We had a difficult quiz tonight at the family service when we had to identify foods that had decayed over time. It’s surprising how different things look when they have deteriorated through time….

This…

… used to look like this:

Who could guess this…

… was actually a watermelon?

By the end, most of us were surprised we enjoyed eating any of these foods!

We also had a birthday to celebrate – another sign of changing times…

Tonight’s family service looked at the idea of times and seasons. Bob Dylan’s song ‘The Times, They Are A’Changin”, looks at changing circumstances, fortunes, political process, ways of doing things and a change of order; one thing is clear as we progress through life and that is that change is here to stay! Eccl 3:1-10 talks of times and seasons for every activity under the sun, and Rom 13:11 urges us to understand the present time.

In Greek, there are two words for time: chronos (from which we get our idea of chronology, or linear time, counted in seconds, minutes, hours and days etc.) and kairos, which has the idea of seasons and periods of time. We have to understand the seasons generally, not only in terms of weather, but how attitudes change and cultures alter so that we can be aware of what people corporately are thinking. We also need to understand times in relation to our personal lives. We all change and age; we all face different circumstances in life. Some seasons are good; some are difficult to bear. We can often find change daunting, not fitting into how we used to be, but also being afraid of what lies ahead.

Only God is changeless, however. We can be secure that our times are in His hands (Ps 31:15) and because of this, we can rest in Him when all around us is changing, because we know He will never change. His faithfulness, love and support are constant through the trial and the change, and we can be confident that whatever happens, He will walk us through the next season and help us in every way.

This morning, Stephen spoke about Communion, reminding us that when we take the bread and wine during a Holy Communion service, this is not simply a task or ritual we participate in, but a way of remembering Jesus and taking part in the life He provides. Jn 6 describes for us the feeding of the five thousand and how Jesus walked on water, but we see that many people were really only interested in Jesus because He had fed them! – ‘you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.‘ (Jn 6:26) Eating is an essential part of life, and many of us spend a lot of time shopping, preparing food, eating it and clearing up after meals, but the food we buy may not last very long and we have to be aware of ‘use by’ dates and ‘best before’ dates. Like Willy Wonka’s ‘everlasting gobstopper’, however, Jesus offers us food that will last – everlasting bread. (Jn 6:27)

Jesus made it clear that He does not just give bread to feed us; He is the bread of life: ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live for ever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.’ (Jn 6:51) The work God asks of us is to believe the One He has sent. At times, this may seem easy to do, but we need to be aware that believing in Jesus is not just a one-off event; it is a daily process through the ups and downs of life and we need faith to grow and not subside. Jesus satisfies us eternally and is able to grant us eternal life.

The family service tonight (6 p.m.) will be looking at the theme of changing seasons and times (‘The Times, They Are A’ Changing‘). Come along to find out more and take part in different activities as we look at the fact that times may change, but God remains the same.

Next Sunday (12th March) we will be at Cherry Tree Court in the morning at 10.30 a.m. and will be holding a special service looking ahead to the mission trip to India next month at 6 p.m. Eight of us will be going to help Fredrick and Reeba in Bangalore (leaving on 9th April), so come along to this service to find out more. Food tasting and a quiz about India will feature, as well as finding out more about the itinerary and spending time praying for the trip. We have a Facebook page devoted to the trip (see here); when we’re away, you’ll be able to keep track of what’s happening through this.

On 19th March, we will have meetings at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m., with the evening service being a dedication service for Esther. As usual, we will have refreshments after this service, so please sign the food sheet today if possible!

The men are meeting together on Saturday 25th March at 6 p.m. for food and fellowship. After the food, they will be watching a DVD -everyone is invited to bring a DVD along and a vote will be taken as to which one will be watched! Please let Garry know if you want to come along.

Our last Sunday services in March (26th March) will be at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. as usual.

Greed is another of the seven deadly sins which can trip us up and cause us to fall away from God. Greed is an ‘intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power or food’ and is also linked to avarice (defined as ‘extreme greed for wealth or material gain.’) Jesus made it clear that an addiction to possessions and wealth can be harmful spiritually (see Mark 10:17-31), but it is hard for us sometimes to see how attached we have become to ‘stuff’, how we effectively worship our possessions as the painting below by Evelyn De Morgain shows.

The Veggie Tales episode featuring Madame Blueberry looks at how easily we can become fixated on possessions, as the character yearns for more and more things from ‘Stuff-Mart’ (until eventually her house in a tree collapses under the weight of all these things…)

The Salvation Army has challenged us to remove one item from our houses each day during Lent which we no longer need or wear and donate it to the Salvation Army so that those possessions can help others.

Such practices help us to do more than tidy our houses; they help us to look at our possessions with eyes that seek to bless others rather than always focussing on what we want or think we need. Jesus told us ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive’ (Acts 20:35), and when we adopt this philosophy, we unhook the tentacles of greed from our hearts and allow thankfulness and gratitude to become our defining principles. Madame Blueberry eventually learns that ‘a thankful heart is a happy heart’; as Paul writes to Timothy, ‘Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.’ (1 Tim 6:17-19) We definitely want the ‘life that is truly life’ and need, therefore, to loosen our grip on the things of this world in order to take hold of eternal life, putting away treasure in heaven (see Matt 6:19-21)

In the list of deadly sins, pride is usually first on the list. As Augustine said, ‘It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.’ Pride is such a dangerous sin because it so easily looks like virtue, but ultimately this desire to be like God leads us into dangerous, graceless territories, away from the Garden of Eden into the wilderness of life without God (see Gen 3). Pride (also known as hubris) is excessive belief in one’s own abilities that interferes with the individual’s recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise, a desire to be ‘like God’ that elevates ourselves above God; as Thomas Aquinas commented, ‘the root of pride is found to consist in man not being, in some way, subject to God and His rule.’

Jesus told a parable that shows us pride can even creep into prayer (Luke 18:9-14). Proverbs is full of warnings about pride (Prov 16:18, Prov 11:2, Prov 29:23), and it is clear that whilst believers may eschew many obvious sins (murder, adultery and so on), there can easily be a tendency to pride which is not quite so easy to discern.

We live in a world which urges us to be proud of our talents, our achievements and our accomplishments. The danger comes when we believe the lie that it’s all down to us, instead of acknowledging that every talent we have is God-given and every achievement we accomplish is thanks to His help. The opposite of pride is humility, a desire to see God exalted above everything (see Is 2:11,17). We know that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble (1 Pet 5:5-6), so it is good for us to ask God to reveal those areas in our lives where we are relying on ourselves, when arrogance is taking root, and to pray for the grace ‘to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’ (Micah 6:8)