We are continuing our theme of fruitfulness and tonight we are looking at what it means to minister grace and love.

Bible reading

²⁵Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?”

²⁶He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?”

²⁷He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”

²⁸“Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”

Luke 10: 25-28 (The Message)

On your seat is a paper with four columns on it.  It sets out the four areas where Jesus explains what loving God looks like.  The headings tie in with the images now showing on the screen.
On the paper I would like you to score the areas as 1 to 4, with 1 being the thing you find easiest and 4 being the hardest.  Not about your relationship with God specifically, just in life generally

God made you that way, you are not the same as the person sitting next to you, that means as you journey with God and find out more about him, some areas will be easier for you than others.  And vice versa.
The challenge in loving God is to commit to loving him in all four areas, not just the hardest, and not just the easiest.

Bible reading

The four areas are not the whole picture though, lets look at the reading again.

 ²⁵Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?”

²⁶He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?”

²⁷He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”

²⁸“Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”

Luke 10: 25-37 (The Message)

The reading says that we should love our neighbour as we love ourselves.
Turn over the sheet and you will see that there are two more columns.
Take a few moments to score yourself here too.  Do you find it easier to love yourself or others.

Big challenge here for some – as we find it easier to be kind and generous to others or so we think and yet it doesn’t come from a place of loving ourselves, of knowing how much God loves us.  It comes from a sense of duty or a sense of trying to make up for how horrible we feel on the inside.
For others we battle with loving ourselves rightly and having the right picture in our heads of who we are and that we were created to need and depend on others.  We can love ourselves to the point where we are so independent we won’t let ourselves be vulnerable to others.

The religion scholar in this passage knew the law.  It said if you were good enough, you could get into heaven.  Many of us still live like that, either because we have an overinflated idea of how good we are or we strive to be kind and generous and a good neighbour to all, thinking it will earn us enough brownnie points to get into God’s good books.

More challenges then for us to think about here.  How do we get a right picture of ourselves, loved by God because of how he made us, not what we strive to become.  Loved by God because Jesus mediates on our behalf knowing the challenges we face as human beings and that we mess up.
This has to be foundational for us before we really grapple with the rest of the bible reading.

Bible reading Luke 10: 25-37 (The Message)

Lets look at it now –

 ²⁵Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?”

²⁶He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?”

²⁷He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”

²⁸“Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”

²⁹Looking for a loophole, he asked, “And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?”

³⁰Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead.

³¹Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. ³²Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.

³³“A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. ³⁴He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds

Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. ³⁵In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’

³⁶“What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?”

³⁷“The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded.

Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”

Luke 10: 25-37 (The Message)

Ministering grace and love

The message of this bible reading which is known as the Parable of the Good Samaritan is that loving your neighbor is costly.  We tend to water it down to being kind and nice to as many people as possible.  The example we are to follow is Jesus for whom ministering grace and love meant his radical act of dying on the cross to offer all of us a way back into God’s community.

Our actions of grace and love don’t necessarily have to be huge, sacrificing everything, laying down our life etc, but they do have to be borne out of a true understanding of the person God made us to be, (the four columns on the front of that sheet) and a true understanding of what loving ourselves looks like.

Discipleship is about finding ways to love God that cover all four areas of passion, prayer, muscle and intelligence or as other versions of the Bible say, with all our heart, soul, strength and mind.

Discipleship is about ministering grace and love from a place of knowing how much grace and love we have received from God – a true picture of ourselves.

Ministering grace and love isn’t huge but it will cost us something, just like Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

Moment to reflect –

ask God to show you what acts of grace and love you might carry out this week.  He may only give a name, or a place, a picture or a sketchy idea.  Write it down on your sheet in whichever column seems the most appropriate.  It might need you to use your muscle or passion, it might be prayer or your intelligence.

Today 870 million people are in desperate need of food. This is a scandal.

Together, this Christian Aid Week, we can help some of the world’s poorest families get enough to eat. For good.

http://www.christianaid.org.uk/getinvolved/christianaidweek/index.aspx

You don’t have to die in a disaster

A Christian Aid partner, SEEDS India, is helping to make vulnerable communities resilient to disasters.

http://www.christianaid.org.uk/emergencies/prevention/seeds.aspx

Syria Crisis Appeal

The ongoing violent conflict in Syria has affected over 5 million Syrians; more than 1 million of whom have fled the country as refugees.

The Syria Crisis Appeal is helping us to respond to the growing humanitarian needs of people within Syria and in neighbouring countries.

Hundreds of thousands of people urgently need essential items such as food, blankets and hygiene kits.

http://www.christianaid.org.uk/emergencies/current/syria-crisis-appeal/index.aspx

More than 19 million people across west Africa are in urgent need of food aid. Please help us continue to save lives.

http://www.christianaid.org.uk/emergencies/current/west-africa-food-crisis/index.aspx

Current emergency and disaster appeals

Christian Aid has a network of partners around the world. They work with local communities to reduce the risk of disaster and build resilience.

But when disasters and emergencies do strike, we are ready to respond – helping to save lives and rebuild communities after earthquakes, floods, famine and other disasters.

Imagine all over Leicester and Leicestershire in communities large and small, churches working together, bringing Jesus’ story alive through word and deed. Imagine lives turned upside down and despair turned inside out. Imagine lives changed and communities transformed for the sake of God’s Kingdom here in Leicester and Leicestershire. Together, with God’s help, we can see faith, hope and love come to our beautiful and broken City and County.

What is Hope Together in Leicester and Leicestershire?

Hope in Leicester and Leicestershire is about Unity, Kingdom and Word and Deed Mission.Hope will be Youth Led, as many revolutions are, and whole Church because God made us to be family.

*We see 2012 and 2013 as a time of praying, preparing, training, resourcing and equipping. A time to bring Churches together for Mission in their towns, villages and cities.

*In the Autumn of 2013 we are going for a big youth mission in schools and communities across the city and county. There will be lots of opportunities for young people to be involved in mission where they live and beyond and to be a catalyst for their churches to do the same.

*Beyond 2013 we also want to leave a legacy of ongoing word and deed mission in Leicester and Leicestershire

Mission 2013

Leicester has been host to many things in recent times. The Queens Jubilee, the Olympic Torch and we have even found the remains of King Richard III. Well this is bigger and better. Don’t miss this opportunity to be involved in the biggest Youth Mission that Leicester has ever seen. Get the dates in your diary today…

Thursday 26th September 2013, 7.30pm
Soul Survivor Celebration at All Nation Centre, Leicester

30th September-11th October 2013
Schools Missions with The Message Trust

Saturday 19th October 2013, 10am-4pm
Youth Leaders Training Day at The Big Shed, Leicester
Guests include: Ian Henderson, Rich Gamble, In Yer Face, Soul Survivor, Tearfund.

23rd-26th October 2013
ncounter extra, 5 day Youth Mission
23rd – Training day with special guest Matt Summerfield
24th and 25th – Local Mission
25th and 26th – City Centre Mission

4th November-15th November 2013
Schools Missions with The Message Trust

Thursday 21st November, 7.30pm
Soul Survivor Celebration at All Nations Centre, Leicester

Get Involved

Wouldn’t it be amazing if…..

Our dream is that as we hit 2013 we can see 100 churches across Leicester and Leicestershire signing up to Hope Together.  Through the Hope Forums and Hope Mission Academies we want to train, equip and inspire the local church and young people in mission.  As we get to the Autumn of 2013 the biggest Youth Mission ever in Leicester kicks off.  While your young people are getting stuck into mission why don’t you think about what you as a local church could do in terms of word and deed mission in your area.  In the New Year the Hope in Leicester and Leicestershire website will be up and     running.  Why not register you commitment to word in deed mission in 2013 and beyond.
Be 1 in a hundred!

Video links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PES1oc32n4o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xrDWKY1s44

Christian Aid Week (12-18 May) will be urging the British public to “bite back at hunger” and ask why, in a world where there is a enough food for everyone, one in eight people go to bed hungry every night. The theme of Christian Aid week ties in with the organisation’s involvement in the Enough Food For Everyone IF campaign, launched in January. To donate to Christian Aid Week, give online at www.caweek.org call 08080 006 006 or text ‘GIVE’ to 78866 to give £5. 

Your Frontline is the place where you spend the majority of your time outside the church, where you are in contact with those who do not know Jesus, where you are with people who need to know the love of God.

Our session this evening is “Making Good Work”, and we will come back to that later.

You see that our frontlines are important places where we can make good work.

When we use the word ‘work’ we are not just talking about paid employment but rather the tasks that we have to do each day.  That might be voluntary work, housework, childcare or the work that we get paid for.

I thought we might have a little bit of fun this evening, especially as we are celebrating Dawn and Howard’s 30 years of married life.

Last weekend I went away with a group of blokes for a weekend walking.  We had a great time, including visiting a brewery, doing some walking and some great laughter and discussions.

We stopped at a youth hostel and upon arrival discovered that we had to make out own beds in the dormitory we were staying in.  This led to some interesting discussions and some very funny moments putting duvets into duvet covers.

I have hear a full set of duvets and duvet covers, pillows and pillow cases.  I thought H might lead a team of blokes and Dawn could lead a team of women to see who is the quickest at putting the duvets and pillows into their covers.

Bible reading – Genesis 1; 26-31, 2; 15-25

²⁶God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature  So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”

²⁷God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. ²⁸God blessed them:  “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.”

²⁹Then God said, “I’ve given you every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth And every kind of fruit-bearing tree, given them to you for food. ³⁰To all animals and all birds, everything that moves and breathes,  I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.” And there it was. ³¹God looked over everything he had made;  it was so good, so very good!  It was evening, it was morning— Day Six.

Genesis 1: 26-31 (The Message)

¹⁵God took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order. ¹⁶God commanded the Man, “You can eat from any tree in the garden, ¹⁷except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don’t eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you’re dead.”

¹⁸God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.” ¹⁹So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name.

²⁰The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals;  but he didn’t find a suitable companion. ²¹God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. ²²God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man.

²³The Man said, “Finally! Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh! Name her Woman for she was made from Man.” ²⁴Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh. ²⁵The two of them, the Man and his Wife, were naked, but they felt no shame.

Genesis 2: 15-25 (The Message)

Talk

In the Video we saw earlier  project manager Meredith didn’t know how to find a way of sticking granite plaques to the sea wall ,  and the whole project was stuck until this could be resolved.  She prayed about it and was prompted to look in the Yellow pages for the answer to the problem.  I find it interesting that it is sign makers who Meredith turns to.  I know we have some sign makers here this evening.  We have a sign maker here every week at the Bridge in Paul Hatfield.  I know some of you still work at Nuneaton signs, some of you have worked there in the past.  Some of you still go to the building where Nuneaton signs is located but wish that you didn’t have to do any work.  There might be some of you here who think that people who go there but don’t do any work.

The opening chapters of Genesis provide a rich picture of the worker God who designed work to be good for the human race.  We don’t earn God’s love by our works: rather work is a gifted opportunity to join in with what God is doing – to co-work with God to make the world a better place.  It’s only when we get to chapter 3 of Genesis do we see that work becomes hard work, marred by the consequences of humanity going it’s own way.

Good work in a marriage matters. The normal, boring every day things take can on new significance when a couple are freshly married. Even making the bed or doing the washing up can take on an importance  over and beyond that mundane task.  In some cases it can even become a joy because of who you do it with or for.

30 years down the track things can be very different.  But I want to say that they should not be.

In the same way that work, paid, voluntary, or whatever should never be mundane because we can be co-authors of something that is good. Something that we sit and reflect upon, a marriage, the work of our hands and say just as God did in Genesis, “It is good.”

What about when you get home from work tomorrow will you be able to say, It was good.  When you have struggled to make the bed will you be able to say It was good. |When you settle into the bed at the end of the day with your partner will you be able to say it was good.

The Bridge Logo

The Bridge has entered a float into Burbage Carnival on 16^th June 2013 for which the theme this year is “Musicals”.  The Bridge has chosen the musical “Grease” as its contribution and we are all dressing up as Pink Ladies or T-Birds.

We would like to invite any members of Burbage Youth Club who would like to join us to take part in our entry and will use the float to promote both the Bridge and Burbage Youth Club
Boys will need black jeans or trousers and a white t-shirt and metal framed sunglasses.
Girls will need black leggings or skirt, a black or white t-shirt and a neckerchief scarf.
We will be hiring T-Bird and Pink Ladies jackets to complete the look!  Approx cost £3 for youth club members, £6 for adults
If you would like to join us then please let Claire Lea know on 0777 559 5426 or celea007@gmail.com so she can arrange the jacket hire and consent forms for under 18’s.

Many thanks