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.

Ralph preached last night on 1 Cor 1:18, looking at the word of the cross. The cross, now a symbol of Christianity and used in ornate jewellery, was not originally something beautiful but the place of execution. Nonetheless, the cross reveals to us the heart of God, for there we see:

(1) God’s word concerning holiness and sin
The cross reveals the vileness of sin (see John 8:34) and the holiness of God. It reveals the cosmic battle between good and evil, where Satan thought to triumph over Christ (see Acts 2:23), but where in fact God’s purposes for salvation were worked out.

(2) God’s word concerning love and sacrifice
There is a difference between contribution and sacrifice (the hen contributes an egg, the pig gives his life to provide bacon!) God knew that the death of Christ was the only way to save mankind (see Acts 4:12) and the cross shows us God’s love for man (John 3:16, Eph 5:2)

(3) God’s word concerning righteousness and peace
The sacrifice Christ made was to God, a sacrifice which destroyed the dividing wall between man and God and brought reconciliation (see Eph 2). Righteousness and peace kiss each other at the cross (see Ps 85:10).

(4) God’s word concerning salvation and peace
The cross is the power of God for salvation. Just as the blood of lambs was necessary for the Israelites to know escape from the bondage of Egypt, so we too need the blood of Christ to cleanse us from sin and to bring us salvation.

Last week we had a birthday to celebrate:

We also caught up with a birthday girl who was on holiday on the actual date of her birthday (there’s no escape!)

Then we had two birthdays to anticipate in the week to come:

We wish everybody a very happy birthday!

Having told you about the gold postbox in Onchan (painted to celebrate Peter Kennaugh’s gold medal in the cycling pursuit BBC News of Peter Kennaugh), it’s time to update you on Igor’s adventures in the Isle of Man.

Igor, you remember, is the (plastic) iguana bought by Mark for Garry’s birthday. (‘Joy?’) He was very surprised to see a red postbox change colour and wondered how this could possibly be camouflage…so he went to investigate:

He also had fun investigating the greenery right at the south of the island:

There was plenty of greenery in Laxey too:

Mind you, there was also an intriguing piece of Victorian engineering in Laxey to explore as well:

All in all, an interesting holiday…!