On the second Sunday of the month our youngsters meet together for Breakfast and for Sunday Special. This morning they were looking at the 'C' of commitment following on from the Summer Holiday Club that had sailed the 'C's on a cruise ship! A number of the helpers described what they were 'committed to' and what they were 'committed to' at Highbury.
In the first part of the service they shared a wonderful collage they had done of the verse from 1 John 4 that challenges us to 'Love God and love each other'.
We then launched our Operation Christmas Child appeal for shoe boxes with a short video clip
We then took up the theme of this year's Operation Christmas child 'From death and despair to Good News and Great Joy' and shared a wonderful passage from Isaiah 60.
Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.
Nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.
Nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
The sun shall no longer be
your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon
give light to you by night;
but the Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.
Your sun shall no more go down,
or your moon withdraw itself;
for the Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your days of mourning shall be ended.
your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon
give light to you by night;
but the Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.
Your sun shall no more go down,
or your moon withdraw itself;
for the Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your days of mourning shall be ended.
Grow
up or enter the Kingdom
Aspiration
Achievement
Attainment
Adulthood
So, Jesus, who is the greatest
in the Kingdom of Heaven
Challenge
Change
Choice
Childhood
Unless you change and become like children
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven
So ... grow down!
And if you want to welcome Jesus ...
Welcome a child!
How do you get your kids through church
without them ending up hating God?
That’s a massive question and I guess it’s one that every generation has
grappled with. At first sight it’s a
question for parents and for people leading children’s work and youth work in
church.
But that would be to miss the point.
Actually it’s a responsibility all of us
share. And it’s nothing new.
On Wednesday, 6th November RobParsons and Care for the Family are coming to the Town hall for a regionalevent that will ask exactly that question.
It is something for all of us to take to heart – and for all of us to
reflect on. By all accounts it promises
to be a good evening – have a word with
Carolyn or with Tom after the service to find out more.
When we got our Child Friendly church award
it wasn’t just because of eth work we do with children, but it was because of
the way we work as a whole church family at being friendly towards children.
You can see that commitment to children and
working with children at every stage in the church’s history. It is right there in the gospels. Indeed it is there in the one chapter which
records Jesus speaking about the church and actually using the word church.
Matthew 18 is a key chapter in tracing
Jesus’ understanding of what it means to be church.
And it’s mostly about children. And what Jesus says gives pause for
thought.
Among the buzz words in education are words
that are all about getting to the top, being the best, reaching goals.
Aspiration
Achievement
Attainment
Adulthood
Everything is tested down to the last detail,
data driven analysis of performance in the classroom is geared to getting the
best out of every child. But I sometimes
wonder.
Everything about growing up is just that.
It’s about growing up. Reaching adult.
And then it’s all about the drive to get
the top.
In many ways it all counts. It is all important. It’s dangerous to do it down.
But on the other hand, reports this week,
suggest something in our education system isn’t working.
Jesus seems almost maverick in the response
he gives to his disciples when they ask the question that our education system
asks of every child and of every school – who is the greatest?
At
that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven?’ 2He called a child, whom he put among them, 3and said,
‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never
enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Whoever becomes humble like this child is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5Whoever welcomes one such child in my name
welcomes me.
There’s something very counter-intuitive
there.
More words come to mind …
Challenge
Change
Choice
Childhood
Unless you change and become like children
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven
So ... grow down!
Curious – maybe unacceptable. Maybe not helpful. Or maybe liberating!
Maybe we should value children not just for
their potential but for who they are.
And maybe we should do the same for adults
too.
Welcome a little child and you will welcome
Jesus.
Jesus then goes on to speak of the way we
must care for our children.
6 ‘If
any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in
me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your
neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. 7Woe to the world because of
stumbling-blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one
by whom the stumbling-block comes!
Tomorrow we will be remembering
Daphne. She came to Cheltenham
when her husband Reg and her brother David moved here with the National Coal
Board Research people. Daphne’s husband
specialised in research into the gas chromatography – analysis of breaking down
gases into their constituent parts.
Nowadays it is a mainstream scientific activity – then it was
groundbreaking stuff in the development of smokeless fuels.
When we were marking Rosalind Franklin’s
contribution to the discovery of DNA
Margaret instantly recalled her as one of the team contributing so much to
research into carbons and into coal.
We may have virtually our coal mining
industry but we continue to depend on coal.
Now coal is imported and we rely on the dangers of mining from far off
Rissia, far off China
Maybe they should.
Mary Michael has brought the Aber Valley
Male Voice Choir to Highbury on a number
of occasions. IN recognition of the support she and Margaret her sister have
given to the choir they have been made Vice-Presidents of the Choir – a great
honour. And today the choir are marking
the anniversary of this country’s biggeset mining disaster.
One hundred years ago an explosion in the Universal
Colliery, Senghenydd near the home of the Aber Valley
In 1901 81 our of 82 men working down the
mine were killed in an explosion.
Mary asked us to play the recording of the
song with its collage of photos that the choir have specially commissioned for
the opening of a national memorial to those who
have lost their lives in mining.
Here. I want to play it because
it reminds us of the children whose lives are lost today in mining and in many
industries we depend on. Let’s remember
that 40% of our energy comes from coal – and the largest producer by far of the
coal we depend on is Russia Syria
He haunting words of the song ask ‘where
have they gone? Where have all the young
men gone.
The song invites us to walk through the
valley of the shadow, the valley of tears.
Deep in our hearts we will remember them
Forever young they sleep in the midst of
time
Deep in our hearts we will remember them
Deep in our hearts we will remember them.
In Matthew 18 Jesus speaks of what church
is all about.
And for Jesus it is all about children.
Matthew 18:10-14
10
‘Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you,
in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven. 12What
do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone
astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of
the one that went astray? 13And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices
over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14So it is not
the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.
How easy it is to trivialise the Parable of
the Lost Sheep.
Here it has a powerful message.
It is not the will of your Father in heaven
that one of these little ones should be lost!
Take care that you do not despise one of
these little ones …
And then comes a wonderful thought, filled
with mystery and yet filled with promise
For I tell you, in heaven their angels
continually see the face of my Father in heaven.
Song: The Lord’s my shepherd I’ll not want
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