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Archive for the ‘Faith’ Category

Merry Christmas in Sand

Posted in Faith, tagged , , , , , , on 24 December, 2010| 2 Comments »

Wishing you all God’s blessings for this Christmas and for 2011. Here’s a sand art clip telling the Christmas story, to complement the Passion one I posted at Easter.

He will be great and will be called the son of the Most High.

Luke 1v32

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The Light of the World

Posted in Faith, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 14 December, 2010| 1 Comment »

Just came across this lovely new video clip of  the Christmas story, taken from the most excellent Jesus Storybook Bible. I do hope this means that there are plans afoot to animate the whole thing.

[HT Justin Taylor]

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Advent Cheer

Posted in Faith, Fun, tagged , , , , , , , , on 29 November, 2010| 3 Comments »

Advent has begun and with it our annual attempt to learn the whole of Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus off by heart. This is not quite as difficult as it sounds, as we have been aided by Andrew Peterson’s excellent song, found on his wonderful Christmas album ‘Behold the Lamb’ (only £4.99 at Crossrhythms). I think we now have about 85% of it nailed. This year I want us to get past Eliakim.

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Release Sherif Hassan

Posted in Faith, tagged , , , , , , on 27 November, 2010| 2 Comments »

Sherif Hassan is a friend of Mark Meynell, an old pal of ours from Cambridge days and Senior Associate Minister at All Souls Langham Place, that great multi-cultural church in the West End of London. Sherif was married to Emma  at All Souls this summer and they went to visit Sherif’s family in Egypt on 9th November.

On arrival in Cairo, Sherif was detained and Emma was deported back to the UK. Since then Sherif has not been seen, and Emma has managed to speak to him only once, on 26th November. She has been told that the authorities are threatening to detain him for three years.

She has had no response to her enquiries at the Egyptian Embassy and the Egyptian Consulate in London. Neither Sherif nor Emma have a criminal record and no charges have been brought against him. There is a great worry that his detention is to do with his Christian faith.

To find out more, go to the website that Mark has set up. Please pray for Sherif’s release, pray for Emma and the wider family and pray for the Egyptian authorities to act with wisdom and fairness. Do write to your MP, to William Hague or to the Egyptian ambassador. Use the hashtag #ReleaseSherif if you tweet.

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Hallelujah in a Modern Church

Posted in Faith, Fun, tagged , , , , , , , , on 8 November, 2010| 5 Comments »

Do you ever think that shopping centres are modern day cathedrals? The Vicar was a structural engineer in his previous life, so is always interested in buildings. If you look up inside a shopping centre (not usually outside, which is so often like a tin shed), you sometimes feel a glimpse of that awe that comes when you glance aloft in a cathedral, or even a parish church. Sadly, the majesty of the Bullring, or Meadowhall, is a reflection of what we value in our culture.

So I loved this YouTube clip that puts God’s word magnificently in a cathedral-like department store. Although scripture is masquerading as ‘culture’ here. Perhaps we should all be doing this with our congregations – go and mingle with a crowd and then sing a favourite hymn!  I know that some shopping centres have Christmas carols, but perhaps we could think outside the box. This was done on 30th October, so definitely too early for Christmas carols.

HT John Richardson

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Christian Pumpkins and other Halloween Fun

Posted in Church, Faith, Fun, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 2 November, 2010| 2 Comments »

We had such a ball on Sunday evening. The kids dressed up, we lit our pumpkin and put it in the Vicar’s study window, put sweeties in a bag and waited around for the doorbell to ring. Which it did, almost continuously between 5.30pm and 6.30pm. Civilised, I thought.

As I’ve mentioned before, we imposed the Vicarage rules of making the Trick or Treaters tell a joke or story or sing a song before treats were given. I have to say, I was generally rather disappointed with the quality of the jokes. After the first group, who had a selection of not too awful jokes, pretty much everyone told the knock knock Dr Who one. Bonus points, though, to the teenage girls at the end of the session who told a proper(ish) ghost story.

After handing out sweeties and a Good Book Company tract, we took our Trick or Treaters to look at our pumpkin and told them about about it. I got the kids to do it a few times and sometimes I talked to them. We took the visitors through sin (the yucky middle of the pumpkin that needs to be got rid of) and the light which we can have in our hearts because of the cross. One set of Trick or Treaters had been in Junior Church with me in the morning, and had heard my (rather longer) explanation of the pumpkin in the service. They joined me in singing the new song I’d taught them: ‘What a Mighty Mighty Saviour You Are’.

In the window on the stairs on Saturday evening

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I’m here. And planning to meditate.

Posted in Church, Faith, tagged , , , , , , , on 1 November, 2010| 2 Comments »

Just in case you thought I’d given up the ghost (check the spooky Halloween reference), I am actually here. We’re back from a few half term days away in London. We were mighty pleased to return to an unburgled Vicarage, I can tell you. And the cat and fish were still alive, thanks to Beauty, who negotiated our alarm to come in and feed the animals. Phew.

Our trip began at the weekend away of St James New Barnet, where old college friend the Baker is vicar. He and his wife Girlpreacha (and their five kids) are at a similar stage to us – in their second year of incumbancy. Their church is also quite similar to ours, so it was great when the Baker asked my Vicar to be the speaker. It was wonderful to be listening to talks by my husband and not worrying about the organisation! The kids had a brilliant time with two Oak Hill Youth and Children’s Ministry students, learning  about the lost son and his older brother from Luke 15, just like the adults.

I came away particularly challenged by God to spend more time in biblical meditation. The Vicar has been bending my ear about this for months, if not years. But you know how it is. He’s my husband, so when he gets all excited about  something I confess that it does occasionally wash over me, cos he’s talking about it whilst I’m worrying about taking the kids to swimming, or getting the washing done, or wondering when we’re going to get round to painting over those patches on the kitchen ceiling where the strip lights were taken down when we moved in.

So even though I’d heard about meditation, and even read a few of the Vicar’s excellent blog posts on the subject, it took a weekend away for his wisdom to sink in properly. He called meditation ‘the middle spiritual discipline, between bible reading and prayer’, where we let God’s word sink deeply into our hearts. As a natural activist, this is a discipline which does not come easily to me. I like to read the bible and I like to pray through the issues I see around us. But I’ve seen how the ‘hard work’ (as he described it) of meditation has borne fruit in my husband’s life.  For a while I’ve envied the Vicar’s love for God and the delight he finds in the Lord, which I can see are chiefly the result of his times of meditation. So now I am resolved to incorporate this discipline into my rather haphazard devotional life. He recommended just a short time each day (he mentioned six minutes!) meditating on the benefits that we have because of Jesus (listed in his blog post). This morning I meditated on Psalm 119v33-36, which was recommended in a book I am currently reading.

The thing is, it’s the long term benefit of biblical meditation that I need and that I want. So I’m also praying for pereverence perseverance…

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Christian Halloween Poll Results

Posted in Church, Faith, Polls, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 22 October, 2010| 3 Comments »

I closed the poll for the Halloween discussion last night. It was interesting to see how many churches are doing something at Halloween, and how the increasing popularity of the festival challenges us to think through how to respond in a godly way to our changing culture. Some of us find the whole thing a bit scary, though, it seems.

Light Party
24%
Turning the lights off and hiding behind the sofa
22%
Giving out sweeties to trick or treaters
16%
Giving out tracts to trick or treaters
16%
Other
14%
Pumpkin Devotional
4%
A Light up the Night type walk
2%
Trick or Treating
0%
Going door to door giving out treats
0%

As ever, the most fun and inspiring part of the poll has been the ‘other’ answers. I was very encouraged to find out that people would be praying. Not necessarily so sure about trying to get the Vicar drunk though. And I can’t be the only one who finds the prospect of a Churches Together disco extremely alarming, surely?

All Souls Day Eve Prayer/All Hallows Evensong 2
Barn Dance (though I’d rather be behind the sofa!) 1
Churches together Disco 1
Trying to get the Vicar drunk 1
Saying that we are Christians and celebrate happy things – so come back at Xmas! 1
Away on half term holidays 1

I enjoyed having another poll up again. Anyone got ideas for another?

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Complete? Not yet. But working on it.

Posted in Faith, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on 12 October, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I had a great day out on Saturday with three ladies from church. We went to the Northern Women’s Convention in Manchester. Things didn’t start brilliantly… I was woken by the doorbell ringing at 7.45am. That was the time I’d asked the women to arrive so we could leave in good time. Oops.

Well, once I’d got my act together, we were off and there in time to get a seat. For the first time ever, the conference was sold out, so it was packed with about 1,000 women from around the north of the country. I spotted friends from all over: Leeds, Preston, Sheffield, Chester, Newcastle On Tyne, Wolverhampton and Tipton. It was mentioned from the main stage that the last tickets sold on the Tuesday beforehand. I think they were sold to me! In by the skin of our teeth again.

Lizzie Smallwood’s talks from Colossians on The Complete Woman were challenging and encouraging in equal measure as she reminded us to ‘become what you are’ but also to have ‘a good clear out of our behaviour wardrobe’. The Holy Spirit, said Lizzie, is God’s beauty consultant – your very own Gok. Did I mention that Lizzie is a vicar’s wife? Yay!

Helen Roseveare is now in her eighties and has been a Christian for over sixty years. And yet her joy and delight in knowing Christ continue to overflow as she speaks, as fresh as if she were a brand new believer. She spoke of how she is continuing to learn and grow in wisdom even at her advanced age. It was wonderful to hear her and be reminded of the privilege that she spoke of – to know Christ and also to suffer for him. I want to be like her when I grow up.

I came home and immediately started reading her autobiography, Give me this Mountain, which tells the story of her missionary life, including the five months she spent as a captive of rebels in Congo. This year the talks and seminars from the conference will be available free in audio on the conference website, but the main talks and Helen Roseveare‘s seminar will also be on dvd for just £10 – you need to email the conference office to order. If you didn’t make it to Manchester, I highly recommend getting it. We’re getting a couple of copies to share around folk who weren’t able to come along.

Next year’s conference is on Saturday 8th October 2011, and the speaker will be Rebecca Manley Pippert, author of the classic book on evangelism, Out of the Saltshaker. Book early next year – I’m going to!

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The Book Group – Best Foot Forward

Posted in Books, Faith, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on 5 October, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Last week I blogged enthusiastically about John Chapman’s book ‘A Foot in Two Worlds’ and mentioned how I’d be discussing it that evening with a new group. But as is the way of things, two out of the three group members couldn’t make it, so we cancelled. So we’ll be trying again tonight , and I’ve managed to recruit one more member and although one person still can’t make it, I’m hoping that we’ll at least have a go. There should be four of us. I’ll report again afterwards.

The Vicar is keen to start more small groups in the church, as even in a small church like ours it is hard to get to know people well. Our community is tightknit and some people have known each other for many years, some even from school days. So when newcomers join us, it can be very difficult for them to get close to the church family. Small groups are a great place for that to happen, and for young believers to be nurtured and discipled. I’m praying that this group proves to be a productive engine room of growth.

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