Tuesday 6 October 2009

Back again at last!!

Thank you everyone who reminded me how long it is since the blog was last updated. Special thanks to the couple who married here two years ago and the couple getting married next year.

What a year it has been:
Paul Williams taking off to work in Mongolia, though Paul is back in this country now for a few weeks and will be joining us at St Mary's on 18th October.
Ola Franklin was ordained in July and has joined us on the Leadership Team.
Sam Brazier-Gibbs will be joining us in a joint venture with Church Langley Church as a Pioneer Minister with responsibilty for leading a team in sharing the love of Jesus in Newhall and also to continue the strengthening of our links with the local schools.

We have had delays to contend with in relation to the go ahead for the re-ordering of the church building but are determined to stay the course.

With Christmas not too far away my mind has turned to thinking about Joseph and Mary and of course the birth of Jesus. I wonder how they would have felt with the rumours, mumblings, false accusations, misrepresentations and the such like. I imagine there would have been times when they wanted to shout from the rooftops the truth of what was happening, but it seems to me thatthey were more concerned with knowing the truth of what God was doing and resting in His plans and purposes.

Jesus was the perfect example of staying focussed when faced with opposition. Yes, He brought correction at times, but He never let the attacks distract Him from the will of His Father. He who was without sin yet endured, comments such as, He is mad, of the devil, law breaker, blasphemer and so on.

So what about us, the church from the earliest times have faced many things and some of those accusations have proved right for which the church should be sorry and repent of but we should never take our eyes off the focus of our calling, Jesus Christ the Righteous.

Sadly some of our Brothers and Sisters of faith face accusations that lead to them giving uptheir lives for the sake of Jesus and we need to work for justice for those persecuted as if we were in that situation ourselves.

I have been asked, "How do you handle false statements etc" and I have to confess that not always as well as I should but I also remind myself that no matter what is said I will not have to climb Calvary's hill. I and you had some one who did that for us, Jesus Christ.

I commend 1 Peter 3:8-17 to you.

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