Today’s morning service is at Cherry Tree Court, starting at 10.30 a.m. Come along to bless the residents of this housing scheme and to be part of our work in the community. Cherry Tree Court is situated just off the main road in Highgate (turn down the road marked ‘Saltersbrook.‘)

Don’t forget the church Information Evening on Saturday 28th February, starting at 6 p.m. This is a time for learning more about everything the church is involved in as well as looking ahead to the future, so it’s important that people come along and find out more! We’ll be having coffee and cake after the meeting, which probably won’t be suitable for small children.

The Women’s World Day of Prayer is coming up soon on Friday 6th March. This year, it will be held at St Peter’s Church in Barnburgh and is based on John 13:1-17, a service written by Christian women from the Bahamas. Further details will be available after the planning meeting tomorrow, but it is always good to support this interdenominational event and to participate in prayer for the whole world.

The Salvation Army food bank needs UHT milk and tinned vegetables in particular at the moment, so if you can help with these needs, please bring items to church and we will pass them on.

Culture has been defined as ‘the way we do things round here.’ It’s evident in our families, though we often don’t realise it until we meet other families and see that not everyone does things the way our family does! (This is one reason marriage is such a challenge, for it’s the clash of cultures as much as personalities which forces us to re-evaluate why we do the things we do.) It’s evident in our workplaces (though again, it often takes an outsider to notice the strange things that are done which seem perfectly normal to us until they’re pointed out to us.) It’s evident in our churches (where we ‘come round the Communion table’ even though we don’t normally move from our seats or where we ‘take an offering’, even though we actually give money voluntarily…!) It’s evident in our society, where we don’t have to explain shared values and beliefs, because we all know where they come from (though quite often, we may not…!)

Culture is not itself sinful; there’s no particular sin in dunking croissants into bowls of coffee (as they do in France) or eating raw fish (as they do in Japan), even though we may feel squeamish at the thought (neither of those things being part of British culture.) But ‘the way we do things round here‘ is not of itself a good enough reason to motivate our behaviour.

Beliefs mould behaviour. We need to explore the beliefs which lie behind all behaviour to ensure that we are not mindlessly influenced by our cultures. We are not to be squeezed into the world’s mould, but are to let God re-mould our minds. (Rom 12:2, J. B. Phillips) We don’t have to join in the office gossip just because that’s what everyone else does, because we know that God doesn’t want unwholesome talk to come out of our mouths. (Eph 4:29) We don’t have to avoid certain people because others do, because we know that God has no favourites and loves all people. (James 2:1-4) We don’t have to live with a partner before marriage, even though everyone else may seem to do that, because we know that our bodies are designed by God and for God and that He made us for purity and holiness. (1 Cor 6:13,18) We don’t have to defraud people, even though this is the norm in our workplace, because we know God values honesty and integrity. (Prov16:11)

Moulding culture is not easy. But I can remember when I first moved into this area asking about recycling sites and being told that ‘no one in your area cares about recycling.’ I felt puzzled, since clearly one person cared (why else was I asking?!) It took many years before there was any visible proof of this, but when BMBC sent out leaflets to all households in the area explaining about different recycling bins, I had to smile. Now everyone in the area had to care about recycling!

I don’t for one moment claim to have been the one who influenced the local Council to start recycling. But the saying ‘the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’ remains true. As God challenges us from His Word, as we become aware of ‘the way we do things round here’ and find differences between that way and Jesus’ Way, let’s be unafraid to stand for Him and to allow His way of doing things to motivate and mould everything we do.

Last night a group of us from church went to the Worship Central #100Gatherings event in Sheffield:

The aim was to hold 100 different prayer & worship meetings in 100 different worldwide locations over 10 days, and Sheffield (hosted by St Thomas Crookes church, which runs the ‘Worship Central Academy’ in the north, an opportunity for people to spend a year learning about leading worship and serving the church) was one of the last venues to host this event.

It was a time of offering our songs and prayers to God, prayer for our local churches and leaders, and waiting on God. Tim Hughes (who heads the Worship Central team) reminded us through a video of the consecration of Solomon’s temple and how the tangible presence of God made all the difference to the Israelites. Jesus is our ‘magnificent obsession’ and must be at the centre of all we do; as we make our ‘one thing’ the worship and adoration of Jesus, then our world is changed by His presence and power.

The ‘official’ group photo, taken by Nick Law (Worship Leader at St Thomas Crookes), can be seen here. I’m sure you can spot some of us on that one!

For those of you who enjoy online worship and teaching, the final 2 sessions from Passion 2015 at Houston are still available (today only) to watch here.

Mark spoke about love’s first kiss revealing love’s true form at the family service last night. Based on the ‘Shrek’ films, he recounted how Princess Fiona was cursed, so that by daytime she was a beautiful princess, but at night became a red-haired ogress, with the curse only being broken by love’s true kiss.

Shrek the ogre seemed an unlikely hero and rescuer, but they fell in love and their first kiss revealed her true form… only to discover that her true form is actually that of an ogress, not the beauty she had imagined would be hers. Fundamentally, the story turns traditional fairytales on their head, reminding us that inner beauty counts for far more than outward appearances and that true love does not always look like we think it should.

Luke 15:11-32 tells the story of God’s amazing love for mankind, represented by a father’s love for his wayward son and the kiss he bestows on him when he finally returns home. John 3:16 reminds us of God’s great love for us all and how God gave His only Son to remove the curse of sin and death, so that we are transformed from the inside out. Love’s true form may not make us look any different on the outside, but God changes our hearts and plants His love within us, for He is love (see 1 John 4:7-8). He  enables us to manifest His love to others (see John 13:34-35), revealing love’s true form in us because Jesus is God’s first kiss on our lives.

Last night’s family service looked at the ‘Shrek’ films to discuss the topic of ‘True Love’, which is definitely not just for fairytales!

Garry devised a quiz on Shrek (and on other green things…) which was combined with a game of Jenga with a twist. The twist was that you had to dress up in hat, scarf, arm warmers, spectacles and gloves before you could remove the Jenga block, since ogres are like onions… ‘they have layers!’

Garry explaining the game:

Everyone listening to instructions:

Taking part in the game:

After that, we had a Karaoke version of ‘I’m A Believer‘:

We also had a birthday to celebrate!