Term 2 end

As the school holidays approach, the second "term" of my new job has ended. I have enjoyed the daytime alpha course immensely as I had just the best team and we spent many hours praying together in the autumn before the course started in January. Such a good way to form a team! Our guests bonded really well and we love these women. They are so precious to God. Because I love them I can never force them to accept or believe anything, but trust God who just loves them even more! This is why I like the Alpha course so much as it presents information for guests to mull over/process.

I've also got the prep for the summer club here well underway....finding a venue was a high priority as the current building accomodation is too small. Every venue I tried - school, community centre, other churches...said "no" to a hire for a variety of reasons but I just knew that I needed a space outside the church building to use and I finally got one.........but it's not cheap. I have to say that I really don't care about the money side of it, although I am careful (this is a word to K!)and I do budget pretty tightly for all activities and plans I make year on year in ministry.

I just feel its time to take the church out of the building.

One thing that has really thrilled me this term is a group of 13 children who make up a discipleship group. They are absolutely awesome kids. When they start praying, I can hardly get them to stop. I think taking prayer and Bible study outside of a Sunday (we meet on certain Saturdays) has been the best thing. They listen well, interact well and eat well (we have Pizza Hut pizzas!) I really love them already and I have only been here for a few months. What will I be like when they are older?

(I had a weepy moment this week when I heard of some kids being baptised at Easter in my previous church, Not being there to see that is hard. I feel like they are like my own kids)

I wanted to spend time bringing God's word to the discipleship group kids - time is always so tight on a Sunday - so we are unpacking some biblical truths about how God sees them. I am also using this group as an opportunity to train and release a young man with fabulous potential into working with children. How the boys need to see a guy who loves Jesus so much and talks about him with a passion.

I've also written parent history maker sheets to go along with the things the children are learning and doing so that some time is spent talking and praying adult-child/child-adult during the week. My prayer is that this will really help some of the parents in particular who either don't come to church at all or are very new Christians themselves, giving them suggestions of things they could pray for together or share with one another.

Finally I've started to prepare for a weekend away with all Primary 5s, 6s and 7s and again I am delighted to have such great leaders coming with me. I am REALLY, REALLY excited about the weekend away. Ones in the past (last church) have seen incredible moves of God amongst the children and their faith growing in leaps and bounds.

I am really looking forward to a Sunday off (this week). Followed by some days off to do a few social things, we hope, with some of our new found friends perhaps, and also for me, some reading on "children and spiritual gifts". Got to present a paper on this by the end of May.

Traditional

When we use the word "traditional" - what do we mean?

Traditional as in....we feel comfortable with it?
Traditional as in....it's the way we have always done this?
Traditional as in....better?


What is traditional kids work? Get your flannelgraphs out....
(that sounds a bit rude!)

Someone's just asked me if one of our Easter services will have a traditional flavour. Ummmm. Does that mean marching, shouting, dancing, blowing trumpets and horns, sacrificing animals with still-beating hearts or....? My point is: at which point in history does "traditional" refer to?

One thing I know - at Easter we focus on the cross and on all that was accomplished there and on the power and might of God who resurrected Jesus from the dead - and what relevance that has for us today.

If that's traditional, I'm all for it!

Mourning

Last post was about joy; seems appropriate that this one is about mourning as we approach Good Friday.

We have three half hour meditations on Good Friday, 12, 12.30 and 1pm. I'm leading the middle one, from Mary's perspective.

I've been preparing using some music that sounds like a lament from deep within (by Alberto and Kimberley Rivera) and I'm finding sadness well up as I identify with Mary, losing her son who was, after all, "still her little child".

I had a miscarriage some years back and God's helped me with that more than I could ever ask or imagine. I am deeply moved by Mary's submission to the will of God, to lose the child she brought up and saw grow into an incredible human being.

God, meet with me as I remember that your death wasn't a neat storybook tale nor some romantic myth; but full of pain and sadness and separation from those who loved you.