Eternal Echoes

Dying to live

We are currently in discussion about the future shape of church,...out in rural Norfolk UK two Methodist Circuits are being asked to consider what it might mean to join forces. Our initial reaction was one of suspicion, we thought it was a sneaky way of the number of staff being reduced, we've been challenged to think differently though...what might happen if we were to sell off some of our costly old buildings to release funds for people ...so more staff less property...

This is an emotional issue for the presence of Chapels in these remote villages means a great deal to many. But does a dilapidated old building bring glory to God, and what of the half dozen elderly folk that struggle to meet in a cold room once a week, would they be better off meeting in the warm in one an-others homes? What of the new housing estates springing up, could we buy a house on an estate and employ a Lay Worker or a Minister to go and build church in a new setting?

These questions must be answered, we must pray and seek God's face together

I was challenged as we were talking and praying this morning by Jesus words:

I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. John 12 24-25

Are we willing to die to our past glories, our pet projects and nostalgia for how things might have been? I snese that if we want to see real growth we will have to be willing. We need to die to live!

And God showed up.....

As I led our rather unusual service today God showed up, he showed up in a powerful way and blessed and challenged people. I was dumbfounded as somehow I watched the God given words come from my mouth and touch peoples hearts. Dumbfounded because I know my weaknesses and the things I struggle with are always before me, yet he set His treasure in this jar of caly today..his strength was visible in my weakness...and I want to see more...

I am at my core weak and inadaquate yet the scandal is that God loves me enough to use me, and not just me but all of us, anyone who is willing to step into his love...my friend Pam has posted on how we alienate folk from Christ and the discussion that follows leads to her discussing the scandal of the gospel being the love of God revealed fully in Christ....

My prayer is to see that lov more evident in my life, and in the life of the church I serve....

MORE LOVE (more love),

MORE POWER (more power),

More of You in my life.

More love

More power

More of You in my life.

And I will worship You with all of my heart,

And I will worship You with all of my mind,

And I will worship You with all of my strength,

For You are my Lord.

And I will seek Your face with all of my heart,

And I will seek Your face with all of my mind,

And I will seek Your face with all of my strength,

For You are my Lord,

You are my Lord.

Study

I need to be disciplined over the next few weeks, I have 3 x3,000 word essays to write...the trouble is that I get side tracked easily and find myself following a related but irrelevant train of thought and I want to dive into all the details...so the essay gets left behind as I indulge my thinking.

I'm like this in lots of areas, I do bits of house work only to get wraped u elsewhere,I have half written letters and journals..life is just so interesting and so I wait until the last miniute and pull a few all nighters to get stuff done.

I try hard to be ordered but to no avail...though I guess I can't be that bad having kept a family of 7 fed and clothed for not a few years!

Will I change or is this the way I am made? Not sure ..but if you are reading this please pray for me and my family that we will get through the next few weeks in one piece!!!

Cafe Church Mothers day experiment

       

Cafe church at Feltwell this morning, started with coffee juice, muffins and cookies...light jazz playing in the background and a happy buzz of conversation....

Followed with a relaxed service, using film and music with thoughts and testimony. It was a very moving morning, God spoke powerfully through the film clip, the message , and the music...the hard work the day before had been worth it. Two new families who'd recieved invitations through the Brownies and Rainbows groups were challenged and comfortable at the same time.

We will try this again, it was hard for some of the older folk who are used to a more formal service, I believe there is room for both...and that perhaps once a month we should try to do something special along these lines.

Next hurdle the Church Council meeting to gague their response.

Moving Furniture

Just been over to Feltwell to prepare for tomorrow mornings service, gone are the straight rows, in are the tables and table cloths, in are small groups of chairs around each table. The coffee machine stands ready in the corner to fill the room with a delicious aroma, the muffins have been purchased, the screen is up for the film clip...I've chosen the music carefully, the invitations went out a couple of weeks age and now we're waiting to see what God does!!!

I am going to use a clip from The Incredibles to illustrate my talk (too laid back for a sermon) ...being Mothering Sunday we'll look at super mum having the same anxiety etc ans anyone else and how God cares and understands and gently leads those with young to care for....Isaiah 40: 10-11...

More tomorrow....

Friday Five Planet Echo!

Planet Echo would be a chill out zone...

There would be

1 . Great music playing-celtic/ ethereal stuff like Note For a Child, an atmosphere of peace and calm...Planet Echo would be a holistic experience!!!

2 . Good Coffee-Fair Trade of course and fruit teas and cushions and comfy chairs to crash on and enjoy the moment...

3 . Books Loads of books-a great second hand/rare section...Philosophy, ethics, gardening, oh heck just about every type of book!!!

4. An aromatherapy  section with advice and loads of different oils etc available

5. Candles of all types/ candle holders etc

Actually this is my dream I would love to open a shop n a High Street offering a healing ministry alongside the coffe and books...one day...it will be so...

Holiness

What does it mean to be Holy? I am challenged by this as I continue studying Methodist Theology...

In the book Uncovering Methodist Theology David Clough makes the observation;

"....taking together movs to relax standards in relation to alchohol, gambling Sunday observance and sexual ethics it is hard to avoid the conclusion that over a long period and on a broad scale Methodists have been placing progressively less emphasis on traditional standards of personal conduct."

How concerned should we be, is this simply a realistic and pragmatic response to a different society or do we need to stand up and stand out on issuses such as alchohol abuse or sexual ethics? If so where do we draw the lines in th 21st century? Is it enough to say that our theology is pragmatic and therefore holiness is not an issue today?

I am challenged about my need for personal holiness, not that I want to become holier than thou, priggish and narrow....but surely holiness of attitude and thought is important, as I read the sermon on the mount I see Jesus speaking about our approach to life, being more concerned that the inside of the bowl is claen than the outside looks right.

In relation to people I want to develop an attitude of inclusiveness and compassion rather that an atempt to mould lives to my standards, which of these attitudes is truly holy.

I want to follow  Jesus closley and I want to encourage others towards the same aim...I want to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit in my life, and again I want to encourage and help others in this..I want to learn what it means to be in communion with God 24/7...This I believe is the key to Holy living, and I know I cannot achieve it on my own, I need companions to came alongside me and aske the deep question how is it wioth your soul?

I want to figure out what is important and what can be left...

I have many questions, as a Christian first and a Methodist second what can I learn from my own denominations history and governing document? If I am to be salt and light for this world how should I be distinctive without becoming irrelevant?...or just plain strange...

Being a mother

I am a mother and so...

At the time I am thinking about Sundays message,

I am also thinking about what to cook for dinner!

I run a diary for the whole household.

I try to remember to prepare special clothes for plays and recitals..

I try to remember to be at all of those plays and recitals!

My Bible study is often cut short...

I want to do more...

But I have to I juggle meetings and appointments around my family.

I study late at night and wake up early to make tea and sandwiches

I pray as I sweep, or wash or vacuum the floor

I pray as I drive from place to place.

I deal with feelings of guilt and frustration on a daily basis because I want to give everyone everything all the time

And I can't because I am human...

I am a mother first in everything, my children become a source of inspiration and illustration

Family life teaches and trains me, it has made me who I am...

I would not and could not give up the five precious lives who have added so much to my own life

So for the busyness and the mess, through the heartache and the tears I am thankful...

It is Mothering Sunday this Sunday, and I am prepping a message for the morning service. I have taken my text as Isaiah 40 10-11 & 27-31. Talking about how God knows and loves families understands mothers and will lead them gently, bringing strength when it is most needed. How we can trust in and rest upon God in our weariness and busyness...and because I am a mother I expect that I will be finishing the preparation late on Saturday night!!!

Gods Love revealed 2

At Bible study this morning we started looking at the passage from 1John Ch 4 7-21. I said yeaterday that I believe the whole section hinges on verse 10 and explained my difficulty in singing cetrain lyrics....

Revisiting that I believe that we need to be very careful to explain what we mean, Frances submitted a comment yesterday about how hard it must have been for God to look upon the suffering Jesus was undergoing on the cross and how a broken hearted Father might indeed turn away in anguish, that is far from the message I have heard spoken preached about Jesus becoming abhornet to his Ftaher who turned from him in disgust...

Likewise when we portray a God of wrath we need to understand the heart of God, his vengeance is tempered by justice and mercy, his love is a love we cannot hope to fathom and it is from this Father heart that vengeance flows against the things that hold his people captive and prevent them from knowing him...

God's passion for his creation is overwhelming. God's passion for us is overwhelming he loves that we might love he gave of himself  in Christ that we might eneter in to what it means to be fully human, fully alive...

When we recognise his love for us and accept it he fills us with his love and give us assurance through the Holy Spirit that we are loved. Knowing this we can be bold to live in the light of that love...

But of ourselves we cannot do it, we cannot love truly without accepting his love ...I love these words from Douglas Coupland in Life After God:

My secret is that I need God, -I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give; because I  no longer seem capable of giving, I need God to help me to be kind as I no longer seem capable of kindness, I need God to help me to love; as I seem beyond being able to love...

When we admit our weakness we are able to trust in God afresh, when we admit our need we can recieve his love...

At Bible study this morning we started looking at the passage from 1John Ch 4 7-21. I said yeaterday that I believe the whole section hinges on verse 10 and explained my difficulty in singing cetrain lyrics....

Revisiting that I believe that we need to be very careful to explain what we mean, Frances submitted a comment yesterday about how hard it must have been for God to look upon the suffering Jesus was undergoing on the cross and how a broken hearted Father might indeed turn away in anguish, that is far from the message I have heard spoken preached about Jesus becoming abhornet to his Ftaher who turned from him in disgust...

Likewise when we portray a God of wrath we need to understand the heart of God, his vengeance is tempered by justice and mercy, his love is a love we cannot hope to fathom and it is from this Father heart that vengeance flows against the things that hold his people captive and prevent them from knowing him...

God's passion for his creation is overwhelming. God's passion for us is overwhelming he loves that we might love he gave of himself  in Christ that we might eneter in to what it means to be fully human, fully alive...

When we recognise his love for us and accept it he fills us with his love and give us assurance through the Holy Spirit that we are loved. Knowing this we can be bold to live in the light of that love...

But of ourselves we cannot do it, we cannot love truly without accepting his love ...I love these words from Douglas Coupland in Life After God:

My secret is that I need God, -I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give; because I  no longer seem capable of giving, I need God to help me to be kind as I no longer seem capable of kindness, I need God to help me to love; as I seem beyond being able to love...

When we admit our weakness we are able to trust in God afresh, when we admit our need we can recieve his love...

Gods love revealed

                          I am preparing a Bible Study on 1 John Ch 4 vs 7-21...

For me the whole chapter hinges on vs. 10

10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins...

That God loved us first and stepped into our world revealing himself in the person of Jesus is essential to our understanding of Gods love for us, but how do we understand that love, do we see a Father who forsook his son, in which case what does that tell us of his love?

In one song recently so popular, How Deep the Fathers Love for us is the line...

The Father turns His face away...

Love? This is a strange explanation for love...did God truly turn away from Jesus at the moment of total despair and desolation on the cross, I cannot believe that is so

How about the song In Christ Alone, we sing the words

The wrath of God is satisfied...

Again what picture does this give us of love?

No wonder we have a hard time believing in and showing a God of love with pictures and images like these in our heads

I believe that Jesus did atone for our sins, he took our punishment, he made things right, he stepped in to our need and gave his very life, I also believe he did all of this with the full support and encouragement of both Father and Spirit, he lived his life in the power of the Spirit, and I believe he gave his life in the same way. It had to be done, just as disease needs treatment this world could only be made right through him. But as for Gods wrath being heaped upon him, as for God turning away and abandoning him, no I do not believe that.

If we believe that Gods love is shown through the cross we need to understand a Fathers heart, a heart which gives of its own to make things right, I believe that God was passionately present in the suffering and anguish of the cross, I believe he fully entered into the despair of Christ as he felt himself forsaken whispering I am here. I believe that the darkness that came in the middle of the afternoon was a picture of grief...

The time that followed a settling the deed was done the great surprise of the resurrection was being prepared, love had been shown fully and nothing not even God would ever be the same again...the possibility for our transformation our salvation was about to be fully revealed.

I want to learn how to communicate effectively what this love means, as for those songs, I cannot sing them, but there are other words to sing...