Spring has sprung - John Mountain
Walking in the light - Lin Milne
Prayer Items - Lin
Read last months March Newletter
Spring has sprung
This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, in Him is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1 v5-7
Spring finally seems to be arriving, and the change to British Summer Time means longer daylight hours. What a joy to see so many changes day by day whilst travelling to work - trees that are bare one day have a fuzz of new growth the next, the birds are busy here and there, and the farmers are making sure their crops are sewn on time.
But, as always, there is a drawback. The wonderful sunshine and bright light manages to illuminate every speck of dust in my house! What I could ignore in darkest winter cannot be hidden any more. And now I am arriving home from work before it is dark, I can see all the broken twigs and dead leaves cluttering up the garden - I despair!! I am sure others feel the same - hence all the adverts for Spring Cleaning products to make the job easier.
And the same is true in a spiritual sense. No matter how much we try to hide, the bright light of Jesus, God's Son, shows up some undesirable areas in our lives. The dust of neglected quiet times with God and the broken twigs of selfishness and sin. But this time I don't need to despair. For Easter reminds us that God himself made for us a way to clean up our lives by His own death and resurrection.
But, just as the cleaning cloths have to be picked up and used in the house, we have to ask God to forgive us and ask His Holy Spirit to set to work to get us cleaned up and swept out. Hence the prayer I read out last Sunday in church. Perhaps you could copy it out and put it somewhere you look often, so we can have a spiritual spring clean every day:
How do I
find myself today?
Where am I with God? With others?
Do I have something to be grateful for?
Then I give thanks
Is there some thing I am sorry for?
Then I ask forgiveness.
How do I find myself today?
God bless,
John Mountain
Walking
in The Light
P.S. Wednesday - just heard that the weather forecast for the weekend says "returning to Wintry conditions", and thought that we have a choice spiritually whether we stay in the light and Spring or return to darkness and Winter. I know which I would rather choose.
Posted by Lin source Prayer from http://www.sacredspace.ie
PRAYER ITEMS
· Please
continue to pray for our overseas links - Betel, the Flintoffs and James
Dau Deng. Here is the latest email from James Dau in Kenya - "Thanks
you so much,the Kenya crisis was settled,no more disturbance in learning
institutions.Classes are going on well,the exams are starting next month.am
ok in college.Greet Parbold church.Thank alot,Dau"
· Pray that sufficient people will come forward to cover all the
jobs needed in church:
new PCC nominations,
sidespeople,
Sunday School teachers and helpers (see Michelle)
Sound desk and media shout volunteers (see Mark Townsley or Jonathan Hickling)
those willing to serve coffee (see Frances)
and do the flowers (see Val Horn) - all vital to the church life.
· Please pray for a good attendance at the Annual Parochial Meeting
on 23rd April when the work of the previous year will be discussed.
· Please pray for our Youth Work and Sunday School, that the leaders
will be inspired by the Holy Spirit and our children will be encouraged
in their faith.
· Please continue to pray for Barry Woolfenden, Val Hughes, Ruth
Oldknow, Maureen Haestier and Dorothy Watkinson.
· Give thanks that in the Budget, the government has allowed charities
to continue to claim back Gift Aided tax at the old rate for the next
3 years. If you would like to take part in the Gift Aid scheme or would
like weekly envelopes for your collection, please see Lin Milne.
· Congratulations and thanks for the safe arrival of baby, Isobel,
to Lorraine on Tuesday - Malcolm & Margaret Mc Conechy's daughter.
Pray that the baby will be a blessing to all.
· Pray that Brian & Branwen will have a safe and happy time
settling into their new home in Prestatyn.
· Please continue to pray for wisdom for all involved in seeking
a new vicar for the parish - the Diocese, Churchwardens and PCC.
A humorous slant on choosing a vicar & Other humorous articles
The Ultimate Chain Letter - Author unknown sent in by Sylvia H.
Searching for a Pastor?!! - Author unknown source email sent to Lin
Truly Thankful - Author Unknown sent in by Coffee Break House Group
Out of The Mouths - Author Christianity Today International
The Offering Box - From Christianity today.com
THE ULTIMATE CHAIN LETTER
If you are unhappy with your vicar, simply have your churchwardens send a copy of this letter to six other churches who are tired of their vicar. Then bundle up your vicar and send him to the church at the top of the list in the letter. Within a week you will receive 16,435 vicars, and one of them should be alright!
Have faith
in this chain letter for vicars. Do not break the chain - one church did
and got their old vicar back!
From Sylvia
Hunter - found in a draw and passed on with a very firm tongue in cheek!!
Editor's note - perhaps I should send this to the Archdeacon?
Searching for a Pastor!?!
We do not have
a happy report to give, as we have not been able to find a suitable candidate
for Pastor of this Church, though we have one promising prospect. We appreciate
all the suggestions from the Church Members so we've followed up each
one with interviews or calling at least 3 references. The following is
our confidential report on the candidates:
01) ADAM: Good man but problems with his wife. Also one reference
told of how he and his wife enjoy walking nude in the woods.
02) NOAH: Former pastorate of 120 years with no converts. Prone
to unrealistic building projects.
03) ABRAHAM: Though the references reported wife-swapping, the
facts seem to show he never slept with another man's wife, but did offer
to share his own wife with another man.
04) JOSEPH: A big thinker, but a braggart, believes in dream-interpreting
and has a prison record.
05) MOSES: A modest meek man, but poor communicator, stuttering
at times. Some times blows his stack and acts rashly. Some say he left
an earlier Church over a murder charge.
06) DAVID: The most promising leader of all until we discovered
he had an affair with his neighbour's wife.
07) SOLOMON: Great preacher but our parsonage would never hold
all those wives.
08) ELIJAH: Prone to depression - collapses under pressure.
09) ELISHA: Reported to have lived with a single widow while at
his former Church.
10) HOSEA: A tender loving pastor but our people could never handle
his wife's occupation.
11) DEBORAH: Female.
12) JEREMIAH: Emotionally unstable, alarmist, negative, always
lamenting things, and reported to have taken a long trip to bury his underwear
on the bank of a foreign river.
13) ISAIAH: On the fringe? Claims to have seen Angels in Church.
Has trouble with his language.
14) JONAH: Refused GOD'S call into ministry until he was forced
to obey by getting swallowed up by a great fish. He told us the fish later
spit him out on the shore near here. We hung up.
16) JOHN: Says he is a Baptist, but definitely doesn't dress like
one. Has slept in the outdoors for months on end, has weird diet, and
provokes denominational leaders.
17) PETER: Too blue collar. Has a bad temper -- even has been known
to curse. Had a big run-in with Paul in Antioch. Aggressive, but a loose
cannon.
18) PAUL: Powerful CEO type leader and fascinating preacher; however,
short on tact, unforgiving with young ministers, harsh and has been known
to preach all night.
20) YAHSHUA: Has had popular times, but once when his Church grew
to 5,000 he managed to offend them all and his Church dwindled down to
12 people. Seldom stays in one place very long. And of course, he's single.
21) JUDAS: His references are solid. A steady plodder. Conservative.
Good connections. Knows how to handle money. We're inviting him to preach
this Sunday. Possibilities here.
Author unknown; found circulating the Net via email.
TRULY THANKFUL
The tradition of saying grace before a meal is fading fast and where it does take place, it usually consists of "For what we are about to received, the Lord make us truly thankful"
Fed up with
the same old thing, a Yorkshire minister published a book of graces.
Here are a few:
"Give
us a heart as big as our belly,
And a keen eye which sees the smaller plate."
"Thank
you Lord for breakfast, lunch and now this dinner,
Without Your kindness we would be thinner"
"Lord,
bless this food upon these dishes,
As Thou didst bless the loaves and fishes,
And like the sugar in the tea,
May all of us be stirred by Thee."
"For ham
and eggs and buttered toast,
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost"
(Thanks to the ladies from the Coffee Break for this item - wonderful)
OUT OF THE MOUTHS...........
I was teaching
Sunday school, and I asked the kids to look up passages in the books of
Mark and John. They were having trouble finding the books, so I gave them
a quick refresher: "The New Testament starts with Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John. These books are referred to as The Four …"
I paused, waiting to see if any of them could fill in the blank. My 10-year-old
son, Benjamin, was up to the task.
"They're called The Four Gossips!"
Evelyn VanStarkenburg,
Pembroke, Ontario
Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Today's
Christian magazine.
The Offering
Box
A little girl was in church with her mother when she started feeling ill.
"Mommy," she said, "can we leave now?"
"No," her mother replied.
"Well, I think I have to throw up!"
"Then go out the front door and around to the back of the church
and throw up behind a bush."
After about 60 seconds the little girl returned to her seat. "Did
you throw up?" Mom asked.
"Yes."
"How could you have gone all the way to the back of the church and
returned so quickly?"
"I didn't have to go out of the church, Mommy. They have a box next
to the front door that says, 'For the Sick.'"
(Courtesy of Christianity today.com)
THANKS
Thank you to all our contributors this month. Next month's newsletter
will be available on Sunday 3rd May.
