Dear Friends,
In our hurry to get things done
we can get them so badly wrong
that they will never be undone
without the help of the Holy One!
Not the best of rhyming, but forgive me, please, because it was inspired by an experience of frustration and despair when I thought I had got something done but it was quickly undone when I did something wrong!
Dear Friends,
If only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace…
Acts 20: 24
There is a race that will only be won when everyone has crossed the finishing line. There is nothing to shout about if you have a gold medal and everyone else is left behind!
Bronze Certificate by A ROCHA UK
WE ARE AN ECO CHURCH IN A RACE TO SAVE THE WORLD.
We haven’t been in training for long, but we have been awarded a Bronze Certificate by A ROCHA UK for our efforts to become an Eco Church and look after God’s creation. It is a wonderful start, but there is much more to be done and we pray more people will run with us into the future.
Dear Friends,
I thought I would have some ‘down time’ one afternoon during the week with some tv viewing when a programme presenter looked at me and told me “not to change channels!”
I am sure there were others who, like me, had only just tuned in to TBNUK, on channel 65, but it was as if she was speaking directly to me. “Someone has just tuned in to the channel,” she said. “I want to encourage you not to change channels, but to stay with us!” How could I do anything else?
Dear Friends,
“Do whatever he tells you,” his mother said to the servants
John 2: 5
If we did as we were told the world would be a different place, but we believe rules are for breaking and what a mess we are making!
Our hope, we are told, is in doing what we are told, but it only needs a few to break the rules to make hope seem so far away.
From Epiphany to Baptism:
Our change of direction!
Mark 1: 4-13
There is a hymn written by John Bell and Graham Maule that asks the question, “will you come and follow me if I but call your name?” and the last verse concludes with the reason: “Thus I’ll move and live and grow in you and you in me!”
There are two sides to every story…
Matthew 2: 1-12
If you didn’t see what I saw on the first day of the year you might not believe what I tell you, but it was a bright start to the year!
Dear Friends,
Why blame God
when it’s our fault?
For my last letter of the year I say: “Don’t blame God when things go wrong, but take responsibility for your own actions and the suffering they can cause.” That’s my resolution for the New Year and one I suggest can make a big difference if we all follow it!
Dear Friends,
Patients were encouraged by a woman who walked around a hospital ward in her dressing gown singing, “Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger, my love is stronger than your fear. Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger and I have promised, promised to be always near.”
Dear Friends,
Strictly come dancing
with the Lord of the Dance!
YOU can do anything with the right people around you is a lesson that was reinforced for me as I watched the final of Strictly Come Dancing. YOU can also be one of the right people that encourage someone to do something they never thought they could two. It takes two to tango!