Saturday 5 July 2008

Party-ing in the Garden Once More...


Well, last week, we were out in the church garden once more, raising funds for KIDZ KLUB, our joint outreach to the children and families of Old Harlow, alongside Harlow Baptist Church and Freshwaters Christian Fellowship.

Over £1,700 was raised for KIDZ KLUB from a whole variety of activities, from bouncy castle to cake stall, and an Auction of Promises, and much more more besides.

We're passionate about children and young people, and we look forward to serving the young families of our community through KIDZ KLUB in August. Click here to find out more!

Saturday 22 March 2008

Easter Reflections


Tomorrow being Easter Day here in England, members of St Mary's Old Harlow will be gathering to celebrate what is for us the greatest miracle of all time: the resurrection of Jesus. As the Gospel records tell us, this happened in early morning, while it was still dark and the city was asleep. But the impact of the resurrection of Jesus was to felt, not only through the rest of that day, but through all history since.

Something happened in the darkness of that tomb in the wee hours of that first Easter morning whose significance is still being felt around the world today. Various attempts have been made to explain away Jesus' resurrection, but the event is not explained by the expectations of Jesus' followers, none of whom expected it to happen, and all of them amazed and overjoyed after the event.

Checking the evidence for this event is a painstaking process, not one we have time for here. Jesus' resurrection highlights the significance of his death just two days before: death by the most gruesome means known in that time and place; death in place of a murderer named Barabbas, whose fate would almost certainly have been the same had he not been released, thereby sealing Jesus' condemnation.

The Roman governor at the time, perhaps the most famous Roman governor of all time, Pontius Pilate offered the people a choice, in keeping with a custom of releasing a prisoner at the time of the Passover. The choice was between Barabbas and Jesus; Barabbas was chosen and set free; Jesus was sent to be crucified.

Barabbas stands for a humanity out of relationship with God, a condition with all kinds of distortions evident across the world today, through greed, wars, man-made disasters, preventable disease, murder, strife and so on. One man dies so that another man can be set free.

Followers of Jesus today see his story at work in their own lives. They see in Jesus someone who died on their behalf, with all of God's anger at human sinfulness directed at him at that moment, so that they can enjoy God's love now and for eternity. They see in Jesus someone whose resurrection from the dead guarantees God's good future for them - not because they are anything special in themselves, but because of God's extraordinary love.

Much space in the New Testament is given to reflection on the significance of Jesus' resurrection. Finding out what it might mean for ourselves could depend on seeing what it means in the lives of members of St Mary's Old Harlow, some of whom will be baptised, and some of whom will be reaffirming their baptismal vows with full immersion in water, enacting, as it were, dying to their old lives without God at the centre, and rising to new lives with Jesus. All will be celebrating an event that happened in a cold, dark tomb some 2000 years ago.

Why not check us out and see what this extraordinary event in history could come to mean for you? We're here every Sunday and at other times in the week. We look forward to seeing you.

Tuesday 22 January 2008

Christmas Reflections

Thinking back over the past month and reflecting on the Christmas build up and celebrations before turning my attention to looking forward to Easter caused me to think of the importance of sharing the joy of God with us with as many people we can and Christmas certainly gives that opportunity.

We were invited along with our brothers and sisters from harlow Baptist Church to lead carol singing in two local pubs as well as in the High Street of the Old Town. We had Visits for Schools Christmas Services from Churchgate, St Nicholas, and Harlowbury Schools plus I had the opportunity of taking part in Fawbert & Barnard School service at Harlow Baptist Church.

Adding to that we had the Little Fishes Pre School and St Mary's Under Fives (SMUF) Mums and Tots Nativity Celebrations.

Our Snday School (Kingdom Kidz) led us in a Sunday celebration of Christmas with the help of Little Fishes.

There was the Coffee Shop Christmas Communion

Some members of our Midweek Groups went around the Old Town singing Carols.
All this before we get on to celebrate with our Candlelight Carol Service, Christingle Service Midnight Carols and Christmas Day Celebrations.

How many opportunities? How many lives touched with the Good News of God with Us?
How many of us enriched by sharing our faith?

We ahd 260 people attend the Christingle around 175 attend the carol service and 120 attend the Midnight service, many of whom do not come that often at present and if we add to that the number of parents, friends and other family members of school children and pre-school children along with the pub regulars and neighbours in the town we can see the opportunities are vast.

In some small measure it captures the Shepherds story in Luke 2 where they praised God and spread the word concerning what they had been told concerning Jesus.

The Church looked lovely thanks to the Flower and Banner Teams.
The Christmas tree in the picture was donated to st Mary's by John & Barbara Barnes and wonderfully decorated by Hayley Smith and Carly Woods.

My next Blog will be to look forward to the way ahead.