Office

Amanda led worship on 19 May with Tim and Jonny.

Tim brought the word from Acts 11 . It’s an incredible story of a tricky church meeting where they had to change the way they were thinking. Think how relevant this is when the news today is all about barriers and borders.

We all carry our own lists of those who are different to us. Yet we all know of borders that need to be thrown on the scrap heap of history. Peter got into trouble for exactly this . This is a huge challenge for Jewish culture. Sitting and eating with someone as a huge issue. Peter has already had his whole world view changed.

Luke is retelling the story as Peter is retelling the church. Cornelius had already discovered this. Even before Peter finished preaching the Holy Spirit had come down on people in the same way that had happened in the upper room. It seemed obvious to Peter that he should baptise the whole household but the folks in Jerusalem were not there and they were critical.

The sharing of the meal is critical. We’ve seen this with Filling Station, we sit with equal status and show our acceptance and partnership with people who are often very different to us. Peter smashes right through the barriers.

We’ve seen here in this church the positives of doing this, but the Jewish culture really frowned on eating with gentiles. Those in Jerusalem did not agree with Peter , they thought the gentiles should adapt to the Jewish way. They might have accepted them almost as a second tier a lesser tier of believers.

Remember last week and Simon the Tanner. God loves irony he loves challenging our preconceptions. Luke describes this in an orderly way and he reflects Peter’s own orderly approach to explaining the truth. God is in charge, God is pushing things forward. Salvation is sought here in Cornelius’ own words that Peter reflects on and learns from. Peter is reminded of Jesus words in Acts 1. Even gentiles like Cornelius are God’s beneficiaries, saved by Jesus sacrifice. How wide and how big is God’s love?

The Christian church had had to learn and change. Think about the issue of slavery. Racial equality is a relatively new factor and people like Martin Luther King jr paid a high price for where we are now. Women’s ministry is also recent. Think about the attitudes we are now being challenged. Look through the history of the church. Look in our rear view mirror! There’s still a lot of work to be done. Still slavery in our world. The Spirit’s goal is to push the church into a wider appreciation of God’s all encompassing love. God has no patience for barriers and walls. Do not reject what God has made clean. God made all things. It’s us that put labels on things , not God. In Acts 15 there’s a bigger meeting to accept the gentiles in the church. It’s taking us a while. The church should be working to develop a clear understanding of what God wants and he wants us to listen to unexpected sources! Who does God want us to listen to?

Ian Thompson led worship today with Mark, Amanda, Jonny and ian Taylor. It was the second of our joint services with Headland Baptist Church. It’s a pretty amazing experience when we all come together to worship. It was also a chance to sing happy birthday to Jonny as he celebrated his 18th through the week.

Tim brought us the Word today, He got a lot of the kids to take part in a painting activity transforming plain pieces of paper into different names for Jesus simply by painting over the paper with a wash of paint. Tim assured parents that the paint would wash off so let’s hope he’s right.

Tim pointed out that the music has a definite rock influence this morning. Nothing wrong with also wanting to join in with what the kids are doing next door in our quiet bits, particularly the Father Abraham song .

Tim read to us from Luke 9 verse 28 onwards, the story of the transfiguration.

He asked if anyone had been up Roseberry Topping. Anyone heard a voice from heaven whilst they are up there in the clouds, It does not happen very often. Jesus had just shared eight days before that his path would lead to death and the cross. So what had Peter and the other disciples being doing in the eight days, they were probably frightened and confused. Here they were now on the mountain top having this experience.

A lot of people are looking for that mountain top. But many of us don’t have this dramatic experience, Tim asked if any of us had been stood in a cloud on a mountain hearing the voice of God. No one out their hand up. Many of us live at the bottom of the mountain.

Tim let slip that he is a big Elbow fan and that this transfiguration sunday always reminds him of their song lyric,” One a day this like a year’d see me right!”  (For those who don’t know who Elbow are they are a Manchester band) Point of the story is that Luke is telling us who Jesus really is, letting the disciples have this glimpse before the road to Calvary. Why were they sleepy ? Is this more about them not being aware and then having something revealed to them. Maybe this shows Jesus as quiet in prayer. The disciples do the same at Gethsemane . There though, the humanity of Christ was revealed to them. On both occasions they are awoken to the true nature of Jesus.

In the moments of pain and darkness in our lives we might struggle to see the presence and truth of Jesus. Perplexed and frightened is the reaction of the disciples,

Jesus is seen here between the two pillars of the Jewish faith, Moses and Elijah, with them giving a glimpse of the resurrection story.

Peter was a practical guy and his strange desire or response was  to build some tents. He didn’t know what he was saying. He was maybe trying to preserve the moment. The Jewish expectation for the Messiah was a start of the new age at the festival of booths. Maybe this is why Peter feels he needs to build the tents or booths, Peter assumes the deal is done, that this is the end point. Suffering and death and a cross on a Hill was not on the agenda. Death and resurrection is something they cannot get their heads around . They had not remembered that Jesus has already said that he had not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it.

Jesus is the Christ he is the Messiah , the incarnate Son of God.

He chose to show up as one of us and follow the path to the Cross simply because he loved the people he had created.

It’s a simple story that is there to reassure people that the events described are to be trusted as a beacon of hope. We’re given a glimpse of who Jesus really is as we live our lives. Wherever we go he journeys with us , in darkness or on the mountain top. He’s the only one we need to listen to. Listen to Him, listen to Him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NFV8dHrZYM

Ian led worship on 24 February, supported by Mark and Amanda. Yvette brought us the Word today from Luke 6 27:38 . She continues to maintain that connection with her mum as she uses her mum’s well worn battered, bookmarked bible to preach from. It might need some sticky tape every now and then, but a battered well used bible filled with bookmarks and used by successive generations is its own silent testimony!

God’s good isn’t he, this time last week Yvette was stuck on the hard shoulder of a motorway with a broken bonnet and windscreen. Thankfully a new bonnet was found and the dartford crossing was not a problem when friends went to get the new part.

Luke was a doctor and a man of evidence. Luke gives specific instances of reference to women. Luke’s version of the sermon in the mount with four disciples but then talks to those who will listen. People had been hoping for a military messiah and what they got instead was a message of forgiveness, note how God often tells us exactly the opposite we want to hear!!

Why does Jesus tell us to love our enemies. Well it really annoys them, people are more likely to take our side and most importantly it’s what he did for us. Jesus got blamed for things he didn’t do, was denied and yet never gives up on us. He never treats us as what we actually deserve .

Martin Luther King Jr said that “darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.” Yvette reflected on what her mum used to say about people and their behaviour. “They can come up to my level cos I’m not going down to theirs”

Jesus is asking us to be different, exposing evil in a way that brings change. The Roman soldiers were mostly right handed. They would slap you on the cheek so turning the other cheek actually means you force him to treat you as an equal.

Jesus is talking to the debt ridden poor, people often sued unfairly. The person who takes everything you have is the one who looks bad here. Using the examples he does, Jesus shows how the system is corrupt and how we can change it. Breaking the cycle of insult and violence is what’s matters. But we can often be slow to be kind to ourselves.

Yvette,s husband made mistake with the car bonnet and he’s still beating himself up about it. Yet everyone else sees it as a simple mistake and nothing he needs to be worried about.

We’ve all done things to others or simply got things wrong . Thankfully God accepts us just as we are.

Think what we get back if we treat people well, if we love and we do not judge. As Christians we have a reputation for judgement at times. Mother Teresa said “The good you do today, people often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

We have the Holy Spirit inside usguiding us. It’s not instant. Think about how long the civil rights movement took in America

 

Service interrupted was the title I had for my blog of 10  February. It was more apt than I realised as I ended up missing a couple of services due to a cold.

My original service interrupted  was simply because I started to record what  Tim was preaching on and then ended up  having to leave the service to help deal with the challenges posed by some young people from the estate who were playing up. My blog was split therefore between a little of what Tim was preaching on and then what Richard Hetherington preached on later that day at the Gathering of the Baptist churches at Oxford Road.

Tim preached on 1 Corinthians chapter 15

We are ressurrectipnists we do Easter every day. So it’s ok to have crème eggs every day Tim says.

Do we need reminding about the gospel? How would we describe it? All too often it is turned into some sort of ticket for heaven. Believe what I believe and you we go to heaven. Is that really what Paul is saying here. ?

Does this mean some go to heaven and some to hell . The theme here is of resurrection and the Corinthians were having problems here. ..

They had lost the plot about what the gospel really is. They need to live according to the scriptures. They need to see the whole story. They need to understand Jesus the raised Messiah. Remember they did not have the New Testament ! Paul uses the Old Testament to point the way.

Jesus his shameful death his burial and his resurrection. That’s the message in a nutshell. On that first Easter Day he appears to all sorts of people.” And that was all I got to hear thanks to having to deal with the young people outside the church.

Fast forward to the Gathering and my second attempt to reflect the preaching I heard.

Richard talked of the commentators of the bible. Something significant and dramatic takes place. It’s life changing for Peter it reaches through the 21st century. Would we have seen this or would we have just seen a carpenter and his friends passing through and stopping to chat? Richard shared the verse from Zachariah 4:10 “ Who dares despise the day of small things…..”

Richard outlines two points,one of encouragement and one of challenge. The encouragement is the place that it happens. Can we remember the first time we heard this message. “Who do people say I am?” Peter’s reply can be added to with many other names. Caesarea Philippi was a renamed town and it was a way of saying the town was dedicated to Caesar with all the emblems of imperial power. 14 temples and shrines to all sorts of foreign gods. It was full of all the new things. And there was a mountain with a gorge with a tributary of the Jordan called the Gates of Hell. Yet Jesus took them there to ask the question. And the disciples got it.

The word of encouragement is this, the community we live in is uninterested, following odd ideas of spirituality. Never be tricked into believing that the gospel message you share does not have power with some else. What you share may change someone else’s life. Here’s the challenge when people come for baptism Richard always tells them the same story. Whatever has brought them to that point , they shouldn’t ever think that that was all there was. At the point of committing yourself, that’s the start of the challenge. Will you surrender this, if it works out it is from me, if not move on.

Richard also reflected on some of the things he struggled with. His wife came from a background where tithing teaching was familiar and routine to her. For Richard this was yet more to learn.

We all at some point ask Jesus to be Lord of our Lives. Is he still Lord of our Lives?

Richard reflected on the story of Joseph and his brothers, he shares the dreams with his brothers and they rejected it as not from God. What does it take to let Jesus be Lord of our Lives. Many people fall into the trap of only thinking that it’s God’s will if the outcome is beneficial to them. “

Richard concluded by asking us to think and reflect on the challenges you face as a church, and encouraged us to ask the question “how’s your commitment to Christ standing up?”