Church Magazine Highlights

Here are some of the highlights from our latest Church Magazine: December -February 2012

MINISTER'S THOUGHTS

As you read this we are already in the Advent season and coming up to the time once again when we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; a time when many will be having parties and Christmas dinners and many not giving a thought as to what they are celebrating. For many it is the end of another year and no more. For the Christians of course we still celebrate but with a different view; John 3:16 reminds us of why Jesus came in to this world ‘for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son’. It is hard to imagine that God could love each and every one of us so much that he was willing to send his son as a vulnerable baby to take on our humanity and to live in an ordinary family and experience what we experience knowing that many would reject him, knowing that eventually he would suffer to the point of death at the hands of those God loved. That unconditional love of God is hard to take in, but that is the very nature of our God.

So celebrating Christmas for Christians is a vital time for us to really take on board what God did for us in the knowledge of course that that is only the beginning. The story concludes at Easter when Jesus was tortured, crucified, died and buried; but it didn’t end there, for he rose again from the dead and conquered death so that you and I could have eternal life. How wonderful is that? We might move quickly from Christmas to Easter in our church calendar but in the 33 years that Jesus walked this earth he taught us a lot about His Father and his ways and if only we as a nation would follow those ways now, what a very different world we would live in.

The world is in a mess, political unrest and economic crisis in many countries, many people unemployed, young people unable to get their first foot on the ladder of employment and couples unable to buy their first home; pensions suffering so people need to work longer, those at the top being paid fat salaries while many others struggle to make ends meet. I don’t envy our government trying to sort it all out but one thing I do know is that the God I worship is a God of equality, a God who values you and me in just the same way, a God who is just and who judges us with justice.

If you are reading this and maybe you don’t normally attend a church, perhaps you have heard that it is boring; maybe you think it is irrelevant, maybe you think it is all a myth, maybe you don’t know this Jesus we talk about. Why don’t you give it a try before you make those judgements, why not come along to one of our Christmas services? You just might find the greatest Christmas present ever. Love that knows no end, love that loves the unlovable, love that offers forgiveness and that says no one is too vile to be forgiven. That is the love God offers and that is why he sent His Son to be born as a baby over 2,000 years ago today and that is why many of us still worship Him not only at Christmas and Easter but every day of our lives. Will you join us?

May this Christmas be a time when love is shown beyond measure among us all and a time when we truly enter into the love of God through the celebration of the birth of his Son Jesus Christ and may that same love sustain you and me into 2012.

Love from your friend and minister

Pauline x

I have a story to tell.

A story which, at many times in my life, I have felt has been insignificant. Why would people care about me, a jumbling chubby teenager (and now twenty something) who can’t speak properly…yet who has an inbuilt desire to do something about the world around him…yet who isn’t always quite sure how or why.

That story is my life – a life which is a living testament, I hope and I pray, to the one true, living God as found throughout creation, history – and the Bible.

Let me take you back to the start. Well, not quite the start…to my first memory when I was four. My Dad had just finished his curacy, so myself and my family were in the moving to a village called Binley Woods on the outskirts of Coventry. My earliest memory is a strange one – helping unpack the cutlery in the kitchen – but it’s the memory of the name of my Dad’s new Church which really sticks to mind.

Simply this: The Church in Binley Woods. We met in the local village hall. We did not own our own building or property. We were a joint ecumenical project between the Anglicans and the Baptists. And as far as I was – and still am – aware, we were the only Church of any denomination which met in the village of Binley Woods.

What would it be like if every Church in the land was simply known as ‘The Church in Coventry’, or ‘The Church in Manchester’ or ‘The Church in England / Scotland / United Kingdom’? What if we threw away our denominational names and simply called ourselves ‘The Church’?

This is a question we’ve been thrashing out in practice here in Rotherham. We don’t have the answers by any means – but what if we felt comfortable enough to hang out with each other without fear that we’d lose our young folk to each others Churches? What if we had curry together without falling out over petty theological differences? Come on…who really cares if Jesus wore sandles over trainers? Okay…maybe that’s not really a major theological difference. But pews over chairs? Organ over keyboard? Drums over tambourine? In the grand scheme of things, do they really matter?

When they stop us from talking (but not shouting and screaming) to each other, then maybe they do.

What would your initial reaction be if, as a active member of your local Church, all the young people from your Church congregation started going to an inter-Church youth service every couple of months? Not just hypothetically, but in reality? Would you be excited by the prospect of them meeting their one true love at a Christian event? Would you actively encourage them to go and make good solid Christian friends with Christians from the other side of town? Would you ask them the following morning at Church how it went…and then gently encourage them to bring some of what they experienced and learnt to your – and their – Church the following Sunday morning?

Or would you quietly think, ‘Well, that’s nice that they’ve found some other Christians their age…but if they start going to another youth group on a Friday night…and if they find a young lady that they like who then starts dragging them to their place on a Sunday morning…and if they find a better / more lively / less theologically sound (ouch!) Church than this Church…’

But what if there’s a different way? What if there’s a third way? What if there’s a way which says, ‘Go and be encouraged. Go and inspire each other. Go and grapple with deep theological issues with friends and Christians your own age…and we want to walk alongside you as you do so. We want to grapple with these issues which you grapple with. We want to learn from you as you learn from other Christians. We want our theology and way of doing and being Church challenged and sharpened. We want to learn from you. Go.’

Unite started in Rotherham back in July 2009 as a way of encouraging young Christians in their faith. As a group of Church based youth workers and leaders, we recognised that the number of Christian young people in our Churches were small. No one Church in our town could claim a monopoly on Christian young people. So we did something together about it – we prayed, and then we acted…and Unite was the result. Initially just over 20 young people from four different Churches came together to worship God together. And then fifty from ten Churches. And then sixty. And then seventy.

And then it got to the stage where I didn’t bother about numbers. Not because they got so big that we couldn’t – if truth be told, numbers recently have been going the other way. But rather we started to see a trend. A trend where young people were encouraging each other in their faith; where they were sharpening what each other believed; and then going back to their own Churches on a Sunday to do likewise there. To get involved. To get mucky. To serve the Lord in whatever He was doing where they already were at.

You know what? I want to see more of that. I want to see more young people inspiring, encouraging, and egging each other on in God – and then inspiring, encouraging and egging each other on to go back to their own Churches and to do mighty work for God there. Our nation needs young people who will stand up for the truth. Young people who will be the people that Christ has called them to be. Young people who will move mountains and will lead millions to the Lord.

The Church in [your location]. What would it look like?

Jon Buckley

The King James Bible – beginnings

This year marks the 400^th Anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible,

“Appointed to be read in churches”.

Who was this man?

James was 37 and already James VI, ruling Scotland for thirty-six years. He was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, who was a second cousin to Elizabeth I. Mary languished in English prisons, (fourteen years in Sheffield Castle), from 1568 to her execution in 1587. James was educated by excellent tutors and was fluent in Greek, Latin, French, an accomplished author and poet, and was brought up in the Scottish (Presbyterian) Kirk.

In 1603 his accession was a peaceful step towards union between England and Scotland. In Scotland James had witnessed the results of intolerance within the Scottish Kirk and found the same situation in the English Church between the Anglicans and the Puritans – enmity, sometimes even bloodshed. The need for a new version of the Bible had been discussed at the end of Elizabeth’s reign.

In 1604 James, hoping a new Bible could restore peace and unity within the Church, called the Hampton Court Conference.

Translation and Publication.

The King, after appointing the Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop Bancroft, as leader of the project, selected forty-seven eminent scholars, fluent in Latin and Greek, from Oxford, Cambridge and Westminster as translators. Divided into six groups, working from original texts, other sources and fifteen guidelines drawn up by the King, the initial stage was completed in four years. The translators received no monetary remuneration. Several were rewarded by promotion within the universities and the Church.

From the forty seven, twelve scholars were designated to scrutinise thoroughly the translation, correcting any errors, before the final stage of printing. Centred in London, thirty shillings a week was allotted to defray the cost of accommodation.

The King’s printer, who held the monopoly to print prayer books and Bibles, received the text in 1610. Whilst printing technology had improved, the job was still time-consuming and required concentration. In 1611 the mammoth task was completed. Robert Barker’s costs for materials and wages were £3,500. He received no payment.

The new King James Authorised Version passed into use without any spectacular ceremony or publicity and did not become an instant best-seller. Nor did it fulfil what James had hoped for; peace and unity in the Church. One significant reason why this version did not sell well was that there were several other translations which were available – e.g. Coverdale’s and Tynedale’s. Consequently, those who could have afforded it did not rush out to buy it.

Whilst during the four hundred years to 2011 new versions have been published and forgotten, the Authorised Version is still in print, circulating throughout the world.

That is another story.

Kathleen Head

'God doesn't do Waste'

In the church lounge you will probably have noticed the new book-case near
the office. It was so full of books a few weeks ago that some were piled up on top. While this may look untidy, it was also fortuitous (- a God-given opportunity?). As I went into the office, the title on one of the spines 'jumped out' at me:- 'God doesn't do Waste'. This suggested to me that it might be about care of creation, so I picked it up, and, after finding I was allowed to borrow it, did so. I discovered a very readable and life-affirming book about much more than our relationship with our environment. Its subtitle is 'Redeeming the whole of life'. The description on the back cover states: 'It's a personal account of a life lived in relationship. It's about roots and belonging, suffering and healing, identity and meaning, faith and doubt.

It's about how in God's economy nothing need be wasted. . . . . . .about a God who can take all that seems most wasteful and useless, and recycle it into something of infinite worth' It is the story of the formation of A Rocha UK, a Christian nature conservation organisation, and of Dave and Anne Bookless and their family. Dave writes in the opening chapter: “In one sense this book isn't about the environment at all..This is a story about the messiness that every human being wades through in every area of their lives, and a God who can take all that seems most wasteful and useless and recycle it into something of infinite worth.”

In 1991, Dave, an ordained minister, was called to be curate to St. John's Church in Southall, West London. Both Dave & Anne, who had also studied theology, had deliberately chosen to be in 'one of the most urban, multicultural corners of the UK', out of a strong sense of where God was leading them. Anne fell ill with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME) early in their married life, and had to do some of her studying while confined to bed with pain in her joints. After 8 years and 5 devastating miscarriages, she had reached a place of acceptance of her ME, and offered her infirmity to God. At this point she was healed through prayer ministry, but they were both
keen to acknowledge all that God can do through the pain and suffering as well. This theme runs through the book, as other periods of illness happen to Anne and Dave and their family. (They are eventually blessed with 4 daughters). On their arrival in Southall, with Anne 'confined to bed and helpless', and Dave consequently tired and vulnerable, their 'weakness made space for God to act and for others to discover their gifts' as many 'rallied round in very practical ways'.
Alongside this feeling of being in the right place, Dave had a growing realisation, through his study of the Bible, that 'the whole creation, (not just human beings) is at the heart of God's purposes'.

Gradually, through studying both Old & New Testaments, he grew to realise that 'other species are not merely extras in a play that's all about people – they matter to God in and for themselves . . . . they had intrinsic value to God'. In 1993, Dave came across a magazine article about a conservation group called A Rocha, which had a Christian-based environmental education centre on the Algarve Coast in Portugal. For their 10th anniversary celebrations they were having a gathering in London. Visiting the centre in Portugal, Dave & Anne experienced a true sense of community and unconditional love, where the Gospel was lived out in a full and holistic way.

They both felt they wanted to become involved, and eventually (and this is the main theme of the book) set up A Rocha UK. Needing a base for the UK centre, Dave visited many possible rural sites around the country, trying to get a 'feel' for where it should be established, but none felt 'right'. They felt a wedge developing between their call to multicultural urban ministry, and their feelings for the work of A Rocha. At this point (1997), Dave noticed a large area of empty space on the edge of Southall, and decided to explore it. Parts were choked with rubbish, including abandoned fridges and builders' rubble, deeply rutted by motorbikes and burned-out cars, and invasive plants like Japanese knotweed.

Dave's narration continues:- 'Standing there, I thanked God for this wild corner of west London that had somehow remained largely green. . . . . . . I heard a high-pitched call and glanced around as a kingfisher darted past. . . . . .Amazing! . . . . . .Here was a place that had suffered from neglect and deliberate abuse . . . yet still had . . .wildlife hanging on. ' As he walked home, he felt sure God was saying to him: 'How do you think I feel about this place?' The main part of the book is about the creation of A Rocha Living Waterways on the site; the way God was at work throughout all the hard work of fundraising, getting various permissions, seeing community development as local people from a wide range of ethnic and religious groups worked together to achieve a place where creation is nurtured and people are valued. Since reading it, I've bought myself a copy, to share with friends. Dave Bookless, the author, has also written 'Planetwise – dare to care for God's World', and I've bought that too, so I can further explore 'the compelling biblical case for caring for the planet God made for his glory and his people's enjoyment'.

Ruth Holdsworth

Herringthorpe United Reformed Church

Church Magazine Highlights