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Daventry United Reformed Church 45 Sheaf Street Daventry NN11 4AA Jesus is Lord |
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Minister's Blog
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| 14th January 2011 I have had a very full week! I returned from Scotland last Saturday. I spent the 1st week of the New Year travelling on the BMW sidecar outfit, with my friend Roger Moseley. Roger is married to Lesley who is URC Minister at Giffnock URC in Glasgow. From Glasgow we travelled to the Isle of Bute, where we camped in a pine forest, then back on a very short ferry ride to the mainland next day . The Tuesday night was wet and cold, and snow fell at night. When we packed up in the morning the snow fell about 1 1/2inches in an hour! We both grinned and laughed at the excitement and daftness of it all! Travelling and camping in the extremes of winter is a good way of focussing on the things that are most important in life: being fed, and having warm dry feet take on such a vital part, that we seldom get in everyday life. We also got about 10 hours to 12 hours sleep a night, so by the time we get home we are very rested and energised! 11th Jan Flore primary came to visit Flore Chapel this morning. Kids love running around churches! The microphones are the biggest excitement! It gave them a different slant on Church life. After that I did a wedding visit in Weedon, followed by a wedding rehearsal, then a funeral visit in Flore, then off to Lutterworth to a presentation on the Advertising Campaign that the URC are starting later this year. My evening visit was cancelled and I was not sorry!! 10th Jan back to work! CTiD meeting tonight went well. We are looking at a simpler approach to Lent Course this year. We also spoke about The Walk of Witness and Alpha Course. 26th November 2010. I like the picture of me and the BSA B31 above! It's a 1958 swinging arm alternator model, with a Starfire tank, bored out to 410cc,Del Orto carburettor, electronic ign and electrics 12volt,oil filter, TLS front brake etc etc. Sadly I sold it a year ago to buy the Harley Sportster, but it's a great shot!. I'll try and add a picture of some others before long. The Spiritual Advsor to Barak Obama was on Radio Four this week, he used a phrase.." consumerism is the drug of an unjust society" Dead right! And we all get infected by it to some degree or other. If you want to get me a Christmas present a cheque payable to Daventry URC OR Christians against Poverty will do very nicely thank you! Had a fascinating morning meeting up with a bloke called Shaun Ford , from Daventry Town Council. Local Authorioties have a duty to protect the Homeless in severe weather, and this next week night time average temps will drop to 3 degrees below zero. We need to help these folk, though I don't think there are very many rough sleepers actually in Daventry itself. ( Could well be wrong, don't know the place well enough yet). Anyway their contingency plans are frankly pretty ropey, but good old Shaun is trying his best, having been given very short notice, to ensure help is at hand, I took him to see Rob, Pastor at Vineyard Community Church, and between us we are sorting something out for them. if you want to help at all , and need more details call me.07971066523, that is don't call me 07971066523 cos that a rubbish name, but call me jay and ring 07971066523. I went to the new House group at Penny Madley's last night, and it was very lovely and an excellent first meeting. very safe and cosy and gentle, meditative and chatty. Well done everyone, thankyou for putting up with me ( I did not talk too much!!)
23rd November 2010. At last! Space in the day to fit a little of everything in! A return to the blog! Much entertainment yesterday as people responded to the Pope's suggestion that condoms for male gay prostitutes were a good thing, and that it opened up more discussion on use of contraceptives. So, either he's very naive , or... he's playing a very clever game of allowing their use, introducing it slowly in the future..? Either way, welll done for talking about it! last night CMA met at jack's hill Cafe on the A5 at Towcester, we are a new "twig" and yet there was a good turn out. I'll talk about that another day. Thanks to Sharon K for braving the weather on her Kawa 500 and joining us!
August 11th 2010 Get LZ7 to top of Charts in September! TXT SHINE to 81088 See August 9th to find out why. More details will follow later this week! Some quotes from New Wine, and an idea of what has moved me: Pushing back the darkness My Church is getting poorer, rougher and more powerful! Changing the DNA of our congregation Get prayer in place Focus on Worship, style is not important- We need different spaces for different folk Please God not people Lead by example, move with the Spirit. Humility, take risks. FAITH is spelt RISK Be willing to make mistakes Confirm our Vision Build a risk friendly environment Love saying sorry, mistakes are ok in the Kingdom of God! Identify people of peace and spend time with them. Low initial training, High ongoing support... ( Jesus did this with his Disciples) Character above competence Be determined A leader only has 2 jobs....1. To point the way. 2. To say thank you! Modern Politics fails because it REACTS to situations it does not LEAD Cherishing Groups Do we sidestep his unstoppable love? An open rebuke is better than hidden love Explore our selfishness, and self centredness Take Risks. God loves Heretics! Peter, Paul, Tyndale, Pelagius, Luther, John Wimber Stop grumbling about your local Church! God loves his Bride. Jesus will do it, we can't DISTURB Sick of Christians who are not fulfilling their purpose What is choking your seed and holding you back? 1. Hate Sin, constantly be aware of God 2. Get filled with the Holy Spirit. ( remember we all leak!) 3. Get proclaiming Make up for lost years Refuse to let circumstances constrain your fruitfulness CONFIRMATION THAT REACHING THE POOR IS CENTRAL AND ESSENTIAL TXT SHINE to 81088 for LZ7 single
Last week, we went to New Wine at Newark. There were about 32 of us from Dav URC and also a number from other local Churches. The big proportion of our group were young people, teenagers from Daventry. I took my Yurt, (actually a Mongolian design, called a "Ger"), and wore my kilt. This caused some concern!! But it's black and pretty cool! As often happens at these events I was deeply touched. I saw a number of events lead by Andy Hawthorne, (who started Worldwide Message Tribe) back in the '90's. Their ministry is amazing. They also run the Eden Project, (not to be confused with a garden centre in Cornwall). Eden is about Christians living in tougher, poorer estates, around the country simply giving and living the Gospel. They also have a Schools Ministry and have a Hip Hop group called LZ7 who sing and dance. They have a video on U tube, check it out! Their 1st single comes out on the 25th Sept this year. To get it, txt SHINE to, blow it I've forgotten!! I'll look it up and put it on later! get them to No1 and it's a version of "This little light of mine". The message is LIVING TO MAKE GOD FAMOUS AND BEING GOOD FASHIONABLE! During the next few weeks at Daventry URC at 10.45am on Sundays we will be giving some time to passing on the experiences we received. Found it : TXT SHINE to 81088 for LZ7 single Do it now!!!
30th July 2010 A deeply spiritual experience has happened! I am able to, and have agreed to, ( with Rachael's blessing!) buy a BMW R90 Motorcycle Outfit with Watsonian Palma D/A sidecar, for a bargain price from a friend in CMA. Outfits have been in my experience a most effective tool for witness, and I look forward to the conversations this new one will promote! ) I say "new"... it is an older classic, not unlike myself.... 29th July 2010 Spent an hour or so with Ben Lord organising the props for the Holiday club panto/drama. It's going to be mad and fun! Jade came round to borrow a suitcase, ready to pack for NewWine. It is a big one. Should just about hold her shoes......... I have had some encouraging responses to our 10.45 service last Sunday. It seems to have hit the spot for many people. The service, ( as with our 9.00am Worship) centred on Joshua and the Walls of Jericho. A familiar story, but one in which we often censor the extreme violence!) The teaching themes were focussed on: Joshua is the English version of Yeshua, Jesus is the Latin/Greek name for Yeshua. Both obedient to God. They do not re-interpret instructions to suit those around them! This in itself was shocking! Neither conformed to the expectations of the world. ( Who would attack a Walled city by walking round it ?) What do we learn from this? 1. The madness and risk of faith. it is about the unexpoected, and doing it God's way not our way. 2.Putting ourselves in Holy places, and recognising when God speaks. We get to this stage through being open to it happening, expecting it to happen, and practising it happening. 3 As a congregation learning to take these risks,in obedience to God. 4. God DOES ask us to do the " impossible"!! The harder it seems, the more likely it is God asking us to do it. 5. Obedience. Surrender to God, and following his wise ways not our "wises2 ways. 6. Surrender to God, and the blessings follow!
28th July 2010 We are preparing to go to the NEW WINE Festival and conference this weekend. All of our teenagers, and a fair amount of adults, together with about 60 others from local churches in Daventry and Long Buckby are all camping together. I shall be taking my yurt, ( actually a Mongolian style "Ger"), to ensure ministerial comfort warmth and dryness. 9.15 prayers this morning were moving and are becoming a real focal point for hearing what God is saying to us. 27th July 2010 There has been some concern over some of our Worship, particularly going back several weeks ago. It is really good that we are able to respond to these challenges, and talk to each other about it. I hope more people will feel that they can ask questions about what we do, and why it has been done. A faith without challenges and questions is one that is likely to fade into a comfortable down hill slide. Jesus continually surprised and shocked those around him. That is the faith and the person we follow! 25th July SUNDAY I preached at Daventry URC at 9am and 10.45am today. Joshua breaking down the Walls of Jericho was the main Bible theme. I continued this theme by riding the sportster to Jack's Hill cafe on the A5 afterwards , to take part in TON UP DAY. A celebration of 1960's Rocker Culture. Met lots of old friends and made some new ones. CMA members locally were there too. It was blisteringly hot, music was fab, bikes and people spectacular. CMA stands for Christian Motorcyclists Association. If you know anyone who rides bikes and might fancy a trip out with us let me know! I'll write more about CMA another time.
14th June 2010 The first page of the Minister's Blog! This won't be a stream of consciousness thing, but a regular journal of what is happening around us, and an encouragement for all of us as we live life! Yesterday we had a small experiment with our approach to Holy Communion. It probably did not push theology to the edge, but gave us a chance to see how our reformed tradition approached The Lord's Supper from the early days of the Reformation. We are used to sitting in our pews and being served, but we also discovered that this practice was started by Ulrich Zwingli, in Zurich, on Easter day 1525?!
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