A reflex reaction is an involuntary and nearly instantaneous movement in response to a stimulus, the most well known of which is probably the patellar reflex (or knee-jerk reaction). It’s something over which we have little or no control but is innate.

Reflex reactions in people are controlled by the reflex arc, which is a nerve pathway which makes a fast, automatic response possible (with signals being passed directly from a sensory neuron via a relay neuron to a motor neurone.) Even babies have simple reflex reactions (e.g. the grasping reflex and the breathing reflex, whereby a baby will grip a finger tightly or will not breathe if underwater.) Reflex reactions include the adjustment of the pupil to light and sneezing and coughing to rid ourselves of contaminants.

Reflex reactions can, however, be learned (or conditioned), the most famous of which is probably the experiment by Pavlov in which he trained dogs to expect food in response to his stimulus of ringing a bell. The dogs were conditioned to salivate when the bell rang, even when no actual food was present.

The phrase ‘His love endures forever‘ occurs 26 times in Psalm 136. Eugene Peterson asks us, ‘Will the repetitions dull our minds into a pious stupor? Or will they condition the reflexes of our spirits to respond with quick praise to any stimulus?’ (‘Praying With the Psalms’)

Our response to many situations seems to be instinctive. This can be good, unless our responses are not Biblical. In those cases, can we really condition the reflexes of our spirits to respond to any stimulus with praise? This seems to be Paul’s goal: ‘give thanks in all circumstances’ (1 Thess 5:18), ‘always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.‘ (Eph 5:20) In other words, thanksgiving has become the ‘reflex reaction’ of the Christian. No matter what the stimulus – prosperity or need, health or sickness, happiness or misery – the response is praise. The reason for our praise is the fact of God’s enduring love, from which nothing can separate us!

My reactions need a lot more conditioning, but I want to learn to respond with quick praise to any stimulus.

Since Alison was in the building, she took the food, clothes and toys donated by church members and the community round to the Salvation Army building for distribution:

Our thanks go to all who give so faithfully to help needy families in our local area. The Salvation Army is now busy preparing to give out Christmas food parcels which include presents for all children. The following items are needed for December:

• UHT milk
• Teabags
• Coffee
• Tinned ham
• Tinned potatoes
• Hot dogs
• Meat balls
• Tinned fruit
• Stuffing
• Gravy Granules
• Mince pies
• Christmas biscuit packs/ tins
• Size 5 Nappies

Selection boxes have been purchased by our church and others for children for the Christmas food parcels. If you want to be more involved with this, come along to support the Christmas Market on Friday 9th December (when all proceeds inside the church community room will go to the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal) and to the Salvation Army on Tuesday 20th December from 9 a.m. – 12 noon to help wrap the presents for the parcels.

Yesterday a team of volunteers from church, the Salvation Army and Dearne Stay Fit ‘stuffed’ the bags for the Christmas market full of goodies.

Inside each decorated bag went a range of Christmas leaflets for adults and children, leaflets about church services and community groups, a glow stick and sweets/chocolates:

The volunteers in action, stuffing bags and preparing tickets for the tombola stall!

The bags are now full!

Sincere thanks to all who helped stuff the bags and to Dearne Stay Fit for contributing an extra two tins of chocolates when we ran out before the end!

Please pray that when these bags are given out, the power of God’s Word will impact people’s lives and they will be drawn into His kingdom.

On Monday at the Salvation Army, a bevy of volunteers was making craft items to sell at the Christmas Market on 9th December:

Don’t forget that this morning from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m., we are getting the goody bags ready for the market. Come along to help with this – each goody bag will contain literature about Christmas, details of a variety of community groups and church services in December, sweets and chocolates and a glow stick for the carol service at 6 p.m.

Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to work out who I am, but ultimately I’ve learned that my identity can never be fully understood without also grasping the identity of God. Eph 1:11-12 in the Message version says, ‘It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.‘ The song ‘Good, Good Father’ (written by Tony Brown and Pat Barrett) captures this combination perfectly: God is a good, good Father (His identity, ‘it’s who You are’) and because of this we are loved by Him (our identity, ‘it’s who I am.’) It’s nowhere near as complicated as I like to make it…!

‘Oh, I’ve heard a thousand stories of what they think You’re like
But I’ve heard the tender whispers of love in the dead of night
And You tell me that You’re pleased
And that I’m never alone.

You’re a good, good Father.
It’s who You are, it’s who You are, it’s who You are
And I’m loved by You
It’s who I am, it’s who I am, it’s who I am.

Oh, and I’ve seen many searching for answers far and wide
But I know we’re all searching
For answers only You provide
‘Cause You know just what we need
Before we say a word
You’re a good, good Father.
It’s who You are, it’s who You are, it’s who You are
And I’m loved by You
It’s who I am, it’s who I am, it’s who I am.

’cause You are perfect in all of Your ways,
You are perfect in all of Your ways,
You are perfect in all of Your ways to us.

Oh, it’s love so undeniable
I, I can hardly speak
Peace so unexplainable
I, I can hardly think

As you call me deeper still [3x]
Into love, love, love.’ (‘Good, Good Father’, Chris Tomlin)

It’s perfectly possible to believe that Jesus is who He claimed to be – Son of God, Son of Man – and still not realise that this matters to each one of us personally or that our response to who Jesus is has eternal consequences.

Jesus puts love right in our faces! He confronts us with who He is. He’s not pushy, but He is persistent. He invites us to accept Him as our Lord and Saviour: ‘I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.’ (Rev 3:20) Francis Thompson referred to Him as the ‘hound of heaven’ who pursues us with ‘unhurrying chase and unperturbed pace’; in the song ‘Pursue Me,’ we sing of ‘unrelenting grace, never-failing mercy’ and ‘I hear You singing, You are calling me home.’ (‘Pursue Me’, Worship Central) God longs for us to draw near to Him and shows us how much He longs for that in the person of Jesus. ‘No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.’ (Jn 1:18) The Voice paraphrase of the Bible translates that verse as ‘God, unseen until now, is revealed in the Voice, God’s only Son, straight from the Father’s heart’ and explains the decision to translate Logos (usually translated ‘Word’) as Voice in this way: ‘Since logos essentially refers to the act of speaking or bringing thoughts to expression, we have decided to use the word “voice” to capture that reality. John declares that truth has culminated in the person of Jesus. No single word captures the complete meaning of logos, but “voice” has a number of advantages…

1. “Voice” manifests the act of speaking…John intends that in Jesus God is speaking and revealing Himself to the world.

2. A voice is distinct and personal. We can distinguish people from one another simply by their voices. In John 10 Jesus describes the fact that the sheep hear the voice of the shepherd when he calls and they follow, but they refuse to follow a stranger because they do not know his voice (John 10:1-5). John desires that we know Jesus as the Son of God and believe in Him personally as the Good Shepherd.

3. “Voice” is dynamic in that it reflects the robust and powerful activity of a living God. It is historical in that any act of speaking comes to expression and takes place in the real world as a “voice” calling, demanding a response. It challenges any notion that the Christian faith can be reduced to rules, propositions, or doctrines that can be merely believed or dismissed and not lived out in our lives. Since in Jesus God is speaking and revealing Himself to the world, and since in Jesus we hear the Voice of God, then this new reality changes everything so we, too, must change.’

‘In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.’ (Heb 1:1-2) What is Jesus saying to you?