Week 17 – Travelling

Deuteronomy 12:28 NIV

Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you,
so that it may always go well with you and your children
after you,  because  you will be  doing what  is good  andright in the eyes of the LORD your God.

I have always enjoyed travelling in any shape or form, trains, planes, cars, bikes powered or otherwise, and for me travelling is one of the most enjoyable parts of any holiday. Although I have never had to cope with erupting volcanoes, if I had I may have a different view. Come to think of it, would that come under the heading of “Not Travelling”? We as Christians often refer to our “Spiritual Journey” or “Christian walk” and I think that is a good analogy especially if you travel by plane or boat.  If you board an aeroplane, you take your seat and strap yourself in and the first voice you usually hear is the Captain, who will welcome you aboard and let you know things like weather conditions and time of arrival at your destination, and then one of the cabin crew will stand up and give vital safety information, to a recorded message, Usually an attractive young woman standing in the gangway doing some sort of “Hand Jive” (remember that?)

At the end of  May my wife and I will be travelling up to Orkney. We will drive up to the very North of Scotland and board the ferry at Scrabster, and as the boat leaves the harbour there is a chime over the Tannoy and the captain will introduce himself and tell us (We hope) that the Pentland Firth is calm and we should have a safe and comfortable crossing. Then the message changes to a recording to tell us that very important information for our survival should we get torpedoed on the crossing. It is a requirement by law that this information is given at the start of every crossing. As we look around at our fellow travellers, most of them seem too busy getting a drink or finding the best seat to enjoy the view and some are even asleep as soon as they sit down.  You can always spot the first time travellers because they are the ones looking for the muster points that the recording is talking about.

Our Christian journey is very like that. At the start Jesus made us welcome and reassured us, and although we may never have actually seen him, by his Spirit and through his disciples he continues to give us that vital information to help us on our journey, especially when things get difficult. Yes I know some of us are like the seasoned travellers and take little notice and just get on with the business of travelling in comfort.  Things are a little different when things start to go wrong, when health or personal relationships break down. That’s when we try to remember those words, that “Vital Information”.  But be reassured because, like the Captain on our ship, Jesus didn’t give us instructions and then leave the ship. He travels with us to the end of the journey, (Matt 28:v20) He is in charge. He is always with us. So remember his words today. Thank you for joining me on my Christian journey I look forward to travelling on, together.

Cyril Unsworth

Week 16 – Christian Witness and Service Stopped by Sport

It would be unusual and unfair, probably, to see such a headline in the media. Yet just yesterday, Palm Sunday, this was true. One of the great joys of working here in East London has been the amazing variety of people and events that are the privilege of the nation’s capital. In an area of Tower Hamlets circuit called Poplar around this time each year the London Marathon literally runs through our streets. It is always on a Sunday, it would cause traffic chaos during the week, and once in a while it falls on Palm Sunday. So yesterday the churches of Poplar had to cancel their annual Palm Sunday walk of witness through the local area because they could not get through the streets cordoned off for runners and spectators. Instead the local congregations gathered in the open air in the graveyard of the Anglican Church to proclaim “Prepare ye the way of the Lord!” It is not the first time, and it won’t be the last. http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=wSIs1MHdFQY (What a great film – even with the hairstyles!)

An ongoing issue that has exercised our prayer and thinking for our Methodist Church in Whitechapel relates directly to the 2012 Olympics. (I can see the stadium from the top room window of our manse.) The Methodist Whitechapel Mission (www.whitechapel.org.uk) has been providing support to the people who are homeless and rootless 365 days a year continuously since 1876. Every day we do what we can to help around 200 people who come from 6am onwards seeking a hot breakfast, showers, clothing, advice on benefits, medical advice, even a place to charge their mobile phones. The Cavell Street Mission as it is known on the streets is a bottom of the heap lifeline to many people but in August 2012 the Tower Hamlets Council are asking us to close. You see Whitechapel is situated on the designated ‘Olympic Way’. The main road out of the City of London to the Olympic Park is being gradually tarted up so that any dignitaries, celebrities and ordinary people too, will see us at our best. The council’s view is that the sight of homeless people along the way will not give out the right message to the world. We will open as usual of course but are afraid the authorities will simply be moving people on and out of the immediate area when it comes to the period of the games. The London Marathon and the Olympics are big enough events to be able to reach the whole nation, even the world. A few hundred people gathering to prepare the way for Jesus the Servant King or a couple of hundred homeless folk will, I suspect, not be noticed outside of those involved. Those who worship sport, or possessions or whatever, have their eyes and hearts drawn away from what is really important and often do not notice those on the margins of life who cannot buy a ticket, and in this case, may well be denied access even to their own local community. The Palm Sunday events of Jesus’ day were a moment of triumph over the accepted ways of the time. Jesus and his followers turned things upside down. The “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” journeyed into town on a colt (not even a pure donkey or horse but a bastard mix of the two), the ultimate sign of lowliness and humility. The ordinary people were so caught up in the moment that they laid tree branches on the road before him and called out “Hosanna, hosanna!” as he went on his way.  The ordinary, lowly folk saw in Jesus something that reached out and touched them. Something so special that it was able to change their thinking and help them see the world as God does – through the eyes of Jesus. What is the church for? I am looking forward to making the journey to Stafford to find fresh answers to this question in Staffordshire. As a starting point have a look at 1 Peter 3.15.

Peace.

Peter Powers

Week 15 – Sleep deprivation

I think next year I’m going to get some t-shirts printed with ‘I’ve been to Quinta and survived!’ on them.  Then people who meet me and the other leaders

who go to Quinta in the days afterwards, will understand the vacant expression, the spaced out way in which we are communicating, and the fact that everything

is taking us twice as long to do than normal.  Why? – Sleep deprivation.  I can now understand why it is used as a form of torture to get you to talk. You can start hallucinating soft comfy pillows and crisp white sheets.  It’s not just the lack of sleep during the Quinta weekend but the nights before, when you wake suddenly with another idea or thing to be added to the growing list of stuff to take. The other thing I must ensure is that next year, either Quinta doesn’t fall in Lent, or I don’t give up eating cake!  All these wonderful cakes kindly donated from across the circuit (thank you they looked yummy!) and I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, eat any.

Actually, talking of cake, food was the continuous theme running through Quinta this year.  Our title was ‘Come Follow Me’.  We used different food based TV programs to help get Jesus’ message across to the young people who came with us.  Themes showing that no matter where any of us were on our spiritual journey, we got thinking about Christ’s message, and how we could, through Jesus, draw closer to God.  We had ‘Supermarket Sweep’; Dale Winton sadly couldn’t join us, so James and Johnny stepped in and got us thinking about the cost of following Jesus.  Andy did ‘Come Dine With Me’ – who does Jesus ask to follow him?  Then it was ‘Ready Steady Cook’ with Debs and Nicky.  How does Jesus equip us to follow him?  I really enjoyed that one as I got to be the judge! We are all invited to follow Jesus, to join in this wonderful feast – the parable of the wedding banquet.  So as we approach Easter time and all it means, God’s love and sacrifice, forgiveness and renewness, let us who have accepted God’s invitation, go out and invite others to join us in following Jesus, to come to this wonderful banquet God has prepared. And I’m sure there will be cake!

Now Soul Survivor in July, what have I done with that list?

Happy Easter!

Sarah Fisher

Week 14 – Easter People

One thing is occupying my mind. Tomorrow we have our first nets of the season, and in 5 weeks we will have our first game of cricket. There is this childlike excitement that is gripping me. I go to sleep dreaming of scoring a 100 this year, or bowling Jeff out in the nets! I love this time of year, the sense of anticipation for the coming season is growing. Jeff and I chat about this growing excitement daily, while Leigh looks suitably morose!

The only problem with anticipation is that reality bites. Ten years ago I went to see an FA Cup quarter final between Leeds and Wolves. Leeds had been in the Champions League Semi Finals the previous year, and Wolves were a division below Leeds. Leeds were at home and expected to win. I went to the game with a friend, a Wolves fan. Even being a pessimistic Leeds fan, I thought we would win. All week my excitement grew, and of course the game was awful, and even worse – Leeds lost. Anticipation not matched by reality.

I have the same growing sense of excitement and anticipation as we progress through lent. Easter is coming, and there is something about Easter that completely captures my mind, my heart and my imagination. It is here that we find the heart of the Christian faith. Lent is the season where we prepare for Easter as Christians. We are Easter people.

I love Good Friday. I know at the time it must have seemed to all Jesus’ followers like bad Friday, as they experienced huge disappointment and watched the excruciating death of their Lord. All their hopes and dreams in tatters. To Jesus the pain, the suffering, the torment, the loneliness and the desolation must have been unbearable. And yet because of Good Friday we know that God understands our humanity, he understands our pain. Because of Good Friday there is forgiveness, reconciliation and a new relationship with God.

I love Easter Sunday. Resurrection, Eternal Life, real hope and death defeated. St. Paul says ‘If Christ has not been raised from the dead, then our faith is just for this life, and we should be pitied.’ It’s that important. I may not get my century at cricket. I may be disappointed if I don’t bowl Jeff out in the nets. But I never fail to be excited when I think of the first Easter. I never feel that anticipation is not met. BUT, I don’t just want to celebrate this amazing truth about Death and Resurrection once a year. We are Easter people 365 days a year. Tom Wright Bishop of Durham says;

‘Is it any wonder people find it hard to believe in the Resurrection of Jesus, if we don’t throw our hats in the air? Is it any wonder the world doesn’t take much notice if Easter is celebrated as simply the one-day happy ending tagged onto 40 days of fasting and gloom? It’s long overdue that we took a hard look at how we keep Easter in church, at home and in our personal lives … and if that means rethinking some cherished habits, well maybe it’s time to wake up.’

So let us meet the challenge to be Easter People all year and let us be challenged and transformed by the timeless message that ‘Christ has died, Christ is Risen and Christ will come again.’

Andy Ackroyd