We had two birthdays to celebrate last night:

Kevin preached from Matthew 14:13-33 last night, the account of the feeding of the five thousand and when Jesus (and Peter) walked on water.

The example of Peter shows us a warm-hearted, impulsive fisherman who could at times be presumptuous, and even, perhaps, a little cowardly.

The example of the boy who shared his food with the disciples and ultimately helped with one of Jesus’s miracles shows us a well-loved lad (he had a packed lunch, lovingly prepared for him) who was big-hearted and generous. He was willing to share and because of that he played a vital part in the feeding of so many. What can Jesus do if we are willing to share our time, our talents, our money, our life with Him?

The example of Jesus, of course, teaches us so much. These incidents follow on from the death of John the Baptist, and Jesus has gone to be alone. Followed by a great crowd, he has compassion on the crowd. He does not put His own needs before theirs, but constantly seeks to be with His Father in prayer. As has been said, “if we spent as much time in prayer as we do watching the news, maybe we could change the news.” Jesus sought His Father’s face and from those times of prayer, reached out to others in ministry.

The disciples, caught up in a storm, needed help. The help Jesus offered to them was immediate. He did not leave them in fear, but reassured them. Peter walked on the water, keeping his eyes on Jesus and was confident, but once he looked away, he began to sink and needed help: ‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out to help him. The ultimate example we have from Jesus is that He is always, immediately, there with us, truly Immanuel.

Mark spoke from 1 Pet 2:9-10 this morning, looking especially at the phrase ‘we are a chosen people’.

Knowing our identity in Christ and our purpose in God is vitally important. People often spend a great deal of time answering the question ‘Who Am I?’ Finding one’s ancestors can often reveal unexpected facts (sometimes with skeletons in the closet!) – apparently one of Diane’s relatives was recorded in the electoral roll as being an ‘imbecile’ or ‘village idiot’!

We don’t have to be conditioned by our ancestral history, however. What the Bible teaches us is that God has chosen us. ‘Chosen’ comes from two Greek words, meaning ‘out of’ and ‘to fit together’. We have been chosen individually by God from all the people in our generation, chosen before even the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight (Eph 1:4), to serve Him and make His light known. Paul told the Galatians he had been set apart from birth and was called by God’s grace (Gal 1:15). We are chosen, special, hand picked by God and however much we may wonder why, the fact remains that God is the Creator who can make us all useful! We may not be the most intelligent or the most amazing people (see 1 Cor 1:26-27), but God nonetheless has chosen us and as a result of this, we have an obligation to live well for God, making the most of every opportunity (Eph 5:16)

Matt Redman echoes this verse in his song ‘The Glory of Our King’:
‘We are, we are a chosen people,
We are, we are called to follow,
We are, we are Your generation.’ (Matt Redman, ‘The Glory of Our King’)
‘The Glory of Our King’, Matt Redman

Rainbows are the sign God gave Noah and his descendants of the covenant He made not to flood the earth again: “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” (Gen 9:12-16) Because of this, I always love to see rainbows. They are a vivid visual reminder of the faithfulness of God.

Tonight we saw a wonderful rainbow in Goldthorpe:

Mark & the rainbow:

Holidays are good opportunities to pause and reflect on the magnificence of God, often because we have the chance to see different parts of the world and can marvel anew at the wonder and splendour of God’s creation.

The Isle of Man certainly had some very beautiful scenery that helped us to reflect on God as Creator.

The sun glistening on the sea with craggy rocks at the south of the island:

Sulby reservoir, viewed from the hills on a train journey to the summit of Snaefell, tallest mountain on the island

View from the top of Snaefell

View over the Irish Sea from Peel Castle

We really could join with Matt Redman and sing ‘Magnificent’:
You show Your majesty
In every star that shines
And every time we breathe
Your glory, God, revealed
From distant galaxies
To here beneath our skin (Matt Redman, ‘Magnificent’)
Matt Redman, ‘Magnificent’

God is a creator God and we are made in His image. Creativity (the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work) is very much part of what it means to be human, even if we don’t always feel particularly creative.

I have been involved in fund-raising for different charities and organisations for a very long time and one of the challenges of fund-raising is finding different ways of doing the same thing (i.e. raising funds!) People tend to get bored with one thing and enjoy diversity, so the imagination is often closely allied to the practical when it comes to raising money.

On holiday recently we stumbled across an exhibition in a community centre which was aimed at raising funds for a small church in Jurby. Jean Tucker is obviously a very creative lady, for she has made a whole range of stuffed mice in tableaux depicting life throughout the whole year and has even written a song called ‘The Jurby Polka’. You can find out more about this here: ‘The Jurby Polka’. I suspect this has to be one of the most creative ways of fund-raising I’ve ever come across and it certainly gives new meaning to the phrase ‘poor as church mice’!

At the end of the tableaux, ‘Jacob’s Junction’ can be found:

Each scene has a short poem attached to it:

The tableau shows us heaven and hell:

I’m not sure if senior citizens get to the Pearly Gates free simply by virtue of their age, as is implied here (theologically, I’m glad none of us have to pay to get into heaven!), but nonetheless, the exhibition was a marvellous example of creativity and good fun. From mice playing in the snow to dancing around the maypole to celebrating the Diamond Jubilee by dancing the Jurby polka, it was amazing to see the hard work and talent of a lady who clearly has found a novel and entertaining way of raising funds.