Springtime - Let's Get Planting !

What a brilliant morning we had at our All Age Praise! Today we inaugurated our long-term plan, which is getting ready for Harvest when once again in September 2011, we shall be having an open day with a warm welcome for all.

And so this morning we looked at Creation and the gifts that God has showered upon us. We gave thanks and praise and during the service we made charts with our names, metallic coloured stars to begin with and then prepared pots with compost. We planted leeks and carrot seeds, some of which were suitable for growing in tubs, so no-one was left out, whether they have a house or a flat without a garden. The idea is that these will grow throughout the year and culminating in the making of leek and carrot soup at a Harvest workshop, ready for Harvest and Back to Church Sunday.

While the children were planting their seeds, the adults discussed the readings and what it meant by God saying we should have responsibility and a care for his Creation, rather than just using it for our own ends.

We had some very lively music supplied by our Mark, who gathered a band of the children together with their percussion instruments. We sang such songs as; All things bright and beautiful; If I were a butterfly; He’s got the whole wide world. As usual at AAP, we sang Happy Birthday, for our oldest member of 90 years and some our very young ones of 4 who even gave me some of her birthday cake – thank you Emily, it was delicious!

Of course, the song that caused the greatest chuckle was at one point when we sang “We plough the fields and scatter”. Well – we did scatter the seeds, didn’t we – and anyway, I’ve always thought it should be sung in the Spring as well as in the Autumn.

We had a truly blessèd morning – and it was great fun as well. So why not come and join us.

Deacon Olivia

For those of you who are very keen or (like me) have no idea about these things, there is help on the web here. Peter

Candlemas

This Sunday David Knight introduced us to Candlemas and suggested that the candle with its gentle light (compared with most other forms of artificial light) and self-giving light (a candle only gives off light as it is itself burned away) is actually a very appropriate image of Jesus.

So, next time you see a candle, remember God's call to us all to share gentle and self-giving love in the world.

Peter King

Meeting Jesus.... may have huge consequences

Matthew 4:12-23

We considered first that Jesus came to meet Peter, Andrew, James and John in the middle of their everyday lives and occupations. Does he still do this? Often through other people or situations?He said 'Follow me' – and still does to us. Perhaps that's all he says, doesn't give us rules and regulations to follow, but doing that is not easy, will probably take a lifetime with God's grace helping us to attempt it. The 4 fishermen left the security and safety of their jobs, and left immediately, reminding us of the great difference Jesus can make in our lives.

The consequences of this encounter – were tremendous. For the 4 men being with Jesus for 3 years, and then the certainly unexpected to them, event of Jesus' crucifixion and mind blowing Resurrection, and then to being leaders of the early church, and probable martyrdom. And after them, many great saints and ordinary people have had their lives changed by also trying to follow Jesus. Cf the recently released film 'Of Gods and Men'. Greatly acclaimed it beautifully represents the 9 French monks who lived happily alongside Muslim villagers in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria. When extremists threatened both them and the villagers the monks are then shown individually and collectively questioning their faith and calling. They all chose to remain rather than return to France and 7 were kidnapped and killed in 1996.

We agreed we wouldn't be at TFG but for the first disciples following Jesus and telling others. Unlike them or the monks we may not have to leave our present lives; do we always remember though that it's there we should be trying to follow Jesus everyday? Peter and the others got it wrong at times, the monks faced hard choices. Following Jesus doesn't mean following blindly leaving our free will behind. How will choose to follow Jesus so that others will hear of Jesus' love?

Judith Platt

John 1: 29 - 42

On 16 January at TFG we looked together at John 1 verses 29 to 42.

I commented that with the Fourth Gospel you almost need to be a detective to get to the heart of what John is saying, and even then of course because of the great cultural differences between first century Palestine and twenty-first century Britain some of the meaning may still escape us. That doesn't mean that we should give up, though! I wondered whether the mention of time – the next day, the next day, about four o'clock in the afternoon, was simply a passion for accurate recording on John's part, or whether, as so often in this gospel it's almost as if he's playing a little game with us – why am I writing this?

As to “the next day” is it John reminding us that time us short and that we too, like the people in this extract have to decide whether we want to “come and see” and then follow the Lamb of God? And four o'clock in the afternoon? An unimportant detail or a reminder that that's the end of daylight, and dark is coming and we have to decide whether to stay in the light of Christ, or like Judas, live in the dark?

The main themes of these verses are the titles applied to Jesus, e g Messiah, Rabbi, and above all Lamb of God – lambs having deep significance for the Jews (above all at Passover) and witnessing – John the Baptist, Andrew, all pointing to Jesus. Questions: what titles can we apply to Jesus that will resonate with our own generation, and how do we witness effectively to Jesus in a broken world that, though it refuses to recognise this, stands in desperate need of his message of reconciling love?

EDWARD BRYANT

Epiphany 2011

Epiphany – Christ shown to the World; all right then – manifested if you prefer. So how did we do it?

Well – I filled a gold gift bag with ‘silver’ coins, which we all ate!

I found some frankincense sticks and shared some olive body cream around the TFG congregation to symbolize the Wise Men’s gifts.

We talked about what the gifts symbolised and had lots of activities for all the age groups represented; we had lots of fun in doing all that was offered.

Using an acrostic G I F T S, we discussed what each letter could stand for, both in Jesus’ life, and in ours; our Christian life, journey and mission.

We also sang lots of songs including: Come & join the celebration, O come all ye faithful, Joy to the World, See Him lying on a bed of straw; together with sundry ‘wise men’ songs: We three kings (the sensible version not the playground one!), As with gladness, men of old..

Finally, we laid slips of paper marked ‘gold, frankincense and myrrh’ next to the Advent Candle ring as a sign of our New Year commitment to Christ.

It was an exciting start to 2011 – why not come and join us?

Deacon Olivia

A Very Happy Christmas
and a
Peaceful New Year
to You
and to Our World

Matt 11:2-11 John the Baptist

We discussed who he was – the messenger of the long awaited Messiah, living off the land in the Judaean wilderness where he preached repentance to everyone, and baptised them. Was this location a concrete prophetic sign that the people should once more return to the desert to encounter God afresh and prepare for God's chosen one?

Today's reading has moved on and John has been imprisoned by Herod, the local ruler. What would John feel like? Defeated, disorientated? - probably in a dark dungeon, a great contrast to the wide spaces and skies of the desert. Not surprisingly he doubted his mission, and even who Jesus was. Are we sometimes imprisoned by problems of ourselves or our families, or of the world in which we live. Do we question our faith? Hopefully we do! Hopefully we try to work out how what we believe, fits in with the situation we're in – we agreed in a helpful discussion that this is difficult, and there are no easy answers. Yet this is how our faith can grow and become more meaningful in our lives.

Christian experience through the ages often tells of famous saints who doubted and questioned. We spent a little time thinking of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, also in prison facing a death at the whim of an unstable ruler. In 'Letters and Papers from Prison' he evaluates his faith and tries to make it relevant to his situation and the changing circumstances of modern life. His question, 'What do we really believe in such a way that we stake our lives on it' ? was John's question too, and should be ours.

Jesus' answer was one which left John to work it out for himself, though he would easily recognise the allusions to Old Testament prophecy; yet he would have to come to terms with a Messiah probably very different from what he expected, and to learn that God acts in surprising ways.

Who is Jesus? - we should be glad that John who met Jesus face to face, nevertheless had to struggle with this question – so it's OK for us too. Today's pink Advent candle reminds us that John, despite his doubts, really was the messenger of the good news of Jesus – whose birth we shall very soon be celebrating.

Judith