The Father's Love

On Sunday, we based our service on Old Testament readings, mostly from the Psalms. The readings showed the love God has for each one of us despite all that may have gone on in our life up to this moment.

The readings were:

Psalm 139 which tells us that there is nowhere we can go that is away from God's presence and that He has watched over us ever since we were conceived. To link with this thought we watched the DVD of The Father's Love Letter. (You can watch a low quality version on the internet at http://www.fathersloveletter.com/ )

Psalm 23 which reminds us that God loves us throughout our lives and beyond.

Psalm 121 which tells us that our help comes from the Lord and that He will watch over us.

Isaiah 43 vv. 1-3a,4a told the Jewish people that the Lord was their Saviour. We now know that to be Jesus, who died for our sins and rose again so that if we believe in Him we have the promise of eternal life.

We also sang a Taize chant and various hymns/songs which gave the same message about God's love.

Jesus calms the storm – why not let him calm yours. Luke 8:22-25

What fun we had today at All Age Praise!

We explored the story of Jesus calming the storm and how he calms ours too. We sang some great songs; Thank you Lord for this fine day; Christ’s love is the best love; As the deer; Have you heard the raindrops, I the Lord of sea and sky and finishing and leaving to You shall go out with joy.

During the service, one of our younger people did the reading, and the story was re-enacted. The children had great fun sitting in a boat while the adults added the sound effects for wind, waves, lakes, being asleep, drowning and being afraid. It sounded quite like a farmyard with all the crashing, ooo-ing, snoring, aaah-ing, glugging and screeching. It took a while for the grown-ups to warm up to the idea, but in the end they did. I’m not sure who enjoyed it more; the children, the adults or yours truly!

After having done this interactive thingy with the youngsters, the older members explored the reading while the children went and produced collage storm pictures of their own.

We explored the fact that Christians need to have a personal relationship in Christ and to grow in faith through prayer, bible reading and coming together for study and worship. We thought about three deeper aspects of today’s reading:

• Trouble will come to each one of us;
• Conquest – troubles can be overcome through the strength of Christ – we only have to ask for his help
• Purpose – we too must be ready to fight the wrongs and injustice we see around us.

We also looked at parenthood, being able to approach God honestly and the ability to tell Him exactly what we think of Him; after all – He’s more than big enough to take it – and loves us more than enough to accept it!

And we left with this week’s thought that we must each ask God what He wants us to do for Him.

Deacon Olivia

For Further Reflection

It is interesting that Jesus is seen in the story as asleep. For many people in our world, indeed many of us perhaps, it appears that God is asleep (or absent) in face of the disasters and tragedies of the world and of our lives.

Where do we see signs of God's presence in the world ?

Peter K.

CANDLEMAS - Presentation of Christ in the Temple

Candles and Commitment; Proclamation and Promises! We shared it all this morning through the exploration of two readings: Isaiah 6:1-8 and Luke 2: 22-40, and worship songs: Light of the World; Open our eyes, Lord; I the Lord of Sea and Sky; God is working his purpose out; and ending with Shine Jesus shine.

In the Old Testament we looked at Songs of Praise – Seraphim style!, and discussed together the meaning of the words holy and glory. We talked about Isaiah’s feeling of unworthiness but that God called him anyway – in spite of himself!

For the New Testament reading, we explored the Ancient Ceremonies (Presentation, Purification, and Redemption of the First-born) and Mary & Joseph’s obedience to them. We then went on to a Dream Realised (Simeon’s) and Anna’s faithfulness. We delved into the two schools of thought prevailing at the time, regarding the kind of Saviour for which people were searching, and examined the meaning of Simeon’s words about “falling and rising … opposition … and the sword that pierces”.

We ended up by looking at our own unworthiness and realised that if we waited until we felt ready – then we would never do anything! But we left with Obedience to God being our watchwords and our candles to remind us of our renewed commitment to Christ for the future.

Deacon Olivia

For Further Reflection

The religious ceremonies described in this week's reading would have cost Mary & Joseph a considerable amount of money. At the end of his life their son Jesus enters the same Temple precincts in a very different frame of mind:

Then Jesus entered the Temple and began throwing out the sellers, saying,

"Scripture says, 'My Temple will be a house of prayer'

- but you have made it a den of thieves !"

(Luke 19: 45/46)

Religious language and practises can very easily become oppressive. This is clearly what Jesus saw in much of the religious practises of his time. I wonder what he would say of those of our own time ?

Peter K