Some clothes are very tight-fitting; others are made from fabrics which have more ‘give’ or ‘stretch in them.

The difference in such clothes is often down to the cut of the material and the actual fabric itself. Some fabrics are more stretchy or elastic than others. Elasticity is defined as ‘the ability of an object or material to resume its normal shape after being stretched or compressed‘ with a secondary meaning of ‘the ability to change and adapt.’

All of us need this secondary meaning if we are to survive the storms and trials of life. We can’t afford to be rigid and brittle or we will easily break when circumstances become difficult. We need flexibility: ‘the quality of bending easily without breaking’, like the tree which, though battered by storms, will bend and then resume its normal shape:

The boughs and branches of a tree learn to bow low so they can bounce back to their original position. The key to being elastic or flexible is to learn to bow down before God. As we humble ourselves before God, His word promises that He will lift us up. (1 Pet 5:6, James 4:10). Bowing down signifies submission and reverence, an acknowledgment that God is God and we are not. It signifies that though we may be cast down and in great distress (Ps 57:6, Ps 38:6), we are trusting in God rather than in our resourcefulness and skill.

Novak Djokovic, the famous tennis player, was asked what his hobbies were and his wife, before he could reply, responded, ‘Stretching. Whenever Novak has a spare moment, that’s what he likes to do.’ Stretching is an essential part of becoming flexible. God often brings circumstances into our lives which we would rather He didn’t, but the purpose of these challenges is to stretch us and teach us to grow (see James 1:1-5). God promises us that these trials will not break us (1 Cor 10:13): ‘he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it’, as the Message version puts it.

‘When my heart is torn asunder

And my world just falls apart,

Lord, You put me back together

And lift me up to where You are.’ (‘When My Heart Is Torn Asunder’, Phil Wickham)

Stephen spoke this evening about God’s wonderful provision. So often in life we run out of things (food, money, things to watch on TV, friends, to name but a few!), and our reaction to that situation is often to moan, just as the Israelites did during their wilderness wanderings. God’s wonderful provision was available to them in the form of manna, quail and water in the desert, but still they hankered after the cucumber, garlic, leeks and meats of Egypt, never being satisfied with the wonderful things God provided for them.

The fact is that God is able to provide for all our needs, often in miraculous ways, as the feeding of the five thousand demonstrated: the 5 loaves and 2 fish fed all those people with plenty of leftovers! God provides good things for us, but so often we fall into the pitfall of complaining or constantly nagging Him to do more.

When Jesus came to earth, many wonderful things happened, and God is still able to meet our every need. Jesus is the Bread of Life (see Jn 6:35-41) and it is only as we realise all satisfaction is in Jesus that we can learn gratitude and sufficiency, rather than constant complaining. God is both the Provider and the provision; He is the Manna which will never cease. If we feel discontented or that God’s provision for us isn’t enough, we need to realise that He is able to supply our every need. The Israelites did not initially know what manna was; they did not recognise it as God’s answer. We are often dissatisfied with life, but need to realise that God’s answer is freely given to us. We just need eyes to see and hearts that will be thankful rather than complaining and moaning.

Dave spoke this morning from Mk 2:1-12, which tells us more about Jesus’ amazing ministry to people. He had already driven out evil spirits from a man in the synagogue at Capernaum, He had healed Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever, and He had made a man with leprosy whole again. When Jesus met these needs, He was doing more than healing physical hurts; He was restoring wholeness to the lives of people and giving back to them an opportunity to live a normal life. Word spread all around about His great power to perform miracles and about His preaching. So when He returned to Capernaum, everyone knew it. They rushed to the home He was staying in to hear and see this man. The people crowded to Him. They filled the small house, and they gathered around the doors and windows until there was no more room.

The friends of a man desperately in need of healing were not put off by this, however, using the roof as a means of getting the paralysed man to Jesus. Jesus, seeing their faith, surprised everyone by initially talking about sins forgiven, which He then went on to demonstrate through physical healing. All must have been amazed and stunned by this miracle, and we can take great comfort from the fact that Jesus is still in the business of forgiving sins and healing our infirmities. So often, we judge or condemn people for their conditions (like the scribes and the Pharisees), but what we really need are good friends who will bring us to Jesus, who will see beyond our conditions to love us as God does.

The  man himself was helpless to help himself, but he placed his faith in Jesus. He braved the humiliation of the crowd. He gave up any pride that was left and allowed his friends to carry him to Jesus.

His friends were faithful, determined, ingenious and flexible enough not to be put off by adverse circumstances. We need to be friends like that, for the world is full of people who are desperate and in need of the unconditional love and help of Jesus.

Nineteen of us gathered last night to watch ‘The Jungle Book’ and enjoy chip butties and cake after the film!

Our thanks to Alex at Fishfella’s for supplying the chips and for those who helped throughout the day and evening.

One of the metaphors for Christians in the Bible is that we are pilgrims ‘on a journey to reach our home’ (‘Children of God’, Phil Wickham). We had pilgrim footprints leading to different places in the church building so that we could find the answers to a variety of questions about our particular church.

From this, people found out that the first meeting of our church on Market Street was on 6th June 2010, with the official opening being on 3rd July 2010. They learned that the date on the stone outside the building is 1960 and counted the number of windows in the community room and the number of crosses in the Worship Room. We also learned that the parish church is celebrating its centenary this year and that the next ‘Churches Together’ meeting will be on 17th September at our church!

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: