So I ask the question again – have you made any New Year resolutions? Rev Tony Rose set us a really healthy challenge for 2011; to read the Bible in a year to celebrate the 400^th anniversary of the King James Version being published. I was wondering if it would be worth putting up a pledge board at the back of church for people to sign up and say that they are going to read the Bible in a year?

Another resolution may be to think about how we give. We are going to be looking at the subject of giving over the next three Sundays and hopefully appreciating that it is a lot more than simply sticking our hand in our pocket or doing a bit of volunteering. We give as a response to God who gave first. We give as part of our worship to the God who cared so much for us that He poured Himself out into the form of a little babe.  That sounds so sweet in our carols but was actually real live flesh and blood sent onto this spinning planet. The drama of Christmas points to the triumph of Easter, but what a journey between the two and what a glorious journey after – hallelujah! As we look at giving in the Church please think and pray through whether you have got your giving right from the amount you give, whether in time or money or of yourself? It may be that as you pray.

God wants you to step back from something to concentrate on others or let others have a go, but it may be that God asks you to plunge on deeper and in faith!

One very big step of faith that we will be taking in 2011 is to commit to running a series on the 10 Commandments as designed by the evangelist J John. The series is called ‘Just 10’ and will commence the Sunday after Epiphany. Our Sunday services will be broadly similar but have some different aspects and different styles of delivery. One of the blessings of the series is that it will build up the body of believers but the main aim will be to reach out to those outside the church or those who only attend irregularly. Please can you start to think and pray about one or two people you would like to invite along to the ‘Just 10’ Sunday services and lets see how God blesses us all!

So here comes the New Year . . .on your marks, get set, pray!

Andrew +

Cathy and I were doing a lot of tag team baby sitting with the girls and one night there was an opening for me to get to one of the evening meetings. The Bishop of London gave an inspiring key note address about the power of Christ’s resurrection. At New Wine there is often prayer ministry and as I walked into the venue I said, ‘God if you want me to have prayer ministry, please make it really clear – I’m not going up if it’s just to go through the motions.

After the inspiring worship and stunning address the service leader bluntly said, ‘Would all Church leaders please come to the front for prayer now!’. No messing from God on that one then! I duly went forward for prayer and the next I knew I was on the floor with a tremendous sense of God’s love for me. Things that had bothered me and been playing on my mind fell away and I felt that I was at the base of a waterfall which was God’s love just pouring onto me. The ministry was really powerful and took me back to when I first encountered the Holy Spirit in a vision when I was 16. Time seemed fairly irrelevant as I just soaked up God’s presence and love, after what was probably 20 minutes I had an awareness that maybe I was sober enough to be able to get up off the floor and walk. I made my way back to a friend and couldn’t stop beaming. God understood my needs exactly and on the one occasion I made it to the big top there was a clear call for me to have prayer ministry where God blessed me tremendously.

Why share all this? When we offer prayer ministry at the end of a service, you don’t have to be at death’s door to go up for ministry! It might be for something really small that niggles or a desire to simply know more of God’s love. We do our part and God does the rest. Have you ever gone forward for prayer? If not, why no give it a go. Sometimes people get scared that God might do something that they don’t want but God knows how we tick and won’t force us into anything that we don’t like or aren’t comfortable with. God is gentle, loving and kind as well as being holy, awesome and mighty! We thank God for our, skilled and sensitive prayer ministry team lets also be open to God’s prompting to use them!

As we enjoy an Indian Summer, may we know the love of God enfold us, the presence of Christ beside us and the Holy Spirit within us as we grow in our love for each other and the lost!

Andrew +

Exodus starts with the hope of Israel precariously floating down the river in a basket. A grown man? No a little baby – a future model for the Christ child being born in a manger. The baby Moses becomes a prince, an insurrectionist and then an itinerant shepherd in the desert. It is into this bleak setting that the presence of God is made known through the burning bush that is not itself consumed. As Moses stands bare foot on holy ground we realise that nothing will ever be the same again. A Holy God takes sides against the Egyptians the awesome Passover takes place and in one act the people of Israel are released from captivity, plunder the Egyptians and see the most extraordinary miracle as they become the people of the Promised Land! So it all ends happily ever after then . . .well is humankind’s story ever so simple. The children of God grow up in the desert and under their stammering Leaders guidance they walk with God and learn and fail at being a Holy people.

So how is this relevant today, Colchester in 2010 and the various challenges of life?

We care about Jesus and Exodus is a key part of the Bible that Jesus would have read. The very act of Passover becomes a tradition that Jesus then replaces with himself as the Passover lamb at the last Supper – our Holy Communion. The other challenge for any people of faith is how to walk in faith with a Holy God whether we are talking about 4,000 years ago or today. The same eternal God never changes and we are called to be his faithful children. May God bless us as we learn to walk as God’s people in Colchester.

Andrew +

Part of the awkwardness of that first Easter is shown as we left church on Good Friday in silence. Gill led us in an hour’s reflection at the foot of the cross and then instead of going for a cup of tea or coffee in the hall and a nice chat . . .we disbanded in silence. The reality on Good Friday was so much worse – the disciples had fled with only the women remaining with the young John (who was probably seen as no great threat). The depth of their despair then presents the valley bottom to the mountain top joy of Easter Sunday.

In my study I have a framed picture by a Belgian landscape artist. It shows Peter and John at first light making their way to the tomb. Peter is older, of strong build, one of his fisherman hands is half pointing forward with the other holding his chest. The younger John looks racked with anxiety as his hands are clasped to his chest. There is a mixture of emotion in the disciple’s faces as they hurry to the tomb. It looks like questions are fizzing through their minds, ‘Is this the final insult? His body has been stolen?’, ‘Is it true, what the women said – is he really alive?’

Can we really grasp the power of that first Easter morning, a harrowing death becomes a mystery to which the disciples can hardly dare believe. . .the tomb is empty. . .Christ is risen?

We now know the full shape of the Easter gospel but if we were watching the lines unfold before our eyes then we more fully appreciate what drama and strain and tension was travelled through with the murderous mistrial that becomes a missing person mystery before showering forth the full power of a victory for all eternity. Christ lived, Christ died, Christ lives forever, risen victorious from the grave hallelujah!

God bless you this Easter as we live out the hope we have through Christ!

Andrew +

Just before coming to the Berechurch someone put in my hand a clipping from a news paper with the title: “Church decides that Lent should really be more of a laugh”. The article made a point of gently ribbing the Church of England over its many challenges but also plugged the new ‘Love life, live Lent’ resource. The title ‘Love life, live Lent’ is a good guide to a positive way of approaching Lent. As the church of England Spokes person of the time commented, ‘Traditionally Lent has been seen as a sombre time of sackcloth and ashes. What we are suggesting is that people share jokes, which is a way of kick starting a very positive take on the season’. At the time of going to press there had been no additions to the Website jokes spot, but the Times offered this one.

‘A pub regular always bought his pints of beer in three’s. When asked he said that he did it as a promise to always have a drink with his two brothers but they had since emigrated to Australia. One day he comes in and orders just two pints! He is asked by the bar man why – oh I’ve given up Beer for Lent, but my brothers haven’t!’

One of the challenges for Christians is to get the right balance between not being flippant about important things like Lenten fasts and equally not being the bore of the party. At our Ash Wednesday service Jesus challenges folks who are fasting not to look miserable but to make yourself look good! Instead of making a big deal about your fast to be noticed by others, observe your fast discreetly and honour God alone!

I don’t know if the person who gave me the clipping thought I needed cheering up or whether they thought I took life too seriously! But as we reflected at the service on Wednesday, the grace and bounty of the Lent tradition is such that it is ‘bookended by two feasts’. As Christians we are called to love life, therefore if we choose to give up chocolate it’s actually a real challenge. Lets love life and really live Lent. Instead of enduring a humourless life and a gritted teeth Lent, lets enjoy the gift of life and live Lent!

Andrew +

I think we can also learn something about journeying from the wise men. Being a Christian is not static.  It is not a place to arrive into but a journey. What happens at Church on Sunday is special but it is only a springboard into the business of the week. Perhaps we get frustrated that folks only come to church once or twice a year but is that so different from us only allowing God to get a look into our weeks on a Sunday? Being a Christian is lived out in the race through the week just as much as in worship on Sunday. Being a Christian means being ready to travel away from what is comfortable as we follow the light to know Jesus better.

May I wish you a very happy New Year and a wonderful 2010. May you know the wonder and the generosity of God as we journey with God further into the light of Christ.

Andrew +

As we approach Harvest, what are we offering to God? Is it the first fruits of the harvest or the left overs? As a Church I hope we are not to hung up on money and don’t spend all our energies fund raising. But as Christians, part of our worship to God, part of the way we bring honour to God is through what we give to the Church. As we discussed the passage of scripture my esteemed friend shared about one of the characters in Coronation street being burgled and not having any furniture. All the neighbours clubbed together and found old bits of unwanted furniture that was surplus to requirements and brought it round. The character that had been burgled was very grateful for the thought but said to the crowd. . .’You can take your old ‘tut’ home thanks very much!’. Although the character who had been burgled probably knew the phrase ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ they had standards and would rather go without than have some old rubbish!

What does this say to the Church? When the Temple was built it was made to the very best specification possible – are the things that we give to the Church of the very best? What does it say about how we view God and the church if all the things we use are left over bits from home! How can we be thoughtful about what we give to the church including time and energy – do you book your diary up with loads of things and then the Church might get a look in afterwards – this recipe is lethal when it comes to running rota’s for jobs in the Church. Are we offering our best to God each day, each week, each year or does God get the left over’s or the old tut!

Let’s build in silver and gold and offer our best to the Lord this Harvest rather than the thing that fills up our loft or garage! May God bless you with a giving heart and may you know Gods provision in your lives.

Andrew +

Easter Chicks or chocolate are sweet in both senses but are do they blunt an uncomfortable truth. I am not saying that we should scare children with the brutal facts of Jesus death on the cross but to what extent have we lost the ‘reason for the season?’. Walk down the high street today and vast majority of the displays will be fully engaged with a pagan understanding of new life coming out of the deathly sleep of Winter. As we move ever further from our Christian roots, we get ourselves into a situation were our children could easily think that Easter is about chocolate eggs, lambs and chicks and Christmas is about presents, mince pies and sitting round the telly with your family.

The challenge each season for us Christians is to retell the Christian story, to ‘keep the feast’ and re member what has become broken and dismembered by our society. By worshipping in Church and observing our Easter services we concentrate our minds for a moment on the reality and drama of that first Easter. We need to be thoughtful and prayerful about how we share this eternal story with those we love and know and especially pray for those who skilfully share with our children but let us never loose sight of the powerhouse of a story that explains why we can pray to God and he hears us! Amidst the fun of chocolate and chicks let us be renewed in the power of the Holy Spirit and the strength of God that moved from death to life to believe that we have a God that can take any situation, however deathly and breathe new life, dare I dream that we have a God that could see the spiritual reawakening of a nation from the Pagan death of a Credit crunch to the Christian new life of eternal riches in Christ.

God bless you this Lent and walk with you through the death and resurrection of Easter!

Andrew +

Like a lot of other people I believed in God, but so what? That didn’t mean I had to go to Church. I’d never really thought too much about it.

I got married to Colin just before I became twenty. We had three children. When I was in my thirties we divorced. It was just one of those things that happened.

On my own

So, after twelve years I was on my own with three children. I started going around with friends in the same situation as me. Each weekend we would go to the pubs or a night club and for a while that satisfied me. I was starting to enjoy myself but every now and again I would feel that something was missing in my life, but I couldn’t work out what it was. I’d had quite a few disappointments over the years and I was getting bored.

I started to take a long look at myself and didn’t like what I saw. I asked my friends about going to Church, but they just laughed and said they thought I was cracking up. So I put the thought out of my mind. I got a couple of part time jobs which I enjoyed doing. It was nice to get back to work.

Walking by

I often saw a couple walk past by house as they went to Church and I asked them if I could go. They called round for me the following week but I still did not go.

Every Sunday evening I used to watch a programme on channel 4. I switched on the next Sunday and Songs of Praise came on. I was about to change channel but something stopped me. I can’t remember what they were singing but I know it was really lovely. Their were all these people in a shopping precinct in Milton Keynes. They looked so happy and oblivious to all around them.

I watched Songs of Praise for several weeks and I often found myself crying. I suddenly realised what I was missing from my life…….It was God!  So I arranged with the couple I had met before to call for me the following Sunday.

In the row in front of me I noticed a woman, I had never seen her before. Two weeks later at work the supervisor came up to me with a new lady that had started the same shift. I told her that I had seen her at St Margarets and we became friends. It was Shirley who taught me about Jesus and it was with her and Lorna that I gave my life to the Lord.

Being a Christian

A lot has happened since then. I joined a house-group, I’ve been confirmed and I help in Young Church. I am not saying that since I became a Christian all my problems have disappeared but now I can face them. I know God will always be there for me in the good times and in the bad times. He never leaves me.

Friends and family

Over the next few years, my friend Sylvia and Colin (my ex-husband) come to the Lord. My eldest daughter, Katrina, was confirmed and her husband and three children now come to Church too.

I will always remember that:

Because he lives I can face tomorrow.
Because he lives all fear is gone.
Because I know who holds the future
and life is worth the living just because He lives

As nobody really knew what to do with me, I was sent to an aunt and uncle who said they would lovingly take care of me, so at the age of five a new life beckoned.

I soon realized the loving was to be omitted. My aunt ruled with an iron fist. I used to runaway to my aunt Ethel. This was a weekly event, so finally my aunt and uncle packed my bags and sent me to my aunt Ethel. She was going to adopt me. Social services told her this was not practical though, as she only had a two bed roomed house and, as she had a son, they would not allow us to share a bedroom.

But another aunt, who lived just outside Hull, said she would take me in as she had a bigger house, even though she had two daughters. I would have my own room. I stayed there for about a year, then a social worker came out of the blue and took me to yet another home. This turned out to be a children’s’ home about twenty miles from Hull. I was eight years old by this time, and a rebel!! When I got to the children’s’ home, I met other children who, like me, were there because nobody wanted them. This created a bond between us all, it was them and us. At school we stuck together when possible. If one got into a fight with an outsider the rest of as joined in; we would close ranks. In the home life was strict and getting hit and punished was a daily thing.

Then one day I was told to pack my bags as I was moving, this time to a place called Malton, in another part of Yorkshire. I was told a couple wanted to foster a boy as company for their son, so the day came and I was eager to set off on another adventure. They were Quakers, and went to Church every week. I did not think much of this idea as my memory of going to church at the children’s’ home was of a vicar ranting and raving from a high pulpit, but the Quakers seemed to sit in silence most of the time. Once again though I found that they lived by strict rules, and did not spare the rod, so l rebelled against them and their religion. I found myself back at the children’s’ home.

Not for long though. I was fostered out to a widow. I stayed there for three years until I left school. During this time she also brought me up on a strict diet of me doing the chores for her and getting a weekly dose of punishment. By this time I was used to it and did not expect anything different. I used to talk to God. I knew that when I asked God for help, (it was usually before I was going to get a slap,) he would be with me. (I would just get shouted at instead).

Leaving school I had many difficult experiences, as I had no family to turn to I had only seen my aunt Ethel and my brother twice since I had been taken into the children’s’ home. But I talked to God and things seemed to be a lot clearer. Having no roots and nowhere to live I joined the army. I enjoyed this life, and when things went wrong or the situation got bad, I always asked God for help, which he always gave, but like a lot of people I always forgot to say thank you to him when things improved.

Through the early part of my adult life, marriage, children, relationships, the same scenario happened – things not working out, but yet there always seemed to be someone there when I needed help.

As the church family knows I am Wendy’s ex-husband. We were married for twelve years, but like all through my life, things did not work out. There were many reasons why the marriage did not work, a lot to do with me, as I was very selfish, and tended to walk away from things if there were any threats in my life. I could not cope with emotional problems; I was very hard and did not have time for people who were emotional. So a divorce happened, but we kept in touch.

After a few more years of my rebellious life, and more let downs, I got to a stage in my life when I had just had enough, so I took twenty- two DF118 very powerful painkilling tablets. Fortunately friends found me about six hours after l had taken them, and took me to hospital. The doctor checked me over and said I would be okay. He also said, “you must have a guardian angel looking after you, because you should have gone into a coma and that would have been that”

Eighteen months later I took myself to hospital again, because I had been getting bad heartburn which would not go away. I stayed in hospital for a week, as I had had a heart attack which was brought on by high cholesterol.

A few months after this I saw Wendy, and she seemed to be a changed person. her lifestyle was different. She said she was going to church, and she knew God Well, knowing Wendy, this really surprised me. I was talking to a different person than the one I knew. Anyway, she invited me to church, so after a few weeks thinking about it, I came along, and the rest is history.

Looking back on my life, especially my childhood, God has always been with me. He has been there when I thought I would never get out of situations; he always had his hands out to guide me, never turning his back on me, God was always with me, and I never knew. I certainly did not deserve his love.

This may seem a long story, and I have left a lot out. Sometimes when l am in church, I look around, and think I must be the worst sinner here, as l have done many nasty things in my life, especially during my army career, and through my marriage. I have broken all the ten commandments and before God called me I was a “nasty piece of work.” I am being honest here! But God took my hands, and led me to where l am today. I still have a long way to go, but with Gods guidance I am now a much better person.

Until I came to church I had never come across a group of people who love you for who you are, who welcome you with open arms. I do still find this emotional part hard as I was and still am to some extent suspicious of people who show me love and compassion. To me the church family is my family, I love you all. Years ago I would have laughed at all this, because my heart was like stone, but I thank God for his mercy upon me.

In the years before l found God, I was searching for a meaning to my life. I have tried tarot cards, the occult and spiritual churches, but discarded them all as a waste of time.

My life now has some meaning; I know God is the answer! God bless you all!