best efforts, the Indian government has not lifted the restrictions. After much prayer and nearly a year of effort to remedy the situation, our office funds are now depleted and we’ve therefore begun the painful process of closing our programmes in India.

We’d hoped and prayed for a different outcome, but we want to thank everyone who stood with us on this journey. As our CEO, Justin, shares:

“We do not grieve without hope; we trust that God will continue to work through His people in India in remarkable ways, practically serving the ones who need it most.”

We haven’t given up on the children of India. We’re still fighting and trying every avenue as we stand in faith that one day, Compassion will be able to work in India again.”

Our hearts are saddened as we hear this news, especially given that we will be ministering to street children during our mission trip to Bangalore in April, so we are well aware of the needs in this country. This email shows the difficult spiritual situation in India at this time and we would ask you all to pray for the work of Compassion.