Dear Friends.

It was a treat to wake up this morning, aware that something was different. The treat?… namely a muffled silence caused by the snow that had fallen, as opposed to the usual hum of morning traffic and the building works that surround us. There was (with apologies to Paul Simon), an unmistakable sound of silence. It was a lovely chilled (in every sense of the word) start to the day, 

And in a connected sort of way, in our service last Sunday, we focussed on on the 3rd part of our motto for the year, asking what it might mean by “Seeking [God] in His temple". Helen our preacher writes:

"We thought about what ‘seeking' God might look like - both ‘going out’ to find Him in the world in unexpected places; and ‘waiting’ patiently for Him in places where we trust He will reveal himself. The word ‘temple’ describes a place of royal or divine dwelling: the ‘palace’ where God lives. In the old testament, God’s ‘dwelling’ place was in the holy tent and then the temple, built by Solomon. However, in John 14, Jesus promises us: "All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them and we will come and make our home with each of them.” And in Ephesians 3 Paul writes: "I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts.” We thought about this incredible truth - that by His Spirit, God lives within us!, which led us to consider how we seek God and 'commune with' (share our deepest and most intimate thoughts and feelings with) Him within ourselves. 

Christian meditation is one way of doing this, sitting still in silence, giving our full attention to God and using a prayer word to quieten and focus the busy thoughts in our minds. If you would like to find out more about this way of praying, the World Community for Christian Meditation explains it simply and clearly; they also have a FREE phone app, with daily encouragements to read before meditation, and a timer (which you can set to varying time lengths) to signal the start and end of your period of meditation. (Type 'WCCM App 2' into the App store or Google Play on your phone.)

John Main, OSB, who developed this tradition of Christian meditation from John Cassian, one of the early Christian Desert Fathers, describes meditation thus: 

"In meditation, we do not seek to think about God … we are trying to do something immeasurably greater. By turning aside from everything that is passing, everything that is contingent, we seek … to be with God, to experience Him as the ground of our being … to experience the presence of Jesus within us, to experience the real power of His Spirit within us and, in that experience, to be brought into the presence of His Father and our Father.” (Word into Silence, 1980) Amen. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus. 

So, may God bless us in our seeking this week.

In Him

Simon

Hi Everyone,

How has your week been? Is our motto text well and truly stuck in your head yet? If not, don’t worry, here it is again:

One thing I have asked of the Lord,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life;
to behold the beauty of the Lord
and to seek Him in His temple

As we have been unpacking some ideas of what these verses could mean for us in our Sunday sermons, I hope you have had some time to reflect on what it might mean for you personally too. Reflection is one of the most important things that we do, it’s how we work out who we are and what we believe. It is how we reconcile the world we experience with our faith. The world is such a complicated and dark place at times, particularly at the moment. In these unsettling times it can be important to ground ourselves in our faith, not to bury our heads in the sand but to understand our times in the context of God’s bigger story and to inform how we respond.

Our motto gives us a great model for reflection: when we choose to intentionally dwell in the presence of God, we readjust our focus. When we choose to behold beauty of the Lord, which can be understood as his action in the world (primarily through Jesus), we develop a greater understanding of who God is and his purposes for his world. When we choose to seek God, we entrust our world to him and allow him to inform how we act and make decisions within his world.

I really do hope that our motto will be a good focus for us for the year and provide a great source of encouragement for all of us this year. For now, let me leave you with the words of Jesus:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” John 14:27

With love
Jess

Hi Everyone,

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great Christmas. Have you set any new years resolutions? This year I have decided not to make any resolutions but instead to enjoy being the person God made me to be. That means rejoicing in who I am and not wishing I was somehow different or in need of improvement. Of course I am not perfect but if we love who we are perhaps we might just find the joy we are looking for and as a result might bring the gift of joy to those around us.

On Sunday we were thinking abut the arrival of the Wise Men to visit Jesus and the gifts that they brought. We noticed how their gifts said something about who Jesus was and what he came to do. The gift of gold showed that he is a king, the gift of frankincense showed us that he is a priest acting as a mediator between people and God and the myrrh was an embalming perfume that showed that he was the saviour who would die for the world. We also thought about our gifts and what we might bring to Jesus.

After the service I was particularly struck by a conversation I had with someone where we talked about being nervous about using our gifts in a new way and I continued to think about  this on my way home. Being nervous is a natural part of life. Being nervous should not be misunderstood as a sign that you are not good at something but more often than not it is a sign that the thing you are doing is unfamiliar or important to you. When I first started standing up and preaching and leading in church about 18 years ago it was always a scary thing for me to do. I really wanted to do it and really wanted to do it well and I would stand up at the front with my voice quivering slightly and legs like jelly. The more I did it, the more confident I felt. I still get nervous in new situations or if I get asked to do something I haven't done before but the important thing is to not let the nerves get in the way of me using the gifts that God has given me. When I do choose to use my gifts, even when I am afraid at times, it is a form of worship because through my actions I am telling Jesus that he is more important than my feelings.

Inside and outside of church there are lots of opportunities to get involved and to use our gifts. Do continue to think about what your gifts are and look for opportunities to use them in service of God. In church we have a number of opportunities to use our gifts. Here are just three examples:

1) Join the new ATS (All Together Service) team. We are looking for a team of people to plan and lead our monthly service. As well as people to speak at the front, we need people to design and prepare prayer stations, people to find and make power point presentations and people to find videos and activities to help us explore our theme. Speak to Jess or Simon if you would like to get involved.

2) Help Sally and the team to write funding bids for the Refurb project. If you have experience in writing funding applications or would be happy to proof read ones that others have written then please speak to Sally, Gordon or Matt who would love to hear from you.

3) There are lots of maintenance jobs to do around church to keep our building running. If you are good at DIY or happy to learn then Gordon and Tim would love to hear from you.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people. Remember that the Lord will give you as a reward what he has kept for his people. For Christ is the real Master you serve. (Colossians 3:23-24)

With Love

Jess