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

Christmas 1 - After Christmas - what next?

Luke 2 vv. 41-end

We are now in Year C for our Sunday readings so our weekly readings will come from the Gospel of Luke. However, the majority of the Christmas story is recorded in Luke anyway, with only three events recorded in Matthew. Neither Mark nor John record any of these events.

Every year, Jesus was taken with his family from Nazareth to Jerusalem for the Passover. Today's story tells of the occasion when he was 12. After travelling homewards for a day, his parents realised he was not with the party so went back to look for him. They found him in the Temple in deep discussion with the teachers there.

We discussed a number of points raised by the story. Jesus was very knowledgeable, presumably because he had been well prepared for his Bar-Mitzvah. He clearly knew by this age that he was God's Son and that he had an important role to play. His mother, too, became more aware of this role and would remember this occasion. It was noted that the Bible does not record any other events in his life until he starts his ministry aged about 30 years. Apparently, a Rabbi would normally not start teaching until about that age.

How about us?

Sometimes, we lose Jesus from our lives. If this, happens, we must retrace our steps until we find him and he becomes central again. Maybe, we too need to be in our Father's house.

Advent 4 - God's Promises Through Mary

Mary - what a Woman! At TFG this week, we flagged up her courage, obedience, and commitment to God. We explored the example she gives us through the faith in which she lived out her life, the unconditional love she displayed and the hope that she brings us. We looked at what it must have meant to have been the mother of Our Lord and reflected for a while upon its cost to her, even to watching her Son being executed, reminding ourselves that the Cross’s shadow is in the Christmas story.

We kicked around the fact that Mary’s Magnificat, is a moral, social and economic song of revolution; she speaks of scattering the proud (death of pride), casting down the mighty (exalting the humble) and filling the hungry (as Christians, we dare not have too much while others have too little.

We ended our interactive talk by knowing that Christianity starts a revolution in each of us, and we in turn must begin a revolution in the world. God promised that He would give us a Saviour – one that would save the world from itself. But he also meant that we would play our part in making his promises good.

Our songs reflected all these themes; Come on and Celebrate, Born in the night, Servant King, Tell out my soul and finished with Joy to the World (the Lord is near!).

May the peace of the Christ Child fill all your hearts, homes and lives this Christmas time and throughout the coming year.

Every blessing,

Deacon Olivia.

Further reading: Wm. Barclay – Luke and “All Saints to Candlemas”

Advent 3 - John the Baptist

Luke 3 vv. 7-18

John the Baptist

In this passage and in previous verses, we read how John the Baptist was preaching to the Jews about the need for repentance and receiving forgiveness for the sins of the past. He was offering them Baptism with water to cleanse them. However, this was only in order to prepare them for the coming of Jesus who would baptise them with the Holy Spirit. They must not rely on being ancestors of Abraham as that, in itself, did not put them in a right relationship with God. John encouraged them to share food and clothing and to see that they were fair in their dealing with other people. He mentions the tax collectors who were known to collect more than was actually due in order to increase their own income.

Jesus would baptise with the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came to certain people, at certain times, for certain tasks, whereas in the New Testament, He is available to all, including us.

So what about us?

We need to be prepared for Jesus' Second Coming, which could be at any time. While we are waiting, we can be sharing the Good News about Jesus with all those we meet day by day. Jesus often used to go aside for periods of quiet. Maybe we, too, need to make some quiet space in our busy lives. That may mean a fresh start. In Paul's letter to the Ephesians, whom he had visited previously, he encourages them and therefore us, too, to go on being filled with the Spirit.

Any comments?

Peter Ewen

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