Vote Love

On my travels in Winchester I spotted this poster for LOVE in a front window of a house. Please be assured that this is not a subliminal message from me to direct your vote tomorrow in the Local Government Elections. One thing for sure is that we need to pray as to how we should vote and for whoever gets elected. It strikes me that with polling day being on May Day, this nation certainly needs help! Credit crunch, rising cost of living, teachers striking, petrol panic, and terrorism threats all affect us. If only we could mark our cross next to Christ on the ballot paper! But we can pray: 'Lord, may your Kingdom come and your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.' And we can put our cross to love as God is Love: Vote Love!

Saints Alive!

The trapdoor is still open! Perched precariously over the prescipice of relegation, the Saints produced a stunning performance to hold champions elect West Brom to a draw last night (28 April 2008).

On my prayer walk last Saturday, I came across the sight that my photograph records: The neatly laid out scarf and the St. George sticker on the back of the VW. Now, I know that George was a saint (though history does not assure us of who he was!), and we've just marked St. George's Day, but I can affirm that there is only one focus for a true trust in life : God. And no amount of superstitious nonsense will save Southampton FC. Only Jesus brings salvation, and so we saints in the Lord testify: In God we trust!

Write From The Heart

Dearly beloved,

 

I am calling the church to prayer in the next week with a focus on Friday. Can you come to any of the five spaces we have for prayer : Tuesday at 6.30am; Wednesday at 2pm; Thursday at 7.30pm: Saturday at 8am (with a men's prayer meeting on 3 May at 9am); Sunday at 9.15am? Could you come on Friday for a half-night of prayer in the church between 8pm and midnight?

 

Why am I calling for prayer? Some weeks ago I was struck by something said by the person leading a Sunday evening 'Soaking' service. It was one of my co-Lay Leaders. He drew our attention to Jesus' instruction to His disciples just before He ascended to His Father: 'Stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.' (Luke 24:49).  In Acts 1:14 we find that they all joined together constantly in prayer and the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost. This year the 1st of May is Ascension Day : A time in the church calendar where we mark that Jesus was taken up into heaven in order that we might have help by His Spirit outpoured on earth. May Day is truly a cry for help! I need help in my function as a Lay Worker in the church. I'm not ordained, I'm not a great intellectual, I'm not an expert, I'm not the fittest, I'm not superman. I'm a man called by God to pastor people and pray for people. I need help from God. I need help from my church. On Friday, the day after May Day, I'm asking that we as a church wait on God. Ask for His help. There are many needs within the fellowship and within our village communities. We need to be clothed with power from on high.

 

I believe God has envisioned me as to how we should pray during this half-night of prayer: simple, silent, soaking in His presence. Waiting on Him. Whether it be for fifteen minutes, half an hour or longer, please come. Maybe the time will be more of a symbolic joining together as we will come at different times. If you're out that evening, come for short time on your way back home: the church will be open for prayer until midnight. If you're away, set aside a time to pray and so join with us in the Spirit. No agenda, apart from what God lays on your heart to lay before Him. In my picture above you will see people waiting on God. At the time they were hearing these words in song: 'On my knees is where I need to be, before your throne.'  I took the picture this year during a worship time as I was struck by the number of women in the frame. It's interesting that Luke in Acts 1:14 remarks about the women joining the apostles in prayer. Thank God for the women of God who pray!  More men please. More women. More prayers. Please hear my call: it's write from the heart.

Free Street

It was an interesting Sunday just gone. More than interesting. In the evening, Darren saw my photo of Free Street taken in Bishop's Waltham. He said that it's closed at the moment! Road works or should it be street works. Tizz and I chuckled as to how on earth can Free Street be closed? It got me thinking as to how un-free and easy our Sunday morning service was : sound difficulties and audio visual problems besetting our start. We couldn't hear the speakers or see the words on the songs to begin with. The enemy of our souls does not want people to be free. Jesus want us to be free as Grace preached from John 8:36: 'If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed'. No blocked streets. Freedom. Freed to live as God intended. Freed from sin, Satan, and death. Liberating stuff. Jesus offers us to walk on 'Free Street' today. It's a long and narrow road (I nearly said 'winding'!) but it leads to life. Free Street is always open to those who believe and desire to journey on it...

Weather the Weather, Whether Whatever

They say a week is a long time in politics (no further mention with local elections just around the corner!). Well, it was a long week with the local weather last week. The first Sunday in April saw snow, a week later on Saturday we were in spring with rainbow weather on the Sunday. Was that why Roger French brought us that word about Noah's faith? Anyway it got me thinking. The British do talk about the weather rather a lot and must have been in overdrive with all the snow that fell on that Sunday in Spring! It's the same with our Christian lives. We have different seasons for our souls. Last weekend I was struggling with my back and hard placed to the see the point of it all. All adversity is relative and I know that far worse befalls people. However for me it wasn't until yesterday that I read a beautiful turn of phrase which changed my perspective in Habakkuk 3:17-19:
'Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Saviour.
The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.'

So whether it be snowfall or sunshine or whatever, I will be joyful in God my Saviour.
May the LORD bless you.

Rat Attack in Church!

The scourge of breakfast television in the eighties, Roland Rat, made a surprise comeback at Waltham Chase Methodist Church on the first Sunday in April. Members of the congregation were asking what was more shocking : snow in spring that morning or Roland Rat's declaration that he had "top billing in the church"?! Roland was boastful, proud, rude, and he suffered a great fall, but thankfully was caught by someone in the congregation. He later apologized for being rude after hearing a talk from Niki Freemantle about the importance of a hand being in a glove for it to be alive, and about G:love from the Bible in 1 Corinthians 13:

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails.

Surely, a case of G:love (God's love) needed in all even in Glove puppets!