Hi Everyone,

I am notoriously impatient and rubbish at waiting. Whenever we order a takeaway I am watching the clock from the moment the order goes through. As soon as it hits the time that our food is supposed to be delivered, if it hasn’t arrived, I start to get a bit edgy. “Why isn’t it here?”, “This is terrible service!”, “I’m never using them again!”, "Maybe we should call them and find out where they are.” There is very little grace or understanding in my attitude to waiting and yet waiting is exactly what we are called to in this season of Advent.

On Sunday evening we thought a bit about waiting and as we looked at Psalm 27:13 - 14

“I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”

Christian waiting is a bit different to me waiting for my takeaway because we are waiting for someone who can be completely relied upon to keep his promise. I don’t know if the takeaway delivery driver will turn up on time or even at all. I don’t know whether they will bring the right stuff or whether the food will still be hot or whether it will definitely taste good (I’m sure most of us have experienced a disappointing takeaway at some point). The type of waiting we undertake in Advent is a hopeful and joyful wait because we can trust in God’s love, his faithfulness, his goodness and that he will do exactly what he says he will. 

In some ways it is easy to wait in Advent because we know that Christmas is coming and we know exactly when it is coming. Waiting for some of the more tricky stuff, like all the funds to be raised for our Refurb:Building Lives project or perhaps one of those prayers that we hung on our Christmas tree on Sunday, can be much harder. Yet the message is the same - be strong and courageous and wait for the Lord with faith in his goodness.

Have a great rest of the week whatever you are doing.

With love,

Jess

P.S. Don’t forget our festive film at 2:30pm in church in Saturday afternoon!

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

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

Hi Everyone

I have been recently rewatching the Chronicles of Narnia films which are based on the books by CS Lewis. For those of you who are unfamiliar, the first story, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, follows four children during World War 2 who find a wardrobe which leads to a magical world. Edmond, one of the children, meets a queen while he is there who gives him sweet treats and makes all kinds of promises to him if he will do as she asks. Meanwhile the other three children find out that true ruler of Narnia is really a lion called Aslan and that the imposter queen is in fact a witch. Edmond doesn't initially believe the others when they tell him until he meets Aslan face to face and then everything changes for him.

CS Lewis was a Christian and wrote the Narnia books as a picture of the gospel message with Aslan representing Jesus. He wanted to create stories for children that would arm them with truth. On Sunday we thought about the Belt of Truth as part of our new series on the Armour of God found in Ephesians 6. You can read it again here.

Just like Edmond in the Narnia stories, we can find the truth hard to discern and we become easily distracted and tempted away by short term pleasures and quick fix solutions. Yet also like Edmond, we fail to see the evil that lurks behind those temptations. In Ephesians, Paul tells us to wear truth like a belt around us. Truth that is only found in Jesus. We find the truth when we spend time with Jesus (in prayer and in reading the Bible) and when we spend time with those who love him (church). Truth can sometimes be hard, we don’t always want to hear it because it challenges us but when we hold on to the truth it acts like a torch showing us the way to go and when we follow the truth, it sets us free.

Have a great week and I hope to see you on Sunday.

With love

Jess

Hi Everyone,

Happy October! If my Facebook feed is anything to go by, this month seems to be all about getting motivated to do something new. Loads of people seem to be getting motivated to take action on climate change, to stop smoking, to lose weight or to become more active. I am no different, Two weeks ago I embarked on a diet plan (again!) in an attempt to shift some of the excess weight. I was in conversation with a fellow dieter last night who was struggling and asking how to get motivated. I think motivation comes down to a couple of things; believing in something (be it a diet plan, a cause or a change of action) and believing in ourselves as individuals that our action or inaction will make a difference.

On Sunday we thought about the early church and the way that they were motivated to give to each other in a completely selfless way (read it again here). 

Ultimately the early church were motivated by the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. They believed in this new vision for the kingdom that Jesus had given them and they believed that how they lived made a difference. 

In our discussions, we thought in particular about this word Koinonia (Koy-noh-nee-ah) which is the word used to describe the way that the early church lived and worked together. It means fellowship or partnership. We are often good at thinking about church as a fellowship - a group of people who share friendship together and have a mutual concern for each other. However, partnership suggests another level of involvement. It is that second factor in motivation that moves us from concern or interest to investment. When we view ourselves as partners with God and with each other we recognise that what we do as individuals has an impact on the whole and that all of us have an important role to play. We move from supporting something that someone else is doing to seeing it as something that we are doing together and that we are invested in the outcome. The simple truth is that without partnership, church doesn’t work because mission does not work. 

One of the best examples that I have come across of partnership in mission comes not from a great speaker or leader but from a children’s film. Watch it by clicking on this link.

We have got a big vision to refurbish this building to enable us to continue to reach out to our community with the love of Jesus and to build on that work. We want to provide a warm and safe place where all are welcome, where the vulnerable are cared for the hungry are fed, where those without a home have a bed for the night in the colder months and a nice hot shower in the morning, where people burdened with poor health can access activities that will improve their health and wellbeing, where the lonely and isolated find friendship and community and where those who are desperately lost are found by Jesus. The task is too big for one or two of us to carry, it needs all of us to partner together in giving, action and prayer to make this vision a reality.

Also on Sunday, Helen filled us in on the Refurb: Building Lives project and gave us an update of where we are up to. In brief the headlines were:

For Phase One (which focuses on the Sports Hall side of the building and the heating)

• We need to raise £420,000
• We have saved £88,387 from church funds
• We have received £15,540 from Manchester Diocese
• We have received £60,525 from friends all over the world
• We have raised £17,251 as a congregation
• Our total so far is £181,703
• We still need to raise £238,297
• We are hoping some of this will come in through grants we are applying for but it still needs all of us to partner together to make this happen

Some of us might be able to give a lot and others of us might feel like the little girl in the video with the piggy bank where we can just give a little. It isn’t all about numbers and it isn’t all about money but it is about partnership. Partnering with each other and with God in mission here because church is all of us, living together in unity and working together in partnership to see God’s kingdom come here.

Have a great week and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday if you can make it.

With Love

Jess