A second chance

The reading was Luke 13, verses 1-9. In it Jesus tells a parable about a fig tree which did not bear fruit for three years and was about to be cut down. However, the man taking care of it said "Leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then it can be cut down."

We heard the story of Thomas Edison producing the first light bulb. He and his team took 24 hours to produce one bulb. When it was finished, Edison gave it to a boy to carry upstairs. The boy climbed carefully, afraid that he might drop it. Unfortunately, he did drop it so the team had to spend another 24 hours producing another one. The same boy was asked to carry it upstairs, this time he did so without dropping it.

God forgives us when we get things wrong and gives us a second chance. He looks forward to seeing the good fruit in our lives - things like love, joy, peace, patience, goodness and kindness and to see us showing God's love to other people around us.

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

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity - The Christian Mosaic

We have come from many places for a little while;
We have come with all our differences, seeking common ground;
We have come on journeys of our own, to a place where journeys meet.

The Iona Community

Sharing together this morning we discovered that this is true for our TFG community. Many of us have experience of other churches and Christian traditions and bring this with us to TFG.
Christian Unity, we discovered, is not about uniformity but about unity in diversity - each community worshiping and serving God as the people God has made them to be.

So as we work and pray for Christian unity the place to start is where we are - working and praying together with other Christians in the task of making the world a better place: working for peace, justice, environmental sustainablity, right relationships, mutual respect ...

Why not spend some time thinking back over your journey and thanking God for all that you bring with you to the TFG community and then thank God for all that others bring too ?

God, your Church is a mosaic of pieces, large and small,
Of many colours and shapes whose differences when blended
Make a thing of beauty not possible for one piece alone.
Help us to be trusting as you fit us together.
Grant us the grace not to find fault with our neighbours,
But hold on to them with genuine love,
Knowing that however ill-matched we may feel
We may become a perfect fit to you
Who sees the whole picture.

The first sign! John 2:1-11

Onions! -Judith has been using a lot of them in meals suitable for the cold weather – and they have lots of layers, like this story and like the rest of John's gospel, which to some extent, makes it different from the other 3 gospels. The outer layer sees Jesus enjoying a happy occasion, a wedding, at a real place, Cana in Galilee – living a fully human life, but is there deeper meanings in the story, described as the first sign; does it build up a picture of who Jesus is and what he does?

Who is the bridegroom? He just about gets a mention, but what about Jesus? He describes himself as the bridegroom in the other 3 gospels. The OT describes God as the bridegroom of Israel and wedding feast imagery is used to describe God's Kingdom. What does this suggest about Jesus? Is he the true bridegroom in whom we see God fully and does this sign indicate the the Kingdom of God is coming with Jesus?

Not enough wine at a wedding – a social disaster, but what does this say about the human condition and our lives without Jesus? 6 stone water jars, 1 less than the perfect number -does Jesus make perfect the older Jewish religion? And huge jars, filled to the brim - what does this say about God's love – generous and more than enough for all.

'You have kept the good wine until now' – the steward didn't get it, but what is the good wine? Jesus' gift of himself out of love – the passage refers to his death and resurrection . So water, so vital for human life is changed by Jesus into the best wine representing eternal life, which can begin now with him. We discussed other references to wine in this gospel, which though it hasn't an actual description of the Last Supper has many Eucharistic allusions if you look for them, and a lot about water too, and references to baptism.

The story challenges us to consider who Jesus is, and can he transform the water of our lives into wine? Are we open to his grace at work in our lives? And also, does Jesus need help today as the servants helped him at the wedding? - he asked for their help. Does he ask for ours in showing others his love?

Judith

Baptism of Christ - Identity & Obedience (Matt.3:13-17)

So the “faithful few fought bravely”; and although we only had a small number at our service, it was a very inspiring and warm time together. It’s just as well that it was “warm” because we had all had to walk in the snow and ice!

We focused today on Christ’s identification with us and our humanity, and his obedience to the Father’s will. Fr. David’s presence greatly enriched our worship with his insights and learning. He produced a power-point presentation; identity was portrayed by a patient bus queue; obedience was seen in a musician having to practice patiently in order to become proficient; a large cloud, touching the tops of trees, indicating God’s interaction with us, and even a picture of a loudspeaker which told us that we too have our call to carry out God’s will in the world.. We moved on to images of the crucifixion; what would happen to Jesus and his ultimate sacrifice for us. Throughout, we had a very lively and interesting discussion and it was a good opportunity for learning together.

This was all accompanied by the songs, All creatures of our God and King, Peace is flowing like a River, Seek ye first (which we managed to sign in the Round – very nice!), O Jesus I have promised, and closed with Shine, Jesus, Shine; all very appropriate especially as we are continuing to light all our Advent Candles up to Candlemas!

Thank you to all who took part and especially to Peter Ewen who had to step in at the last moment and of course to Fr. David.

Deacon Olivia

Some Thoughts for Reflection

What does it mean to you to be baptised (if you are) ?

What does baptism mean to you (if you are not) ?

Does it matter if we are baptised or not ?

What have been the key influences and factors which have formed our own sense of identity ?

You are invited to continue the discussion below ...

Peter K