The nights are drawing in...!

For us northern hemisphere dwellers (and that’s a staggering 90% of the world’s population), we have now had the longest day of the year.  From now on we’ll be going round saying the nights are drawing in!

A minister friend of mine grew up in the far north of Scotland and remembers his father reading the newspaper at midnight.  That phenomenon is shared by many Scandinavian countries, along with Greenland and Alaska.

The tilt of the earth gives us the seasons, yet if you live near the equator the sun rises and sets the same time all year through!

Light is an important idea in the bible.  For a physicist it may be defined as the electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength, but for a theologian it represents such concepts as goodness, a directed pathway through life and even happiness and joy.

One of the hymns that always seems to go well at AFC has the catchy refrain Walk, walk in the light. And, of course, we recall that creation command of Let there be light, and Jesus referring to himself as the Light of the World.

Life has a constant rhythm between light and darkness, whether that’s in the hours of the day and night or the passing of the seasons, and God can be found in both. 

So, during these long days of summer we are reminded of the blessings of God’s light, both physical and spiritual as we seek to be a people who walk in that light and are guided by it. 

Goodbye to our Link Missionaries

 

Our BMS Link Missionaries have now left their home in the port of Beira where they have been working alongside the Baptist Convention of Mozambique for the last ten years.

It's been a privilege for us at AFC to have had two visits from Liz, Sergio, Chloe and Joshua Vilela over recent years whilst they have been back in England on Home Assignment.  Sergio has told us about his work training pastors and youth leaders, and Liz has shared with us something of her involvement with pre-school playgroups.  On both occasions it was a delight to meet with such an enthusiastic and committed couple.

The family will first visit Brazil and catch up with Sergio’s folks before settling back in Britain where they will look for new opportunities of service.

The children seem to have loved their life in Mozambique and write about the fact they are leaving such nice schools and sunsets.  When asked what they are looking forward to, they replied: our new house, living near family and the cold!

Liz and Sergio described one of the leaving events they have attended, one that centred around their church family.  The service started at 10.00am and finished at 2.30pm having included five baptisms and two dedications of children.  The leaving lunch then commenced at 3.15pm.  It seems that the Vilela’s are leaving a vibrant Christian community, one in which they have given much and received much in return.

So, we thank God for Liz, Sergio and the family and for this splendid decade of committed service. May God bless and direct them into coming days

The Face of God

After a three-year closure, and a refit costing £35m, the National Portrait Gallery re-opens its doors next week.

London is fortunate in having so many free entrance galleries and this is one of my favourites.

It was originally set up in 1856 and its first portrait was an image of Shakespeare.  It had various homes before permanently moving to the site of St Martin’s Workhouse, next to the National Gallery and opposite Trafalgar Square in 1886.

In the First World War the portraits were taken down and sent to Wales, in the second they ended up at Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire.

So, I’m looking forward to visiting this newly redesigned space which, since 1969, has portraits of people still alive.

Now, to a confession – I once had my portrait done by one of those caricature artists who look for your best feature and emphasise it!  Mine was done on a visit to Florence and now hangs proudly in our downstairs loo!

I suppose much of our reading of scripture has the intention of trying to put together a ‘portrait’ of God in our mind’s eye. 

There are a number of bible verses that lament times when God ‘turns away his face’ away from us.  These are thought of as bleak times when we lack hope or direction.  Moses was told by God that he couldn’t look upon the face of the divine and live. Yet again, and again the psalmist encourages us to ‘seek His face’ continually. And, of course, for Christians there is the idea that we see God in a way we truly can understand and appreciate in ‘the face of Jesus Christ’. 

One of the loveliest of prayers in the bible, found in Numbers 6, has a line that we sometimes recite at really important times in our lives, a line that says: May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

So, next week as I take that first peep into the newly refurbished National Portrait Gallery, I’ll give thanks that in the face of Jesus we see something of God’s character, and pray that Lord’s face will continue to shine upon our world, bringing us all his blessing of hope and love.

We stayed to the end!

 Yesterday it was my privilege to lead the monthly Free Church service in the Lady Chapel of St Albans Abbey. 

This church holds a special place in our memories because it was the first venue we visited with a baby.  Our son was just a few weeks old and one Friday afternoon we ventured out for his first outing and drove down to St Albans from Hitchin, stopping off at the Cathedral Refectory before visiting the duck pond in the park. Well, almost thirty years later I was back!

The Abbey is unusual in its ecumenical welcome in that it has regular Free Church and Roman Catholic services in the Lady Chapel as well as Free Church and R.C. chaplains. 

Yesterday I met up with a small group of ladies who were visiting the Abbey to look at the Creation Tapestry Exhibition, which is currently on display.  Huge tapestry boards, of the most vibrant colours, are dotted around the church.  These ladies, however, had slightly gone off route and found themselves amongst the congregation gathering for the 11 o’clock service.  The Free Church chaplain, a friend of mine, swung into action and asked them if they’d like to stay.  There was a discussion about how long the service would last and, the result was that they said they might sit on the back row, stay for a little while and then slip away.  My friend thought this quite a successful outcome!

So, we were both much encouraged as we walked down the aisle after the blessing, to see that this little group of lost ladies, whom we had ‘kidnapped’ from their tapestry tour, was still with us.  One by one they said goodbye to me with a smile on their faces saying ‘see, we made it to the end’!!

Well, it was a lovely moment and a real example of the way Cathedrals and Abbeys – which are often open seven days a week – can be real places of spiritual encounter, offering silence, beauty, or even the possibility of slipping into the back pew and staying to the end of the midweek service, a service you never intended going to but one that became a ‘God moment’ anyway!

Naming the Holy Spirit

The way we describe a person shapes the way we feel about them.  I often think the best of all accolades is to be called kind.

It’s the same with job descriptions; although I suspect these can sometimes be overblown so that maybe the less important the role, the grander the title.

I remember once being part of a planning group for a Seniors’ Church Lunch.  The co-ordinator looked over in my direction and asked what I might like to do as the meal was served.  Rather lamely I replied that I thought I might manage to serve the gravy!  Right, she said, enthusiastically, we’ll put you down as the Gravy Operative!  I was chuffed with my new title!

As we approach the season of Pentecost it’s worth reflecting on some of the titles we give the Holy Spirit.

For centuries this member of the Trinity bore the name Holy Ghost.  Yet that title, with its ambiguous phantom overtones just doesn’t work today.

Greek, the language of the New Testament, often gives us options when it comes to translation.  Two helpful ones come in John 14.26 as Jesus promises the gift of the Holy Spirit for his disciples; the words he uses can be taken either as Comforter or Helper.

Now, if the ministry of the Spirit is to enable us to have some sort of sense that God is alongside us, then both these descriptions are immensely helpful.

God’s comfort isn’t about taking life easy and putting our feet up, rather it’s the reassuring divine companionship we feel when we try to live with kindness and generosity of spirit.  It's always a comfort to have that sort of encouragement in our lives – it keeps us going. The Comforter also draws alongside us when we mess up, helping us to stand up again when we fall over.

And to describe the Spirit as Helper encourages us to face the future with hope, trusting in God’s strength to motivate us. 

Sometimes in church, when we make vows of commitment, we respond with the phrase with God’s help I will. That’s another way of putting our trust in God the Holy Spirit, The Helper, to walk beside us.

Pentecost is a season to celebrate our Alongside God, who is to us a Comforter and Helper.

Blog holiday next week

The different layers of Scripture

 

We call it ‘Holy’, and at AFC we begin most services walking up the aisle behind it; Scripture is precious to us and we are grateful for it.  Yet, it has struck me this week that we can, and do, engage with it at many different levels.  That’s because on Sunday we had the story of Noah during an All Age Service at church, and yesterday evening we looked at the same story during our Manse Life and Faith Group.  One story examined in two very different contexts.

On Sunday we inevitably focused on the animals going in two by two!  How could we not, it’s what this story is so famous for!  Indeed, a teacher among us, says that in her Primary School this is the most famous of all the bible stories.  (Interesting that it’s better known than the stories of Jesus – I suspect it’s all those mobiles and playmats from Mothercare that contain pictures of an ark and animals.  From a very early age we learn about Noah!)

Our All Service also had an environment focus, and the story of an ark as a floating ‘Eco System’ restart fitted in well.

However, last evening we thought of the second half of the narrative as well, the part that contains Noah drunk and disillusioned.  So, we thought not only of his courage but also his vulnerability.  We also discussed the Nature of God, the God who allowed such cataclysmic destruction, alongside the idea that maybe it’s best to read this story rather like we do the New Testament Parables, looking for broad meanings rather than getting stuck in the details.

I’d like to think that at both church and house group we took this story seriously, even if we treated it differently.  And that is surely the value of Scripture, that it has many layers.

We sometimes talk a lot about the Inspiration of Scripture, yet the Reception of Scripture is equally important.  How we receive it will probably depend on our age and situation. Yet we rejoice that again and again the whisper of God breaks through and touches our hearts and minds when read words on a page that the Holy Spirit takes and uses to train, challenge and comfort us. 

For the Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God!

A Place called Home

 

Well, they say there’s no place like home; a place, whether that’s our house, community or church, where we feel comfortable, secure and welcome.

In one of those somewhat baffling surveys that occasionally pop up on my internet screen, I discovered that this week Amersham has been voted the best place to live in Buckinghamshire.  Hooray!!

As ministers tend to move around a bit I’ve had the privilege of serving in five different places: Kettering, Hitchin, Malvern, Yeovil and now Amersham.  Each one, I’m glad to say, has felt like home, because in every church it has been a joy to discover good, friendly and welcoming people.  God was there before I arrived and has been present since I left, we just jumped in and joined in with the flow during the time we lived and served in these various towns and churches.

I love the idea of the Tabernacle in the Jewish Scriptures.  As the Israelites wandered forty years in the Wilderness it must have been difficult to have a sense of a home, yet may be that was made easier at each stop and resting place once their temporary, yet immensely important Tabernacle had been set up.  A tent that represented the presence of God.  A focal point reminding them that wherever they were on their journey, God was with them.

The concept of a Tabernacle God, who moves with us and is always present at every turn we take, gives life a wonderful sense of security and peace.  It helps us to both stay put and move on, recognising that wherever home is, or becomes, God is always there making it a good and wholesome place to be.

ps We are looking forward to our Worship Together All Age Service on Sunday, but please not, due to the unpredictablility of the weather, the pic nic has been postponed.