The city of Leicester was celebrating recently because of the unexpected (to some) success of the local football club in becoming Premier League champions; the club’s footballing success has been the buzz of conversation all season and the underdogs’ triumph has captured the imagination of people far and wide.

Dave spoke this morning about how Jericho was buzzing when Jesus was passing through that town (Luke 19:1-10). Everyone was crowding around to see this teacher with the amazing reputation, but one man, Zacchaeus, was frustrated. Small of stature, he could not get even a glimpse of Jesus, so, ever-resourceful, he climbed a sycamore-fig tree in order to get a better view.

Zacchaeus had probably spent a lifetime suffering scorn and ridicule because of his size and looks; added to that, he was a chief tax collector, which in Jewish eyes was the lowest of the low. Tax collectors were looked down on as colluding with the Roman enemy and being deceitful, claiming additional taxes which they kept for themselves. Such an individual was not expected to be noticed by Jesus, but in this story, we see how the Saviour is always looking for the individual; ‘the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.’ (Luke 19:10)

Zacchaeus may have been the ‘wrong sort’ of person for a respectable Jew to be involved with. Far from being afraid of being contaminated by sin, however, Jesus’ grace and generosity were contagious. He focussed on the individual, not condemning Zacchaeus for his sins but building a relationship with him through acceptance which would lead to salvation.

People are often aching from loneliness and longing for someone to listen to them and value them. Rather than labelling Zacchaeus as others did, Jesus saw beyond the labels and refused to judge him, seeing the dormant life within him. Such acceptance warmed Zacchaeus’ frozen heart to faith (see Ps 19:6 in the Message version.) As He gave Zaccheaus the room to breathe and believe, Jesus unlocked the potential in him.

We need to remember that God offers grace to us and therefore we need to offer grace to others. May we have the faith to see people as Jesus sees them, for we are the only Christ that some people will ever see, and our response, if modelled on Jesus’ response, can lead people to radical change and whole-hearted salvation.

Thanks to all who attended the church’s annual general meeting last night. It was good to look back on all God has done in the past year and to look ahead with expectancy, hope and faith. We may have many plans, but we know it is the Lord’s purpose which prevails (Prov 19:21) and our heart is simply for His will to be done in our lives, our church and our community.

Looking ahead, there are always practical things to do be done when there is a building to be cared for! This summer, we are looking to work on the outside area, making sure the roof is in good order, cleaning gutters, checking soffits and painting and varnishing outdoors. In order to determine exactly what needs doing, we’ll be having a cleaning and inspection day on Saturday 18th June from 12 noon. Inside, we’ll have a general spring clean and tidy-up and outside, those brave enough to climb ladders will find out exactly what needs to be done… with days set aside during the summer holidays to finish this work.

The Community Open Day on Saturday 9th July will be a great opportunity to celebrate 6 years since we officially opened in Market Street. This day will run from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. and will feature refreshments, craft activities and games (any face-painters out there who want to help us?!), with the church open for people to see what we have been doing and to think about the question ‘What is the church?’ We’re also hoping to hold a family film night from 6p.m. as we’ve done in the past, where we show a family film and invite people to come and watch it and have snacks afterwards. Suggestions for suitable films are also welcome!

We have opportunities to serve the community at the Macmillan Coffee Morning on Saturday 24th September (10 a.m. – 12 noon), where we’ll be raising funds for this cancer charity, and at the Christmas Market on Friday 9th December (4-8 p.m.), where we’ll raise funds for the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal. We are privileged to be able to support the food bank at the Salvation Army on a regular basis, giving £50 per month towards this.

An exciting future venture is the planned missions’ trip to India (probably in 2017). We hope to be involved with the ministries of Fredrick and Reeba in Bangalore, and will be looking to raise funds for air fares and other expenses throughout this year. Watch this space for more details!

Thanks to everyone who supports the church so faithfully: in serving, in giving financially, and in giving time and energy. We know that God rewards those who earnestly seek Him (Heb 11:6), so let’s continue to seek His face and serve Him in all the multifarious ways we can!

Prayer is such a vital part of every Christian’s life and in the Lord’s Prayer we are taught to pray for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matt 6:10)

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have launched an initiative called ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ within the Church of England, urging Christians to pray, especially during the week 8-15 May 2016 as we prepare to celebrate Pentecost next Sunday. In their letter, sent to every parish priest in the UK, they say:

“At the heart of our prayers will be words that Jesus himself taught us – ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.’ It is impossible to overstate the life-transforming power of the Lord’s Prayer. It is a prayer that is reassuring enough to be on the lips of the dying and yet dangerous enough to be banned in cinemas. It is famous enough to be spoken each day by billions in hundreds of languages and yet intimate enough to draw us ever closer into friendship with Jesus Christ. It is simple enough to be memorised by small children and yet profound enough to sustain a whole lifetime of prayer. When we pray it with sincerity and with joy, there is no imagining the new ways in which God can use us to his glory.”

In our church, we are praying for 2016 to be a ‘yield year’, so this venture, asking us to pray for every Christian to receive new confidence and joy in sharing our life-transforming faith, is very much in line with how we feel God is asking us as a church to pray. Let’s be willing to look at new ways to pray, to seek out opportunities to pray (individually and corporately), to pray for friends and family, to pray for our community and to believe that God is willing to hear and answer our prayers! A variety of resources are available here, but ultimately, all we need is the determination to set aside the time to pray and the willingness to actually pray!

Don’t forget the AGM tomorrow (Saturday 7th May) at 6 p.m. This is an opportunity to look back on the past year and look ahead to all that is in store for us as a church, so do come along if you are able. We’ll have cake and tea/ coffee as well! Please remember this meeting isn’t really suitable for small children, but we do hope as many people as possible will be able to attend.

Meetings on Sunday 8th May will be at Cherry Tree Court in the morning (10.30 a.m.) and at Market Street in the evening (6 p.m.)

Tickets are still available for the Rend Collective concert at the O2 Academy in Sheffield on Friday 13th May at 6.30 p.m. The concert will feature Urban Rescue as well as Rend Collective and is sure to be a crazy night of worship. See here for more details.

On Saturday 14th May the next ‘Churches Together’ meeting will start at 6 p.m. at Furlong Road Methodist Church (Bolton-on-Dearne). This will be a meeting to celebrate Pentecost with other Christians from local churches, so do come along to that if you are able. It will be a very relaxed service; children are welcome to attend.

Goldthorpe Parish Church on Lockwood Road is celebrating its centenary in May, with a series of special meetings. On 20th & 21st May from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. there will be a ‘carpet of flowers’ running the length of the church nave; it will cost £2 for adults to enter, with free admission for children. Refreshments will be available at this event. See the parish church website for more details.

In celebrating diversity and unity (1 Cor 12:12-31), Paul reminds us that there are many different roles and functions within any church. The ‘lists’ of gifts here (apostles, prophets, teachers, miracle workers, gifts of healings) obviously reflect the Corinthians’ emphasis on the supernatural, but ‘helping’ and ‘administration’ are also mentioned (far less visible gifts!) In other parts of the Bible, the lists include other, less spectacular giftings (eg Rom 12:2-8, where prophecy and teaching are linked to service, encouragement, showing mercy and generous giving.) The point of this is to remind us forcibly that just as each part of the human body is vital (especially the ‘less honourable’ parts!), so it is with the church. Some roles may well be more visible than others (as the hand, adorned with jewellery, is more visible than the foot, covered in socks and shoes), but this does not mean these are more important.

Paul reminds Timothy that ‘godliness with contentment is great gain.’ (1 Tim 6:6) He tells the Romans ‘Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.’ (Rom 12:3) In thinking rightly of ourselves, we have to:

1. know the truth and be set free by this truth (see John 8:32)
2. accept God’s evaluation of us over and above our own feelings (or what anyone else may tell us – the Message version of Rom 12:3 says ‘The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.’)
3. be content with the person God has made us to be (recognising that we’re now new creations in Christ, see 2 Cor 5:17)
4. accept others unconditionally as Christ accepts us (Rom 15:7)

John Piper comments ‘like all issues it comes down to a radically God-focused issue—do you trust God?’ We have to be prepared to trust God’s sovereignty in placing us (and others!) in the body of Christ exactly where He wants us (1 Cor 12:18) and learn to serve Him right where we are.

Paul’s reference to the diversity of body parts (1 Cor 12:12-31) is a vivid reminder that diversity is everywhere. We see it in the animal kingdom, with animals categorised in different ways (carnivores, herbivores, birds, reptiles etc.) and then within categories a wide variety (wild cats such as lions and tigers, domestic cats such as tabbies and Siamese.)

We see it with food types (carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vegetables & fruits and dairy produce, for example, with a whole range of differences within each category– sprouts, beans, carrots, onions, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli and cucumber all being vegetables that are vastly different to each other!) We see it in people – different genders, races, ethnicity and so on.

It seems that God likes diversity! As the saying goes, ‘variety is the spice of life’! Yet for many of us, it’s this very diversity in life which causes problems. Wars break out because of the differences; we can’t cope with people who look different to us, who act differently, who eat different foods, who follow different traditions.

Many of our differences are simply due to differences in personality or taste or traditions, however. Personality varies enormously; tests such as the Myers Brigg Personality Indicator or the ‘animal test’  look at how our personalities manifest themselves and can go a long way to explaining why we find X congenial and Y so irritating! It can be helpful to understand the difference between the gregarious extrovert and the contemplative introvert, between someone who is rational and methodical in their way of working and someone who is impulsive and emotional, if only because we tend to assume that everyone is like us, only to be shocked when we discover they’re not! This huge range of personality is just another area of diversity in the creation God has made.

Instead of hating diversity, we do well to embrace it, for it’s surely here to stay! I sometimes think different denominations are more to do with our different personalities than different doctrines! – people care about the style of worship (liturgy or spontaneity, hymns played on organs or modern music with a church band) as much as they do about right beliefs. If variety really is the spice of life, then we do well to explore and embrace variety, understanding that there is a place for each one of us in God’s church. No one is superfluous to requirements; no one is all-important. Church is a great leveller and it’s important we reflect on Christ’s headship of the body to understand our role as servants, not lords. (Eph 1:22-23, Col 1:18)