Meanwhile, in the Worship Room, we had songs and photos reminding us of all that has happened over the past six years, along with visual representations of various Biblical metaphors for the church. We had a bride’s dress, soldier’s uniform and body diagram to remind us that the church is called the Bride of Christ, that we are the army of God and that we are the body of Christ.

We also had a house to play in, reminding us that we are God’s house (Hebrews 3:6):

There were photo displays of different services and events over the past six years:

Despite the poor weather, there was great enjoyment of craft activities at the Community Open Day today. There was a variety of activities on offer:

Glass-painting (the jars hold candles to remind us ‘we are the light of the world’)

Making key-rings:

Building bodies (for ‘we are the body of Christ’)

Working on family trees (reminding us that we are all part of God’s family) and building towers

There was also the opportunity to have your face painted.

Our thanks to all the volunteers whose crafty skills made this a great event!

Eugene Peterson makes the wise comment ‘all the water in the ocean cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside; and all the trouble in the world cannot harm us unless it gains entrance to our hearts.’ (‘Praying With the Psalms’)

A wooden ship had to be made waterproof through pitch and caulking, pitch being the resin or glue spread on fibres which were pushed in the wedge-shaped seams between boards to make those seams watertight. Provided there was no leak in the ship, she could sail on the mighty oceans quite safely, but a leak could easily lead to disaster and the sinking of the whole vessel.

Faith, Eugene Peterson goes on, is to the soul what pitch and caulking are to the ship. As long as there is faith in our hearts, circumstances cannot sink us. While we hold on to Jesus in faith, we have protection from every storm of life: ‘In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ (John 16:33, see also Ps 91:3-16).

Paul shows us what this looks like in practice: ‘we are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed.’ (2 Cor 4:8-9)

Let’s ensure our lives are watertight, so that even when trials, doubts and questions come, we are not destroyed; our faith is not capsized. Paul urges us to hold on to faith and a good conscience so as to avoid suffering shipwreck with regard to faith like Hymanaeus and Alexander. (1 Tim 1:19-20). With God on our side, who can be against us?

The Bible describes a war that goes on within our hearts, a war vividly described by Paul in Romans 7:7-24 between the ‘old nature’ (dominated by sinful desires which are at odds with God’s ways) and the ‘new nature’ (which delights in God’s ways.) The only way, Paul says, to deal with the old nature is the way of crucifixion: ‘those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.’ (Gal 5:24) We can’t afford to show mercy to this old way of being, because it chokes faith and leaves us battered and bruised by those waves of doubt.

In the book of Kings, we read a sorry cycle of disobedience and half-hearted worship. 2 Kings 16:31 says ‘even while these people were worshipping the Lord, they were serving their idols.’ Such double-minded lives, as we saw yesterday, cannot lead to victory in God. We can’t afford to worship at any other altar, so we have to deal ruthlessly with any idol in our lives (the idol of prosperity or anxiety  or pride, jealousy or fear, for example.) If we don’t, we become like the animal Pushmipullyu in ‘Doctor Dolittle’, an animal with two heads facing in opposite directions.

Not only does double-mindedness succeed in destroying us, it will lead others astray (2 Kings 16:41 concludes ‘To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their ancestors did.‘)

For healthy living in our own lives and the lives of those to come, we must be people of integrity, wholeheartedly serving the Lord as Caleb and Joshua did. (Num 14:24)

A busy weekend lies ahead! Don’t forget tonight’s prayer meeting at 7:30 p.m. We are too busy not to pray! Prayer is the foundation of all our outreach and we need to seek God and ask for His help in everything we do: ‘May the favour of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.’ (Ps 90:17)

On Friday evening at 7 p.m., we will be setting up for the Community Open Day on Saturday, so please come along to help with that if you can. There will be no badminton on Friday as we set up instead.

The Community Open Day will be on Saturday 9th July from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Come along for refreshments, craft activities, face-painting and much more! This is an opportunity to celebrate six years since we moved to Market Street – six years of God’s faithfulness and provision in this building and a chance to reflect, remember and rejoice.

In the evening at 6 p.m. we’ll be having a family fun night, watching the Disney classic ‘The Jungle Book’ and sharing chip butties after the film. Do come along to that if you’re free.

On Sunday 10th July, we’ll be meeting at Cherry Tree Court at 10.30 a.m. and at Market Street at 6 p.m., so let’s continue to celebrate God’s faithfulness and goodness together.

To live life well, we have to have wholeness of personality; we have to be single-minded people who are not at war with ourselves (let alone other people.) Jesus reminded us that we cannot serve two masters (Matt 6:24) and James tells us that where doubt digs its roots into us, the result is double-mindedness which means we can’t expect to receive from God. (James 1:5-7) If we allow worry and doubt to win the battle of the mind, then we are divided, for both these things distract us from whole-heartedly trusting God.

I read recently that the word ‘integrity’ comes from the Latin word ‘integer’ which means ‘whole.’ A little lightbulb lit up in my mind – a dim memory of (loathed) maths lessons, where I learned that an integer is a whole number (not a fraction.) Somehow, I had never connected the two before. Integrity – wholeness – is essential to good spiritual, emotional and physical health. We need honesty and consistency in our character; we have to act according to the values, beliefs and principles we claim to hold. Whenever we don’t, we create inner tension and division (double-mindedness) which causes us to vacillate, hesitate and ultimately to disintegrate (whose etymological roots mean to do the opposite of bringing parts together in wholeness…)

Distraction, anxiety, doubt and despair will rob us of confidence in God, peace and gladness. Phil 4:6-7 reminds us ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.‘ We need God’s peace to be that guardian which protects us from double-mindedness and allows us to pursue God with all our hearts. The Message version of these verses says ‘Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.‘ God’s wholeness and unity ultimately become the bedrock on which our wholeness can stand.