Many of you may be wondering about Igor, the church mascot. As an iguana (albeit of the plastic variety), Igor does not enjoy winter, preferring the sunshine and warmth of summer (in this he strongly resembles Garry, whose antipathy to frost and ice is largely founded on the fact these prevent him from riding his motorbike!) He is, however, struggling in other ways too, having been wounded through wear and tear (like so many of us…) Garry has been performing repairs on him, however, which hopefully will mean he can go on new outings in the spring!

When I was at school, I had a loathing of athletics. The summer term was always a nightmare for me: heavy-eyed from hay fever, I would have to tackle each of the main athletics’ events and discover I had an aptitude for none of them. Sprinting and long-distance running left me panting… and last. Throwing items (discus, javelin and shot put) left me humiliated as my ability to hurl things in the distance made ‘distance’ a risible term. Long jump with short legs was a farce; high jump with short legs was even more of a tribulation.

But by far the worst event for me was the hurdles. Long-legged, tall, willowy girls raced over these with effortless ease: one, two, three, jump; one, two, three, jump. To me, those hurdles were very nearly as high as the high jump bar. I couldn’t get into any rhythm of striding and then had to surmount the hurdle – which to me was more like a mountain. Years later, when I watched Jessica Ennis at the 2012 Olympics, I was filled with awe at the grace, strength and power she displayed in the 100 m hurdles, breaking the world record in a time of 12.54 seconds. I knew I couldn’t even glide over one hurdle, let alone complete a race!

Hurdles, to many, are simply inconvenient ‘blips’, an added challenge to a race they enjoy. To me, for whom running is about as enjoyable as sticking pins into my flesh anyway, hurdles are a thing which make me want to lie down and cry. Whoever thought of combining the two things was a merciless sadist, as far as I’m concerned.

And yet, with the benefit of wisdom, I see that hurdles are a metaphor for life. The Bible likens life to a race (Heb 12:1-3, 1 Cor 9:24-27) and reminds us that there are challenges and obstacles to be overcome (Jn 16:33, James 1:1-3). We often wonder why God doesn’t simply remove the trials, but He is interested in developing perseverance and character in us which are only forged through the difficulties.

When Jesus’s friend Lazarus was ill, his sisters notified Jesus immediately (Jn 11:1-3). Jesus declared, ‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory, so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.’ (Jn 11:4) The Bible is explicit in telling us of Jesus’s love for this family (Jn 11:5)… and yet He stayed where He was for another two days, and Lazarus died in the meantime. (Jn 11:6-16).

We know from the rest of the chapter how the story ends – with the great miracle of Lazarus’s resuscitation from the dead and a demonstration of Jesus’s great power over death. ‘All’s well that ends well‘, we might think. But at the time, both Martha and Mary were devastated at that delay. Hadn’t they called on Jesus for help? They knew if Jesus had been there, their brother would not have died (Jn 11:21,32), so they had to face the hurdle of confusion, uncertainty, maybe even doubt and resentment.

Jesus doesn’t always do what we want Him to do when we want Him to do it. And if we are honest, that is a hurdle every bit as high as a high jump bar. But Jn 11 teaches us that God’s glory surmounts the highest hurdle life can throw at us and in order to see God’s glory, we may well have to hold on through many obstacles and hurdles which leave us in confusion, uncertainty, doubt, resentment and bitterness.

I never learnt to soar above hurdles. I’ve clattered through more, grazing knees, bruising legs, than I care to remember, and in doing so have never won a hurdles’ race in my life. But I learnt that finishing still earned my team points and that there was no rule which said it didn’t count if I knocked the hurdle down. We may not soar over the hurdles and finish in record-breaking times, but as we learn to trust God through His ‘delays’ and ‘mistimings’, as we learn to trust Him when things don’t go the way we expected (‘when my life is not what I expected, when the plans I’ve made have failed’, as Kutless sing), we find ourselves on the other side of the hurdles and God’s glory shines through.

We had charades to act out and guess:

… and a game of pass-the-parcel rendered more difficult by having to wear gloves, with forfeits including having to waltz around and do Christmas raps!

All in all, it was a great afternoon and evening, and a lovely way to start the New Year!

As usual, we celebrated New Year’s Day by having a party. As with most parties, there was plenty of food:

… and plenty of chat.

There was a quiz on 2016 to do:

  … with the winners triumphant:

There were also silly games to play, like musical statues (with a twist that when the music stopped, the couple had to stand still in a plastic bag…!)

… and a game when you had to be either a Christmas tree, Santa or Rudolph when the music stopped:

A lot of fun as usual!

We had birthdays to celebrate today!

One was from yesterday:

Another was actually today!

We also enjoyed singing to our newest church member, born on Christmas Eve.

Dave spoke this morning from Josh 3:1-6, reminding us that we need to enter the New Year with faith and keep on believing in order to enter into all that God has for us. Josh 3:4 tells us  we have to keep our eyes on God in order to know which way to go, ‘since you have never been this way before.’ There are new things for us to learn and new promises to claim this year!

In order to move ahead, we must:

1. be willing to wait on God – always a hard thing to do, but necessary for us to come to the end of ourselves so that we see God move in miraculous ways. The Israelites had to wait 3 days at the banks of the River Jordan, waiting for Joshua’s command. The disciples had to wait for nearly 6 weeks before they were clothed with power from on high. God’s power is revealed to us, but often, there is a waiting period before we see Him move in miraculous ways.
2. follow God wholeheartedly. Previously they had followed the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, but now the ark of the covenant became the symbol for them to move. The ark was the symbol of God’s presence, reminding the people that they had to keep their eyes on God. We have to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, following Him as our example and high priest.
3. consecrate oursselves, setting ourselves apart for God. Consecration was often associated with ritual cleansing and changing clothes, with the new beginnings that God brings. We have to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility and love (Col 3:9-10), putting off the old self and putting on His righteousness. God calls us to holiness, purity and a life free from sin.

Josh 3:1-6 reminds us that new territory lies ahead. We can be confident that God will be with us. We don’t have to look at the depth of the Jordan but at the length, height, depth and breadth of God’s love.