lent25

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiSIxqbqlv8    This post wont make much sense unless you watch this 40 sec clip. If you want to be an Olympic gymnast ( and full confession here, I really dont 😂) you are going to have to do a massive amount of work and sustain innumerable injuries, regardless of your discipline.  Its just not possible to reach the top without pain.  But the reason gymnasts dont just break limbs in practice and disable themselves out of the sport at a young age, is because of the spotters.  What heroes those people are.  Their job is to break the fall of a spinning,  tumbling, jumping athlete hurtling towards them at speed. Their reactions are lightning quick and quite clearly they are prepared to be injured themselves in order to keep the gymnast from coming a cropper.  To me this is a wonderful picture of the role we 'elders' should be playing in the life of the church.   There will be young people in our church ...

Jeremiah 2:13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water Have you read this verse before and perhaps pictured a cistern as being some sort of a hole in the ground, lined with a waterproof material - maybe like a square tank or a garden pond? Well that's what I always presumed a cistern was. And therefore the words of the Lord to Jeremiah seem perfectly reasonable - who in their right minds would opt for a small amount of stagnant water in a pot when they can have springs of living water from God? But then I saw this This is a cistern!! This one is in Istanbul and dates from the 4th century. But its not unreasonable to surmise that this is the sort of structure people were also building in the time of Jeremiah. In the above pictured cistern there are 336 giant columns (mostly Ionic or Corinthian in style) supporting the structure in 12 rows of 28 columns. - It...

 Apparently theres a new 'live action' Disney film out at the moment which has reworked the story of Snow White to a more 'woke' and politically correct version.  Because we cant call little people 'dwarves' any more, and no self respecting woman needs to be rescued by a Prince these days 😁 I cant say Ive been paying much attention to the story, but a couple of things have popped up which I found really interesting. The first is that the movie has bombed. Partly because nobody wants to see a childhood favourite messed with but also, sadly, because of a backlash against the lead actress tweeting views on the war in the middle east.  But the second, which I really hadnt realised at all, is that Snow White was originally written with a deeper message in mind.  It was originally a story by the Brothers Grimm published in the early 1800s . They are well known for addressing quite dark and difficult topics and presenting them to children with little fluff or apology....

 Im currently lying in bed looking out of the window at blue skies and white fluffy clouds.  But the weather man on the telly has just told me that this afternoon its going to rain and possibly even hail.  Its nearly April so its what we anticipate at this time of year in the UK.  But not every country in the world has seasons like we do.  Often when I'm wondering if I should be wearing a coat or carrying an umbrella along with my sunglasses I wish I could live somewhere consistently warm and sunny.  But actually I know that I would miss the seasons.  Theres something glorious about each one.  Right now the daffodils are dancing in the garden and a whole crowd of tulips have just popped up. The grass is a specific shade of green and I do love seeing the trees come into bud.  Theres such a sense of anticipation in spring.  But it is very inconsistent and unpredictable. Swings and roundabouts I guess. So the short and hopefully sweet messa...

 Ive probably told you this before but I think its a message so worth repeating. Ive just had another conversation with a friend who knows someone who is dying.  Its going to happen to all of us increasingly as we get older - it probably has already.  There can be a real dilemma for those of us who know Jesus, when we are aware that someone who doesnt know Him is terminally ill. We know we need to pray, we know we should be having conversations about Jesus, but we also know that people are dealing with so many things and can be so distressed.  What to say and how to say it?  Well, here is what and how.  It is super easy to have this conversation and it works! I first had this conversation with my Mum who was pretty resistant to talking about faith over the years. But dying focuses the mind and changes people.  Here's what I said I need to you make me a promise.  When you die, Jesus is coming for you.  He comes for everyone when they are dying...

 We sang a new song last Sunday.  In the absence of anything more meaningful to say today, here it is. Enjoy  (Its probably not new to some of you and its a bit of an earworm......but there are worse things that could be in your head all day! 😀) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHXcW4PTEbk

 Our church runs a cafe.   Its a brilliant wee place where all sorts of people from the community stop by for all sorts of reasons.  Apart from selling great coffee and buns, its a place that Mums can bring kids and not worry about them making a noise .  Quite a few laptops come out over the course of the week as  working people answer their emails whilst slurping their tea.  Friends gather to chat and shoot the breeze.  And lonely people come in for a chat and a laugh, and sometimes a cry and a pray.  There are alot of people out there who really have few relationships and nobody with whom to have a coffee.  The whole point of our coffee shop is to make connections    Thinking yesterday about Jesus being brave, today Im thinking about Him being lonely.  We can probably all identify with moments of loneliness in our lives.  After a bereavement,  when the kids fly the nest, when we move house or church or job...