Advent 2 - The Jesse Tree

The Jesse Tree (here’s one I did earlier) comprised two bare pronged branches painted a bright green (by yours truly), pushed into a tree stump - and what a great morning we had! We greatly enjoyed another fun-packed All Age Praise at Time for God exploring God’s promises; some from the Old Testament and some in the New (just a few – we only had an hour!). We looked at several readings in the Old and New Testaments; we explored the meaning and the provenance of the Jesse Tree, from Isaiah 11 “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit”.

After that we scampered through bible passages about Creation, Noah, David, Mary and Jesus being the Word and Light of the World. We considered God’s promises, hope, gifts and providence, and thought about our response through obedience, living truly joyful lives and being the presence of Christ in our broken and divided world.

In the meantime, the children prepared and decorated ornaments to hang on the Jesse Tree showing the various facets of all we had been talking about. We sang a mixture of songs to suit both young and not-so-young which covered all the themes contained in the service; Who put the colours in the rainbow?, the Arky, Arky song, Lord’s my Shepherd (modern version), Tell out my soul, Light of the world, and concluded with Colours of Day. Pauline’s prayer time with the children was spent praising God through dance and pretending to be musical statues, in addition to waving the tree decorations and bright yellow balloons saying “Jesus is the Light of the World”.

Phew! Actually, it was wonderful to explore Christian themes in the context of a vastly different style of Christmas Tree, which is now in St. Peter’s Church, by the Tower arch, should you want to visit and have a look.

It might even end up in my sitting room over the Christmas period!

My prayer is, that you all find true joy and the peace of the Christ child in your hearts and homes this Christmas.

Every blessing, Deacon Olivia.

There is more about the Jesse Tree at:
http://maggidawn.com/jesse-tree/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_Jesse
http://www.crivoice.org/jesse.html

November 29th Advent and the Second Coming

Luke 21 vv. 25-36

Are We Ready?

This morning, we thought about the need to keep a smoke alarm checked and ready for action. Our reading thinks ahead to the second coming of Jesus which is certain to happen but at an unknown (and therefore, unexpected) time. It speaks of cosmic upheaval before His return but, although a great deal is happening at the moment, we should not try to predict when He might come.
We need to remember that God's time is not our time. For him, past present and future are all the same. Nevertheless, there is this certainty and we need to be ready. In the period of waiting, we have the opportunity to live out our lives in the way Jesus taught and also to pass on the Good News to as many people as we can.
We remember that Jesus told his disciples, and so us also, to go out and preach the Gospel to all the nations. In one of the other Gospels, Jesus tells the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. Those who were ready were able to celebrate with the bridegroom; those who were not missed out. So, ARE WE READY? If not, we shall miss out too.

Any comments?

Peter Ewen

November 22 - Christ the King

Christ the King! - but how does this relate to our lives today? We considered today's reading, shown above in probably the earliest representation of the scene, from a fifth century mosaic in Ravenna, Italy. What sort of king does Christ appear to be, captive and on trial for his life? Pontius Pilate seems a much more kinglike figure seated on throne representing h the power of the Roman Empire. But is Jesus much more in control of the situation? Pilate is washing his hands unable to accept responsibility, Jesus is choosing to die.

'My kingdom is not of this world...' so what sort of kingdom is it? We thought of mustard seed, yeast and a pearl, all descriptions of the kingdom of God in Jesus' teaching. They suggest the kingdom happens in small, hidden ways but making a big difference to our lives and also is precious.


Savita is an Indian rubbish collector supported by one of the small projects St Peter's Caring and Sharing group helps. She now employs other women too – an example of the Kingdom at work? Especially as Jesus always identified himself with the poor and marginalised and was crucified outside the city walls, where rubbish was thrown.

We were reminded that Jesus' love can and should transform our lives and those around us. As we often pray Thy Kingdom come and as we prepare to celebrate the birth of the newborn King, so we are challenged to follow better Jesus our king.

Judith Platt

November 15 - The Good Samaritan

Today at TFG we welcomed Christian Voices who through drama helped us to explore the parable of the Good Samaritan and posed to us the question "What would you do ?"

By conicidence this weekend also marks the launch of the Charter for Compassion, remidning us that The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves.

For further details go to: http://charterforcompassion.org/

And, by the way, what would you do ?

Peace & Remembrance

David Knight led our thoughts this Remembrance Sunday. After reminding us of some of the horrifying statistics of war dead, he read poems by Wilfred Owen and Rudyard Kipling, and then opened up the question of whether war is indeed inevitable or necessary.

We are called to be peacemakers. To that end, some of us believe that sometimes war is the only way to prevent the spread of evil, whilst others believe that nonviolent resistance is both morally preferable and even sometimes more effective.

What do you think ?

October 18 - One World Week

The whole creation cries to us penetratingly, with a great cry, about the existence and the beauty and the love of God. The music roars it into our ears and the landscape calls it into our eyes… In all of nature we find God’s initials and all of God’s creatures are God’s love letters to us.

Ernesto Cardenal

Servants with Creation

⁴¹When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. ⁴²So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. ⁴³But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve ...

Mark 10

What does it mean to be in relationship with the earth ? How do we see the natural world around us and how do we treat it through our various everyday actions and decisions ?

If we follow Jesus' teaching here our relationship to the planet (just like our relationships with one another) is not about domination but mutual service. As a world we seek to serve one another and God. This means a recognition that we are part of creation, and not something apart or aloof from it.

So what might it mean for us to take Jesus' words here seriously in our relationship with the earth ?

The discussion started this morning but continues here ...

Peter

More details on the Copenhagen Summit can be found here.

More details on One World Week can be found here.

Sunday September 13 - Who do you say that I am ?

Mark 8: 27 - 38
The Christ We Share

This morning we viewed, discussed and reflected on a series of 32 images of Christ from around the world, all reminding us that Christ is visualised and experienced in many different forms by different people in different times and places.

You might wish to continue your reflections on the different images here. Which did you like and why ? Were there any you didn't like ? What would / does your image of Christ look like ?



Thank you to those who brought in the image / object which helps you to respond to the question "Who do you say that I am ?"



A number of people commented on the image below that it was difficult to tell which one was Jesus - a reminder perhaps that we are each called to be "Christ" to one another ...