Today’s song comes from the Sinatra family! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5x4dSD_Vb8

Today’s charity is Compassionart http://www.compassionart.tv/

As someone involved with the musical life of the church and a passionate believer that worship is the very breath of our lives, this charity is very dear to my heart. Compassionart is “a charity that joins the dots between art and poverty.” It raises money to help breathe life into the poorest communities, restoring hope and igniting justice. It started with the belief that music really ought to be able to sit well with justice and involved a host of Christian artists (starting with Martin Smith from Delirious) creating music and using all the proceeds from album sales and royalty cheques to support those working among the world’s poorest communities. 12 songwriters from the world of Christian music went to Scotland for a week in January 2008 and wrote 22 songs, which were sold to raise money for a host of projects. An orphanage in China, community healthcare training in the Philippines, helping children who find themselves caught up in the crime and gun culture on the streets of South Africa, a children’s home in Kenya and helping ex-offenders in the UK are some of the projects supported from this. Every time we sing ‘King of Wonders’, we are supporting these projects! You can read the full update on projects at: http://www.compassionart.tv/changing/news/news_20100831.aspx

Wisdom requires commitment and effort; it’s not something that can be purchased in a shop or easily handled. Prov 2:2 tells us ”Tune your ears to the world of wisdom; set your heart on a life of understanding.”

We live in a world of instant gratification, where we don’t like to wait. That’s partly why credit cards are so popular, because they allow us instant access to what we desire. Unfortunately, this kind of attitude doesn’t translate well to the world of spiritual growth, which cannot be rushed or hurried and certainly cannot be bought. It takes time and effort to grow in God. We are urged to make insight our priority and the image is that of a prospector panning for gold or treasure (Prov 2:4) .That image conjures up in my mind the old films where the cowboys start looking for gold with their gold pans and tiny nuggets of gold can make their fortune. So it is with us.
Looking for wisdom requires the painstaking effort of searching through all life has to offer to find those nuggets of gold: common sense, insight, knowledge, understanding – all things that are under-rated in the world but valued and highly prized by God. Candour, honesty and integrity are the things that we should prize and should be aiming for in life.

The other image which features in Proverbs 2 and which is set to recur in the book is that of life as a journey or road to be navigated. Wisdom helps us to understand what is ‘right and just and fair – every good path’ (Prov 2:9) and we can then choose to walk on the right path (as Jesus taught His disciples, ‘small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.’ (Matt 7:14) and ‘lead us not into temptation’ (Matt 6:13).) Proverbs is a very practical book and warns of the pitfalls that are there in life (the adulteress is mentioned in Proverbs 2 and countless other temptations will be found along the way as we progress through this book.) The writer wants us to be wise so that we can avoid the pitfalls (think of the potholes in the roads last winter after the snow and how hard it was to drive on those roads and you get a fair idea of how difficult it can be to navigate life!) and live lives that are honouring to God.

A funny version from Donny Osmond (do any of you remember the original?!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5BPRJPtQa

Today’s charity is Care For the Family
http://www.careforthefamily.org.uk

Care for the Family is a national charity which aims to promote strong family life and to help those who face family difficulties. They are involved in strengthening marriages, supporting parents and helping the bereaved, which they do through events, resources, training and networks of befrienders. Their ministry is headed by Rob Parsons who has written excellent books such as ‘The Sixty Minute Father’, ‘The Sixty Minute Marriage’, ‘Teenagers! What every parent needs to know’, ‘Getting Your Kids Through Church Without Them Hating God’ and many others. These books are easy to read, very accessible and funny, but offer a wealth of practical advice.

This charity works tirelessly to help strengthen the family. They provide holidays for single parents who might otherwise not be able to afford such things; they help those who have suffered bereavement (either the loss of a partner or a child). They provide training and practical events to help, right from engagement through to marriage and parenting issues. I think the greatest thing they do is to remove the sense of isolation we often have, feeling that we are the only ones going through such issues. It helps to know we’re not and it helps to have practical strategies that can aid us through the ups and downs of family life.

We had the most exciting start to the New Year when baby Jenson was born on New Year’s Eve. Welcome to our family and to the world, Jenson!

In the afternoon, we had our usual New Year’s Day party (at which Jenson was the star guest, not to mention his Mum!) Here we are getting ready for it:


Views from the side:


As usual, we had a host of silly games which bring out the competitive spirit in everyone!:





All in all, a great afternoon and evening and good to spend time with each other on this first day of the year.

Today’s Communion service was slightly different in that members of the congregation each brought Scriptures which had proved meaningful throughout 2011. Here are the verses we shared:

Ps 133
God commands the blessing where there is unity.

Isaiah 43:5-8
“Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Romans 9:1-3
Garry spoke about the passion for the lost which was in Paul’s heart and which was an echo of the cry in God’s heart.
“Give me, O Lord, a passion for the lost.
Help me understand Your heart and Your unfailing love.
Your desire, O Lord, to pursue at any cost,
Give me, Lord, Your passion for the lost.”

1 John 3:1
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

Ps 33:6, 13-14
“By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth…From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth.”

Eph 4:32
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
We are all different and need to accept each other as we are, learning to forgive and work together in unity.

Matt 6:31-34
Dave spoke about how these verses on the need to put God’s kingdom first and not to worry had sustained him through the church’s journey to the new building (looking back to December 2008 when the original application to CRT was written.) God has provided all we needed to purchase and renovate and maintain the building, including the sale of the building on Beever Street in December 2011.

Hebrews 13:5-6
“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
We don’t know what the New Year holds for us, but we can have confidence that God will always be with us and that His grace will be sufficient for us (2 Cor 12:9)

John 1:16
“For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”

Rom 5:20
“But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.”
Grace is a common theme, obviously!

Ps 121:1-4
“I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”

1 Tim 6:12
“FIght the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

Rev 2:7
“To him who overcomes I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”

I’m not really one for New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps it’s the pessimistic side of my personality rearing its head, but I find it hard to stick to resolutions and end up feeling defeated as a consequence. I suppose I rationalise this by not making them in the first place and then don’t feel so discouraged; however, I’m well aware that this can be quite a defeatist way of living! “If you aim at nothing, you’re bound to hit it”, the saying goes, and I don’t especially want to live by that motto.

Over the past few years, I’ve started the New Year by reading the book of Proverbs, since someone reminded me that it has 31 chapters and January has 31 days. I read Psalms and Proverbs most days as it is, so this resolution stands more chance than most of succeeding. This year I’ve decided to share those musings because the discipline of reading God’s Word is something from which we can all benefit, in my opinion.

I particularly like Proverbs 1 in the Message version, because it brings out the purpose of the book. Any writer knows that the intention of the writing is crucial to judging its success. The book of Proverbs is, we are told:

Written down so we’ll know how to live well and right,
to understand what life means and where it’s going;
A manual for living,
for learning what’s right and just and fair;
To teach the inexperienced the ropes
and give our young people a grasp on reality.
There’s something here also for seasoned men and women,
still a thing or two for the experienced to learn—
Fresh wisdom to probe and penetrate,
the rhymes and reasons of wise men and women. (Prov 1:2-6)

At the start of a New Year, it seems to me that the Bible provides what we need, ‘a manual for living’, teaching both the inexperienced and more mature how to live well for God. We never get so far that we stop learning. Lifelong learning is not just a catchy educational phrase; it’s reality.

Proverbs 1 goes on to tell us, in a nutshell, what wisdom is:
“Start with GOD—the first step in learning is bowing down to GOD; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.” (Prov 1:7). This phrase ( ‘the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom’ in the NIV) recurs frequently throughout the book and needs to be our motto for life, not just for 2012! Being wise and learning how to live well is a crucial part of successful living. Wisdom is not just being smart; it’s ‘applied intelligence’, so to speak.

The themes of wisdom and folly (often personified in this book to bring these issues to life) run through the book. There are pithy sayings and one sentence proverbs in abundance, but for now let’s think about how to live wisely and well, in the fear of God.