Hi Everyone,
 
I saw a meme the other day that had a list of things that British people can’t believe, including how dark it is, how cold it is and most importantly that it’s nearly Christmas. I have to say that I have said that I can’t believe all of those things at least once in the past week (probably more!). Despite the fact that these changes happen every year, I never cease to be amazed or surprised by them. For those of us who follow the church calendar there is another one to add to the list - I can’t believe it’s the end of another year!

On Sunday we celebrated the feast of Christ the King where we think about the end of the story where Jesus is victorious on his throne, his kingdom has come in all its fullness and all of creation is restored to a right relationship with God. This is officially the end of the church year - talk about going out on a high! This Sunday we start all over again, we begin with in Advent where we begin to look forward with anticipation to the coming of the Messiah, God’s chosen one, Jesus Christ. As a church, we have got lots of things coming up to help us to prepare:

• Friday 6th December - Medlock Primary School will be in church exploring the Christmas story at Experience Christmas.
• Saturday 7th December 2:30pm - Time to get into the Christmas spirit together with this year’s festive film: The Grinch.
• Sunday 15th December 5pm - Carol Service with traditional readings, carols and fun.
• Tuesday 17th December 1pm - Positive Steps Christmas Meal - yum yum!
• Sunday 22nd December 10:45am - Christingle (come and find out all about God’s hope for the world in a yummy and creative way!)
• Wednesday 25th December 10:45am - Merry Christmas!! Come and celebrate the newborn king!

 
Looking forward to celebrating with you all.
 
With Love
 
Jess

Dear Friends

I wonder if you are familiar with the following tall story...

As the flood waters rose, a man was on the porch of his house and prayed that God would save him from drowning in the flood. Just then, another man came by in a row boat. The man in the boat invited the other man to get in, and he'd save him. The man on the porch said, "No, thanks, I'm waiting for God to rescue me."

The water kept rising and the man had to go to the second floor of his house. As he looked out the window, he saw a man in a motor boat come by. The man in the boat invited him to get in because he had come to rescue him. The man in the house said, "No, thanks, I'm waiting for God to rescue me."

The waters kept on rising. Soon the man was forced to climb up onto his roof. A helicopter flew by, and a man inside lowered a rope and shouted down for the stranded man to climb up the rope. But the man still wouldn't get in. He just said, "No, thanks, I'm waiting for God to rescue me."

Well, eventually, the flood waters rose above the house rooftop, and the man drowned. When he got to Heaven, he asked God why He didn't rescue him from drowning when he had had perfect faith. "What more do you want from me?" asked God. "I sent you two boats and a helicopter!"

Last Sunday in different ways we were think about being rescued. In the morning service, we studied the "helmet of salvation”, where Judith our preacher, helped us reflect on recent rescue acts that had made the international news. For in both the lad’s football team trapped in the Tham Luang caves in Thailand, and earlier the miners trapped in the Chilean coal mine, their rescue was in part dependant on the actions of others who entered into that dangerous situation, which indeed cost the life of one of these brave volunteers.

Such acts, help us appreciate the work and sacrifice of Jesus our ultimate saviour and rescuer who entered into our world, taking on and overcoming the powers of sin and death, even though it cost him his life on the cross. The impact of that act of rescue; the new life won for us, was suitably displayed in the baptism of Didi and Alicia earlier when we celebrated their new life in Christ.

​For a number of us, our Sunday closed with our “Engage” discussion and sharing group, where we reflected as to how we as individuals, both picture God, and appreciate His hope for the world. Again, His desire to reach out, save and rescue, were themes that a number of us identified in our time together.

So if in the midst of this week we find ourselves bogged down or stuck (I love the image of “miry clay” that the Psalmist uses in Psalm 40), let’s look to Jesus our rescuer to put us back on solid ground, or indeed be open to the ministry of other angels (or indeed agents, as our story above points to) that He might be sending our way.

God Bless

Simon  

Hi Everyone,

One of my favourite things about being the curate here is getting to chat to lots of people and hearing their stories and opinions on a whole range of matters. At times people surprise me with tales from their life that I never would have expected. At other times, it’s not quite so deep as we discuss our favourite TV programs or our favourite food or even just the weather. Whatever we’re chatting about, big or small, we’re doing more than just sharing words. When we chat, we build friendships, community and mutual understanding. 

On the third Sunday of the month we are going to start to make a space in the evening for us all to chat and hear each other’s views and stories. Our new group is going to be simply called Engage because our hope is to engage with each other, engage with God and together, engage with some of the more tricky aspects of our faith. We recognise that we are all different, that we have different stories and we perhaps have different understandings of what it means to follow Christ but by listening to each other and sharing with each other we might grow in faith, unity, understanding and love for one another. 

This Sunday evening we will be laying some foundations for later discussions in the new year. This week’s questions are:

    •    Who is God to me?
    •    What is the Bible to me?
    •    What do I think God wants most for people?

You might notice that these questions are personalised. That is deliberate as we recognise that we all might have a slightly different answer to these questions. This group isn’t about setting out what we “should” think but exploring and discussing faith together in an open and safe environment. 

Please join us at 7pm on Sunday evening in the church lounge for lively discussion (with drinks and nibbles) at Engage and please also do join us at 10:45am on Sunday morning for worship and to support Alicia and Didi in their Baptism. 

With love

Jess

Dear Friends.

Today is the set day where the Church of England acknowledged the ministry of Archbishop William Temple who, during the early part of the Second World War, served as the Archbishop of Canterbury, having formerly been our very own Bishop of Manchester. Temple had a huge concern for the state of the nation, and was integral in the founding of the NHS after the war, believing that the church had a responsibility to speak up and stand up for those around. One of his more famous sayings was based around an understanding that perhaps the church was the one society that existed for the benefit of its' non-members. Certainly this sentiment could be applied to our current Refurb plans for our own church building, whereby the choice to improve the hall and beyond, rather than focussing on the worship room first, will be, we pray, a demonstration of our desire to serve and reach out to our wider community. Last Sunday, we were able to announce that simply through the generosity of our congregation’s giving period, we were able to add another £32,000 to the development fund. Thank you indeed to everyone who has been able to contribute up to now, whatever the amount you were able to give. 

This isn’t to say that church should simply be another care provider – indeed I attended a lecture yesterday evening whereby the point was well made that we should as Christians be as much concerned over issues of justice, than being agents of compassion ministering to situations where perhaps justice hasn’t been evident in the first place. And here I believe is where worship of God is then centerstage once again, and our most important duty. For our worship of and prayer with God is most crucial, providing us with our Lord’s template as to how things should be, and encouraging us to mirror His kingdom values. Here we return to William Temple, who observed that we can’t separate what goes on in church on a Sunday with what is happening in the life of the world. “The Eucharist (communion) divorced from life loses reality,” he wrote. “…life devoid of worship loses direction and power. It is the worshipping life that can transform the world.” 

And he really meant it. In his radio broadcast as Archbishop of Canterbury to the nation at the outbreak of the Second World War, he stated, “This world can be saved from political chaos and collapse by one thing only, and that is worship.” In our current uncertain times, we would do well to act on his encouragement.

God Bless

Simon