Dave led the Bible study on Thursday, looking at James 1:26-27.

The end of chapter 1 talks about religion and the religious. It highlights the sin of rash speech (which James will develop further in chapter 3), urging us to keep a rein on our tongues (see Ps 34:13, Ps 39:1). Trials and pressures often force rash speech from us, so we need to take care not only with what we say, but how we say it.

When we think about religion, we often lay on it our traditions and patterns and ways of doing things. 1 Sam 15:1-22 reminds us that doing is not always correct; Saul was more concerned with doing what he thought was needed to be done rather than with obeying what was important. Religion is often more concerned with doing than being; it lays a lot of importance on the outward form, whereas God works ‘from the inside out.’ (See also Matt 5:18-19) The law is not the problem; the law is a guide, not the actual purpose (Matt 5:17).

Outward conformity to the law can actually lead us astray, as the Pharisees so often demonstrated. If people don’t do things our way, we often condemn them with our tongues.

Verse 27 defines what ‘pure religion’ is (see Deut 10:18, Is 1:16-17). God as ‘Father’ looks after people; the command is that we should be like God, and therefore we should do the same. Christianity has always been defined as a caring religion. Prov 14:31 reminds us that those who are kind to the needy honour God; Ps 113:7-9 gives us a glimpse into the tender heart of God which we should emulate. God enables us to live in freedom from the pollution of the world system and ideologies (2 Pet 1:4, 2 Pet 3:14, Titus 2:12). Peer pressure exists for us all (not just for teenagers, as Rom 12:2 makes clear), but we must resist the pressure to conform to the world’s systems (1 John 5:18-19). It is unfortunately too easy to compromise (1 John 2:15-17), but this kind of compromise inevitably leads to great harm.

If the whole world is in God’s hands, what are those hands like? This was the question that Mark tackled at the family service last night.

God’s hands created the universe. They made the deep places and the high places.

God’s hands created the sun, moon and stars. He not only created our complex universe, but sustains it exactly so that we can continue to live on this amazing planet.

God is King over all the universe. He sets kings in place and can topple kingdoms. Humans think they are in control of this planet, but God is the real King!

God’s hands hold us. Our very times are in His hands.

God’s hands bring salvation, revival and restoration, but we have to choose His ways over our own.

God is the ruler of all, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is working all things together for good in our lives.

We finished by listening to the J. J. Heller song ‘Your Hands’:
“When my world is shaking,
Heaven stands.
When my heart is breaking,
I never leave Your hands.” (J.J. Heller, ‘Your Hands’)
‘Your Hands’, J. J. Heller

The family service for the anniversary weekend had a quiz about traditional clothes from around the world. We had to identify the countries represented by the following photos:

There were ten photos in all to identify and the winning team scored six points, so we obviously didn’t find this quiz easy!

Answers?
1. Germany
2. Japan
3. Russia
4. Africa
5. India
6. Iceland
7. Argentina

The whole theme of the anniversary weekend has been ‘He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.’ Stephen’s sermon on Sunday morning had a startling take on this theme. He sat at the front and apparently went to sleep!

He then spoke from Mark 16:15-20, talking about how Jesus appeared to His disciples after the Resurrection.

If God is in charge of our world, in control of everything that happens to us and is looking after all of His creation, then there is no need for us to worry or fret or spend so much time trying to make things work out the way we want them to. Jesus told His disciples that worrying could not make them grow an inch or add a year to their lives. Worry is pointless and undermines the faith we profess to have in God. We need to learn to live out what we believe and rest in God’s sovereignty and control, for His unfailing love is reliable and steadfast and His power is unlimited. Being content in God’s sovereignty doesn’t absolve us from responsibility, however. These verses give us a command, to go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. We have a responsibility, as Adam did, to tend the wonderful world we live in and to spread the good news wherever we go. God is in control! He’s got everything in His hands.

Prizes were distributed to the winners of the globe competition (in reverse order):

Don’t forget today’s services at 10.30 a.m. and the family service at 6 p.m.

As at Easter, we decided to hold a family film night in the evening to encourage all those who had come to the craft activities to return to find out the winners from each competition and to have fun together. We had 72 people come to this event.

We watched the film ‘Cloudy with a chance of meatballs’, a children’s film released in 2010 about an inventor, Flint Lockwood, who makes a machine that can make food fall from the clouds, thus giving his small, sardine-based town a new lease of life. The animated film looks at important themes of identity (Flint and the weather forecast girl Sam Sparks are hugely intelligent, but often feel mocked by others because they are ‘different’), gluttony and greed and helps us to reflect on the demandingness and selfishness of modern society, all wrapped up in great action and adventure!

After the film, willing workers from church provided a supper of meatballs and pasta to anyone who wanted to stay behind:

It was a great end to a fantastic day!