Well that’s another Holiday Club over for another year !! This year we were at ‘Rocky’s Plaice’ learning about the early church through the eyes of Peter. Great fun had by all and all the volunteers now safely dozing to catch up on sleep!!

The picture shows me with my ‘helper’ Will Wesley’ wearing one of his many hats !

Once again I am reminded through being with the many children (just short of 90 this year) of how they see Jesus and faith through very simply eyes. That isn’t simple in the sense of naive, but simple as in uncomplicated. Just as Jesus illustrated faith that is ‘child like’ (NB not childish !) so we have had a number of glimpses of the simplicity of faith this week. Many times Christian faith is just not as complicated as we adults try and make it

So as Will and I go off for a well earned doze,keep the faith…and keep it simple !

Sorry I haven’t been in touch for the last few weeks…… I’ve been engaged in some worship from overseas on the African continent  !! (for those of you who need to work that out: watching the World Cup from South Africa!)

So Sunday night is THE big match and there is no truth at all in the fact that the shorter order of service for the Sunday night here at FMC is related to the kick off time of 7.30pm for the football

well England did atrociously……managing to only scrape past a nation with a population of about 2 million (smaller than London !) It could be worse, we could be France with all their personality clashes. Brazil and Argentina were supposed to do well, as usual, but went out at the quarter finals (Argentina being beaten by Germany by a greater margin than England !!)

So Sunday we see Netherlands (my tip all the way through !) against Spain in the final…and good to see an English team getting to the finals in the form of the match officials !

Why did i tip Netherlands ? Because they had no ‘ego’ players and play as a team. They have jsut quietly got on with the games,playing as a team

Which gives an image of the church at its best….. a group of people without ‘egos’ working as a team for the same purpose…..glorifying God and bringing his love to the people around. Now there’s something to look forward to not just on Sunday but for all time

OK so i know it’s been a long time since my last post…. 31st March. a lot has happened since then ! You see, those nice people at a certain communications company decided to disconnect the church broadband service and it took them over three weeks to reconnect us !

During that time you come to realise how dependent we have become on the internet. I had a few rather strong ’you haven’t replied to my e-mail yet’ comments which illustrated how expectations of an instant response have become the norm. Whatever did we do before the internet ?!!!

I can’t but help reflect that we have an illustration here of our communication with God through prayer. Often we cut ourselves off the connection because ,for example,we say we are too busy. Then when we do have a need for prayer we expect God to come with an instant answer and sometimes imply ‘you haven’t replied to my prayer yet’. Hey, who broke off the connection in the first place ?!

Which brings me back to the reason a certain communications company apparently disconnected the church broadband in the first place. Apparently it was for ‘misuse’…very clever given that during the week it was first cut off, both users were away on holiday and therefore the broadband wasn’t used !    

So with prayer, can we be accused of ‘misuse’ by God ? To ensure a good line of communication we need to be in constant contact with him. As the phone advert used to say ‘It’s good to talk…….’

So then…this is where it gets really serious.

One man….2000 years ago….and we are still talking about him !

For those who claim he didn’t exist, so why are we still talking about him and why do we base our calender on him ?

Truth is….he did exist, he gave the best example of how to live this life EVER but got killed by crucifixion because the powers that be saw him as a threat…. a threat to showing people how to love ?!!

And that’s what it all comes down to… this man Jesus, the Son of God loves YOU and ME so much that he was prepared to put his life on the line and pay the ultimate sacrifice

But it didn’t end there….3 days later he got up as if death were some bug that you get over…..and he’s alive and offering us all a new start

Shortest sermon ever……

Christ died..that’s history

Christ died from me…that ’s salvation

See you in church over these next few days to worship Him !

I’m having great fun at the moment overhearing people in shops suddenly remembering that it’s Mothering Sunday this week. I’m also amazed at what shops think that mothers would like to receive on Mothering Sunday !

So here I am reminding you with 6 days to go of the big event…call it a social service to you all !!

Preparation and forward planning for Mothering Sunday for me no longer applies since my mums death a few years ago. My two children are now at the age of sorting things out themselves….(but I must just double check !!) all i have to do is prepare services for Mothering Sunday !!

Now that seems to be getting harder each year. What are we actually celebrating this Sunday ? What of those for whom this Sunday is not a celebration ?  And as for the origin of the day…when servants were allowed time off work to go and visit their mothers..that seems to be well and truly gone

Which makes me sound a little bit ‘humbug’ but I don’t mean to be. I’m just asking the question of what it’s all about ? I guess the answer to that is that it’s about what you want it to be about ! For me, i will remember, with fondness and thanksgiving, my mother and all that she did,knowingly and unknowingly, for me. The plain fact is that everyone has had a mother, otherwise we wouldn’t be here. That in itself is something to remember on Mothering Sunday

I recently bought a book on body language….a subject that intrigues me, especially in my ministry as i love ‘people watching’. Now straight away those of you who meet me,as part of the church or circuit, may well become self conscious at the next time we meet. Don’t worry, i don’t look out for body language all the time ! But I’m told it can tell an awful lot about a person

Which was put to the test yesterday when i watched part of Tony Blair’s questioning at the Iraq inquiry. Just watch those hand movements go !!

which is why communication  by e-mail,Facebook,blogetc is so limiting….. you can’t see my reaction as i write this,nor can i see how you are responding to this ! Which is why, more and more, i think we need the ‘oil of grace’ poured in abundance in responding to e-mails etc. I compare it to how we used to (some still do !!) take time to compose a letter, take it to be posted and then wait for a reply….all of that taking time in which there was opportunity to withdraw the letter if we had second thoughts about something we had written. Pressing this ‘Send’ button is too easy and quick sometimes !

Grace….now there’s an ancient virtue which the Christian faith speaks allot about. And i can’t help thinking that it’s a good job God has it in abundance otherwise he might be pressing a few ’send’ buttons very quickly when we get things wrong !   But i also can’t help pondering what body language God has in response to all that we do….any suggestions ??

So how was it for you ? I hope you had a good Christmas and New Year…the reality now hits as people return to work and school; the decorations go down and the sweets and chocolate that either we were given or we bought don’t seem to be as attractive now !

And then i hear a debate on television as to whether we are to call this year two thousand and ten or twenty ten….. some news programmes have too much time to fill !

My own reflection is that New Year’s always come with a certain amount of optimism. It’s like that feeling you had at school when you were given a new exercise book to do your work in… clean sheets of paper with enormous potential.  And the book had to be written in page by page and woe betide you if you skipped or wasted a page ! Each new day of this new year is unique…there will never be another Tuesday 5th January 2010…or whatever the date is when you read this ! It comes with a clean sheet of paper regardless of what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow….yours as a gift from God. As an old saying goes:

yesterday is history; tommorrow is mystery; today is a gift…that’s why it is called the present

Have a good day…have a God day !

What a great Nativity service we had yesterday (followed by a great Carol Service at night !)  The picture shows the fact that we invited ALL AGES to come dressed as a nativity character and as the story is retold, to join the scene and be part of the ‘action’

It was a reminder to us all that we are ALL invited to be part of the Christmas story. It isn’t something that we are meant to be onlookers with…..  rather, something to get involved in…just as God got involved with this world by sending his Son, Jesus.

So, just four more ‘get ups’ until Christmas day….don’t just sit there…DO something and get involved  !!!!

Today I’ve had wall to wall Christmas ! The delights of our Pre School Nativity this morning….the best yet; this afternoon welcoming Heatherside Junior School for a Carol Service ..the first in a long time here ! But now I’m reminding myself that there are still 10 days to go before Christmas day…. helped by my going out for a curry tonight with a church member ! Hardly a Christmas event but the closest I get to a works Chrsitmas party !

So DON’T PANIC. (Mr Mainwaring)  10 days to go and lots to do but don’t let all you have to do make you so tired adn stresed that you forget the real reason for the season – JESUS !

So then, my once star of Arsenal FC, Mr Henry in in trouble. Did you see the reply of his hand ball that lead to France’s goal that sent them to the world cup last week ? There have been appeals for a replay but all to no avail. He claims he is not a cheat and that the referees decision is final (as if he has never argued with a Ref about a decision !)

The sadness for Thierry is that this once great footballer (notice he started on ‘the slide’ from greatness after he left Arsenal !) will,like Maradona, be remembered more for his ‘hands’, than his feet. For what it is worth, the only thing I think he could have done,and to be fair I agree with his explanation of ‘instinct’, is once the goal had been given to tell his French team mates to let Ireland score a goal to make amends

And then there is the small matter of Jordan today coming out of ‘I’m a celebrity’ because she has been chosen to do Bush Tucker trials for the seventh consecutive time. The British public has spoken ! She agreed to do the programme for ‘closure’ of recent events in her life. I can’t quite see that will be the case !

Both examples show the importance of right judgement, especially when in the public eye. It ask questions of where is the ‘moral compass’ for the individual and whose advice are they taking.

I’m reminded of a cricket many years ago who was chasing after a ball that went close to the boundary. No one could see whether it had reached the boundary and the difference in runs could seriously affect the outcome of th e match. The fielder picked the ball up and admitted that it was indeed a boundary, much to the dismay of his teammates. When asked why he didn’t cheat and say it didnt reach the boundary his simple answer was ‘Sunday School upbringing’

Now i wonder which,if any, Sunday School Thierry or Katie Price went to ?