Archive for October, 2009

Posted on October 25, 2009 - by Tim L

Luke 15&16

Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. 12The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’
“So the father divided the property between them. 13It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. 14After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. 15He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. 16He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
17″That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. 18I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; 19I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ 20He got right up and went home to his father.
“When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. 21The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’
22″But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! 24My son is here-given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.
25″All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. 26Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. 27He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast-barbecued beef!-because he has him home safe and sound.’
28″The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. 29The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? 30Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’
31″His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours- 32but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’”
Luke 15: 11-32 (The Message)

We’re just going to spend some time focussing on one part of that reading.  It will be left on the screen for you to refer back to you as you need.  We’re going to focus on the passage by way of a meditation.  You see often we think that if we come along to a Christian event then the person at the front will tell us all that we need to know.  That they are the fount of all knowledge and well, I’m here to say that’s definitely not true.  This evening what I want to offer you is time, time and space for God to speak with you, for you to reflect, to consider what God may be asking of you or to be real with God about the barriers or hurdles that you have put up to keep God at arm’s length.

I’ll lead us through this meditation on being lost and being found.

Make yourself comfortable, think about your breathing, quiet your body and your mind and I’ll read the slide we are going to focus on again.  As I do ask yourself - is there a key phrase or aspect that registers with you, stay with that phrase or aspect as I read the passage.  There’ll be time as I finish reading to follow that connection, it may be the words, it may be an image that it conjures, stay with it in the silence.

“When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. 21The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’
22″But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! 24My son is here-given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.

If the passage doesn’t do that just pick a short phrase and repeat it again and again in your mind in the quiet.  Or you may prefer to picture yourself in the story walking back towards home or standing draped in the finest clothes and jewellery.  Maybe God as your father is saying some of these words to you put your name into the story and imagine what happens next?  Let God continue the encounter in your imagination.

“When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. 21The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’
22″But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! 24My son is here-given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.

I’ll read the last slide for a final time - this time allow that particular phrase, image or encounter to turn you to prayer.  Its not complicated allow your mind/imagination to talk with God and to hear from God.  You may feel like you are doing nothing that’s fine, you are waiting, receiving, but not being idle.

“When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. 21The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’
22″But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! 24My son is here-given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.

Please take the opportunity to talk about the meditation at the end of the presentation but as a closing thought here’s a short piece of music from the Northumbria Community - break down the walls

Posted on October 21, 2009 - by Joy Hatfield

Mingle - November 2009

The next Mingle is set to take place on Sunday 1^st November at Hastings High School from 10.00 - 12.00pm.  If you’re free and would like to come along, then all you need to do is let Joy Hatfield know by Friday 30^th October at the latest.

As November’s Mingle is an Interactive Games Morning, do feel free to bring along your favourite game for others to try.  This could be anything from a board or card game that you really like playing to the latest Nintendo Wii game, of which there will be several Wii consoles already set up on big screens for your enjoyment!  Part way through the morning we will be serving refreshments, so if you’d like to join us for a drink and snack as well then please bring £1.00 with you to help us cover our costs. 

 

Posted on October 18, 2009 - by Tim L

Luke 13&14

“Invited to the Feast - No Excuses!”

Then he turned to the host. “The next time you put on a dinner, don’t just invite your friends and family and rich neighbours, the kind of people who will return the favour.  Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks.  You’ll be-and experience-a blessing. They won’t be able to return the favour, but the favour will be returned-oh, how it will be returned!-at the resurrection of God’s people.”   That triggered a response from one of the guests: “How fortunate the one who gets to eat dinner in God’s kingdom!”   Jesus followed up. “Yes. For there was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many.  When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the invited guests, saying, ‘Come on in; the food’s on the table.’   “Then they all began to beg off, one after another making excuses. The first said, ‘I bought a piece of property and need to look it over. Send my regrets.’   “Another said, ‘I just bought five teams of oxen, and I really need to check them out. Send my regrets.’ “And yet another said, ‘I just got married and need to get home to my wife.’   “The servant went back and told the master what had happened. He was outraged and told the servant, ‘Quickly, get out into the city streets and alleys. Collect all who look like they need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and wretched you can lay your hands on, and bring them here.’

“The servant reported back, ‘Master, I did what you commanded-and there’s still room.’  ”The master said, ‘Then go to the country roads. Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full!  Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get so much as a bite at my dinner party.’

Luke 14: 12 - 24 (The Message)

What’s the most unusual party/event you’ve been invited to?

I was trying to think of the most unusual party I’ve ever been invited to: and I thought of a time when I visited Malaysia 4 years ago.  This was an engagement party.  An Indian family engagement party.  And an Indian family engagement party is not like what we might have for an engagement party - not just a bit of a knees-up.  The whole family were there from all over Malaysia and some even from India.  There were hundreds of them.  It started with a service in the girls’ family home, almost as serious as a wedding service, where the couple promised themselves to each other.  And then, on the large square outside, tables were set out for a massive Indian banquet, which the ladies of the family had been preparing for weeks.

Now, I had good reason to be a bit apprehensive about this party: what if I made a fool of myself, what if I did something embarrassing, what if I ate the food in the wrong way, what if I offended someone, what if I wore the wrong clothes, what if, what if.  I went, because I was invited, and I trusted my friends who invited me.

I got dressed with what I thought was appropriate: I think I wore a nice patterned shirt and white trousers and my sandals.  I asked my friend, if what I was wearing was OK, and he said, ‘Andrew, it wouldn’t matter what you wore, you’d still stick out like a sore thumb!’  I forgot to mention I was the only white person there.

I remember the meal.  There I was, white man dressed in white, among all these colourful Indians dressed in their finery, eating curry and rice with my hand off a banana leaf for a plate.  And it was such a wonderful experience.  I’m so pleased I didn’t turn down the invitation.

But we hear a story Jesus tells about a man who invites people to a feast and they don’t show up.

Luke tells us that Jesus was at a dinner party at the time, at the home of one of the leading religious teachers.  And Jesus had just said something that made them all feel a bit uncomfortable: he’d been talking about how really the best people to invite to parties were those who couldn’t return the favour: the poor and the outcasts in society… a bit of an uncomfortable thing to hear, really… in fact, it’s the part of this reading we’ll probably all conveniently forget…

…so just to change the subject, someone said, ‘Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!’  It’s the sort of easy platitude that religious types often come up with, ministers being no exception.  And he might’ve expected Jesus to say to him, ‘well said, old chap, I’ll drink to that!’  Instead, Jesus tells this story.  This shocking story.

It’s a story Jesus made up to illustrate something about the Kingdom of God.  And Jesus knew how to get his audience’s attention: the Jewish people, like people where I come from, enjoyed their food.  And the Jewish people, like people where I come from, liked nothing more than a good party!

So how shocking, then, when people start making excuses about coming to this great feast.

Have you ever given someone a dodgy excuse for something you really didn’t want to go to?
Are there things that you regularly make excuses to avoid?

Excuses DVD clip (YouTube)

And, at first glance, the three excuses that we hear seem like perfectly good reasons: I mean they’re not small little things: it’s not like they’re saying - sorry I can’t come I’m washing my hair, I’m making a cake, I watching Strictly on the telly; no they seem like fairly good reasons.

The first one had just bought a field, and he wanted to go check it out, to get a good look at it.

The second one had just bought ten oxen, and he wanted to go give them a ride, take them through their paces, try them out.

The third one had just got married, and he wanted to go and…
spend some time with his wife.

But when we think about how things worked at the time, we see that actually these were fairly feeble excuses compared to what the master had done for them.  Today, if we want to put on a big dinner party, we can quite easily get everything we need with one trip to Morrisons, and you could prepare it pretty well in an afternoon.  In fact, you could invite someone to your house on a particular evening, and not really even need to start thinking about the meal until the day before.  In those days, though, there were no fridges or freezers, and no supermarkets, and a banquet would literally take weeks to prepare.  Relying on what food was in season, what meat was available at the market, what was grown locally and what would have to be sent away for.  A banquet was a big thing that could take months to prepare, and still is today if you live in a remote part of the world.  This is partly why the master had to send the servant out twice -to invite and then to tell them it was ready - because what he was doing for them was so costly, and he probably couldn’t give them an accurate time and date.  The first invitation went out, everyone accepted, but they liked a second invitation when all was ready.

And so the man who bought a field: didn’t you have the sense to check it out before you bought it?  Won’t your field still be there tomorrow?

And the man who bought some oxen: didn’t you have the sense to test-drive them before you bought them?  Won’t your oxen still be there tomorrow?

And the man who got married: well… bring her along.

The master had put so much into this banquet, and their excuses were so feeble, that you can see why he was angry.  So he opened it up to all: most interestingly, he opened it up to all, including those who wouldn’t normally get invited anywhere in that society: poor people and disabled people.  Which is what Jesus says we should all do… but, like I said earlier, that’s the bit that’s easy to forget…

The master in the story had put so much into the banquet, and he wanted as many people as possible to benefit from it.  And I believe God has put his all into the banquet he’s prepared for us.  And the invitation is there in Jesus Christ.  It’s an invitation to something that Jesus describes as a party.  It’s an invitation to salvation; an invitation to eternal life.  And this is not just about heaven, or to worship, or to Christianity, it’s much, much more than that.  The invitation is good news for all.  But we still make our excuses.

I think there are three main reasons why people give their apologies, and say they won’t be at the party; reasons why people refuse God’s invitation to come close to him here and now:

What are 3 reasons why people refuse God’s invitation?

The first is that we’re frightened that it might be true.  Some people say they’re worried in case their faith isn’t true.  I think we need to be worried in case it is true.  Because that’s something much more scary.  I don’t mean scary in a bad way, I think scary in an awesome, wonderful, mysterious, challenging way.  And I think this is what puts many of us off from getting closer to God: if God is real, and Jesus really did rise from the dead, and God really does have plans to change things, and God really is keen on justice and peace, and there really is a Holy Spirit, then we might let God get too involved with our lives.  We don’t preach an easy gospel, because it involves actually encountering the living God, and that really is scary.

The second reason, I think, is because we’re worried we might have to change, or to make changes.  Maybe we recognise things in our life that we’re pretty sure God’s not keen on.  Maybe we see things in the world that need changing for everyone’s benefit, but it seems like a lot of hard work.  Maybe we’re comfortable the way we are.  If we really believe that God loves us, and this is part of the challenge, then we must trust that any changes will only be for the best.

And I think the third reason why people don’t take up this invitation is because we don’t believe we’re worthy.
But, you see, this is what is hard to believe about the Christian faith.  But when we get it, when the penny really drops, it’s the most wonderful good news.

It’s not what you make of your life that makes you worthy; it’s the fact that God has made you and given you the dignity of being human - made in God’s image.  That’s what makes you worthy in God’s eyes.

It’s not your love for God that makes you worthy; it’s God’s amazing and never-ending love for you. That’s what makes you worthy in God’s eyes.

It’s not what you’ve done, or haven’t done, that makes you worthy or unworthy; it’s what Jesus Christ has done for you: giving us all a chance for a new start with God; giving us all a way to get closer to God and become what we were created for; giving out God’s invitation to the whole world. through his death and resurrection.  It’s what Jesus has already done, that makes us worthy in God’s eyes.

The first invitations went out years ago, and many refused; but then, nearly 2000 years ago, on a lonely cross in Jerusalem, God’s servant announced to the world that the party was ready, and all were invited, and he is still sending out that invitation today.  And Jesus says: come and enter the wonderful relationship with God that is in store; come and find the eternal life that starts right here and now; come and find out who you really are; come and be all that you can be; come into the Kingdom of God; follow me, Jesus says; learn from me; know me and know the Father.  Jesus says, ‘come, all is ready’.   The invitation is there.  But for how much longer, nobody knows.

(Andy Murphy)

Posted on October 14, 2009 - by Tim L

Luke 9&10

Performance song - Let’s work together

(This presentation was an all age presentation set in a café style complete with coffee machines, small tables and delicious fresh coffee and hot chocolate)

Over the last few weeks we have been working our way through the book of Luke in the New Testament.

This week we’re moving on to Chapters 9 and 10.  Over the whole evening we will be exploring parts of those chapters but not all of them.  Don’t worry we’re not going to read all the way through, I’ve just picked out a part that intrigued me.  If you want to work your way through both chapters then join one of small groups this week which will allow you to go through the two chapters in much more detail.

Pictionary Game around each table-

• Blue Peter
• The six o’clock news
• Top Gear
• The Simpsons
• The X factor
• Strictly come dancing
• Star Trek
• Coronation Street
• Doctor Who
• House

Story - Good Sam story - a re-telling of the story of the Good Samaitan.

Jesus said, “Go and do the same.” 36″What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbour to the man attacked by robbers?”
37″The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded.

Luke 10: 35-37 (The Message)

There were a number of activities for people to choose from and take part in around the room
Prayer - Light a candle and pray for your neighbours, at work, in your street or at school.
Drama - 10 minutes to practice and then perform the drama Love is,….
Love in action - Come up with ideas about how how might you put love into action this week?  The wackier the better!
Art work - with plenty of felt tip pens, glue, crepe paper, pastels let your imagination run riot to tell the story of how we can love our neighbour,…..

Here’s what folks came up with when it came to loving their neighbour;

Out their bin back by the back gate
Give them some cooking apples
Put different Fair-trade goodies through their door for a week
Smile and greet
Bake someone a cake
Make time to have a conversation and listen
Drink coffee together
Invite the round for a meal
Give them a hi -5 and respect
Play football with them
Go down the pub for a chat
Say Hi every morning
Teach them a new trick on your bike
Baby sit
Feed the dog
Pray for them
Sweep up their leaves
Take their rubbish out

Posted on October 13, 2009 - by Tim L

The Wave

Join The Wave - the UK’s biggest ever demonstration in support of action on climate change.

What’s The Wave?

On Saturday 5 December 2009, ahead of the crucial UN climate summit in Copenhagen, tens of thousands of people from all walks of life will flow through the streets of London to demonstrate their support for a safe climate future for all. The Wave is organised by the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition.

We want the UK Government to;

1. quit dirty coal
2. protect the poorest
3. Act fair and fast

For more information contact Mary Kelly from St Peter’s,please give her a call on 01455 449141.

Posted on October 11, 2009 - by Tim L

Luke 11&12

The Lord’s Prayer may be familiar to some of us.  Maybe we learnt it at school, or at home.  But not today.  For many this will be unfamiliar.   But why does Jesus set out these key phrases as a pattern for prayer, no matter which form of words are used - traditional or modern or The message version as used tonight.  The story that Jesus tells around the setting out the prayer is helpful to see the context he is trying to give.

Let’s take a look at the passage

Bible Reading;
One day he was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Master, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”
So he said, “When you pray, say,
Father,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.”
Then he said, “Imagine what would happen if you went to a friend in the middle of the night and said, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread.  An old friend traveling through just showed up, and I don’t have a thing on hand.’
“The friend answers from his bed, ‘Don’t bother me. The door’s locked; my children are all down for the night; I can’t get up to give you anything.’
“But let me tell you, even if he won’t get up because he’s a friend, if you stand your ground, knocking and waking all the neighbors, he’ll finally get up and get you whatever you need.”
Luke 11: 1-13 (The Message)

The phone rang and it was my old friend from college.  She was at Birmingham airport waiting to get on a plane to fly out to Australia to visit her family.  Usually she would fly out from London but her plane had been diverted.  If I was quick I could catch her at the airport and we could have coffee.  There are times when I wonder where friendship ends and madness begins!  But it was worth it to have that unexpected hour to catch up, it was worth the rearranging of my diary and the quick drive down the motorway.

Friendship can teach us some key things about God and prayer and the learning can be two way.  We can look at the love and care we receive from our friends and begin to learn that God is like that too.  And we can also look at God’s friendship with us and learn how to be better friends to others.

And it’s just that picture that Jesus gives us of a friend who is asleep in bed.  In the sort of house we would have here in the reading all of the people would have been asleep on the floor side by side. So there was every chance that if the man got up to help his friend then the whole household would have been woken.  Yet the friend outside has a real problem, not one that is easy for us to identify with in the world of the 24/7 supermarket.  The laws of hospitality in the Middle East were strict and if a traveler arrived needing food and shelter you were under an obligation to provide it.  The friend in the street knows that the friend in the bed will understand.  He would be doing the same if the roles were reversed.

We can talk glibly about God being our friend but do we really get the reality of that.  Our lifestyles and culture do not provide a great setting for friendship a lot of the time.  We are encouraged to be self-sufficient and independence.  How do you feel if you have to ask someone to do a favour for you or if you need to borrow something?  Is it just me or would you change what you were doing or manage without rather than ask.  Maybe friends are people for the good times, for parties and lunches and coffee, for sailing trips, games of golf or football.

But that’s not the picture that Jesus is using here.  Friendship is about being put out, about being inconvenienced, friendship is about being persistent in asking, knowing that the other person will understand.

And it’s in the context of that kind of friendship that Jesus offers us the outline of how to pray.  We are to be persistent, cheeky almost in our expectation that God our friend is happy to be inconvenienced by us.  What a great freedom of friendship we are being offered.

Let’s listen to this song by the group by Nina Simone called  I wish I knew how it would feel to be free

Thinking about the reality of friendship then helps to put the Lord’s prayer into context.  Its not a legal framework that we have to confirm to.  But it is guidance on what to pray about.  The context it is set in helps us to enjoy this prayer as part of our friendship with God.  Not as a tick box exercise .  if I pray with these words then God will be my friend.  Christian thinkers continue to debate whether this was asset form of words that Jesus was trying to get us to use or whether it is a framework to apply to all of our praying.  For me I have used it as both, and it’s the friendship with God that’s crucial.  If all you can pray are these words because life is hard, or the pain is deep, then God knows that.  At other times you may need to pray just out of the situation you are in and the words will flow as you talk to God about what is bothering you.

Let’s just take a look at the actual words of the prayer (Modern version on the screen).  I think the words from the Message version that we saw earlier are also helpful.

Abba - Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are - hallowed be your name.
Set the world right - Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as in heaven
Keep us alive with three square meals - Give us today our daily bread.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others - Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. -
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Posted on October 10, 2009 - by Tim L

AlterNativity

‘Alternative Christmas Gift Market‘

The United Reformed Church

The Borough, Hinckley

Saturday 7th November 2009

10.00 am - 2.00 pm

‘Alternative Gifts’ available to benefit the poorest and neediest people at home and abroad’

Be there!

Posted on October 8, 2009 - by Tim L

Concert

Posted on October 8, 2009 - by Tim L

Mingle

The first ever Mingle took place on Sunday 4th October at Lakeside Superbowl and a great time was had by all who joined us. I’m currently planning November’s activity so watch this space for more details nearer the time!

Contact Joy at joy.hatfield@thebridgeonline.co.uk or go to Mingle on Facebook

Posted on October 8, 2009 - by Tim L

Mother Goose Panto