Tonight’s family service took the theme of ‘Clouds’, but these days that clearly evokes images of ‘the Cloud‘, a computing term. So our quiz started with a would-be iPhone:

Teams had to choose one of the icons for a variety of different questions, matching Bible characters to Bible quotes:

… or acting out Bible charades which had references to clouds:

The ‘Music’ game involved recognising hymns which have references to clouds (‘It Is Well’, ‘These Are the Days of Elijah’) and the ‘Calculator’ game was like a version of Countdown, whilst teams also had to recognise different types of clouds and answer questions about clouds!

As usual, there were prizes to be won:

We also celebrated Dave’s birthday in advance (being on holiday does not count as a valid excuse…)

Dave spoke this morning from Luke 24:49 as we celebrated (in advance, since he is away next weekend!) Pentecost, the birthday of the church!

Jesus had spoken extensively to His disciples about the Holy Spirit (John 14-16) and after the Resurrection told them to wait in Jerusalem until they had been clothed in power from the Holy Spirit. The disciples obeyed Him, spending time in prayer and waiting on God in the Upper Room before the Day of Pentecost (10 days after the ascension) when the Holy Spirit came on them like a rushing wind and with what seemed like tongues of fire settling on them. (Acts 1-2) God’s glorious presence in this form was the fulfilment of many prophecies.

The Holy Spirit has frequently been likened to wind (see Ezekiel 37 when the breath/wind of God entered the dry bones and caused them to come alive and Job 38, when God speaks to Job from a whirlwind, or John 3, when Jesus likes the Spirit to the wind which blows wherever it wants) and to fire (God speaking to Moses from the burning bush or leading the Israelites from the pillar of fire by night, for example.) The people saw with their own eyes God’s signs of His presence and knew God was with them, all 120 of them being filled with the Spirit. Pentecost, that ancient festival which had come to represent the anniversary of the giving of the Law, was the day God chose to pour out His Spirit and write His new law on hearts of flesh.

Churches which welcome the Holy Spirit will know the ability to speak in other tongues (as prophesied by Jesus in Mark 16:17), enabling us to communicate directly with God and will have the ability to witness, for the Holy Spirit is given not for our personal enjoyment but to give us the power to witness to God. They will also see the miraculous at work, as the early church did (Peter and being involved in miracles of healing and deliverance, for example.)

We see from this that the Spirit-filled life is essential (not optional) and the Holy Spirit is available to us all, for all time. The church cannot function without the Holy Spirit, but with the Holy Spirit, nothing can stop the church!

Not surprisingly since June is a month of celebration, our thoughts in prayer are turned towards growth and outreach and in particular we need to pray for the refurbishment plans. We are looking at writing a funding application for the refurbishment of the community rooms as part of our ongoing desire to serve our local community, reflecting our belief that as a church we are ‘with God in the community, with God for the community.’ Please pray that God will:

• enable us to know what to include in the application which will benefit our community the most
• help us to gain the practical information needed to write the application
• give us unity in considering all the ideas and suggestions made
• give us favour with funders and help us to receive the financial assistance required to carry out these ideas
• help us to rely on Him for all growth and development in the church
• use us to reach out to the whole community so that many will come to know Him
• give us spiritual discernment and wisdom in all we do

We are looking for all church members and all who use our building to give us their suggestions and ideas for refurbishment and during the Big Birthday Bash, we will be seeking to consult with the wider community about what is needed in Goldthorpe and how we can best be an effective and useful community building. Please take time during June to pray about these things, for we seek God’s mind in everything and we know that He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine! (Eph 3:20-21) He is able to plant dreams in people’s hearts and to bring to pass the desires and longings He has already planted. Whatever we do, we long to do with His strength and favour, and so the most important thing we can do by far is to pray.

Headline news – either in the newspaper or on the TV news – tends to be depressing. The main items of news often involve political problems, international disasters (either natural or man-made), national crises, weather crises or some other disaster that is rarely uplifting.

Psalm 145 is a psalm of praise. The Message version translates verse 6 as ‘Your marvellous doings are headline news.’ What a difference it makes if we stop to consider all God does and allow that to shape our understanding not only of the news but of the world. The psalm looks at who God is (‘great is the Lord and most worthy of praise’) and talks of His wonderful works. It reminds us of God’s character (‘gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love,’ a God who is good to all and whose actions are ‘suffused with grace.’) It reminds us of the trustworthiness of God and His righteousness and faithfulness. We belong to an everlasting kingdom which will not be toppled or brought down like so many of the world’s regimes, giving us another reason for confidence even in difficult times. God is near to all who call on Him in truth and fulfils the desires of those who fear Him. When we reflect on psalms like this, we gain a whole new understanding of the world and learn to see it through God’s eyes, rather than being filled with trepidation or fear.

Next month will see our church celebrate fifty years of owning buildings in Goldthorpe, for we moved into our own building on Beever Street in 1964  before moving to our present location on Market Street in 2010. Prior to that, the church met in rented accommodation (an ‘upper room’ on the main road in Goldthorpe.) Fifty years of God’s faithfulness to us to celebrate! Ps 145:4 says ‘Generation after generation stands in awe of your work;each one tells stories of your mighty acts.‘ This is the testimony of each generation of God’s people. We stand in awe of His work and tell others the stories of what He has done for us. Salvation is a personal story which we rejoice in sharing with others.

Next month we will be celebrating the church’s Jubilee through our ‘Big Birthday Bash’, a weekend of special meetings and activities held on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd June. Come along to take part in craft activities focussing on the names of God, have refreshments, look at photos of ‘Goldthorpe Then And Now’ and simply hear what God has been doing in our lives over these past fifty years. The Open Day will run from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on the Saturday and in the evening at 7 p.m. we will hold a special celebration meeting so that we can ‘tell stories of God’s mighty acts.’ On the Sunday, meetings will be at 10.30 a.m. when we celebrate not only our Jubilee, but the fact that God’s plan of salvation was made before the foundation of the world and we are invited to join in His great story and at 6 p.m. we will host a family service of celebration and thanksgiving. Do come along! These meetings may or may not make the local news, but we are convinced that God is working in our local community for His glory and that He still has many mighty acts for us to witness.

Dave spoke from Matt 21:23-32 last night, beginning by reminding us that parables are often misunderstood with too much focus on the form of the story, when what really matters is the underlying meaning the story illustrates. Jesus used everyday scenes – farmers sowing seed, a father with two sons, a lost coin – to gain his listeners’ attention, but the real message of the parable goes further than the action of the story would imply.

The scene here shows us people questioning the authority of Jesus and how Jesus uses this as the launch pad to discuss obedience and repentance. 1 John 1:8-9 makes it abundantly clear that no one is without sin (something the self-righteous Pharisees would have done well to consider) and shows us how to deal with sin – through confession and repentance. The theme of repentance runs throughout the New Testament. John the Baptist came preaching a baptism of repentance (Mk 1:4). Jesus Himself preached about repentance. (Matt 1:15) His disciples were sent out to preach the same message (Mk 6:12) and Peter’s famous sermon in Acts 2 after Pentecost spoke of the need to ‘repent and be baptised.’ Paul urged people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). Repentance is the gate by which we must enter the Christian life. All begin this way.

Just as problems with the birth process can have serious repercussions on a baby, so a failure to understand the true nature of repentance can cause problems for us as Christians. Repentance is vital and central to Christian health. Even in parables which focus on God’s love (as with the parable of the Prodigal Son), the son had to repent and return to his father before he could receive that love.

Repentance is more than being sorry or feeling sorry. It is not about carrying anguished guilt for ever. It involves a change of mind, a confession of wrong and a change of actions. The first step is to understand that the path on which we are travelling is the wrong path and will not lead to our desired destination. Then we have to admit that we are wrong and this can be very difficult. Even that is not the final stage, however, for we have to actually change our actions. In the parable, the first son initially refused to do what he was asked to do and the second son willingly agreed to do it. Nonetheless, the first son changed his mind and went on to actually obey, while the second son did not marry actions to words. Jesus reminded us that the work God requires is to the believe in the One He sent. (John 6:29) This is our goal – whether we come from a church background initially or not. After all, the Pharisees are probably the most religious people in hell; being ‘religious’ is not enough to save us. All of us, no matter what our backgrounds, enter the Christian life through repentance and each time we sin, we have to repent and turn away from that sin. Repentance is vital to our ongoing growth.

Dave spoke about a parable last night and reminded us that Jesus used everyday stories to gain the attention of his listeners; nowadays, he remarked, these are called ‘sermon illustrations’!

Funnily enough, I had been thinking of this since the morning sermon, because the previous day I had watched a 2012 Clint Eastwood film called ‘Trouble with the Curve’ which illustrated perfectly the issues concerning intimacy on which I had preached.

Clint Eastwood, doyen of Westerns, has matured into a thought-provoking director. I’ve loved most of his more recent films (‘Gran Turino’, a parable of meekness, and ‘Unforgiven’, for example, both of which illustrate Christian themes in beautifully written stories, the perfect example of tackling difficult issues obliquely in order to provoke contemplation and discussion.) The synopsis of the film (a sports drama about an ageing baseball scout and his daughter) did not sound overly promising, for I know nothing about baseball and care even less. However, on the basis of Clint Eastwood’s reputation and the strength of the rest of the cast (Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake and John Goodman), I was prepared to watch.

The film, ultimately, is not really about baseball. It’s not really about how to spot talent or about the game, though you undoubtedly learn about baseball from it! It’s actually about the difficult and complicated relationship between the main character, Gus, and his daughter, Mickey (named after his favourite baseball player) and about how this grizzly old man has always had difficulty with intimacy. Following the death of his wife when Mickey was just six, Gus has not been able to cope with his own loss, nor with the responsibility of bringing his daughter up; he has never been able to talk about his feelings, and his actions, meant for good, have nonetheless led to her growing alienation and yet also to her desperation to please him. The tensions of this relationship, how this has meant Mickey is reluctant to enter into other relationships because she fears similar rejection from others, and how old age and illness (prostate problems and macular degeneration are issues here) finally bring the two together for long enough to talk form the real focus of the film. Clint Eastwood plays the character of a grumpy old man with such skill you wonder how much is acting and how much is his own personality, always the reflection of a skilled actor! The difficulties of real relationships are interwoven throughout the action of the film in such a way that anyone who has ever struggled to communicate honestly in a relationship can identify with the characters. The film is perhaps predictable, but there is an underlying sense of honesty about the difficulties of intimacy which resonates, and as with all parables, it is the real theme which lingers. I have already forgotten most of the baseball facts in the film; I will not easily forget the astonishment when Gus realises that his daughter has completely misinterpreted his motives and feels rejected as a result.